THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC METAPHOR IN ENGINEERING DISCOURSE (BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE MISSING MANUAL)
The article presents one of the marginal genres of engineering discourse, the Missing Manual, in the aspect of its metaphorical organization. The results of the analysis have shown that a set of metaphors can be identified in the Missing Manual, namely: the anthropomorphic metaphors that are connected with the anthropocentric paradigm; time and space metaphors that are identified on the basis of semantic features as the humans and everything that surrounds them cannot exist outside of temporal and spatial coordinates; conceptual metaphors that are considered as theoretical constructs that differ in degree of abstraction. The special attention in the article is devoted to the anthropomorphic metaphors which represent various devices as possessing physical and mental abilities, personal attributes, parts of the body, etc. By the example of the Missing Manual it has been demonstrated that the necessity and importance of metaphors in the given text-type depend on two factors: pragmatic goal and functional stylistic status of the Missing Manual. The authors conclude that metaphors in the discussed genre perform two core functions, i.e. the function of gaining consumers’ affection and the function of exerting control over the formation of consumers’ notion of some devices which can have an impact on their decision-making.
Keywords: engineering discourse, Missing Manual genre, functions of metaphors, anthropomorphic metaphor, metaphorical model
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Issue: 6, 2016
Series of issue: Issue 6
Rubric: DISCOURSE LINGUISTICS
Pages: 86 — 89
Downloads: 772