JoLIE
10:2/2017
METAPHORICAL CONCEPTUALISATIONS OF ECONOMY IN ROMANIAN AND BRITISH BUSINESS
PRESS [1]
Teodora
Popescu
1
Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Abstract
This article has emerged as part of the research project
titled “Universals and variants of English and Romanian business metaphors. A
corpus-based conceptual mapping of contemporary journalese”, financed by the
Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation
(CNCS-UEFISCDI). The whole research is based on the hypothesis that cognitive
metaphors are instantiations of cultural categories manifested in the language
spoken by the community that shares a common set of characteristics within a
given cultural matrix, and that metaphors clustered in cognitive categories
account for cultural categories, both in terms of conceptual universals and
variants, resulting in a complex mapping of interrelated cross-connections
(Popescu 2012, 2015a, 2015b). The current analysis will focus on
conceptualisations of economy as
they were identified in British and Romanian press. The research was carried
out on two corpora which were self-made and included newspapers such as: The
Economist, The Financial Times, The Guardian, and The Telegraph for
the British corpus; and Adevărul, Adevărul Financiar, Business
Magazin, Gândul, Capital, România Liberă and Ziarul Financiar for
the Romanian corpus.
Key words: Business metaphors; Conceptual
Metaphor Theory (CMT); Contemporary business journalese; Corpus-based approach;
Cultural variation; economy
conceptualisation.
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Online
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https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stutter
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/burgeoning
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/overheat
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fix#dataset-business-english
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/engine
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/emaciated
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/backbone
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/upset-the-apple-cart
DEX online:
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https://dexonline.ro/definitie/BATE
https://dexonline.ro/definitie/a%C8%99eza
https://dexonline.ro/definitie/bete%20in%20roate
WordNet
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Hofstede
Insights
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British
English corpus:
Abbreviations
used:
EC – The Economist
FT – The Financial Times
GU – The Guardian
TG – The Telegraph
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Europe’s banks are in decent
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Retrieved
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Fitter yet fragile. Ireland’s
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Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21569049-irelands-success-attracting-foreign-investment-has-its-drawbacks-fitter-yet
If America
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P. (2013, 8 August). UK economic growth will strengthen for rest of 2013, say experts. The Guardian. Retrieved July
27, 2016, from
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L., & Nardelli, A. (2015, July 2). IMF says Greece needs extra €60bn in funds and debt
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from
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Raising a half-full glass to Renzi. Businesspeople
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Straitened circumstances. Weaker
growth exposes the downside of ties with China.
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Romanian corpus:
Abbreviations
used:
AF – Adevărul financiar
BM – Business Magazin
CA – Capital
ZF – Ziarul financiar
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bagă bețe fiscale în roatele economiei. Capital. Retrieved from http://www.capital.ro/178193.html
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(2013, September 24). Numărul
de companii active, la cel mai ridicat nivel din 2009. Ziarul financiar.
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și economia reală. Capital.
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din cauza crizei. Ziarul financiar.
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http://www.zf.ro/eveniment/sidex-a-redevenit-gaura-neagra-de-la-privatizare-din-cauza-crizei-11702045
Lista
mândriei naționale: antreprenorii și managerii de succes din diaspora
românească. (2015, March 10). Adevărul financiar. Retrieved from http://adevarulfinanciar.ro/articol/lista-mandriei-nationale-antreprenorii-si-managerii-de-succes-din-diaspora-romaneasca/
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F. (2015, June 30). Ce au fost și ce-au ajuns – giganți ai Epocii de
Aur, între companii străine, subzistență la Stat și
investiții timide. Adevărul financiar. Retrieved from http://adevarulfinanciar.ro/articol/ce-au-fost-si-ce-au-ajuns-giganti-ai-epocii-de-aur-intre-companii-straine-subzistenta-la-stat-si-investitii-timide/
Medrega, C.
(2013, August 14). Exporturile
au susținut economia în primul semestru, dar din păcate consumul
și investițiile nu dau semne de revenire. Ziarul
financiar. Retrieved from
http://www.zfcorporate.ro/business-legal/exporturile-au-sustinut-economia-in-primul-semestru-dar-din-pacate-consumul-si-investitiile-nu-dau-semne-de-revenire-11253885
Mirea, C. (2014, February 19). Supracalificarea
tinerilor români: sunt absolvenți de facultate, dar lucrează ca
barmani, ospătari, promoteri sau în call center.
Business Magazin. Retrieved from
http://www.businessmagazin.ro/analize/resurse-umane/supracalificarea-tinerilor-romani-sunt-absolventi-de-facultate-dar-lucreaza-ca-barmani-ospatari-promoteri-sau-in-call-center-12107524/
Mirea, C.
(2015, March 11). Un
francez și-a făcut o afacere de 40 de milioane de euro cu 1.000 de
angajați din cel mai sărac județ al Moldovei. Business Magazin. Retrieved from http://www.businessmagazin.ro/analize/industrie/un-francez-si-a-facut-o-afacere-de-40-de-milioane-de-euro-cu-1-000-de-angajati-din-cel-mai-sarac-judet-al-moldovei-13942113
Năstase, A. (2015, April 14).
Cealaltă față a crizei: noua creștere a francului elvețian,
de bun augur pentru Banca Transilvania. Adevărul financiar. Retrieved from
http://adevarulfinanciar.ro/articol/cealalta-fata-a-crizei-noua-crestere-a-francului-elvetian-de-bun-augur-pentru-banca-transilvania/
Năstase, A. (2015, April 21). Românii din
diaspora sunt așteptați să revină acasă la cârma
propriilor afaceri. Adevărul
financiar. Retrieved from
http://adevarulfinanciar.ro/articol/wanted-romani-care-sa-revina-acasa-la-carma-propriilor-afaceri/
Osman, O.
(2013, August 26). Cea mai utopică promisiune:
salariul minim de 1.000 de lei. Capital.
Retrieved from
http://www.capital.ro/cea-mai-utopica-promisiune-salariul-minim-de-1000-de-lei-185726.html
Osman, O. (2014, January 18). Bani pentru
liniștea băncilor și neliniștea clienților lor.
Capital. Retrieved from
http://www.capital.ro/bani-pentru-linistea-bancilor-si-nelinistea-clientilor-lor.html
Pirloiu, M. (2013, July 22). Încă un
motor al economiei mondiale s-a defectat.
Capital.
Retrieved from http://www.capital.ro/inca-un-motor-al-economiei-mondiale-s-a-defectat-184511.html
Dacă nici în 2016, atunci când? Capital. Retrieved from
http://m.capital.ro/daca-nici-in-2016-atunci-cand.html
How to cite this article: Popescu, T. (2017). Metaphorical
conceptualisations of ECONOMY in Romanian and British business press. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 10(2), 93-110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2017.10.2.8
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