Two puzzle pieces

Fitting discourse context and constructions into cognitive metaphor theory

Carol Lynn Moder

Oklahoma State University

This study examines metaphorical expressions in American radio news magazines appearing in two linguistic forms: NP is a NP and Its like NP. It integrates Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner 2002) with a usage-based approach to grammatical constructions (Goldberg 1995, 2006;Tomasello 2003, and Croft 2001) and analyzes the forms within their dynamic discourse context in terms of noun phrase accessibility (Chafe 1980, 1994; Givn 1983; Ariel 1988) and grounding (Langacker 1999, Oakley & Coulson 2008). The findings indicate that the functions of the grammatical constructions used in the metaphorical expressions were directly related to the non-metaphorical uses of the constructions and that the analysis of the ongoing discourse was essential to understanding the form-meaning pairings inherent in the expressions.

1. Introduction The contemporary investigation of metaphorical expressions in non-literary contexts was pioneered by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999). Their Conceptual Theory of Metaphor directed attention to the underlying conceptual framework that metaphor provides for everyday thought and action. This emphasis, while establishing a needed cognitive underpinning to the study of metaphors function in everyday life, did not provide analytical tools for the study of how linguistic form and discourse context might relate to the use of metaphorical expressions. The work of Fauconnier and Turner (2002), which analyzes metaphor in relation to a general cognitive process of blending, presents a more promising framework for a comprehensive examination of the cognitive, discourse, and linguistic properties of everyday metaphorical expressions. Within a Blending Theory approach, this paper examines naturally-occurring metaphors and similes in every day spoken American English, as they occur in the
English Text Construction 3:2 (2010), 294320. doi 10.1075/etc.3.2.09mod issn 18748767 / e-issn 18748775 John Benjamins Publishing Company

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context of radio news magazines. The study examines metaphorical expressions in two linguistic forms: NP is a NP and Its like NP, employing a usage-based grammatical construction approach to establish a foundation for understanding the contribution of form to metaphorical expressions. In addition, the study considers the role of context by employing relevant concepts from discourse analysis: noun phrase accessibility (Chafe 1980, 1994; Givn 1983; Ariel 1988) and grounding (Langacker 1999, Oakley & Coulson 2008). 2. Blending Theory Fauconnier & Turner (2002) describe metaphorical expressions as part of the cognitive process of blending. Building on Fauconniers (1994) Mental Spaces Model, according to which mental spaces are constructs built up in discourse according to cues provided by linguistic expressions, Blending Theory explains processes of cross-domain mappings in terms of a network of four spaces, a generic space which contains common skeletal information, two or more input spaces, and a blended space which contains selective projections from the input spaces. All input spaces may contribute to the blend and the combination of elements in the blended space may be further elaborated to create new interpretations not found in any input space. Mental spaces may be connected by mapping an element in one input space to its counterpart in another input space. The connection between these counterparts can be described in terms of vital conceptual relations, including space, time, change, identity, analogy, cause-effect, and representation. In a blended space, the vital relations that hold across input spaces may be compressed into a single structure. Compression describes the process of transforming diffuse conceptual structures into structures that are reduced to a scale that is more understandable in terms of everyday human experience. Although Fauconnier and Turner acknowledge the role of context and situation-specific elements in the blending process, they have not fully elaborated how the blending process might develop in discourse. A number of recent studies have sought to extend their work along these lines (Sanders & Redeker 1996, Dancygier 2008, Oakley & Hougaard 2008). Of particular interest for the present investigation are cognitive linguistic studies that focus on metaphor in everyday discourse (Sullivan 2007, Semino 2008, Oakley & Coulson 2008, Gorska (this volume)). Sullivan (2007) analyzes the frame semantics and constructions underlying the expression of conceptual metaphors in a set of metaphorical expressions taken from the British National Corpus. Her analysis of extended examples focuses on metaphorical expressions in poetry and in artists statements. Semino (2008) combines

