Discourse dynamics and an emergent view of metaphor systematicity Lynne Cameron

Starting points Metaphor cannot be discretely analysed or understood through its linguistic, cognitive, socio-cultural parts because language, thought and culture are inextricably intertwined. A comprehensive theory of metaphor needs to combine different disciplinary perspectives to understand the total ecology of metaphor use. Cognition and language use unfold continuously in real time.

A dynamical view of language use Human language, thinking, action can best be understood as complex dynamical systems. agents /elements of many different types relations among agents / elements of many different types agents/ elements and relations among them are always changing the environment is part of the system system is open

Change in complex dynamical systems change can be continuous change can be sudden and dramatic – self-organisation; phase shifts emergence of new patterns of behaviour through phase shifts and self-organisation across timescales and levels that are stabilities with degrees of variability

A dynamical view of metaphor Metaphor performance is a ‘dynamic ensemble’ that does not exist separately from embodied language use, cognition, feelings and emotions, socio-cultural influences. It is not reducible to its linguistic, bodily, cognitive, affective, socio-cultural components, but is only explained by understanding how these components interact in real time = discourse dynamics (in analogy with reaching, Thelen and Smith 1994, p. 279)

interacting timescales and levels individuals in on-line discourse processing microgenetic

individuals across time individuals in on-line discourse processing ontogenetic

the discourse event mesogenetic

people as members of groups – across individuals socio-cultural groups

groups across time phylogenetic

Metaphor and Interacting scales in the dynamics of discourse the individual microgenetic ontogenetic phylogenetic linguistic metaphor the discourse event systematic metaphor socio-cultural groups metaphoreme conceptual metaphor primary metaphor

interacting scales and levels different scales have different types of elements and relations among elements therefore, need different types of investigation but, show similar types of system dynamics adaptive change self-organisation and emergence

The phenomena of metaphor in the microgenetic moment: process metaphor – metaphorically-processed language linguistic metaphor – language that has the potential for metaphorical processing across a discourse event: metaphor shifting systematic metaphor – set of connected linguistic metaphors framing metaphors – around key idea or theme metaphor clusters interplay of metaphor, metonymy and other figures, literal language at the socio-cultural, speech community level: metaphoreme conceptual metaphor primary metaphor across socio-cultural history, phylogenetic: metaphors reflecting change in society etymological metaphor

the microgenetic scale Neurological and physiological systems of language and cognitive resources in discourse context constrained by processing capacity driven by intersubjectivity and alterity

microgenetic metaphor process metaphor empirical event evidence would be neurological or explicit reference largely inaccessible from discourse data linguistic metaphor operationalisation of theoretical construct evidence is lexical accessible from discourse data

The discourse event level human systems, cognitive and linguistic resources, in interaction influenced by history, culture, gender… directed by discourse purposes affected by immediate past and future discourse

discourse event level: systematic metaphors sets of connected linguistic metaphors, collected and labelled across discourse event(s) emergent groupings temporary stabilisations, open to further change how to validate the psycholinguistic, socio- cultural reality of these?

discourse event level: metaphor clusters in reconciliation conversations emerge at scales of 5 intonation units and 20 intonation units indicate possible critical points in discourse, where something difficult is being done interpersonally or ideationally often involve interplay of several different metaphors (Cameron & Stelma, 2004)

Clusters of metaphors Using statistical analysis and visual display (reported in Cameron & Stelma, 2004). time Cluster

Example cluster Pat...(1.0) got a distorted picture of me. perhaps, I don't know... I don't know. Jo.. I think maybe they were just thinking, they wouldn't see a need to meet any of their victims. Patyeah yeah Jo.. and so they... therefore couldn't see why you would. Pat[hmh] Jo[and] I think it was more like that. Pat... hmh Joand they could see,... how from my healing journey, if I could build a bridge with you, that would...(1.0) help me. but they couldn't see perhaps there was even a need for a journey.

the socio-cultural group level multiple human systems in interaction in multiple discourse events constrained by group history, language resources, values, conventions the emergence of metaphoremes – bundles of stabilised (but flexible) features of affect, lexico-grammar, pragmatics

Now, I think that’s the trees. You’ve got a visual memory of what you saw... Now to actually get your trees right, what do you have to do? Look out of the window at THESE trees... to see how the branches and twigs grow out of the tree, and then go back to your memory of the tree that you’re trying to draw. Because that’s tended to, to look like a lollipop hasn’t it?

When I was a very young teacher and I kept saying to a little girl, will you please stop doing lollipop trees, and then I went to visit her home. And all along the street … the trees all looked like little lollipops …… moves to another student That’s super… The only thing that I’m going to criticise is.. Louise to herself : Lollipop trees (Cameron, 2003)

walk away from in conciliation talk (Cameron, 2007) Extract Patit was the republican movement, 1426it was the republican struggle. 1427Jo.. hmh 1428Patthat caused your pain. 1429but I can't walk away from the fact that it was (1.0) I was directly, 1431Jo[hmh] 1432Pat[responsible] too for that. 1433Jo.. [[hmh]] 1434Pat[[I can't]] hide behind the you know the sort of, 1437the bigger picture.

