The purpose of this study was to complete a series of photographs utilizing trees as metaphors. This series of photographs is composed into book form for possible publication. It presents the psychological and symbolic impact of trees in different environments and from different perspectives through the development of a unique style of creative composition. The format consists of text and photographs. This project develops a working definition of metaphors and an approach using trees as the medium to convey various symbolic and psychological references. Both associated and inferred types of symbolisms are used. This type of approach is not necessarily unique and has been evidenced in the work of such "populist" poets as Robert Frost and the late photographer-poet Gordon Parks. With the basic inventory of symbols and psychological reference associations, whole trees, parts of trees, and/or groups of trees are identified to illustrate through the photographic medium that metaphors do indeed exist and can be found in trees. Photographs are produced, edited and composed to produce not only pleasing aesthetics, but also to provide continuity throughout the series. Photographs vary in size, shape, contrast, and composition to provide variation in the format.

This study has designed to test whether or not the use of metaphors affects audience recall and retention of news. The study is designed to test the hypotheses that metaphors help the reader recall a greater amount of information immediately after exposure (i.e., short-term memory, identified in this study as recall), and that metaphors aid in a greater amount of information retained at a later date (i.e., long-term memory, identified in this study as retention). Recall and retention help demonstrate whether or not metaphors promote reader understanding and remembering of facts in news stories better than in stories that do not use metaphors or images.The methodology of this study consisted of two tests in which subjects answered open-ended questions to see if the presence of metaphors aided in retention and recall of information. Two versions of a newspaper story with identical news were presented. The metaphor story contained one primary metaphorical image which ran continuously throughout the story. The nonmetaphor story featured no manipulation by the researcher. The first test measured the amount of information recalled immediately after exposure to a given story. The second test took place five days after the initial exposure.Using a MANOVA repeated measures design, the researcher found a difference between the metaphor and nonmetaphor variables and significant difference between the recall and retention variables, but no interaction between all of the independent variables. Therefore, this study did not support the hypothesis that news stories with metaphors aid in both recall (short-term memory) and retention (long-term memory) of information. / Department of Journalism

This research is a further step towards a crosslinguistic generalization concerning the metaphor cluster called the Event Structure Metaphor (ESM). Cognitive linguists (e.g. Lakoff 1990; 1993; Lakoff & Johnson 1980; 1999) have speculated that ESM, among other conceptual metaphors, may be a candidate for a metaphorical universal because of its universal experiential motivation.In ESM, various aspects of events, such as STATES, CHANGES, PROCESSES, ACTIONS, CAUSES, PURPOSES, DIFFICULTIES, and MEANS are systematically conceptualized in terms of the concrete concepts of space, motion, and force. This study investigates whether ESM, with its OBJECT-LOCATION duality, exists in Arabic, just as it does in English, Chinese, and Hungarian, and whether Arabic exhibits the same or different submappings as those realized in English, hence same or different patterns of metaphorical abstract reasoning. Investigating the existence of ESM in Arabic, a language from yet another linguistic family, should provide more insight into the nature of ESM and its potential universality.This study suggests that metaphor in general is central to the comprehension of abstract and complex concepts. ESM, in particular, is found to be generally manifested in Arabic as well. The notions incorporated in ESM seem to be systematically conceptualized in Arabic and English in the same way; in general, they are comprehended in terms of the concrete, image-schematic concepts of space, motion, and force. Further, the study suggests that speakers of different languages appear to have similar cognitive structures, especially at the higher, generic levels of the inheritance hierarchy. However, as conceptualizations move down the hierarchy, they may diverge crosslinguistically so as to reflect culture-specific models.The potentially universal conceptualizations are a consequence of the sensorimotor, image-schematic experience that is common to all human-beings, and which is bound to surface linguistically in the same way at the higher, generic levels. This research, therefore, strengthens earlier claims about the potential universality of ESM. / Department of English