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conceptual metaphor theory and critical discourse analysis to discuss metaphoric expressions in a variety of domains, including literature, science, and politics. Her focus is on the framing role that metaphor plays in particular genres, and she highlights the fact that broad cross-domain mappings do not fully explain metaphorical expressions used in context. The study that most thoroughly integrates cognitive and discourse approaches in examining everyday metaphor is that of Oakley & Coulson (2008). Using a mental spaces framework, they look in detail at a creative elaboration of a conventional metaphorical expression and trace its use through an ongoing discourse. They discuss the ways that situational knowledge of the speech event and its purposes and participants are critical to an understanding of the ongoing mapping cued by the discourse. They also suggest that one of the functions of the metaphorical expression is to compress information built up over a number of successive intonation units. Oakley & Coulson conclude that a mental spaces model supplemented with a focus on discourse-based activation and grounding best accounts for the novel use of a metaphor in a radio interview. 3. Construction Grammar In cognitive linguistics, usage-based construction grammar is defined by the work of Goldberg (1995, 2006), Tomasello (2003), and Croft (2001). The key notion of this variety of construction grammar is that syntactic patterns cannot be divorced from meaning and use. Constructions are typically defined as symbolic units with meaning derived from language use in context. Tomasello (2003) and Goldberg (1995, 2006) have demonstrated that constructions first develop as individual items or phrases associated with specific meanings or discourse contexts. These contextdependent item-based constructions may, with extensive use across various contexts and forms, develop into more abstract constructions, or they may remain item specific. Thus, constructions can range from very specific items, like pull-TNS NPs leg, exemplified by youre pulling my leg (Croft 2001:17), to more schematic constructions, like the caused motion construction [SUBJ [V OBJ OBL]], exemplified by sentences like Frank sneezed the tissue off the table (Goldberg 1995:152). As can be seen in these examples, there is variation in the categories used to capture the elements in a given construction. There is also some variation in assumptions about whether one can assume the relevance of certain common structural or functional categories, like Noun and Noun Phrase (NP) or Subject, Object, and Oblique. Croft (2001) argues that all aspects of syntactic structure are language specific, and he cautions that the categories used should be justified by their relevance to the particular construction.

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3.1 NP is a NP construction Fauconnier and Turner (2002) and Turner (2008) discuss the use of the copula verb to link NPs primarily in the context of the XYZ construction. They suggest the function of the copula in these cases is to indicate that two NPs are counterparts in two mental spaces, leaving open precisely the kind of counterpart relation that might be cued. In discussing the metaphor, Vanity is the quicksand of reason, Fauconnier & Turner (2002) posit two input spaces, one in which reason appears and one in which quicksand appears. The information in each space draws on a frame and the expression cues the understander to blend these frames (Turner 2008). In the case of quicksand the frame includes a traveller, a path, and a trap that stops motion, among many other possible things. In the case of reason, the frame could include a thinker, content involving an action or proposition, support or evidence, a potential addressee, etc. The traveller in the quicksand frame is mapped as the counterpart of the thinker in the reason frame. Some elements from the quicksand frame are projected to the blend, serving as the organizing frame. When vanity is then mapped into the reason space, it elaborates personal characteristics of the reasoner. Turner notes that there is also an intentional structure which entails that the reasoner is consciously engaging in the activity but may be unaware that he is possibly mistaken. In this expression, the target domain provides the intentional structure for the resulting blend, while the source domain provides the trap element from the organizing quicksand frame. The way in which these input spaces are combined is cued by the grammatical form in which the expression occurs. XYZ expressions like Paul is the father of Sally and Vanity is the quicksand of reason serve as prompts for the same integration mapping scheme, whether the nouns in the expression are metaphorical or not. The copula in these expressions indicates that the nouns X (Paul, vanity) and Y (father, quicksand) are counterparts in two different domains (input spaces). The expression Y of Z indicates that the frame which contains the element Y will provide cues to mapping the relation between X and Z. Thus, father cues a kinship frame that in turn cues the mapping of the relation between Paul and Sally. Similarly, in the metaphorical expression, quicksand cues the frame of a trap that stops progress. The understander can use this frame to construe the relation between vanity and reason. Fauconnier and Turner emphasize that grammatical constructions such as these do not fully determine the nature of the integration, but rather are cues that allow a variety of mappings. Furthermore, since the entire network of spaces remains available, the relations between domains is open to later re-mapping. Langacker (1991) has characterized the construction in which a copula links two NPs, traditionally called a predicative nominative, as describing a stative rela-