Extract I was at a pretty low ebb and I was actually at that stage er, (1.0) prepared to walk away from the struggle. 2616simply because I was er, (1.0) what X totally fatigued and mentally drained. Extract we thought, 2808they're never going to forgive (2.0) you know, 2810this is one job, 2811we'll not be able to walk away from. 2812and live a comfortable life again.

Extract that sense of er, 3297obligation to, 3298that you have to carry on you know, 3300you can't walk away from this (1.0) but there's there's so many republicans. 3303I know, 3304that are carrying that pain (1.0) and er it's --

Stabilities of form, content, affect used hypothetically to talk about action that could have been taken but wasn’t things that might have been walked away from were difficult, traumatic not walking away was the more difficult option verb not inflected adverb (simply, never) adds to sense of difficulty

socio-cultural group level: metaphoreme metaphoreme: …not walk away from… an emergent stability with variability in the dynamics of the language a bundle of stabilised features or preferences: lexico-grammatical, pragmatic, affective, cultural emerges through self-organisation of systems from microgenetic to discourse event and / or socio-cultural group levels evidence from discourse event and corpus (Cameron & Deignan, 2006)

socio-cultural group level: conceptual metaphor conceptual metaphor theoretical construct fixed, stable mapping between conceptual domains abstracted from language evidence primary metaphor theoretical construct abstracted from conceptual metaphor

the phylogenetic scale changes in social systems over time influenced by changing socio-cultural factors, political change, technological innovation reflected in language and ideas constrained by language and conceptual frameworks paradigm shifts

phylogenetic metaphors new metaphors for new situations emotional baggage etymological metaphors What then is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonymies, etc…which after long usage seem to a people fixed, canonical and binding. Nietzsche

Metaphor and Interacting scales in the dynamics of discourse the individual microgenetic ontogenetic phylogenetic linguistic metaphor the discourse event systematic metaphor socio-cultural groups metaphoreme conceptual metaphor primary metaphor

metaphor performance in face-to- face spontaneous talk socio-cultural group discourse event microgenetic

I’m trying to – I’m trying to put words to feelings, as they are coming to me, if you understand Pat Magee, meeting with Jo Berry, 2000 (Cameron, 2007)

talking-and-thinking ‘thinking for speaking’ a special kind of thinking carried out while speaking that is “intimately tied to language” (Slobin 1996: 75). at the microgenetic level, the nature of the specific language influences how actions can be thought about while speaking ‘talking-and-thinking-in-interaction’ (Cameron 2003)

The dynamics of talk language use is really a form of joint action. … It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners – or writers and readers – perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. Clark, 1996: 3.

Talk as dialogic The speaker breaks through the alien horizon of the listener, constructs his (sic) utterance on alien territory, against his, the listener’s, apperceptive background. Bakhtin 1981: 282

The ‘system’ emerges from the dialogic dynamics of use Language lives only in the dialogic interaction of those who make use of it. Bakhtin 1984: 183

microgenetic ~ discourse event level metaphor shifting dynamics of linguistic metaphor  fuzzy boundaries; spreading metaphoricity; shifting exploiting the flexibility of the metaphor Vehicle The introduction of Vehicle terms into the text seemed to create a kind of centrifugal cognitive force that opens up potentially endless links to other concepts … (Cameron, 2003: 191) Vehicle re-deployment use same Vehicle with different Topic Vehicle development repetition relexicalisation explication contrast (Cameron, in press)

microgenetic ~ discourse event interplay of metaphors, metonymy and literal language e.g. Vehicle literalisation through bridge terms Jo...(1.0) [and] I -- and I saw very clearly....(1.0) that the --.. the end of that journey, would be,.. sitting down and,... talking to the people who did it.

Pat:I’m sitting there beside the woman whose father I have killed and at that time I was sitting in this wee kitchen talking to this woman for the first time whose father’s dead (Cameron, 2007) sitting down as potent metonymy for meeting also with spaces, places, walking

A linguistic metaphor has a history and a future Perpetrator (Pat) – conversation 1 there’s always a price to pay for it. in terms of my humanity there’s always a price to pay for decisions like that Victim’s daughter (Jo) – conversation 2 665Jo[you] said that, (2.0) the price that er you paid, 668for taking up violence, 669was part partly losing some of your humanity

The discourse event level dynamics of price to pay the lexico-grammatical forms change as the conversations proceed: Pat:a price to pay Jo:the price that you paid Pat:that’s always had a price Pat:you’re going to come face-to-face with that price Pat:there’s a price Pat:but at what price? Pat:what price?

emerging systematic metaphor at discourse event level the price to pay + the bottom line + put a line under the past + there has to be some form of account taken + there’s no way of purging that debt  THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF TAKING UP VIOLENCE IS A PRICE TO PAY

emergent metaphoreme at socio-cultural group level price + pay metaphorical price + share, cut non-metaphorical price + high either (Deignan 2005: 207) constrains use at meso and micro scales affects socio-cultural patterns

Metaphor analysis in a dynamical perspective identify scales and levels of discourse that are contributing to your discourse data be clear about the particular metaphor phenomena that you are looking for select methods to fit scales expect change, fluidity, variability and have rigorous ways to deal with it be clear when you remove the dynamics look for emergence, self-organisation across scales don’t expect reducibility across scales