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DOI: https://doi.Org/10.18454/RULB.2020.23.3.25
КОНТЕКСТУАЛЬНОСТЬ МЕТАФОРЫ И ЕЕ ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИОННЫЙ АСПЕКТ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ
ФУЛТОНСКОЙ РЕЧИ У. ЧЕРЧИЛЛЯ)
Научная статья
Зубакина Т.Н. *
Уральский федеральный университет, Екатеринбург, Россия
* Корреспондирующий автор (zoubakina[at]mail.ru)
Аннотация
Метафорическое моделирование рассматривается в когнитивной лингвистике как метод реконструкции авторских ментальных моделей образного представления действительности. В статье представлены метафорические модели «Фултонской речи» У. Черчилля в соответствии с теорией концептуальной метафоры (Дж. Лакофф и М. Джонсон). Материалом для данного исследования послужил архивный вариант «Фултонской речи» У. Черчилля с авторскими рукописными правками. Изучение корпуса метафор архивного документа предполагает их лингвистический и экстралингвистический анализ, которые сопровождаются в статье вариантами интерпретаций метафорических репрезентаций. Исследование показало, что метафорическая, глубоко структурированная мысль автора становится понятной, когда интерпретация осуществлена в контексте события. Согласно контекстуальных интерпретаций концептуальных метафор Фултонской речи автор статьи приходит к следующим выводам: метафорическая проекция «World»-«Theatre» ассоциируется с послевоенным периодом новейшей истории; проекции «World» - «Illness», «World» - «Crime» соответствуют концептуальному восприятию войны; «World» - «Religion», «World» - «Earth» ментально воспринимаются вне времени. Ценность результатов исследования заключается в его междисциплинарном характере, осуществленном на стыке лингвистики, истории, герменевтики и риторики.
Ключевые слова: интерпретация; контекст; концепт; метафора; метафорическая проекция; сфера-источник; сфера-мишень.
CONTEXTUAL ORIGIN OF METAPHOR AND ITS INTERPRETATION ASPECT (ON THE DATA OF W.
CHURCHILL'S "FULTON SPEECH")
Research article
Zubakina T.N. *
Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia
* Corresponding author (zoubakina[at]mail.ru)
Abstract
In cognitive linguistics metaphorical mapping is a way of reconstruction of the author's mental models of the figurative perception of the world. The author of the article reveals metaphorical mappings of W. Churchill's "Fulton speech" according to conceptual metaphor theory (CMT). The material for studying is the archive original typescript of the speech, scrawled by W. Churchill. While studying the archive documents the author of the article deals with both linguistic and extralinguistic data. The analysis of the metaphoric mappings of "Fulton speech" is implemented in the article with the consistent process of interpretation. The research has shown that metaphoric, deep-structural author's thought is understood if metaphorical mappings are interpreted by means of the event context. According to contextual interpretation of the conceptual metaphors from W. Churchill's "Fulton speech" the author draws the following conclusions: the mapping "World"-"Theatre" is associated with the post-war period of contemporary history; "World" - "Illness", "World" - "Crime" correspond to conceptual perception of war; "World" - "Religion"», "World» - «Earth" are mentally perceived out of time. The value of the investigation is inter-disciplinary as its results deal with linguistics, history, hermeneutics and rhetoric.
Keywords: interpretation, context, concept, metaphor, mapping, source domain, target domain.
Introduction
In this article we try to decipher and interpret the metaphorical mappings of W. Churchill's "Fulton speech" according to Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) on the data of archive original typescript of the speech with W. Churchill's scrawl from Churchill Archive Centre (Cambridge).
In the cognitive linguistic view, conceptual metaphors are defined as sets of correspondence or 'mappings' across conceptual domains. CMT postulates: "any concept from the source domain - the domain supporting the literal meaning of the expression - can be used to describe a concept in the target domain the sentence is actually about" [7. P. 195].
