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영어

Kim, Haeyeon. 2016. A Metaphor-Theoretical Analysis of Figurative Meanings of Baseball Terms in Korean. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 41-2, 217-237. Metaphor theory (MT) has been widely adopted in characterizing metaphorical uses of lexical words in texts. This research attempts to characterize baseball (BB) terms in journalistic discourse from the perspective of conceptual metaphor, exploring how literal meanings of BB terms are used metaphorically in Korean written discourse. To achieve this goal, this research first introduces some of the BB terms and their literal meanings. Second, this study discusses figurative meanings of BB terms used in journalistic discourse by examining mostly news media texts available on internet portals. Examination shows that BB terms are used to describe political activities and economic transactions in terms of playing baseball. Third, based on the examination of BB terms in media texts, this study attempts to analyze BB terms by applying MT in understanding the figurative meanings of the terms in the texts. Analysis shows that the figurative meanings of the BB terms are derived from the following metaphors: (i) POLITICAL ACTIVITIES ARE PLAYING BASEBALL (ii) POLITICAL PARTIES ARE BASEBALL TEAMS, (iii) (PRESIDENTIAL/PARLIAMENT) CANDIDATES ARE PLAYERS, (iv) MANAGING BUSINESS/TRANSACTIONS IS/ARE PLAYING BASEBALL, among others. In sum, this research shows that MT can be used as a useful tool for proper understanding and explanation of metaphorically extended meanings of BB terms in journalistic discourse. (Chung-Ang University)