A Study of Metaphors Employed in the Bangkok Post Newspaper
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A STUDY OF METAPHORS EMPLOYED IN THE BANGKOK POST NEWSPAPER BY MR. JIRA HUTAMAN AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING LANGUAGE INSTITUTE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2018 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ A STUDY OF METAPHORS EMPLOYED IN THE BANGKOK POST NEWSPAPER BY MR. JIRA HUTAMAN AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING LANGUAGE INSTITUTE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2018 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ (i) Independent Study Paper Title A STUDY OF METAPHORS EMPLOYED IN THE BANGKOK POST NEWSPAPER Author Mr. Jira Hutaman Degree Master of Arts Major Field/Faculty/University English Language Teaching Language Institute Thammasat University Independent Study Paper Advisor Assistant Professor Upsorn Tawilapakul, Ph.D. Academic Year 2018 ABSTRACT A metaphor is considered as a rhetorical language that we normally use it as entertaining purposes. So, many researchers dedicate their time studying the language (Intawong, 2016 and Klinnamhom, 2008) In Thai educational culture, the metaphor is perceived as the subject that can promote the way people live and learn, so this inspires the researcher to look at its proportion and how it is used. Ultimately, the retrieved metaphor is used for developing the subject materials in the school lecture. In order to achieve these purposes, the theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) was employed as the basic consideration of the language and implemented to the 4 sections in the Bangkok Post newspaper. Consequently, the dry version was analysed based on the Goatly theory (1998) which categorized the language into 3 functions: ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual function. The results showed that the metaphor was mostly found in the Opinion section of the newspaper (53.66%) while it could be relatively seen in the straightforward statements of both General and Business sections (17.07%). The Travel section was the smallest location of the metaphor (12.20%). In the newspaper, majorities of the metaphor were used as the textual function aiming to create a new ideology and exaggerate the discourses (80.49%), and the rest was responsible as the substitutions of the new identities (19.51%). Keywords: metaphor in the newspaper, conceptual metaphor, cognitive linguistics Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ (ii) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This independent study is considered as the combination between my own effort and the others’ collaborations, regardless of their intentions. First of all, I would like to thank to my ex-professor from Burapha University, Dr. Thinan Nakaprasit, whose advice triggers my preference for studying with a newspaper. Without her help, this paper cannot even be started. Secondly, my appreciation would be heartfully offered to my adviser Asst. Prof. Dr. Upsorn Tawilapakul who teaches me both academic and life stuff. Her suggestions and encouragement allow me to step out of my comfortable zone, and give me a push for developing myself. Thirdly, I would like to thank to my friend Ajarn Jetsada Uchomputhong, whose advice provides me the cheerful motivation and creative ideas, and allows me to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I cannot continue this paper if there is not a support from my family, especially my dad, my brother, and my babysitter, who always stay by my side when I am in terrible and hopeless situations. Without these people, I cannot see myself finishing this paper. Most importantly, I would like to say thank you to myself that does not give up on many difficult challenges. Honestly speaking, many surrendering words are often floated in my head, but I still keep going until the success has come. Jira Hutaman January 2019 Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ (iii) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT (i) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (ii) LIST OF FIGURES (v) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background and Rationale 1 1.2 Research objectives 4 1.3 Research questions 4 1.4 Scope of the study 4 1.5 Significance of the study 4 1.6 Definition of terms 5 1.7 Limitations 5 1.8 Organizations of the study 5 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6 2.1 Metaphor: A subject of all-inclusives 6 2.2 Conceptual metaphor 9 2.3 Goatly’s function of Metaphors 11 2.4 Previous studies 13 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Materials 20 3.2 Procedures 20 Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ (iv) 3.3 Data analysis 21 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 23 4.1 Metaphor frequency 23 4.2 Metaphor functions 24 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 34 5.1 Summary of the study 34 5.2 Summary of the findings 34 5.3 Discussion 35 5.4 Conclusions 35 5.5 Recommendations 37 5.6 Pedagogical Recommendation 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES NEWS REPORTS IN THE GENERAL SECTION 43 NEWS REPORTS IN THE BUSINESS SECTION 63 NEWS