Cognitive metaphor theorists emphasize that a contextual meaning helps readers to identify metaphors in texts. D. Ritchie points out that "a word or phrase is classified as a metaphor if it can be interpreted in context, but its apparent contextual meaning is incongruous with the basic or customary meaning" [10. P. 11].
The next influential idea followed in our paper is the statement that metaphorical language being mental representation reveals author's thoughts. Moreover, text metaphors are cognitive models to guide reader's understanding in author's complex mental "territories". V. Evans emphasizes interpretative significance of a metaphor, considering that metaphor mappings "project information about one idea onto another, in order to better understand it" [8. P. 38].
The most influential work to emerge from the cognitive tradition is Lakoff and Jonson's Metaphor We Live By [Lakoff and Johnson 1980]. The idea of metaphorical projections or mappings between conceptual domains in human minds is widespread among humanitarian scholars. Developing CMT is reflected mainly in uncovering metaphorical mappings between domains and studying how they guide human reasoning and interpreting.
Application of CMT can be further seen in investigations on literature [Lakoff and Turner 1989], philosophy [Johnson 1987; Lakoff and Johnson 1999], politics [Lakoff 1996; Charteris-Black 2005].
The relevance of CMT in historiography is confirmed by numerous publications [White 1975, 1978, 1987; Ankersmit 1994, 2001].
H. White noted: "the historical discourse can be broken down into two levels of meaning. The facts and their formal explanation or interpretation appears as the manifest or literal "surface" of the discourse, while the figurative language used to characterize the facts points to a deep-structural meaning" [12. P. 110]. Distinguishing two levels of understanding the historical discourse, literal "surface" of the discourse and figurative language, H. White emphasizes the advantages of the latter in understanding the essence of a historical fact or event.
A metaphorical, deep-structural expression of the author's thought is understood by a reader or listener, if the metaphorical projections are interpreted by the context. We agree with A. Chudinov, that "the interpretational model of cognition is treated as the basis of modern linguistic cognitive research" (hereinafter translation is ours - T.Z.) [5. P. 111]. Moreover, "the interpretation of metaphorical language representations makes it possible to identify the pragmatic potential of the author" [3. P. 130].
Nowadays linguists, studying politicians' speeches, take into consideration that "the political metaphor should be analyzed in historical discourse, taking into consideration the historical and political situation, in which it was created by an author with an orientation to a certain circle of the addressee" [1. P. 27].
Methodology, Linguistic and Extra-linguistic Data
In the cognitive linguistic view, conceptual metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain (target domain) in terms of another conceptual domain (source domain). Within CMT to understand metaphor means to uncover metaphorical mapping, in other words to see the relationship between two concepts and to reveal how elements of the source domain are mapped on the elements of the target domain.
The title "The Sinews of Peace" is interpreted in terms of CMT as realization of Personification. Peace is an abstract and inanimate entity, but in the context of phrase "The Sinews of Peace" it is interpreted in our mind as a person. The literal meaning of sinew as a noun according to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is: "1) a strong band of tissue in the body that joins a muscle to a bone
2) [usually pl.] (literary a source of strength or power". [9. P. 1452].
The contextual meaning can be understood in interpreting the phrase "The Sinews of Peace" in terms of physical strength of a person. According to terms of CMT, the literal meaning and the contextual meaning correspond to elements of different conceptual domains: in this case, the literal meaning of sinew can be seen as an element of the PERSON conceptual domain.
The human body is an element of the PERSON source domain. Personification as a form of ontological metaphor makes use one of the best understood source domain we have - ourselves. Personifying an abstract and inanimate entity we can begin to understand it better.
The objective of the paper is to decipher metaphorical models (M-models) that form subject lines in the text of W. Churchill's speech and give some possible interpretations of this metaphorical mapping of historical reality considering extra-linguistic factors.
The original title of the speech "World Peace" can be conceptually interpreted as "absence of war on the Earth", which corresponds to the main component of the political discourse in March 1946.