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tion between the two nominals. When the second nominal appears with the article a, he indicates that the relation may construe the nominal as an arbitrary instance of a type that serves a particular purpose in the context of the discourse. Radden and Dirven (2007) similarly stipulate the open nature of the relationship expressed by the copulative construction, suggesting that the different meanings with which it is associated may include property assignment, category inclusion, and identification. These linguistic analyses suggest that the construction may serve multiple functions related to the specific context of use. 3.2 Its like NP construction Surprisingly, there have been few cognitive linguistic studies relating to the Its like NP construction, or indeed to the discussion of like preceding NPs at all. Croft & Cruse (2004), suggest that expressions of the form A is like B profile a resemblance between A and B in some respect, whereas A is B expressions predicate certain properties directly of B. They describe non-metaphorical uses of A is like B as statements of similarity. For similes of the A is like B kind, they posit a restricted mapping between the two domains, and contrast this to A is B statements which they say have more open mappings between the two domains. However, they acknowledge that less prototypical examples of A is like B expressions may have open mappings that are similar to those found in A is B statements. In her corpus-based study of metaphors and constructions, Sullivan (2007) similarly observes that the use of like in a metaphorical expression cues the partial nature of the mapping, but she further observes that like may also highlight differences between the source and target domain. 4. Discourse context & the constructions A usage-based examination of grammatical constructions in context should consider the relationship between the form in which the elements of a construction appear and the ongoing flow of information in the discourse. For the constructions under study here, the effect of the ongoing discourse is most clearly seen in the forms of the NPs. In a dynamic discourse, the form used in an NP relates to the flow of discourse topics and discourse entities. Chafe (1980, 1994) has described this flow in terms of the shifting of focal attention. Each separate focus of consciousness contributes to the flow of thought by following from what preceded it and anticipating what will follow. He defines a discourse topic as a coherent aggregate of thoughts introduced by a participant, developed and then closed or allowed to drop. He

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suggests that such topics constitute a focal cluster of attention held in semi-active consciousness. Each discourse topic entails reference to specific discourse entities, which may be persons, things, or concepts. The forms used to refer to these discourse entities vary according to their state of activation. Entities that are active in the discourse tend to be expressed in more reduced forms, like pronouns or shortened noun phrases, while inactive entities are often expressed with full proper nouns or lengthy modified NPs. This relationship between the form of the expression and the ongoing discourse has been treated more elaborately by Givn (1983) and Ariel (1988). These researchers analyze forms in terms of their accessibility, defined in relation to the distance between the antecedent and the referring expression, the other possible entities to which the form might refer, the importance or topicality of the entity, and the extent to which the entity is identifiable from an already evoked frame. The more accessible an entity is, the more reduced the form that refers to it will be. In English, the accessibility continuum goes from full proper names, which refer to more inaccessible entities, through last names, first names, definite noun phrases, and indefinite noun phrases, to pronouns, which refer to more accessible entities. A second feature of the discourse context that is relevant to this study is grounding. Langacker (1999) discusses this concept in the context of nominals (NPs). Prototypical nominals are specified in relation to the ground, which refers to the speech event and its participants. For Langacker, a key aspect of nominal grounding is the specification of definiteness, through which discourse participants coordinate their mental reference to specific instances. As mentioned above, Oakley & Coulson (2008) extend the term grounding, using it to refer to the discourse participants, their roles in the discourse, the representative communicative sequences in which they engage, and various aspects of the situational context defined by the communicative event in which they participate. They represent these grounding elements as part of a grounding space for the discourse and demonstrate how it affects the content of the ongoing discourse, which they illustrate in a discourse presentation space. 5. Metaphors & similes in radio news magazine discourse In previous research, I began to integrate a discourse-based approach with aspects of Blending Theory in order to evaluate competing theories about similes and metaphors (Moder 2008). I examined NP is a NP metaphorical expressions and similes using like in the everyday discourse context of radio news discourse. In order to gather empirical data about what the grammatical form like encodes,

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I began by examining the non-metaphorical uses of like in the corpus. I found the typical assumption that like was chiefly associated with comparison statements to be erroneous. In the corpus, like was used in both comparison and categorization statements, with about equal frequency. The examination of the metaphorical expressions indicated that similes using like drew on both comparison and categorization senses of the form like. I divided similes into two types: narrow scope similes and broad scope similes. Narrow scope similes were restricted in their interpretation by the specification of the attribute or dimension along which the mapping from source to target domain was to be made. In these similes, like often followed a verb phrase. An example is Governor Engler stood smiling at the door like the proud father at a wedding reception. In this expression, Governor Engler was related to the proud father specifically in terms of the way he stood smiling at the door. Thus, the scope of the mapping was very narrowly circumscribed by the verb phrase preceding like. Such similes conform to the assertions of previous researchers that similes denote comparisons or resemblances and that their mappings tend to be partial or restricted. In contrast, the broad scope similes were more like nominative metaphors in form, in novelty, and in the more extended mappings that they cued. An example is The gun lobby the National Rifle Association, the Colorado Firearms Coalition are incredibly powerful in the Colorado legislature. When an issue comes, it is like an airdrop. They descend on the Colorado Legislature. In this example, a newly introduced source domain, airdrop, was mapped onto the established discourse topic of the gun lobby. This mapping allowed a broader range of mappings and inferences compared to those established for the narrow scope similes. Typically, the preferred mapping of the broad scope simile directly followed the like phrase. In this example, the sentence They descend on the Colorado legislature indicated the intended interpretation of the simile, but did not completely restrict further mappings from the source domain. The positioning of the elaboration expression after the broad scope simile contrasted with the positioning of the elaboration of the nominative metaphors, which preceded the expression as part of the discussion of the target domain. The study concluded that metaphors and similes could not entirely be distinguished on the basis of previous theories of comparison or categorization. The major difference between metaphors and similes in this communicative context related to the cognitive cues that the linguistic expressions provided to guide the understander in constructing a mapping and to the ways that the forms were used in their discourse context. In Moder (2010), I examined non-metaphorical constructions in which like connected two NPs, showing that like opened relational links between two discourse entities. The relations mapped might entail either categorization or

