Critical discourse analysis and social cognition: evidence from business media discourse

Abstract

reconciling Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and cognitive linguistics, particularly metaphor research. Although the two disciplines are compatible, efforts to discuss metaphor as a cognitive phenomenon have been scarce in the CDA tradition. By contrast, cognitive metaphor research has recently developed to emphasize the embodied, i.e. neural, origins of metaphor at the expense of its sociodiscursive impact. This article takes up the concept of social cognition, arguing that it organizes the modification of, and access to, cognitive resources, with metaphoric models playing a particularly salient role in the constitution of ideology. In a cyclical process, ideology will help particular models gain prominence in discourse, which will, in turn, impact on cognition. To illustrate the point, the article draws on an extensive corpus of business magazine texts on mergers and acquisitions, showing how that particular discourse centres on an ideologically vested metaphoric model of evolutionary struggle. K E Y W O R D S : business media discourse, CDA, cognitive linguistics, metaphor, social cognition A RT I C L E 199Critical discourse analysis and social cognition: evidence from business media discourse Downloaded from discourse and, by extension, metaphor as constitutive of sociocultural relations, one of the clearest manifestations of power is the possibility to control discourse and hence cognition, e.g. by 'a coherent network of [metaphoric] entailments that highlight some features of reality and hide others' (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 157). The empirical analysis will show how such metaphoric entailment is reflected in chains across texts. It is this early, rather critical approach to the social and cognitive aspects of metaphor that led Eubanks (2000: 25) to rightly state that the 'connection between the cognitive and the cultural is the greatest strength of cognitive metaphor theory'. However, critical views on sociocultural aspects of metaphor seem to have waned significantly in cognitive semantics; although the notion of metaphor being socioculturally grounded never quite disappears in the literature, it seems to be pushed to the background. This development continues in more recent cognitive accounts of metaphor. Whereas Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 156-63) still elaborate on the reasons why metaphors are used for selective representation, Grady et al. (1999: para. 33) state only that 'what started out [. . .] as some individual's [. . .] conceptual achievement has become a shared, entrenched conceptualization, presumably because [it] proved successful for some purpose ' (1999: para. 72). Yet, what exactly that purpose might be is not included in the authors' summary of cognitive metaphor theory's agenda. Thus, integrated critical and cognitive research into metaphor is also 'an area that warrants much greater exploration' (Eubanks, 2000: 25). Clearly, investigating the origins and structures of metaphor, but not the effects and purposes of metaphor usage is only half the story, and approaches like the neuro...

Conceitos De Identidade Surda No Discurso Midiático Sobre a Inclusão Educativa Na Alemanha

“…Entre outras, existe uma tendência notável à Linguística Cognitiva (LC) (AUTOR, 2015;CHARTERIS-BLACK, 2004;HART, 2010HART, , 2014KOLLER, 2005;O'HALLORAN, 2003), aplicando, por exemplo, a teoria do frame (FILLMORE, 1982), dos espaços mentais (FAUCONNIER, 1994), da integração conceitual (FAUCONNIER; TURNER, 2002) ou das metáforas conceituais (LAKOFF; JOHNSON, 1980). Posto que definimos a identidade coletiva como um construto discursivo baseado em conhecimentos e saberes, percebemos que a LC destina-se, entre outras, à questão da cognição social (CASTRO zAMBRANO, 2015).…”

UM ESTUDO SEMIÓTICO DAS ESTRATÉGIAS NARRATIVAS DA REVISTA EXAME ACERCA DAS COMUNIDADES VIRTUAIS DOI - 10.5752/P.1984-6606.2015v15n38p86

“…(SPINK, 2004, p. 136) Contribuindo com a discussão acerca das revistas de negócios como produtos sociais, Koller (2005) Ainda de acordo com Koller (2005), esses discursos são mediados e controlados por canais como relatórios anuais, depoimentos e entrevistas que acabam por redobrar o poder econômico e político das corporações que controlam o acesso às suas informações, por exemplo, concedendo acesso preferencial aos jornalistas credenciados pelas próprias empresas para participarem de conferências de imprensa e entrevistas pré-agendadas com seus executivos. Como resultado, grande parte dos leitores das revistas somente tem acesso às informações por meio de filtros como estes (KOLLER, 2005).…”

“…Como ressaltado anteriormente, o fato de algumas publicações brasileiras, como a revista Exame, adquirirem maior importância como canal legitimador de práticas sociais não diminui a importância do discurso coletivo da mídia e de suas relações com outras expressões do discurso empresarial (SIQUEIRA; FREITAS, 2006;KOLLER, 2005), como a publicidade e a propaganda. Em função da aceitação ou não do contrato fiduciário entre destinador e destinatário, são observados os desfechos das narrativas, nos quais o destinatário pode ser sancionado positivamente ou negativamente.…”

The Therapeutic Function of Metaphor: the Case of Emotions in the Croatian Public Discourse

“…However, the commenter is not a stakeholder in the political discussion, and it is difficult to say that his/her statement will become part of the same metaphorical power struggle or persuasive political discourse (e.g. Musolff 2004;Koller 2005;Charteris-Black 2011) as that of the "more powerful" participants (such as politicians or journalists). Other commenters of the same article do not seem to take notice of this or the other comments.…”

“…Our analysis of the non-metaphorical and metaphorical comments to a single article shows that although they may refer to the content appearing in the lead article, the commenters do not conceptually refer to each other's comments. Even when ingenious deliberate blends are used to refer to the situation, normally a prime target for negotiation and persuasion in the public discourse (Musolff 2004;Koller 2005; Charteris-Black 2011), they do not encourage further elaborations or negotiations. One reason for this may be the affordance of the comment feature, which is not conducive to dialogue.…”