Therapeutic metaphors in engineering: how to cure a building structure

Cognitive linguistics have conscientiously pointed out the pervasiveness of conceptual mappings, particularly as conceptual blending and integration, that underlie language and that are unconsciously used in everyday speech (Fauconnier 1997, Fauconnier & Turner 2002; Rohrer 2007; Grady, Oakley & Coulson 1999). Moreover, as a further development of this work, there is a growing interest in research devoted to the conceptual mappings that make up specialized technical disciplines. Lakoff & Núñez 2000, for example, have produced a major breakthrough on the understanding of concepts in mathematics, through conceptual metaphor and as a result not of purely abstract concepts but rather of embodiment. On the engineering and architecture front, analyses on the use of metaphor, blending and categorization in English and Spanish have likewise appeared in recent times (Úbeda 2001, Roldán 1999, Caballero 2003a, 2003b, Roldán & Ubeda 2006, Roldán & Protasenia 2007). The present paper seeks to show a number of significant conceptual mappings underlying the language of architecture and civil engineering that seem to shape the way engineers and architects communicate. In order to work with a significant segment of linguistic expressions in this field, a corpus taken from a widely used technical Spanish engineering journal article was collected and analysed. The examination of the data obtained indicates that many tokens make a direct reference to therapeutic conceptual mappings, highlighting medical domains such as diagnosing,treating and curing. Hence, the paper illustrates how this notion is instantiated by the corresponding bodily conceptual integration. In addition, we wish to underline the function of visual metaphors in the world of modern architecture by evoking parts of human or animal anatomy, and how this is visibly noticeable in contemporary buildings and public works structures

Building Big is Thinking Big: Conceptual and Linguistic Networks in Architecture and Civil Engineering

During the last decade, the study of metaphor in use (both written and spoken) has received considerable attention in cognitive linguistics research (Cameron and Low 1999, Deignan 2005, Steen 2007, Zanotto et al. 2008). It appears that a good deal of interest has consolidated around figurative language and metaphor use in academic settings (Low 1999, Cortazzi and Jin 1999, Littlemore and Low 2006). Some of the studies aim to show that metaphor use in the classroom may improve and reinforce comprehension and communicative skills in EFL learners. In this paper we focus on part of the mental mappings that some specific learners, namely architecture and civil engineering students, need to activate when matching language and professional knowledge. We will explore some of the conceptual and linguistic networks that students have to operate with in order to assimilate and internalize their discourse community. With this aim, conceptual integration (blending) theory, including meaning compression and decompression (Fauconnier & Turner 2002), has been applied. Also, a selected repertoire of examples taken from architecture and civil engineering domains, e.g. salient journals and books, has been examined to extract information. The findings confirm that non-literal metaphorical language, combined with the occurrence of image schemas, seems systematic and constitutive of both discursive areas. The conclusions suggest that metaphorical conceptual and linguistic structures appear to lend more coherence to these technical domains (for example by creating more word meanings) and, on the other hand, that metaphor fluency is a must for architects and engineers expertise, despite not being actually made explicit. Likewise, the first results of a survey carried out at Madrid Technical University (UPM) are presented. The main aim of the survey was to elucidate to what extent students incorporate learning strategies and discourse community into their knowledge and whether this internalization parallels other types of processing like image perception and descriptio

Current Trends in LSP Research: Aims and Methods

Languages for Specific Languages (LSP) represent a dynamic approach both in research and practice and, as such, it is in constant evolution. It was earlier related to the use of English as an international language of communication in business and technology and thus designated as ESP (English for Specific Purposes). In Genre Analysis, Swales (1990) brought in new horizons with the notions of genre and discourse community. Thereafter, research on LSP learning and discourse have thrived over a large range of thematic contents and methods. Current Trends in LSP Research: Aims and Methods can be inserted in this latest strea

Types of metaphor in civil engineering communication

La metáfora y otros mecanismos imaginativos subyacentes al pensa- miento y lenguaje humanos pueden ser utilizados en el discurso diario y especializado (Lakoff y Johnson 1980; Lakoff y Nuñez 2000). Asimismo pueden aparecer en la comunicación no verbal (Forceville y Urios-Aparisi 2009; Littlemore et al. Este volumen).Partiendo de estudios cognitivos y de la teoría de integración conceptual (Fauconnier 1997; Fauconnier y Turner 2002), este artículo examina la presencia de la metáfora en la ingeniería. Primeramente, se analiza un corpus lingüístico procedente de artículos de investigación de ingeniería civil. Los datos revelan el uso de la metáfora antropomórfica, sobre todo en expresiones relativas a la salud, como “diagnóstico”, “auscultación” o “proceso de curación”. Se exploran además ejemplos de ingeniería cuya fuente son proyecciones conceptuales corporales. Finalmente, abordamos la función de la metáfora visual bajo la teoría de integración conceptual mediante representaciones de ingeniería que evocan la anatomía humana o animal. Metaphor and other imaginative mechanisms that underlie human thought and language such as metonymy are used in everyday and specialised discourse (Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Lakoff and Nuñez 2000) They can also be involved in non- verbal forms of communication (Forceville and Urios-Aparisi 2009; Littlemore et al. this volume). Drawing on metaphor cognitive studies and on conceptual integration theory (Fauconnier 1997; Fauconnier and Turner 2002) this paper examines the occurrence of metaphor in engineering. First, we analyse results from a linguistic corpus formed by research papers from civil engineering journals. These data reveal the use of anthropomorphic metaphor, especially related to health or medical mappings such as “diagnosing”, “auscultation” or “curing”. Then, we explore how engineering notions are instantiated by bodily conceptual mappings according to conceptual integration theory. Finally, the function of visual metaphor is examined with conceptual integration theory by using engineering images evoking parts of human or animal anatomy