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comparison, depending both on the specific grammatical construction and the context in which the lexical item appeared. These previous studies suggested that a more thorough integration of blending theory, grammatical constructions, and discourse analysis might provide the necessary theoretical power to better understand the use of metaphorical expressions within a specific communicative context. Accordingly, this paper focuses on usage-based constructions and grounding in discourse context as blending cues for the interpretation of naturally-occurring metaphorical expressions in American English. Following the Blending Theory assumption that the cognitive processes underlying metaphorical expressions are the same as those underlying nonmetaphorical expressions, the paper employs a construction grammar approach to examine the contribution of grammatical form to the understanding of metaphorical expressions. Focusing on the genre of the radio news program, the study examines a small corpus (1,000,000 words) of researcher-collected audio files and transcripts from two National Public Radio news programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. As part of a larger study, I had identified all the metaphorical utterances in the corpus, following the methods outlined in Cameron (2003) and Semino (2008). To formulate the constructions on which this study would focus, I extracted and examined all the expressions that were either nominative metaphorical expressions or similes using like. Most of these expressions appeared in one of two forms: NP is a NP (The show is a snapshot of the time) and Its like NP (Its like two puzzle pieces). To determine the particular form of each construction, I used the inductive, usage-based process espoused by Croft (2001). I considered the descriptions of related forms and expressions current in cognitive linguistics, as described above, and examined in detail the specific forms and associated functions that occurred in this communicative setting. I then studied all the expressions with similar syntactic structure in the corpus, both metaphorical and non-metaphorical. Based on this examination, I posited a preliminary form for each construction that reflected typical form-meaning pairings. The resulting constructions varied in specificity. The first construction was the more schematic NP is a NP construction, which appeared with a variety of noun phrases in the first slot, followed by the verb is, and then an indefinite NP in the second NP slot. The second construction was the more specific Its like NP construction. The high frequency of occurrence of these expressions in these forms and the consistency of their associated discourse functions led to their consideration as a separate constructions for this analysis.1

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6. The radio news magazine genre National Public Radio, the American public radio network, broadcasts a range of programs, including two news magazines, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Morning Edition is broadcast in the early morning on radio stations across the United States. All Things Considered is broadcast in the early evening. Both are two-hour programs that include news, analysis, commentary, reviews, arts, sports, and special interest features. The NPR website estimates the audience of Morning Edition at approximately 14 million, naming it as the NPR program with the highest listenership. The website does not provide figures for All Things Considered (NPR, n.d.). Both news magazine programs typically have two hosts who alternate in introducing or presenting stories and interviewing guests. The most common type of segment in these NPR programs is the news story, which is characterized by the following grounding elements. News story segments are begun by a host who gives a short overview of the topic and then introduces a reporter. The reporter frames the discourse with a brief preface. The story is presented with edited portions of relatively spontaneous comments by newsmakers and other speakers, interspersed with linking comments and segues by the reporter. In some cases, a single speaker is presented more than once. Typically such multiple speaker turns are short and are framed by the reporter who provides relevant contextual information about the topic or the speaker before each turn. Before the turn of the subsequent speaker, the reporter provides additional details relevant to the topic or the setting. At the end of the news story the reporter makes a closing statement. A second common segment format is the interview. In the interview grounding, the host frames the topic briefly, introduces the interviewee, and then poses a question which nominates the main topic. The interviewee responds to this question by providing a fuller overview of the topic and introducing relevant discourse entities. The host comments on the interviewees information and poses a new question or makes a comment that asks for elaboration of a particular subtopic, to which the interviewee responds. The alternation of comments/questions by the host and responses and elaborations by the interviewee continues through multiple turns until the topic has been fully discussed. The host then closes the topic segment. Other segments in the programs are pre-prepared single speaker monologues. Each two-hour program may have 20 or more total segments, with most stories averaging 3 to 5 minutes. The longest feature news stories last 7 to 8 minutes and the shortest monologues last as little as 28 seconds. All examples for this paper are taken from news story or interview segments. They thus include a combination of edited, spontaneous comments and prepared introductions, segues, and closings.

