"Avoid metaphor and metonymy if you want to write clearly and effectively" Discuss, using examples from recent texts to illustrate your answer.

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Melanie Darwood, 95152482

Written Discourse Analysis, ELF 601

Assessed Assignment 3:

“Avoid metaphor and metonymy if you want to write clearly and effectively.”

Discuss, using examples from recent texts to illustrate your answer.

Word count:  2032

The use of metaphor, either verbally, or in written discourse, to describe scenes & explain events in the world around us is very common, its use enables us to understand & experience one type of thing within the conditions & terms of another, whereas metonymy is the use of one entity to refer to another that is related to it, & includes ‘synecdoche’ where the part stands for the whole, Lakoff & Johnson, (1980:36).

According to Lakoff & Johnson, (1980: ix) metaphor is ever-present, in language, as well as thought & action. They, along with Pinker, (1997: 352 et seq) perceive human thought processes to be metaphorical in nature; Pinker also suggests that some metaphorical concepts have grown to be so common, across the whole range of speech acts & other events that we experience, that they are no longer recognisable to the layman as metaphorical expressions, so entrenched within our everyday language use have they become. According to this insight into metaphor, it can be seen as one of the principal methods by which language evolves, Jaynes, (1990), moreover, repetition of a metaphor can bring it into ordinary language, eventually warranting a dictionary entry.

As metaphor is so deeply rooted within our everyday language use, it would be surprising if written discourse was free of metaphorical expression. In fact, on reading through various types of texts, very few, if any, can be said to be totally free of metaphor &/or metonymy, even those texts written by ‘realists’ who abhorred metaphor, such as Hobbes & Locke, were littered with it, Chandler, (2001). Although many examples of metaphor are not immediately obvious as such, this is generally because they have become so familiar, so prevalent, within everyday language use that they have ceased to be seen as metaphor; the connotations of these metaphorical expressions are clear because of their familiarity.

We often resort to metaphor when we encounter something unknown, or perceive something that is difficult to comprehend or communicate, according to Jaynes, (1990) we integrate these experiences to ’schemas’ that are already available to us, which we adapt to cope with these new experiences. To quote Jaynes, (1990: 52) “Understanding a thing is to arrive at a metaphor for that thing by substituting something more familiar to us.” From this, it could be said that if one were to attempt communication of something new or complex, without the use of metaphor, then this lack of familiar reference could inhibit comprehension, that, in fact, metaphor can increase the efficiency & intelligibility of a text.

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In agreement with Lakoff & Johnson, among others, it would seem that the use of metaphor is so deeply rooted within our system of communication that it would be difficult to describe anything, either verbally, or through written discourse, without the use of metaphor, in fact, it could be said that the use of metaphor enhances the understanding of a text, adds to the significance of what is being communicated, by referring to easily understood previously

known concepts, especially when attempting to convey new information. The additional descriptive information that is established with the use of metaphor can ...

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