Metaphor and Metonymy in Apple Daily’s Headlines

Metaphor and Metonymy in Apple Daily’s Headlines �����Chih-lin Chuang ������������� Department of Foreign Languages and Literature National Sun Yat-sen University m001020003@student.nsysu.edu.tw Abstract The current study focuses on the similarities and differences of conceptual metaphor and metonymy between each genre in newspaper headlines. Headlines in news articles in Apple Daily from May 21st to May 27th were collected and analyzed. There are three basic findings. First, blocks for entertainment and sports used, in proportion, more metaphors and metonymies than any other blocks. Second, the idea of fighting was the most basic base for metaphors in Apple Daily. Third, TOPIC FOR SUBJECT was widely implemented to be economic in discourse. However, there may be more genres not included in Apple Daily. Also, the ways of categorization may not be specific enough for each block. Future studies are encouraged to further explore other genres excluded in the current study. Key words: metaphor, metonymy, newspaper, headline 1. Introduction Conceptual metaphor is the process of interpreting or understanding one domain which is relatively abstract by using another domain which is relatively concrete (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003). For example, TIME IS MONEY is a conceptual metaphor. The concrete domain “money” is used to understand abstract domain “time.” We can both spend money and time. Also, we can both waste money and time. Though most people are not aware of metaphors, they are everywhere (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003). In fat, since the rising of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, many scholars have been exploring examples of metaphors in specific contexts. For instance, Hsiao and Su (2010) have explored metaphors in discourse level. Even metaphors in pictorial representations are also the issues involving metaphors (Forceville, 1996). Metonymy is, to some extent, similar to conceptual metaphor, differing in that metonymy uses one concept in one domain to “refer to” or “stand for” another concept within the same domain (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003; Kovecses 2010). Examples of metonymy include HAND FOR PERSON. In Chinese, shou (‘hand’), which is part of body, is often referring to the whole person in example like toushou (pitch hand, ‘the person who pitches the ball’). Though the definition of conceptual metaphor is different from that of metonymy, Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Conference on Computational Linguistics and Speech Processing (ROCLING 2012) 176 the two ideas are much related. In fact, metonymies serve as basis for, thus blend into, many conceptual metaphors (Kovecses, 2010). Metaphors have been widely used in our daily lives. We can see it everywhere. In fact, abundant examples of conceptual metaphor or metonymy have been provided by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), Kovecses (2010), and Gibbs (1994). In addition to the examples provided by those scholars, a lot more evidence of conceptual metaphor and metonymy can be found in headlines in newspapers. A good news headline presents the main ideas of the text efficiently to the readers. Also, it has to be interesting to attract readers’ attention. Metaphor no doubt plays an important role in the headlines. In other words, conceptual metaphors are implemented to present …

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