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7. Constructions in discourse context We will now examine the use of the two constructions under study as they occurred in the specified discourse context. It is worth noting that the two constructions occurred with very different overall frequencies in the corpus. As Table1 shows, the NP is a NP construction was much more frequent, with 461 total instances, compared to only 21 total instances for the Its like NP construction. We will discuss each of these constructions in turn, but given its higher frequency we will discuss the NP is a NP construction in greater detail.
Table1. Frequency of NP is a NP Construction
Frequency All First slot NP Pronoun NP 461 53 408 Percentage 100 % 11% 89%

Table1 also illustrates the stronger association of the first slot of the NP is a NP construction with NPs, compared to pronouns. For first slot NPs, the construction was associated with both proper nouns (240 instances) and common nouns (168 instances). The use of these forms in context will be discussed below. Also of interest is that instances of the NP is a NP construction were overwhelmingly non-metaphorical in this corpus. Only 46 instances (10%) were metaphorical; 415 instances (90%) were non-metaphorical. 7.1 Non-metaphorical uses of the NP is a NP construction We first consider the non-metaphorical uses of the NP is a NP construction, beginning with the expressions that occurred with a proper noun in the first NP slot. Of the 240 instances of proper nouns in the first NP slot, 183 instances or 76% were persons names. We will thus use the subcategory NP[name] in our discussion. The first NP slot was most likely to be filled with a full first and last name (158 instances). In such instances where the first NP was a persons full name, the construction most frequently served a purpose related to the grounding space of the communicative event, that of introducing a speaker who would then contribute to the ongoing discourse, as shown in Example (1).
Example (1): Introducing function LANGFITT: Such long odds are frustrating. Fred Quiroga is a resource specialist at the Montgomery Works office. As unemployment drags on, some people are

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running out of their government benefits and taking it out on others. Quiroga recalled one woman pushing another out of the way to get to a computer. QUIROGA: In the last month, we had to call the security guard a couple of times. ME 8/18/092

In Example (1), the reporter, Langfitt, relates a news story about individuals experiencing job loss. The host provides an overview of the topic and introduces Langfitt as the reporter. Langfitt describes the setting as an employment assistance office called Montgomery Works and introduces as speakers two jobless individuals. He intersperses his linking comments with the comments of the two job-seekers. He then introduces a person who gives statistics on the current labor market. The utterances in Example (1) follow this. The NP is a NP construction introduces the next speaker, whose contribution will continue the story. The credentials of this speaker are not activated by the topic introduction since he is not a job-seeker, but rather an employee at Montgomery Works. The construction makes explicit the position he holds, which makes him well-suited to discuss the broader context against which the contributions of the previous speakers should be understood. In this genre, a speaker is introduced with the NP is a NP construction when his or her credentials are especially relevant to the ongoing discourse topic, with the first NP providing the full name of speaker and the second NP providing the occupation or credentials. The particular semantic content of the NP is quite important to the use and interpretation of the construction. The occurrence of a persons name, and particularly a full name, was highly associated with the introductory function; 99 instances or 54% of all the NP[name] is a NP expressions served this function. An additional 48 instances or 26% used similar framing to identify the speaker at the close of the segment after his or her contributions were made, as seen in Example (2).
Example (2) Closing Function INSKEEP: Lord Darzi, thanks very much. DARZI: My pleasure. INSKEEP: Lord Ara Darzi is a former minister in Britains Department of Health and a surgeon at St. Marys Hospital in London INSKEEP: Youre listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. ME 8/18/09

Example (2) is the end of an interview segment. Throughout the segment, the interviewee, Lord Darzi, responds to questions about Britains health care system from the host, Inskeep. At the end of the segment, the host reiterates the speakers name and credentials for the listeners. This reiteration on closing was typical of the interview segments. The function is directly related to the communicative expectations of the genre, since listeners may tune into the report while it is in progress

