Figurative Language in Science Popularisation:Similes as an Explanatory Strategy in TED Talks

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of figurative language as one of the main features of TED (Technology

Disseminating knowledge: A discourse analysis of terrorism in TED talks

“…Audiences normally know what this action means. The use of common words breaks knowledge barriers between speakers and listeners (see e.g., Scotto Di Carlo, 2014 ) and, at the same time, supports the claim that formal definitions are “part of an academic culture” ( Kurland and Snow 1997 , 603), where they form an academic skill to explain social issues.…”

“…While metaphor is a functioning strategy in popularization discourse and a process to simplify ideas to a less informed audience (see e.g., Calsamiglia and van Dijk, 2004 ; Scotto Di Carlo, 2014 ), the metaphorical recontextualisation of terrorism as war makes the issue less popularized. War metaphor confuses the audience of the indirect approval of terrorism side effect of killing innocent people, when it is compared to that of war.…”

“…They appear passive speakers – inactively involved in the discussion using impersonal distal forms (cf. Scotto Di Carlo, 2014 ). The impersonal authoritative references, together with the use of war metaphor, highlights political communicative purpose of TED talks (cf.…”

“…This study, thus, shifts from the usual emphasis on political discourse in the analysis of terrorism (see e.g., Weinberg and Davis, 1989 ; Collins, 2002 ; Bhatia, 2009 ), and instead focuses on TED talks as a hybrid genre of popularization discourse (see e.g., Caliendo and Compagnone, 2014 ; Ludewig, 2017 ; Mattiello, 2017 ; Scotto Di Carlo, 2014 ). Popularization discourse seeks proximity with audiences to establish knowledge-based common ground between them and informants ( Hyland, 2010 ).…”

Popularizing science – Analyzing the presenter’s multimodal orchestration in a TED Talk

“…the scholarly interest in the generic features of ted talks tends to focus on its rhetorical structure (chang and Huang, 2015; Jiang, 2017) and microlinguistic features which help to achieve accessibility, engagement, and authority (compagnone, 2015;Mattiello, 2017Mattiello, , 2019scotto di carlo, 2014a, 2014b. For instance, based on Hyland's (2010) work on the author-reader relationship in popular science articles, scotto di carlo (2014b) studied the use of engagement techniques (evaluative and emotive adjectives, inclusive pronouns) in ted talks, and found those strategies were able to balance the expert and laypeople asymmetry and achieve audience involvement.…”