First of all, Germany capitulated only10 months ago, so as Japan did 4 months later. Secondly, the USA had a monopoly on nuclear weapons and had already tested it in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirdly, W. Churchill was no longer the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Fourthly, and the most importantly, the victorious Soviet troops stood in Europe and Iran.
To define the pragmatic potential of the former Prime Minister's "Fulton speech" we introduce some components of his personal political discourse: the leader of the Conservative party, who had led the UK in the anti-Hitler coalition to victory, left the Potsdam conference after Conservatives' defeat in the parliamentary elections. W. Churchill wanted to return to the political Olympus again and it happened in 1951.
A British historian D. Reynolds believes that the retired British Prime Minister made this speech in Fulton for his own PR, being depressed after losing the elections. W. Churchill was at a loss, he found himself in the margins of political life: "It is clear, therefore, W. Churchill went to Fulton to hit the headlines, being depressed by his election. Those were his motives" [11. P. 257].
The extra-linguistic context of the period is considered to be rather complex. The Labour Party began changing the UK. The Empire collapsed and was replaced by the Commonwealth of Nations. Many British colonies fought for their independence and got it. Some branches of the British economy and the Bank of England were nationalized. In 1945 the Labour Party adopted the program "Let us Face the Future". For the first time in the history of the Labour movement, it noted that the ultimate goal of the party is "the creation of a socialist society in Britain". Such radical political changes forced the Conservative Party, which was in opposition, to action.
The United States played an extremely important role in the international arena. The Soviet troops did not want to leave Europe and Iran. Conservatives believed that it was necessary to do something. And W. Churchill did, making his speech that became a historical one. According to N. Zlobin, "Fulton reserved its place in history textbooks: in some — as the start of the struggle for a free Europe, and in others — as a place for wakening a new world war" [2. P. 21].
Perhaps, having analyzed the political situation at the very last moment, W. Churchill chose another title for his speech -"The Sinews of Peace" and scrawled it in a type-written text of the speech [6. P. 81]. The presence of the concept SINEWS in the metaphorical title of the speech indicates the presence of force in its cognitive component. To prevent a new war and to return Britain's former power and former influence in the world as the cornerstone of the English-speaking world, W.
Churchill preferred to call for strengthening, building up the "muscles" of PEACE to the initial statement of the main goal of his speech ("World Peace").
Changing the title of the speech, W. Churchill significantly narrowed its range of meaning. The accents in the speech changed, globality disappeared. On the contrary, specifics appeared, which ultimately affected the consequences of W. Churchill's "Fulton speech" in world politics. On the 60th anniversary of this speech, Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov in his article "Lessons of the Cold War" called the speech "one of the most significant events of the Cold War" [4. P. 3].
W. Churchill considered consolidation of English-speaking countries in the face of the threats that had arisen, to be one of the main political goals of the speech. The main threat to the Western democracy, as he was convinced, was the Soviet Union with its tyranny. "The Fraternal Association of the English-speaking people" [6. P. 56], according to W. Churchill, was the democratic basis of the post-war world able to counter "a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization" [6. P. 73]. Three years later NATO was born. The English-speaking countries occupied the leading positions there and this is considered to be one of the most important political results of "Fulton speech".
Results and analysis
In order to study the interaction of the conceptual metaphor in the title "The Sinews of Peace" with the main plot lines of the speech text, we consider some concepts from W. Churchill's speech. They are: WORLD, WAR, DEMOCRACY, TYRANNY, which are the most frequent concepts of political discourse of all times. The key metaphors of this speech — "Iron Curtain" and "Temple of Peace" are the "visiting card" of Churchill's political discourse.
We try to indicate metaphorical mappings (M-mappings) with the above marked concepts in the political discourse of W. Churchill's speech. We restrict our analysis of conceptual metaphorical representations to the target domain "World" and trace the contextuality of cognitive change of the conceptual domain chosen by us in the plot lines of W. Churchill's speech.
