Metaphor in specialist discourse

How Metaphors Guide, Teach and Popularize Science

“…Most monographs and edited volumes focus on metaphor in science conduct, neglecting science pedagogy and popularization (e.g., Ervas, Gola & Rossi, 2017;Nerlich, Elliott & Larson, 2009). 1 The few books that include science popularization or science pedagogy either do not take into account new methodological developments in metaphor analysis (e.g., or are not exclusively devoted to science discourses, reporting on specialist discourse in general (e.g., Herrmann & Sardinha, 2015, which, interestingly, besides science and other technical subjects, includes metaphor in football radio commentary).…”

“…So entrenched is this example of metaphor that, without it, scientific measurements could hardly be communicated at all. -Third, including the above and much else, there is a general interest in metaphor in science that continues unabated, particularly in the most recent works (e.g., Ervas, Gola & Rossi, 2017;Herrmann & Sardinha, 2015). However, as Cameron observes in the preface of Hermann and Sardinha's (2015) volume, it is vital to a deeper exploration of metaphor in scientific discourse to take into account an important shift of metaphor studies, namely, to a more discourse-based point of departure (cf.…”

“…To this end, Halliday's three meta-functions of language are usually quoted (see e.g. Herrmann, 2013;: Halliday (1973Halliday ( , 1978 differentiates between the interpersonal, the ideational, and the textual function. According to the interpersonal function of metaphors, a phrase can be understood as an interactive 'event' , where "the speaker adopts for himself a particular speech role, and in doing so assigns to the listener a complementary role which he wishes him to adopt in his turn" (Halliday, 1994, p. 68).…”

“…Hans Blumenberg (1960Blumenberg ( , 1983Blumenberg ( , 1998 was one of the earliest protagonists, presenting diachronic cultural studies of core metaphors and their broader cultural use in the fields in medicine and biology. As public texts of these fields show, the structural function and the pedagogical function of a text often go hand in hand to explain theories to lay audiences (Herrmann, 2013). Describing the use of metaphors in texts on ant colonies, Goatly found that the notion of "ants as an 'army'" help to organize the whole text (Goatly, 1997, p. 163).…”

“…When new technology needs to be explained to a lay audience by means of illustration and modeling, this often comes in combination with humor and mostly aims at convincing the audience of the benefits of this technology Herrmann, 2013). We find such a situation whenever new technology is presented to the public with the aim of a discursive change in favor of these developments, as for instance the introduction of alternative energy, green revolution, education reform or space exploration.…”