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and wonder who the speaker was. The NP[name] is a NP construction provides key information to allow the listener to consider the information in the context of the credentials of the speaker. Considering all 408 instances with nouns in the first slot of the NP is a NP construction, the grounding functions accounted for 32% of the constructions in the corpus. For those cases in which a name is in the first slot, the grounding functions account for 80% of the constructions. When the NP in the first slot was a full name, 147 instances (93%) performed grounding functions. Thus, the appearance of a persons full name, first and last, in the first slot of the NP is a NP construction was highly associated with the grounding function. All other forms of the first slot NP, reduced names, pronouns and common nouns, were associated with a second major function, the discourse elaboration function, in which the nominal was the main discourse entity under discussion in the segment. In the discourse elaboration function, the instances of NP[name] occurred mostly in reduced forms. Full names occurred with a discourse elaboration function in only 11 out of 158 instances or 7%. In contrast, all of the occurrences of last name only (20 instances) and first name only (5 instances) had a discourse elaboration function. This association of reduced forms with the main discourse entity is entirely in accord with the normal discourse use of such forms for accessible entities, highlighting the way in which a constructions grammatical form interacts with discourse context. Example (3) shows the discourse elaboration function with a first name and with a pronoun in the first NP slot.
Example (3) Elaborating a Discourse Entity INSKEEP: It sounds like from this article the descriptions given in this New York magazine article that in her earlier life Annie Leibovitz was relatively modest in her personal spending, her personal circumstances, except for a drug habit, but lived in a modest apartment and that changed in recent years, which is part of her trouble now. BROWN: It did, and I think it was all part of the kind of borrowing on the nevernever madness that everybody got into. I mean Annies a zeitgeist creature herself, and in a way everything thats happened to her reflects the zeitgeist in which shes lived. I mean she moved in a world of celebrity, she became the lover of Susan Sontag, the famous critic, she mixed with movie stars and rock stars and so forth, and after time that lifestyle starts to rub off. But I will say that I dont fear for Annie in the long-run. Shes a superb talent and shes not really a person, shes not a Michael Jackson figure, who wants to go off and live the life of craziness. She actually is a woman of simple taste; its just that things got out of hand. ME 8/18/09

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In the segment from which Example (3) is excerpted, the host, Inskeep, interviews magazine editor Tina Brown about interesting reading. In the first part of the segment Brown and Inskeep discuss an article recounting the financial woes of photographer Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz is the main discourse entity in the segment and her financial problems are the main discourse topic. At the beginning of Example (3), Inskeep mentions Leibovitzs early life of modest spending. The discourse has at this point established and elaborated two spaces linked by vital relations of identity, time, and change: the present space, in which Leibovitz has a massive $24 million dollar debt, and the early life space, in which she had modest spending habits. Brown elaborates the present space subtopic of the photographers woes by attributing them to an overall societal situation. At the heart of this turn is the NP is a NP construction, Annies a zeitgeist creature herself.3 This construction links the blended Leibovitz space previously built up with a new space that evokes an additional frame. When the new space and its associated frame are integrated into the blended space, they invite a causeeffect relation between the zeitgeist and the change in Leibovitz. The discourse function of the construction is to highlight the relevance of the entire segment to the listening audience, construing the Leibovitz story as characteristic of the times. With respect to the form of the construction, the first NP references the ongoing discourse entity with a reduced form of her name, while the second NP invites us to create a counterpart relation between Annie and the zeitgeist creature, which appears initially to be a vital relation of identity. This expression prompts further blending of the characteristics of Annie built up in the discourse with the characteristics of the zeitgeist creature, reinforcing the vital relation of change. Brown elaborates the zeitgeist creature space, drawing on the frame of the current wild financial times. However, she then makes a personal assessment of Leibovitzs basic characteristics, employing two successive NP is a NP constructions: Shes a superb talent and She actually is a woman of simple taste. These constructions use pronouns in the first NP slot since the referent is highly accessible, because it is the main discourse entity and because the name Annie was used in the immediately preceding utterance. From a discourse perspective, both expressions highlight Browns conclusion to the description and to the segment, elaborating Leibovitzs true characteristics, which will lead to her being okay in the long run. Of particular interest is that in using the word actually, the second expression draws a disanalogy relation between Annie and the zeitgeist creature, preventing the listener from mapping the wild celebrity life into the real Annie space. The expression decompresses the identity initially established in the prior discourse. Fauconnier & Turner (2000) have emphasized that such compressions and decompressions of identity are essential aspects of human understanding. The possibility of re-mapping the relations between counterparts in mental spaces is

