Metaphor Annotation Criteria: A Step towards Building a Metaphor Corpus

Document Type : Research

Author

Ph.D. Student in General Linguistics, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Due to the development of smart devices, the ability of computers to understand human language has become a key issue in technology. By learning and analyzing machine-readable, annotated linguistic data, computers are able to comprehend human language (corpus). Corpora plays a crucial role in helping computers comprehend human language. Metaphor is one of the most complicated linguistic data that computers cannot comprehend. Despite the prevalence of metaphor in everyday language use and the importance of identifying it, no corpus has been published for Persian yet. Compiling a corpus of Persian metaphors is the initial step in learning metaphors for computers.
To compile a corpus of Persian metaphors, it is necessary to meet two main criteria. Deciding the best definition is the first prerequisite. The best definition is both comprehensive and applicable; comprehensive in the sense that it covers a significant proportion of metaphorical instances, and applicable in the sense that it could be used to build a corpus. The second requirement is the construction of a method for metaphor identification. Without a straightforward data annotation method, it is impossible to identify metaphors.

Keywords

References

  1. Afrashi, A. (2018). Metaphor and Cognition. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies. [In Persian].
  2. Afrashi, A., Assi, S. M., & Joulaei, K. (2015). Conceptual metaphors in Persian: A cognitive perspective and a corpus driven Analysis. Language Study, 6(12), 39–61. [In Persian].
  3. Ahmadi, A. (2010). Linguistic Metaphor Identification Using MIPVU. Pazand, 6(22 & 23), 7–17. [In Persian].
  4. Alayiaboozar, E., Pakniyat, N., Hojjatpanah, A., Zali, M., & Aghalooei, M. (2020). Pazhooheshname Corpus. Tehran: Irandoc. [In Persian].
  5. Aleahmad, A., Amiri, H., Darrudi, E., & Oroumchian, F. (2009). Hamshahri: A standard Persian text collection. Knowledge-Based Systems, 22, 382–387.
  6. Anvari, H. (2002). Sokhan Dictionary (Vol. 1–7). Tehran: Sokhan. [In Persian].
  7. Assi, S. M. (2019). Persian Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Tehran: Samt. [In Persian].
  8. Babaei, B. (2016). The story of “restless gaze and wandering eyes”. Retrieved from <http://khabgard.com/1770/> [In Persian].
  9. Black, M. (1993). More about metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed., pp. 19–41). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  10. Cameron, L. J. (1999). Operationalising ‘metaphor’ for applied linguistic research. In G. Low & L. J. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 3–28). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  11. Cameron, L. J. (2003). Metaphor in educational discourse. London: Continuum.
  12. Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus Approaches to Critical Metaphor Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
  13. Dabir-Moghaddam, M. (2014). Compound Verbs in Persian. In M. Dabir Mogaddam (ed.), Persian Linguistic Research Proceedings (pp. 149-199). Tehran: IUP. [In Persian].
  14. Deignan, A. (1999). Corpus-based research into metaphor. In G. Low & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 177–200). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  15. Dorst, A. G. (2011). Metaphor in Fiction: Language, Thought and Communication. Oisterwijk: Uitgeverij BoxPress.
  16. Farshi, V., Afrashi, A., Afkhami, A., & Karimi-Doostan, G. (2019). Conceptualization of Sadness In persian: A corpus-driven and Cognitive Approach. Journal of Comparative Linguistics, 9(17), 85–99. [In Persian].
  17. Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2002). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Books.
  18. Ghandi, S., & Torabi, M. H. (2016). Science Conceptual Metaphors in Persian Based on PLDB Corpus. Proceeding of The 1st National Cognitive Semantics Conference, 173–199. [In Persian].
  19. Gibbs, R. W. (1999). Researching metaphor. In G. Low & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 29–47). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  20. Glucksberg, S., & Keysar, B. (1990). Understanding metaphorical comparisons: Beyond similarity. Psychological Review, 97(1), 3–18.
  21. Goatly, A. (1997). The language of metaphors. London & New York: Routledge.
  22. Golfam, A., Assi, S. M., Aghagolzadeh, F., & Yousefi Rad, F. (2009). Analysis of Preposition (az) in Cognitive Semantics Framework and Comparing with The Traditional Approach. Language and Linguistics, 5(10), 69–80. [In Persian].
  23. Golshaie, R., Golfam, A., Assi, S. M., & Aghagolzadeh, F. (2014). A Corpus-based Evaluation of Conceptual Metaphor Theory’s Assumptions: The Case of “ARGUMENT IS WAR” Metaphor in Persian. LRR, 5(1), 223–247. [In Persian].
  24. Hawkes, T. (1972). Metaphor. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
  25. Herrmann, J. B. (2013). Metaphor in academic discourse: Linguistic forms, conceptual structures, communicative functions and cognitive representations. Utrecht: LOT.
  26. Herrmann, J. B., Woll, K., & Dorst, A. G. (2019). Linguistic metaphor identification in German. In S. Nacey, A. G. Dorst, T. Krennmayr, & W. G. Reijnierse (Eds.), Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research (Vol. 22, pp. 114–135). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  27. Hills, D. (2017). Metaphor. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/metaphor/