M-mapping "World" - "Illness"
Analyzing the sentences from the speech where elements of the source domain "Illness" are mapped onto elements of the target domain "World" we understand that for the common people world in the war is "the unestimated sum of human pain" [6. P. 43]. The expression "sum of human pain" indicates conceptual domain "Illness".
The sense of the word pain according to the dictionary entry is: "1) the feelings that you have in body when you have been hurt or when you are ill/sick... 2) mental or emotional suffering" [9. P. 1108].
M-mapping "World" - "Illness" is created and supported by contexts which allows our interpretation. According to the context, people see the world completely destroyed by the war: "for them, all is distorted, all is broken, all is even ground to pulp" [6. P.42].
The dictionary interpretation of the word pulp is "a soft wet substance that is made especially by crushing sth" [9. P. 1245]. When we hear or read this sentence we may interpret it even as the death. There is no life in a destroyed, broken and crushed world.
According to W. Churchill's speech "Prevention is better than cure" [6. P. 64 30]. We may suppose the inner sense of the author's metaphorical language: prevention of war is the prevention of disease and its extreme form, death. It is better to prevent the disease in advance than to treat it.
Thus, the contextual lines of the speech, which represent the WORLD during the war time, make us treat metaphorical language in the source domain "Illness".
M-mapping "World" - "Crime"
The concepts WAR and TYRANNY in the text are metaphorically presented by the author's editing in an already typewritten text as "the two gaunt marauders" [6. P. 41]. TYRANNY- "a ... danger, which menace the homes, of the people" [6. P. 54]. According to W. Churchill, the Soviet Union is the discursive characteristic of TYRANNY with "expansive and proselytizing tendencies [6. P. 65]. That's why, "a shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory" [6. P. 65].
TYRANNY in metaphorical sense is the power with total control, constant supervision and various kinds of police regimes where ".control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments [6. P. 51]. The concepts WAR and TYRANNY in the political discourse of W. Churchill's speech are the main components of wartime narration. In fact, TYRANNY according to W. Churchill is DEMOCRACY's enemy.
Thus, the elements of the source domains "Crime" and "Illness" are mapped onto elements of the target domain "World" and create the metaphorical language picture of the world during the wartime.
M-mapping "Peace" - "Religion"
The concept of PEACE in the discourse of W. Churchill's "Fulton speech" is the main component in such cognitive metaphorical expressions as "Sinews of Peace" and "Temple of Peace".
The United Nations is metaphorically represented in the speech as the "Temple of Peace." The metaphorical expression "Temple of Peace" is productive in creating new conceptual metaphors. "Workmen from all countries must build that temple" [6. P .62]. Besides we find out that ".two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old friends." [6. P. 62]. These friends, as we understand, are the UK and the United States.
The former British Prime Minister is sure that the United Nations Organization should be "a true Temple of the World, where shields with emblems of a great many countries will be hung out rather than become in the second tower of Babel or the place for the settling of accounts" [6. P. 44].
W. Churchill appeals to equip the UN with international armed forces, because "courts and magistrates may be set up but they cannot function without sheriffs and constables" [6. P. 46]. W. Churchill's scrawling "may be set up but they" changes W. Churchill's thought in the typed text and warns of disfunction of already created structures. W. Churchill believes that ".we must be certain that our Temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock" [6. P. 45]. By means of this metaphor W. Churchill defines the solid foundation of the building of the Temple — the United Nations.
The above-mentioned conceptual metaphors create a kind of dynamic cognitive script. The conceptual source domains in the creation of these mappings are "Construction", "Law", "Mythology" and "Religion". We understand the target domain "World" during the period of peace on the Earth in terms of those source domains.
The former British Prime Minister sees the will of the Lord in preserving peace on Earth: "God has willed tt this shall not be, and we hv at least a breathing space before this peril has to be encountered..." [6. P. 49]. After the word space W. Churchill adds the phrase "to set our house in order" emphasizing the chaos in the world after the Second World War.