REPORTS IN THE OPINION SECTION 99 NEWS REPORTS IN THE TRAVEL SECTION 125 Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ (v) LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page 1 Metaphorical expressions 10 2 Metaphor frequency 23 3 Metaphor functions 25 4 The frequency in General section 26 5 The frequency in Business section 28 6 The frequency in Opinion section 30 7 The frequency in Travel section 32 Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and Rationale Until the late 20th century, a metaphor was been solely regarded as a subject of decoration. The language technique has been long perceived by most people as a beautiful way to communicate, but we unconsciously use it as the central element for exchanging pieces of knowledge and thoughts in our daily lives (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). For instance, a British teacher gives a lecture for students in an English class, and some scientists are about to describe their investigations in international conferences. In these activities, the metaphor is floating in most situations of the discourses: e.g. the students are worms; you are the second Einstein. Considering the italicised words, the students tend to study as hard as the worm works which is substituted as a symbol of an enthusiastic identity; also, the person is as smart as the famous scientist Einstein. According to Siriwarin (2007), a metaphor is considered as the language pattern that possesses more than one definition; also, the comprehension of the meanings needs the combinations of previous knowledge and experiences of the individuals. The notion is supported by one of the most well-known metaphor theories of Lakoff and Johnson stating that we all perform and express metaphors through the beat of the heart. According to Lakoff and Johnson’s concept (1980, p.4), the theorists have reflected their ideological statements in the concept of “Argument is war”, “Your claims are indefensible. You attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on the target. I demolished his argument with him. I have never won an argument with him. You disagree? Okay, shoot! If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out. He shot down all of my argument.”. Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ 2 Similarly to the earlier examples, the discourse depicts the cooperation between two concepts of ‘argument’ and ‘war’. In this case, the concepts are explained in the form of the one we perceive or experience and the one we understand: source and target domains. As you can see above, the italic terms are used for expanding the concept of argument: claims, criticisms, and argument. For example, the writer employs the word indefensible, which represents the sense of war, f showing that the claims are considered as unacceptable. Another example also demonstrates that the argument like criticisms is experienced for understanding the abstract concept of war right on the target. However, it is not that simple detecting a metaphor in news articles, so it has triggered the interest of many researchers looking to study the journalistic ambiguity. For example, the study of Bangnogkhwag (2003) was conducted to explore metaphors on the front page of some newspapers, and Siriwarin’s study (2007) focused on the beauty of metaphor in business news. Also, some studies have aimed at investigating the structure of the news stories in other newspapers (Chuainu, 2009; Meksujit, 2002; Seawnoi, 2008). There are also studies which have been done on the usage of metaphors in various papers (Intawong, 2016 and Skorczynska and Deignan, 2006). Another study has been done on the animal idioms used in English texts where the main objective was to examine the concept retrieved from the languages (Boonsom, 2013). Considering the previous works, most studies do target the textual sources, but there are few of them tackling how the metaphors are used in their contexts. Thus, the previous lack of the investigation inspires the present study that is aimed at exploring the news reports in the Bangkok Post newspaper. In Thai educational culture, most students encounter the traditional way of learning, which is through activity called “Phasa Thai Wan La Kum”, referring to surface-level learning. In this activity, the students will be given a word or a statement, and they need to figure out its definition; e.g. the students in a room are asked to find the definition of the term ‘fish’. It is quite obvious that their answers will be written in predictable ways such as “the fish is an animal living in the water”, so the question here is what this contributes to their learning. However, a metaphor will be regarded as a center of stimulation, for its implications can be used for Ref. code: 25615921042155CIQ 3 generating numerous choices of thoughts from the students (Bangnogkwhag, 2003, p.8). The metaphor of water and fish implying abundant resources is retrieved from a context stating that Thailand has plenty of food and raw materials (the old Thai saying of “nai nam mee pla, nai na mee khao” - fish in the waters, rice in the fields)- which hails the country's abundance of food and natural resources (Bangkok Post, issued 11 June 2018).