ABSTRACT

Metaphor is traditionally regarded as an ornamental device. Until the 1980s,  Lakoff and Johnson proposed the conceptual metaphor theory in their masterpiece Metaphors We Live By, which marks a new cognitive era of the metaphor study. About the classification of metaphor, different scholars hold different views , hence there is no uniform classification standard at present. This thesis carries out the following research on the basis of the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff & Johnson. The authors classified the conceptual metaphor into three categories: the ontological metaphor, the orientational metaphor and the structural metaphor. In order to narrow my research scope and reduce the difficulty of the study, I mainly talk about the ontological metaphor in the paper. With the development of the financial trading, plenty of metaphorical expressions occurs in financial news. In this paper, I have collected 823 pieces of English financial news headlines in total as my research materials, which are derived from China Daily, BBC News and Fortune. The exploration of these ontological metaphors in English financial news headlines can help us better understand the metaphorical way of thinking in them. To some extent, the findings in the study can be applied to the learning and teaching of business writing. Meanwhile it can help the readers better understand and use the metaphorical expressions in the English financial news.  

Key words: Ontological metaphor  English Financial news headlines  Metaphorical       expressions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

中文摘要

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY-1

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY-2

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW-4

2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON METAPHOR-4

2.1.1 Studies Abroad-4

2.1.2 Studies at Home-5

2.2 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON METAPHORS IN FINANCIAL NEWS-6

2.2.1 Studies Abroad-6

2.2.2 Studies at Home-7

CHAPTERTHREE THEONTOLOGICAL METAPHOR ANALYSIS IN ENGLISH FINANCIAL NEWS HEADLINES-9

3.1 THE DATA COLLECTION AND CLASSIFICATION-9

3.1.1 The Container Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-9

3.1.2 The Building Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-10

3.1.3 The Living Organism Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-11

3.1.4 The Water Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-13

3.1.5 The Weather Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-13

3.1.6 The Machine Metaphor in Financial News Headlines-14

3.2 AN ANALYSIS OF ONTOLOGICAL METAPHORS IN ENGLISH FINANCIAL NEWS HEADLINES-15

3.2.1 Properties of Ontological Metaphors in Financial News Headlines-15

3.2.2 Functions of Ontological Metaphors in Financial News Headlines-16

CHAPTER FOUR CONCLUSION-17

4.1 SUMMARY OF THE THESIS-17

4.2 MAJOR FINDINGS AND LIMITATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES-17

BIBLIOGRAPHY-19

APPENDIX-20