Using a semantic annotation tool for the analysis of metaphor in discourse

This paper describes the application of semantic annotation software for analysing metaphor in corpora of different genres. In particular, we outline three projects analysing RELIGION and POLITICS metaphors in corporate mission statements, the WAR metaphor in business magazines, and MACHINE and LIVING ORGANISM metaphors in a novel and in a second collection of business magazine articles. This research was guided by the hypotheses that a) semantic tags allocated by the software can correspond to source domains of metaphoric expressions, and b) that more conventional metaphors feature a source domain tag as first choice in the type’s semantic profile. The tagger was adapted to better serve the needs of metaphor…