Work metaphors in English and Romanian. A comparative approach

1. Work metaphors in English and Romanian. A comparative approach Herteg Crina 1Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania 3rd International Symposium on Figurative ThoughtandLanguage, Osijek, April 26-28 2017

2. 1.Problem statement Our main tenet is that business press displays a strong metaphorical load and it is easily available for metaphorical exploitation. The research also pinpoints the metaphorical potential of the broad business genre in English and in Romanian in an analysis of work and work-related metaphors in business English and Romanian quality press with capturing the extent to which work and work-related metaphors shape the labour market in both languages as well as theconceptualisation of work in theselanguages.

3. 2. Introduction Conceptual metaphors in business discourse can be captured by browsing through scientific and academic sources and/or through business quality press. Previous research on metaphors in business genre explored an array of aspects pertaining to conceptual metaphors in specialized discourse: genre specific conceptual metaphors (Koller 2008), metaphor probability in corpora (Berber Sardinha, 2012), metaphor variation within specialized discourse (Skorczynska 2012), hyperbole in economics discourse (Crawford Camiciottoli 2012).

4. 3. Literaturereview Contrastive studies capturing the differences and/or similarities in conceptualizing different aspects of economic discourse are conducted by Charteris-Black and Ennis (2001) and Charteris-Black and Musolff (2003).These contrastive studies which involve the comparison between two/more languages represent valuable tools and instruments in teaching foreign language to students. Charteris-Black & Ennis 2001, Charteris-Black & Musolff 2003 provide valuable instruments in conducting corpus-based contrastive analysis of business English genre. Both research studies are in favour of identifying conceptual metaphors on thebasis of linguistic metaphors. The same idea is shared by Deignan who highlights that linguistic metaphors are a major source of evidence for conceptual metaphors. (Deignan, 2006: 106).

5. 4. Methods The methodologyweresortedto in ouranalysisisbased on corpus, twoparallelcorpora (one in English andone in Romanian), eachtotalling 600 words, encompassing business articlesselected at randomduringthe period rangingfrom 2012 to 2016. The articlesfromthe English corpus wereretrievedfrom The Economist, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Financial Times, whilethearticlesfromthe Romanian corpus wereretrievedfrom Ziarul financiar, Business Magazine, Cotidianul, Adevarul financiar.

6. 4. Methods The methods used for metaphor identification range from manual annotation to electronic annotation, the corpora are both hand-coded and processed electronically with the help of concordancing programs. Given the length of the two corpora, it will be almost impossible to process them manually. Lexical units belonging to the lexical field of work are introduced in the concordancing program, the results they yield are compared in bothlanguages, Romanian and English, differencesandsimilarities are pointed out.

7. 4. Methods We also applied a novel method proposed by Skorczynska & Ahrens (2015) which brings conceptual metaphors closer to the pragmatic strategies of the participants. The theory advanced by the authors relies on corpora, is tackled from a genre perspective and it is supported by previous research in metaphor signal: Goatly 1997, Cameron & Deignan 2003. The authors resort to metaphor signal to point out the existence of conceptual metaphors within a text/ discourse. They propose a list of metaphor signals and then they explore those signals in three different corpora belonging to three different genres, the same list of metaphor signals is searched for in each corpus with the help of concordancers.

8. 4. Methods The approach is suitable when the aim of the research is to compare two genres in terms of communicative aims and strategies, the metaphor signals reveal different findings and rank different frequencies. We fed the concordancing program with metaphor signals from the list provided by Skorczynska & Ahrens 2015, analysed and compared the findings in the two corpora.

9. 4. Methods During the next stage the findings from the English corpus werecompared with the ones from the Romanian corpus on the one hand in order to identify whether the two languages resort to the same conceptual categories in conceptualizing work and on the other hand to see the lexical realizations and entailments of the conceptual categories in both languages.

10. 5. Findings Economic factors are at play in conceptualisingworkboth in Romanian and in English. The differencesandsimilarities in conceptualisingwork are closelyrelatedtoaspectssuch as: • State of theeconomy • Management styles • Positioningtowardsworkandtime.

11. Findings Differences in conceptualisingwork The positioningtowardfinancialrewardisverydifferent. The Romaniansrequestfinancialrecognition as well as theirmanagers’ recognition for theworkdone. Thistype of recognitionarisesfromthelack of financialsecurity /vs/ financialsecurity in the English corpus.

12. 5. Findings WORK IS (NOT ALWAYS) DULY REWARDED –RO, measuringwork in terms of money de fapt un alt aspect, acela al "măsurării" în bania aprecierii din partea managerului. TRANSLATION: Another aspect referstomeasuringworkandthemanager’srecognition in terms of money WORK IS DULY REWARDED - EN The talented workers that remain are rewarded handsomely. Wages are therefore expected to outpace productivity for the next few years, despite the government’s promise to use EU funds to boost skills.

13. Findings  The lack of financialrecognitionmayentailcorruption LACK OF REWARD FOR THE JOB DONE IS CORRUPTION Salarizarea încurajează și mai tare corupția. TRANSLATION: (Poor) Wagingencouragescorruption. Mai departe, munca la negru, devenită fenomen de masă din moment ce 1,5-1,6 milioane de persoane (patroni, întreprinzători individuali, salariaţi) Business Magazine 2014 Illegalworkbecame a mass phenomenon.

14. Findings CONTROL IS UP, thisismainlydictatedbythe management style: hands-on /vs/ hands-off management styles. Duetothefactthat Romanian economypassedthetransitionfromcentralisedeconomyto market economy, thehands-on management styleisstillgrounded in state institutions. Pe de altă parte, munca angajaţilor este mai controlată mai riguros, şi, spun unii, mai nemilos. ZF, 2015 TRANSLATION: On theother hand, employees’workis more rigurouslyandmercilesscontrolled.