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an integral aspect of Blending Theory. Because all input spaces and their links are always available, blended spaces are amenable to subsequent re-interpretation and re-analysis. This aspect of Blending Theory provides a framework for examining how the open nature of the relations cued by the NP is a NP construction may be exploited in a dynamically shifting discourse context. We have seen that when the first NP slot is filled with a name, the NP is a NP construction cues something more specific than a counterpart relation, it construes the NP in the second slot, as Langacker (1991) posited, as an instance of a type relevant to a particular discourse purpose. In the introducing and closing functions, the instance expressed by the second NP is arbitrary in Langackers sense of being an instance of a specified category. In the grounding function, the category is a job or a credential. In the discourse elaboration function, the second NP is an instance of a category that elaborates the main discourse purpose. One indicator of which space is cued is the position of the utterance in the overall sequence of the communicative event. When the construction is used by the host or reporter before a speaker initial turn in a news story or at the end of an interview segment, the relevant relation is in the grounding space. When the construction is used in a medial turn by a newsmaker or the reporter, the relevant relation is cued in the discourse presentation space. A second indicator of the space that is cued is the semantic content of the NP in each slot. When the first NP is a full name and the second is a credential, the relevance is established in the grounding space, cuing the listener to the overall weight to be placed on the comments of a given speaker. When the NP in the first slot is a reduced name or a pronoun and the second NP is a more general common noun, then the relevance is cued in the discourse space; highlighting through elaboration of the main discourse entity a key purpose of the overall discourse. In this corpus, the discourse elaboration function of the NP is a NP construction was the most common, accounting for 68% of the constructions uses (314 of the total 461 instances). Of these discourse elaboration uses, in the first NP slot 36 instances had names, 53 had pronouns, 57 had proper nouns referring to places or entities, and 168 had common nouns. All the cases in which a common noun or a pronoun appeared in the first NP slot established relevance to the discourse presentation space, rather than to the grounding space. With respect to the use of the construction in metaphorical expressions, none of the exemplars with a NP[name] in the first NP slot were metaphorical; all the metaphorical expressions in this construction had common nouns in the first NP slot. The association of metaphorical expressions with common nouns and not with names may be specific to this discourse genre. In the public radio news magazine, metaphorical expressions typically are associated with elaborations of the main discourse topic and especially with creating associations between disparate

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arguments about a main discourse entity outlined in the prior context. Such discourse topics were usually concepts, not persons. Furthermore, public radio news magazines strive for a neutral stance, particularly since public funding hinges on their not being perceived as partisan. The reporters are therefore unlikely to portray newsmakers with metaphorical expressions that could be interpreted as too emotionally laden, though this option would be available to the newsmakers themselves. Example (4) presents the NP is a NP construction used in the discourse elaboration function with a common noun. The host Robert Siegel introduces the news story segment by invoking a trip to a caf on Arizona Indian land. The reporter, Robbins, introduces the Desert Rain Caf as the main discourse entity and the Tohono OOdham revival of traditional food as the main discourse topic. He mentions a favourite item on the menu, beef short ribs with tepary beans, and presents two customers, one who says the cooking reminds her of her grandmothers and the other who says the food is unfamiliar. He then discusses how government assimilation programs led to a loss of traditional diet and culture and a high incidence of diabetes. He introduces a speaker, Tristan Reader, whose comment connects traditional agriculture to tribal ceremonies and stories. The excerpt in Example (4) begins after that turn.
Example (4) Elaborating a Common Noun ROBBINS: Tristan Reader is co-director of TOCA: Tohono OOdham Community Action. He says in the 1930s, the tribe was growing a million-and-a-half pounds of tepary beans a year. Eight years ago, TOCA couldnt find a hundred pounds. So the group planted a community garden, then a 125-acre farm. Now its opened the Desert Rain Cafe. Unidentified Woman: I need two side salads. ROBBINS: The menu is a mix of pure tradition, like the beans and short ribs stew, and modern interpretations like squash enchiladas or a grilled chicken sandwich glazed with prickly pear and chili sauce. Tristan Reader says every recipe has at least one traditional ingredient, all grown in the desert. ATC 6/19/09

The reporter makes a transition from the speakers turn to the efforts to revitalize traditional culture, and he reactivates the Desert Rain Caf as the main discourse entity. The utterance in focus follows a situation-evoking sound bite of a customer at the caf. The NP is a NP construction in bold is highly elaborated:4 The entity in the first NP slot, the menu, was previously accessible in the discourse and kept accessible by its association with the main discourse entity. The details in the menu space, short ribs and tepary beans as traditional foods, were also previously mentioned. The construction links menu to the noun mix, a lexical item that itself