  28. Joulaei, K., & Hemmati, T. (2018). Conceptual Metaphors and Tropes in The National Media Advertising; A Cognitive and Figurative Approach. IRIB Research, 24(92), 55–71. [In Persian].
  29. Khanzade, M., & Razavian, H. (2013). Polysemy of the Spatial Prepositions in Persian Based on Cognitive Semantics (Master’s Thesis). Semnan University. [In Persian].
  30. Kövecses, Z. (2008). Conceptual metaphor theory: Some criticisms and alternative proposals. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 6, 168–184.
  31. Kövecses, Z. (2016). Conceptual metaphor theory. In E. Semino & Z. Demjén (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaphor and Language. Routledge.
  32. Krennmayr, T. (2011). Metaphor in newspapers (PhD Thesis - Research VU Amsterdam, graduation VU Amsterdam). LOT.
  33. Krennmayr, T., & Steen, G. (2017). VU Amsterdam Metaphor Corpus. In N. Ide & J. Pustejovsky (Eds.), Handbook of Linguistic Annotation (pp. 1053–1071). Springer Netherlands.
  34. Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed., pp. 202–251). Cambridge University Press.
  35. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
  36. Low, G. (1999). Validating metaphor research projects. In G. Low & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 48–66). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  37. n.n. (n.d.). Metaphor In Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/metaphor
  38. Mirzaei, A. (2015). Every Verb, An Eventual Reality: Persian Verb System. Dastoor, 11, 57–92. [In Persian].
  39. Mirzaei, A. (2019). Semantic and Grammatical Functions of Preposition “az” in Persian. Language and Linguistics, 15(29), 21–38. [In Persian].
  40. Mokhtari, Sh., & Rezaei, H. (2013). The Semantic Network of the Preposition “ba” in Persian: A Congnitive Study. Journal of Linguistics and Khorasan Dialects, 5(2), 73–94. [In Persian].
  41. Nacey, S., Dorst, A. G., Krennmayr, T., & Reijnierse, W. G. (Eds.). (2019a). Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the world (Vol. 22). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  42. Nacey, S., Greve, L., & Johansson Falck, M. (2019b). Linguistic metaphor identification in Scandinavian. In S. Nacey, A. G. Dorst, T. Krennmayr, & W. G. Reijnierse (Eds.), Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research (Vol. 22, pp. 138–158). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  43. Nacey, S., Krennmayr, T., Dorst, A. G., & Reijnierse, W. G. (2019c). What the MIPVU protocol doesn’t tell you (even though it mostly does). In S. Nacey, A. G. Dorst, T. Krennmayr, & W. G. Reijnierse (Eds.), Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research (Vol. 22, pp. 42–67). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  44. Ortony, A. (1993). Metaphor, language, and thought. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed., pp. 1–16). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  45. Pasma, T. (2011). Metaphor and register variation (PhD Thesis - Research VU Amsterdam, graduation VU Amsterdam). In The personalization of Dutch news discourse. Uitgeverij BoxPress.
  46. Pasma, T. (2019). Linguistic metaphor identification in Dutch. In S. Nacey, A. G. Dorst, T. Krennmayr, & W. G. Reijnierse (Eds.), Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research (Vol. 22, pp. 92–112). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  47. Pragglejaz Group. (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39.
  48. Raiisi, F., Afrashi, A., NematZadeh, S., & Moghadasin, M. (2020). Conceptual Metaphors of time in Persian: A cognitive and Corpus-based Approach. Journal of Western Iranian Languages and Dialects, 8(1), 15–29. [In Persian].
  49. Razavian, H., & Khanzade, M. (2014). Polysemy of the Preposition “be” in Persian Based on Cognitive Semantics. Journal of Western Iranian Languages and Dialects, 2(7), 57–79. [In Persian].
  50. Rostambeik Tafreshi, A., & Amiri, M. A. (2019). Critical Analysis of LOVE Metaphor in Persian Lyrics: A Corpus-Based Approach. Zabanpazhuhi (Journal of Language Research), 11(30), 73–98. [In Persian].
  51. Safavi, K. (2017). Metaphor. Elmi. [In Persian].
  52. Shamsfard, M., Hesabi, A., Fadaei, H., Mansoory, N., Famian, A., & Bagherbeigi, S. (2010, January 1). Semi Automatic Development Of FarsNet: The Persian Wordnet. Proceedings of 5th Global WordNet Conference (GWA2010).
  53. Steen, G. J. (1999). Metaphor and discourse: Towards a linguistic checklist for metaphor analysis. In G. Low & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 81–104). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge Core.
  54. Steen, G. J. (2007). Finding metaphor in grammar and usage: A methodological analysis of theory and research. John Benjamins Pub. Co.
  55. Steen, G. J. (2016). Identifying metaphors in language. In E. Semino & Z. Demjén (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaphor and Language. Routledge.
  56. Steen, G. J., Biernacka, E. A., Dorst, A. G., Kaal, A. A., Lopez Rodriguez, I., & Pasma, T. (2010a). Pragglejaz in practice: Finding metaphorically used words in natural discourse. Human Cognitive Processing, 26.
  57. Steen, G. J., Dorst, A. G., Herrmann, J. B., Kaal, A. A., & Krennmayr, T. (2010b). A method for linguistic metaphor identification: From MIP to MIPVU. Amesterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co.
  58. Zoorvarz, M., Afrashi, A., & Assi, S. M. (2013). Happiness conceptual metaphors in Persian: A cognitive corpus-driven approach. 5(9), 49–72. [In Persian]

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics