Conceptual Metaphors in Stock Market Reports in the Malaysian Business Times

The purpose of this study is to identify the metaphorical linguistic expressions of conceptual metaphors in the Malaysian Business Times using Charteris-Black and Ennis’ (2001) proposed list of conceptual metaphors. This study is a non-experimental descriptive study, which uses the corpus linguistic approach for data collection and the corpus for analysis of 50 share market news reports that were randomly identified. An expert within the business context was appointed to provide expertise in the interpretation of specific types of data derived from the corpus. The findings demonstrate that the conceptual metaphors: MARKET MOVEMENTS ARE PHYSICAL MOVEMENT and THE ECONOMY IS AN ORGANISM are the most dominant conceptual metaphors found in the corpus collected. In addition, the findings show that the metaphorical linguistic expressions generally concretise the abstract concept of the economy and market movements. Findings from this study suggest that conceptual metaphors could enhance language learners’ creativity in language learning by having a better grasp of the course subjects in terms of underlying concepts of metaphors used, hence developing an understanding of how conceptual metaphors work (Sharifah Hafizah 2004). This study has also developed a step-by-step procedure in identifying metaphorical linguistic expressions. With this newly-developed method, it is hoped to facilitate future studies in identifying metaphorical linguistic expressions

Getting physical with the market: a study of metaphors in the business times

This study investigates the metaphorical linguistic manifestations of the conceptual metaphor, market movements are physical movements, using Charteris-Black and Ennis’s (2001) notion of conceptual metaphors. Following a corpus linguistic approach for data collection purposes, it analysed 50 unique Business Times articles randomly identified from a total of 292 articles. An expert within the business context provided expertise in the interpretation of specific types of data derived from the corpus. The findings show that the metaphorical linguistic expressions generally concretise the abstract concept of the economy and market movements and mainly comprise of verbs and nouns. This paper illustrates some of the examples of the relevant metaphorical expressions and discusses how the domain of physical movements helps to structure the domain of market movements. The findings of this study, however, can only be generalised to the samples involved in this study

Malaysian parents' health literacy and perceptions regarding childhood vaccination programme

There appears to be a downward trend in children’s vaccination uptake among Malaysian parents as more and more parents chose not to vaccinate their children. Thus, suggesting a need to understand Malaysian parents’ perceptions and health literacy levels regarding childhood vaccination programmes through verbal communication in order to increase confidence towards childhood vaccination programmes in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to understand how vaccinating and non-vaccinating parents’ health literacy levels and perceptions towards childhood vaccination programmes could affect the decision whether to vaccinate or not to vaccinate their children. This study uses an in-depth interview method and a discourse analytic approach to identify the key factors in determining parents concern regarding childhood vaccination programme including their health literacy levels. The paper presents findings from the study which include parents’ motivations towards childhood vaccination and the differences between a vaccinating parent and a non-vaccinating parent. The paper will highlight whether health literacy levels of parents influence childhood vaccination. It will also highlight why it is important to understand parents’ concerns regarding childhood vaccination programmes in Malaysia and to improve communication regarding childhood vaccination programmes and uptake between parents and health care professionals in Malaysia

The economy is an organism? A study of metaphors in Malaysian business times

This article applies Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) to investigate the metaphorical linguistic manifestations of the conceptual metaphor the economy is an organism based on Charteris-Black and Ennis’s (2001) proposed conceptual metaphor. This study is a non-experimental descriptive study, which uses the corpus linguistic approach for data collection and the corpus for analysis of 50 share market news reports that were randomly identified. An expert within the business context was appointed to provide expertise in the interpretation of specific types of data derived from the corpus. The findings demonstrate that the conceptual metaphor: the economy is an organism is widely used in the corpus collected. The findings show that the use of metaphorical linguistics expressions (MLE) resistance in a way concretizes the abstract concept of share prices as it evokes the image of share prices as an animate entity that can move forward and be stopped by a force (resistance). The analysis above therefore, supports Charteris-Black and Ennis’s (2001) conceptual metaphor, the economy is an organism