The aim of this thesis is to discover the cognitive role of Plato's metaphors for the gods and the soul; that is, what part they play in the expression and elucidation of his philosophical theories and arguments. I maintain that these metaphors are primarily illustrative and persuasive; that they serve both to illuminate certain concepts and ideas and to persuade the reader into accepting them as true. But I also believe that in very particular circumstances, that is, in the formulation of radically new theories, Plato uses metaphors to develop and to express ideas for which no literal terms already exist. In Part I the cognitive role of metaphor is discussed. Three modern views (the Epistemic, Non-Informative and Illustrative) are set out and compared both to Aristotle's account of metaphor and to Plato's comments on the philosophical significance of figurative language. Part II opens with a discussion of the role of metaphor in theology, embracing both modern perspectives and the views of Plato. The various groups of metaphors for the gods are examined and three passages from the dialogues are analysed in detail, showing how metaphors can function as very effective instruments of persuasion. In Part III the debate turns to Plato's metaphors for the soul. First I argue against the view that Plato's soul myths provide, or were intended to provide, special cognitive access to the soul. Second 1 examine the significance of metaphors for the immortality of the soul, the soul/body relationship and for the inner nature of the tripartite soul. Finally I offer a new interpretation of the development and rhetorical significance of the metaphor of spiritual pregnancy in the Symposium.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Entertainment news is one of the most popular forms of online news in contemporary China. It serves not only to convey information about the entertainment industry and its products, but also to entertain its readers. Metaphor, a salient linguistic feature of this news genre, is the object of investigation in this study. Adopting an adapted version of Charteris-Black’s (2004, 2005) model of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) as the analytical framework, this study aims to demonstrate that metaphors are a powerful linguistic means of explaining and embellishing abstract concepts, an ideological tool for describing and evaluating people and situations in discourse, and a conceptual force that both reflects and potentially influences people’s perception of their world. This study also shows that China’s changing media ecology has affected the way that metaphors emerge into discourse, are communicated, and interact with each other. I argue that when used in a specific context, metaphor is at once linguistic, rhetorical, affective and conceptual; it emerges from, and may mediate in the dynamic interaction of cognition and communication, as well as reflecting physical and socio-cultural experience. This argument is supported by a three-step investigation in which the taxonomy, the use, the rhetorical purpose and potential effects of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news are analysed. The findings are based on the exploration of a general corpus of Chinese online entertainment news: 1016 full-length news items, totalling 856,374 Chinese characters, collected from May to June in 2007 in online news sources from China. Popular source domains of metaphors (war, martial arts, fire, wind, etc.) and target domains (conflict, celebrity, etc.) are identified, as well as the patterns of interaction and the functions of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news. In a second step, the significance of these metaphorical domains (e.g. war, fire, etc.) is compared across three news genres: entertainment, sports and political news. This is an attempt a) to identify the genre-specific metaphors, and b) to determine the reasons that contribute to the preferences for using particular types of metaphors across sub-genres. In a third step, a case study of a popular Chinese TV talent show Super Girl is presented. It discusses metaphors and their semantic associations constructed in and through the Internet media’s coverage of this activity, and reveals how the choice of metaphors reflects the different interests and ideologies of three distinctive groups of people: the entertainment news media, some high-ranking officials, and audience members who comment online. The study concludes with a call for increasing our awareness of and critical stance towards the impact of entertainment news and its use of metaphor.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Entertainment news is one of the most popular forms of online news in contemporary China. It serves not only to convey information about the entertainment industry and its products, but also to entertain its readers. Metaphor, a salient linguistic feature of this news genre, is the object of investigation in this study. Adopting an adapted version of Charteris-Black’s (2004, 2005) model of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) as the analytical framework, this study aims to demonstrate that metaphors are a powerful linguistic means of explaining and embellishing abstract concepts, an ideological tool for describing and evaluating people and situations in discourse, and a conceptual force that both reflects and potentially influences people’s perception of their world. This study also shows that China’s changing media ecology has affected the way that metaphors emerge into discourse, are communicated, and interact with each other. I argue that when used in a specific context, metaphor is at once linguistic, rhetorical, affective and conceptual; it emerges from, and may mediate in the dynamic interaction of cognition and communication, as well as reflecting physical and socio-cultural experience. This argument is supported by a three-step investigation in which the taxonomy, the use, the rhetorical purpose and potential effects of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news are analysed. The findings are based on the exploration of a general corpus of Chinese online entertainment news: 1016 full-length news items, totalling 856,374 Chinese characters, collected from May to June in 2007 in online news sources from China. Popular source domains of metaphors (war, martial arts, fire, wind, etc.) and target domains (conflict, celebrity, etc.) are identified, as well as the patterns of interaction and the functions of metaphors in Chinese entertainment news. In a second step, the significance of these metaphorical domains (e.g. war, fire, etc.) is compared across three news genres: entertainment, sports and political news. This is an attempt a) to identify the genre-specific metaphors, and b) to determine the reasons that contribute to the preferences for using particular types of metaphors across sub-genres. In a third step, a case study of a popular Chinese TV talent show Super Girl is presented. It discusses metaphors and their semantic associations constructed in and through the Internet media’s coverage of this activity, and reveals how the choice of metaphors reflects the different interests and ideologies of three distinctive groups of people: the entertainment news media, some high-ranking officials, and audience members who comment online. The study concludes with a call for increasing our awareness of and critical stance towards the impact of entertainment news and its use of metaphor.

Thesis (MA--Art and Design) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2003. / Illustrations not included in e-thesis. Also held in print (21 leaves : col. ill. ; 30 cm. + 1 CD-ROM) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 709.93 FON)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2003. / Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 28, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

Proefschrift--Leiden, 1891.

Univ., Diss--Tucumán.