15. Findings • General metaphor: EMPLOYMENT/A JOB IS A STATE OF MENTAL HEALTH • Specific metaphor: ONE’S JOB IS DEPRESSION/ LOSING ONE’S JOB IS DEPRESSION In the Romanian corpus thereis a tightpositioningtowardsthework place, probablyduetothe limited job offers. Losingone’s job mayentail a state of mental depression. Rutina jobului, lipsa libertăţii de decizie la locul de muncă şi stilul prea agresiv al şefilor sunt principalele motive care generează depresie în rândul românilor, unu din şase cazuri de depresie raportate fiind cauzat de stresul acumulat la job, susţin psihologii din România TRANSLATION: Job routine, thelack of freedeom in makingdecisions, as well as managers’ aggressivestyle generate depression.

16. Findings On theother hand, in the British corpus theworkforceismainlyreferredto as healthyand productive: THE STATE OF EMPLOYMENT/WORKFORCE IS A STATE OF HEALTH "Businessesmovingoverseasneedto look aftertheirmost important asset, their staff, andcheckthesmall print on policiestoensurethattheirworkforceremainshealthyand productive." (TELEGRAPH, 2014)

17. Findings The manner in whichthemainactorsandstakeholderspositiontowardstimeisdifferentlypictured in thetwocorpora. In the Romanian corpus stakeholdersandmanagershauntemployees’ time at theworkplace: ca un fel de ”poliţie„ menită să vâneze timpul de lucrupierdut al fiecărui angajat în parte. TRANSLATION: (Actinglike) policeforcehauntingemployees’ losttime Overtimeworkisoftenmet in the Romanian corpus: Nu este deloc uşor, am învăţat să fac lucrurile din mers şi am mai învăţat că pentru un antreprenor, cel puţin la început, munca nu se termină niciodată. Ca angajat ai un program, dar antreprenorul trebuie să fie conectat în permanenţă cu clienţii, chiar şi în vacanţe ZF, 2014 TRANSLATION: Workneverends

18. Findings De multe ori însă, se stă câte 3-4-5 ore peste program, iar munca mai continuă şi acasă. În acele zile nu ai timp liber, doar pentru dormit câteva ore, iar în rest, numai muncă„, spune Alin, care lucrează într-o multinaţională din zona serviciilor financiare. (Business Magazine, 2013) TRANSLATION: Manytimeswework 3-4-5 hoursovertimeandworkstillgoes on at home The picturechangeswhen it comestoelderlypeople, in the Romanian corpus they are referredto as non-active on thelabour market, while in the English they are referredto as active: Silverworkersturningtheirbacks on retirement. The number of people over 65 in a job is set topassonemillion. Why are somemenandwomensokeentokeep on working? (TELEGRAPH, 2015)

19. Findings Similarities in conceptualisingwork CAREER IS A JOURNEY ispresent in bothcorpora traseul în carieră al unui angajat este următorul: în primul job, angajatul TRANSLATION: The careerpathis as follows...  In the Romanian corpus differentlevels in shapingone’scareer are mentioned: to start fromscratch, tomake a career, toraise in one’scareer. TRANSLATION: As soon as shereached Rome shestartedfromscratch, withdoingthecleaningin a restaurant near Vatican wheresheworked for 9 yearsandwhereand as soon as shereached Rome, She lived in a tiny midtown apartment and worked 80-hour weeks climbing the New York fashion career ladder. EN corpus

20. Findings In the English corpus unemploymentisseen as an enemy LABOUR MARKET IS WAR-General metaphor UNEMPLOYMENT IS AN ENEMY- Specific metaphor Of course, with short-term interest rates stuck at zero, the Fed has also found it harder to stimulate the economy to combat high unemployment (EC, 2014) Thisconceptualisationisalsofound in the Romanian corpus. supravietuim-perioadei-de-proba-la-un-nou-loc-de-munca TRANSLATION: Survivalduringthetesting period in a newwork place

21. Findings ECONOMIC HARM IS PHYSICAL INJURY In the name of curbing inflation, the government is hurting workers (EC, Aug 16th 2014) Această realitate îşi are originile în goana după succesul profesional a generaţiilor de după 1989, în dorinţa de realizare, dar şi în atmosfera de stres creeată de criza economică ce a lovit serios în locurile de muncă din companii, în middle management, în clasa de mijloc, în general. TRANSLATION: The economic crisis hit theworkingplaces in companies

22. Findings HEALTHY ECONOMY IS HEALTHY ORGANISM-General metaphor HEALTHY LABOUR MARKET IS HEALTHY ORGANISM- Specific metaphor until the labour market has improved substantially. (EC, 2013)  de datele robuste privind piaţaforţei de muncă din SUA care au determinat o corecţie a pieţelor emergente. TRANSLATION: Robust labour market

23. Findings The conceptualisation of thelabour market as competitionispresent in bothcorpora se reduce concurenţa neloială dintre angajatorii cei care acordă salariul integral în acte şipl TRANSLATION: (dis)loyalcompetitionamongemployers

24. Conclusions Metaphors analysed in thetwocorporareveal the way in which work is perceived, it is mainly conceptualized as a living being which functions like a living organism, which is healthy or robust, which undergoes a treatment, moves from one direction to another. It is afflicted by outside and/or inside harm, it is able to undergo treatments and recovers after being subject to measures taken by business stakeholders, it iscontrolledby business stakeholders.

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