The cognitive metaphorical representation WORLD in peacetime is not just a house, but the house of the Lord. Here W. Churchill quotes the Gospel of John, XIV: 2: "In my Father's house are many mansions" [6. P. 61].
M-mapping "World" - "Earth"
Addressing to the audience, W. Churchill quotes the words of an American speaker B. Cochran: "The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace" [6. P. 55]. Thus, an ideal metaphorical picture of the world appears.
We denote the metaphorical mapping "World" - "Earth" and suppose its connection with the specifics of the political situation. The speech was made in March 1946. The world lived in the postwar time in peace. However, W. Churchill warns: ".now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn" [6. P. 72]. The reader of these lines clearly imagines the entire globe from dusk to dawn, from the East to the West, and, of course, the Soviet Union with its huge territory somewhere between dusk and dawn.
WORLD as the planet Earth, as a large globe, narrowed here by W. Churchill to Europe (the author speaks briefly about Asia in his speech) can be seen in the cognitive understanding of the metaphor. "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent" [6. P. 67]. The concepts of the source domain "Geography" denote the metaphorical perception of the picture of the world. Moreover, the choice of W. Churchill of the "extreme geographical points of the curtain," Stettin and Trieste, the cities with historically disputed affiliation to one country or another, adds an additional historical and political accent to the complex and controversial reality of the source domain "Geography".
Conceptually, the metaphorical expression "Iron Curtain" belongs to the source domain "Theatre". The concepts of this semantic domain are reflected in the conceptual metaphors of political military discourse (e.g. a theatre of military operations, heroes of battle scenes, etc.).
M-mapping "World" - "Theatre"
Analyzing the "Iron Curtain" metaphor, it becomes clear which countries are metaphorically represented by W. Churchill as spectators - the public in the theatre, and which countries are actors on this imaginary theatre scene. On the other side of the curtain, on the stage, the capitals of Central and Eastern European states: "Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia" [6. P. 67]. Soviet troops stood in those countries, representing, according to W. Churchill, TYRANNY.
In the stalls, however, there are mostly English-speaking democrats representing DEMOCRACY. By analogy with a medieval theatre, where action on the stage was lit by candles, an iron curtain which doesn't burn prevented the spread of fire. The fire (surely, the communist fire) appeared on the stage, shouldn't be spread to the stalls, to the public in the theatre.
"The Communist fire", as well as communist "fifth columns" [6. P. 73], in European countries occupied by Soviet troops, according to W. Churchill, should be separated by the "iron curtain" from the stalls, that is, the countries of DEMOCRACY. Thus, W. Churchill, speaking about the possibility of a new world war, shows the way to prevent it. In W. Churchill view, this is the creation of an "iron curtain", isolating TYRANNY and preventing the spread of communist fire. In the speech "The Sinews of Peace" we can see the origins of a metaphor of the post-war political discourse - "Cold War", which began between DEMOCRACY and TYRANNY after "Fulton speech".
Conclusions:
Based on contextual interpretations, the M-mapping "World" - "Theatre" is perceived in speech as the post-war period of modern history.
The M-mappings "World"- "Illness", "World" - "Crime" according to the contextual analysis of "Fulton speech" correspond to the pictures of the conceptual perception of war.
The M-mappings "World" - "Religion", "World" - the Earth" are mentally perceived out of time as some ideal representations of W. Churchill's picture of the world.
W. Churchill's speech concludes by stating the importance of the moment, his own proposals and expressing a hope that ".the highroads of the future will be clear, not only for us, but for all; not only for our time, but for a century to come" [6. P. 84].
The deep-structural level of W. Churchill's metaphorical language in the speech has allowed us to reveal some probable cognitive metaphorical mappings and their possible interpretations.
Конфликт интересов Conflict of Interest
Не указан. None declared.
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