A taste of the technical cuisine: metals and other ingredients

According to cognitive linguistics, language has an experiential origin based on perception, sensory motor activities and our knowledge of the world. Our thought operates by establishing similarities, links and associations that enable us to talk about one thing in terms of another as shown in the example of love as a journey (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). Metaphor and metonymy are conceptual and linguistic tools that make possible most of these cognitive operations. Since metaphor is an essential element of human communication, the discourse of specialised disciplines includes metaphorical mappings and numerous examples of metaphorical expressions, for example in economics, where business is mapped in terms of war (White, 2004; Herrera & White, 2000), electrotechnics with electrical components understood as couples (Roldán- Riejos in preparation) or in civil engineering where a bridge is conceptualized as a person (Roldán-Riejos, 2013). In this paper, the metaphors: WORKING WITH METALS IS COOKING/ TRABAJAR CON METALES ES COCINAR and METALS ARE CULINARY OBJECTS/ LOS METALES SON OBJETOS CULINARIOS are explored. The main aim is to show that the cooking metaphor is widely spread in the metallurgical domain in English and Spanish, although with different nuances in each language due to socio-cultural factors. The method adopted consists of analysing examples taken from the: Bilingual Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Metaphors and Metonymies Spanish- English/English-Spanish, a forthcoming and rigorously documented bilingual dictionary that sums up research on conceptual, linguistic and visual metaphor and metonymy in different areas of engineering (Roldán-Riejos and Molina, 2013). The present paper studies in detail English and Spanish cross-linguistic correspondences related to types of metals and processes. It is suggested that they reflect synesthetic metaphoric mappings. The exploitation of cognitive conceptual metaphor in the ESP classroom is lastly recommended

Professional applications in English for architects: the interview guide

Este estudio hace hincapie en la importancia del estudio previo de las necesidades del mercado a la hora de preparar y llevar a cabo una entrevista profesional. Todos estos aspectos se aplican a la entrevista profesional para arquitecto

The Role of Context in the Interpretation of Academic and Professional Communication

This paper deals w h he ain elements hat form part of academc and professional comunicaton, namely he role of context, he concepton of comunicaton tself, he discoursal academc strategies and conventons, and other notons such as background knowedge or comon shared knowedge. In the first secton, we focus our atenton on he relatonship between he context n which he ext unfolds and ts typology, i.e. he social environment and he functonal organisaton of anguage. Next, he role of context n cognion is highlighted, o contnue w h he nteracton of participants n he act of comunicaton and he analysis of he relatonship between comunicative ntenton, strategies and nterpretaton. Finally, we present various applcatons of nguistc context w h the cogniive interface

Language and communication in the scope of hospital engineering and architecture

This paper deals with the language and communication used in the field of Hospital Engineering and Architecture. Firstly we describe the concept of language and communication from a linguistic and cognitive point of view (Lakoff 1987; Fauconnier and Turner 2001) paying special attention to the use of imagery and figurative language, such as metaphor, to highlight the most relevant types found in this area. The examples provided in this article have been classified according to constitutive and explanatory metaphors. Both categories belong to conceptual maps shared by engineers and architects and are referred to their mental understanding of a hospital. The daily use of this metaphorical language provides this professional group with powerful communication tools that facilitates their expertise for example to heal their most direct patient, the Hospital. Our main aim is to show the implications of thought and language in communication and in daily professional practice. Thus, the visual representations of a few hospitals have been selected to illustrate on one hand, the hospital image as a visual metaphor created on purpose, and how they can communicate and provide a positive or negative perception to the patients/ users. On the other hand, we examine if other care centres/hospitals without providing a metaphorical image to users can transmit a positive or negative image and impact also on their healing. Our conclusion suggests that hospitals design and maintenance can be perceived by the patient through the building and its systems, and can contribute to their wellness and ultimate recovery

Bilingual Polytechnic Dictionary of Metaphors: Spanish to English

This paper provides an overview of an ongoing research project work: “A Polytechnical Bilingual Dictionary of Metaphors: Spanish-English/English-Spanish” done by the UPM consolidated research group “DISCYT” (Estudios Cognitivos del Discurso Científico-Técnico). A detailed explanation of the method adopted to identify key metaphors collected from the different subject areas is included. Drawing from recognized empirical methods (Pragglejaz 2007, Cameron 2007, Steen 2007), the examples have been examined according to the main tenets of conceptual metaphor and conceptual integration theory (Deignan 2005, Gibbs 2008, Lakoff 1993, Lakoff & Johnson 1999, Steen 2007, Fauconnier & Turner 2008). This forthcoming dictionary comprises metaphors of over 10 scientific and technical areas such as Aeronautical engineering, Agronomy, Architecture, Biotechnology, Civil engineering, Geology and Mining, Mechanical engineering, Nanotechnology, Naval and Maritime engineering, Sports and Telecommunications. In this paper, we focus on the study of examples taken from civil engineering, materials engineering and naval engineering. Representative cases are analyzed from several points of view (multimodal metaphor, linguistic information strategies and translation into target language) highlighting cross linguistic variations between Spanish and English

Developing transferable skills through academic motivation activities

The purpose of this study is to work out how a clear and motivated task goal set for the students can develop several skills that are not only useful in their specific academic contexts but also serve to reinforce links and cooperation with the labor market. The following research on skills was taken during one academic year. The students collected advertisements likely to be selected in a near future by themselves as possibilities to apply for a job. The advertisements selected were 120, and all of them were published on the internet either in jobs links or located by the students themselves in the web-practices of their choice. All the advertisements chosen by the students provided us with a skill list focused on architectural profiles. To conclude, academic research skills versus future motivation jobs positions are fruitful paths to conduct successful students´response at job interviews