Stock Markets as Ocean Water : A Corpus-based, Comparative Study of Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish

STOCK MARKETS AS OCEAN WATER: A Corpus-based, Comparative Study of Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish Siaw-Fong Chung Graduate Institute of Linguistics National Taiwan University No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C. 106 claricefong6376@hotmail.com Kathleen Ahrens Graduate Institute of Linguistics National Taiwan University No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C. 106 kathleenahrens@yahoo.com Ya-hui Sung Free China Christian College Association Christ's College 51, Tzu-Chiang Road, Tanshui, Taiwan R. 0. C 251 sinyotw@yahoo. com.tw Abstract To what degree do different languages share similar conceptual metaphors? Charteris-Black and Ennis (2001) examined this question by running a comparative, corpus-based study of metaphors in Spanish and English financial reporting. They argue that both languages show considerable similarity in the choice of conceptual metaphors with the same linguistic expressions but that there is a differing degree of frequency. They attribute this similarity to the common cultural identity of the two languages such as the similar economic system and their Latinate origins. In this paper, we use a corpus-based approach in comparing the choice of conceptual metaphors in Mandarin Chinese with those of Spanish and English. We focus our discussion on the conceptual metaphor STOCK MARKET IS OCEAN WATER in Mandarin Chinese and compare it with the Spanish and English data. We carry out our analysis within the framework of the Conceptual Mapping (CM) Model (Ahrens 2002). With this model, we are able to demonstrate that although different languages share similar conceptual metaphors, they differ in what is mapped linguistically. These differences can be shown in their specific Mapping Principles. 1� Introduction The language of economy frequently involves conceptual metaphors. Charteris-Black (2000), for instance, suggested that the metaphoric lexis in the Economist were higher in frequency than in a general magazine. In describing the movement of the economy, in particular, there are expressions relating to the directions of the economic situation (up and down) and the speed of the economic development (Chung, Ahrens and Huang, 2003b). In this paper, two Mandarin Chinese newspaper corpora will be examined in terms of occurrences of conceptual metaphors related to the target domain of gushi 'ti r-fy 'STOCK MARICET.' Among the recurring metaphors found, the metaphor STOCK MARKET IS OCEAN WATER constitutes the majority of the linguistic expressions. This paper focuses on this conceptual metaphor and compares it with the English and Spanish data analyzed by Charteris-Black and Ennis (2001). In Charteris-Black and Ennis (2001), the metaphor MARKET MOVEMENTS ARE NAUTICAL OR ARE WAYS OF MOVING IN THE WATER is suggested for expressions relating to the domain of OCEAN WATER. This paper looks at their examples in detail and compares the Chinese data with their analysis. Working within the Conceptual Mapping (CM) Model (Ahrens, 2002), this paper proposes while the source and target domains may be similar across different languages, the linguistic expressions that are mapped in each language can differ within each language. These differences in mappings can be captured using the CM Model by postulating a Mapping Principle for the source- target domain mapping. 124 2� The Conceptual …

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