Metaphors of Economic Risk: Use of investment and gamble in Contemporary American Contexts

“投資”與“賭博”：美語的經濟隱喻

10.29960/SIC.200912.0002

許富貴(Richard Konopka)；謝菁玉(Hsieh Shelley Ching-Yu)

語料庫研究 ； 概念隱喻 ； 經濟用語 ； 股市 ； corpus research ； conceptual metaphor ； economic expressions ； stock market

國際文化研究

5卷2期（2009 / 12 / 01）

21 - 47

英文

語料庫可以呈現特定用語的文化用途和它所產生的意義(Fillmore, 1992)。而概念化隱喻經證實是與人的思想、文化相輔相成的(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980)。本文旨在研究美語的股市隱喻，來看其背景以及其中的概念隱喻，主要探討的是兩個在表面上矛盾的觀點：「股市為賭博」和「股市為投資」。我們的研究問題是：(1)「投資」及「賭博」兩者之間有哪些相似及相異之處可以影響支配股市相關概念的概念隱喻？(2)美語語境的概念隱喻如何隨著時間而改變？語料來源是當代美語語料庫(Corpus of Contemporary American English)(Davies and Brigham Young University, 2008)及股市分析家通訊(Motley Fool Stock Advisor Newsletter)(Ralph, 2008)。我們認為這種二分法是由兩種概念隱喻所構成的：『時間是金錢』以及『金錢如流水』，後者用來描述「投資」及「賭博」的真實例子，前者則應用於與股市相間的抽象例子。研究結果顯示「股市為投資」以及「股市為賭博」這兩個概念隱喻的次類在不同時期有不同活躍的表現：(a)使人知道股市中的「時間」與「距離」。(b)區分股市中「測量」與「包含」的觀念。

Corpora can identify cultural-based uses and meanings of words (Fillmore, 1992); these word meanings that constitute thought are the result of conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980); some number of conceptual metaphors are responsible for the dual interpretation found in American culture of stocks being an investment as well as a gamble; the authors believe two conceptual metaphors TIME IS MONEY and MONEY IS A LIQUID generally govern this dichotomy and can expose the two sub-categorical conceptual metaphors argued to be present, THE STOCK MARKET IS AN INVESTMENT and THE STOCKMARKET IS A GAMBLE. This is revealed through the study of two corpora, the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (Davies and Brigham Young University, 2008) and the Motley Fool Stock Advisor Newsletter (SA) (Ralph, 2008). The concepts behind these perceptions of equity markets are explored thus: shared synonyms of gamble and investment are determined; the metaphorical background of relevant conceptual metaphors is stated along with metaphor examples; shared synonym and related word frequencies, their connotations in relation to investment's, and collocations deriving from these relevant conceptual metaphors are found in SA; these shared synonyms, related words, and collocates are sought in COCA; finally, their distribution and frequencies are compared and interpreted. The paper finds that THE STOCK MARKET IS AN INVESTMENT and THE STOCK MARKET IS A GAMBLE are active for different purposes, each can: 1) make concepts of 'time' and 'distance' regarding the stock market known; 2) make distinctions of 'measurement' and 'containment' about the stock market.

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