This contribution applies Steen’s (e.g., 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017a,b) notion of ‘deliberate metaphor’ to authentic language data from US-American academic lectures. The analysis of excerpts from these data demonstrates several problems with the concept of deliberate metaphor and its proposed ‘identification procedure’ (Reijnierse 2017, Reijnierse et al. 2018). As the analysis shows, problems in distinguishing deliberate from non-deliberate metaphors are posed by metaphorical technical terms, the assumption of ‘idealized language users’ inherent in the identification procedure of deliberate metaphors, and the dynamics of discourse. Thus, while in its current state, deliberate metaphor can draw our attention to important uses of striking metaphors, it appears to be inadequate for the analysis of less striking cases of metaphor whose use in particular discourse contexts nevertheless suggests important communicative functions for part of the participants.
This final chapter uses the metaphor characteristics set forth in the introductory chapter to comment on the individual studies reported here. Where the introductory chapter describes the principles of modern metaphor research that promise to improve access to science, this chapter highlights the actual application of these principles as found in the chapters of this book. When we focus on key requirements of scientific inquiry – description, explanation, and prediction – metaphor is found to be both very helpful and sometimes to pose difficulties. Such results are reviewed here, with discussions intended to benefit scientists, communicators, and metaphor scholars.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.