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opens multiple input spaces. These spaces are elaborated by the of phrase. The construction cues a counterpart blend of modern and traditional spaces. The ingredients in each of these spaces are combined straightforwardly with the same organizing frame in a simplex blend as parts of the menu. Importantly, the blended traditional-modern space is then available as a space for the additional mapping that is the main point of the segment, the reinterpretation and adaptation of tradition culture to the modern context. As in Example (3), here the NP is a NP construction is used to present key information about the discourse topic by elaborating relevant details about the main discourse entity. Also, in both examples, the details in the input space of the active discourse entity have already been given in the preceding discourse. With common nouns in the first NP slot, the NP is a NP construction creates a counterpart blend that cues vital relations of identity, but depending on the context and on additional linguistic cues, the blend may cue various other vital relations, including analogy, disanalogy, and change. In these non-metaphorical uses, the blends may share a single organizing frame or they may blend organizing frames from multiple input spaces. 7.2 Metaphorical uses of the NP is a NP construction Most metaphorical uses of the NP is a NP construction were conventional. The common nouns that appeared in the second NP slot were typically items with lexicalized metaphorical meanings found elsewhere in the corpus, for example, cloud, scar, or battleground. Very few metaphorical expressions in this construction, only 8 out of 46, were novel. Example (5) presents a metaphorical expression in which a full NP appears in the first NP slot and a full NP, introducing a novel metaphorical entity, occurs in the second slot of the NP is a NP construction. Such exemplars, in which two full NPs appear in a novel metaphorical expression, are uncommon in the news story and interview segments in this genre, since the metaphorical expression usually related to an accessible discourse entity.
Example (5) CHADWICK: When he pleaded guilty to espionage a week ago, former CIA man Aldrich Ames said his ex-intelligence colleagues and others are engaged in a selfserving sham and that spy wars are a side show which have had no real impact on our significant security interests over the years. He was speaking principally of whats called counter-intelligence- the effort to infiltrate foreign spy agencies and recruit their people. Its easy to dismiss this as the rationale of a convicted traitor, but its also a voice from inside the intelligence community. Joining us by telephone from Florida is former CIA director Robert Gates.  ME 5/5/94

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The novel metaphorical expression is introduced in the topic overview by the host as the main topic of the interview. The unusual appearance of two full NPs is explained by the expressions intertextuality (Chilton & Schaffner 2002, Semino 2008). The host is quoting a statement made by Ames after he was convicted of selling intelligence secrets to Russia. The Ames statement was prepared in advance in writing and was read by Ames at his trial and later by his lawyer to the press (Excerpts from Statement by C.I.A. Officer Guilty in Spy Case, 1994). Ames initial use of this metaphor exemplifies Seminos (2008) findings that in politics novel metaphors are used deliberately for a persuasive purpose within a particular context. Such metaphors are usually picked up by the media, as we see in this case. This use of a metaphorical expression of a third party is similar to the context analyzed by Oakley & Coulson (2008); in both cases the quoted metaphorical expression frames the entire interview. In this interview, the reporter cites the metaphorical expression in the topic overview and then reiterates specific parts of it to frame his questions to Gates. Unlike in the Oakley & Coulson example, in which the interviewee elaborates and remaps the language of the original metaphor, in this segment Gates eschews both the term spy wars and the source domain sideshow. Gates responses instead attempt to unpack the mapping of the metaphorical expression and re-construe intelligence in terms of the important contributions made by human spies. Such intertextual examples highlight the value of metaphorical expressions in compressing mappings of diverse concepts and making them available for later reference and re-mapping. Although such uses are effective in interview segments, they were not very frequent in the corpus. A more common metaphorical use of the NP is a NP construction in this genre is provided in Example (6). The host introduces this 2-minute news story with the information that the television program, Ozzie and Harriet, will be commemorated with a U.S. postage stamp. She then presents two audio clips, interspersed with information about the program, followed by the excerpt in Example (6).
Example (6) WERTHEIMER: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ran for 14 years from 1952 to 1966. It trails only The Simpsons as televisions longest-running sitcom. NELSON: Theyre the greatest home movies anyone could ever ask for. There are 435 episodes of basically the development, over a period of time, of an entire family. WERTHEIMER: Thats Sam Nelson, the youngest grandchild of Ozzie and Harriet. He told us the show is a snapshot of the time in American history that still resonates. NELSON: Its a picture of an era that was, I think of, I dont want to say a better time but definitely a safer time. You know, just after war and America was coming

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together again. And I think they responded to that aspect of home. And I think thats why so many people you meet today, come up to me and my brothers and my sister and they say, oh, you know, we grew up with your family and its a tremendous gesture to suggest that we had a role in peoples lives that way. ME 8/11/09

The construction in Example (6) elaborates a space in the discourse that was first introduced by the host in the topic overview, the era of American history from 19521966. This period is linked as a counterpart to the time portrayed in the television show by the vital relation of representation. The history space is easily blended with the show space already accessible as the main discourse entity, since the two entities share similar properties and a similar organizing frame. The host, Wertheimer, introduces the blend in the NP is a NP construction in bold. As we saw in previous examples, the construction provides explicit cues for mapping, in this case including an extended of phrase which provides the full elaboration of the XYZ pattern. The NP is a NP construction elaborates the main discourse topic of the commemoration of the show by providing the details about the show that would merit such recognition. The construction cues a counterpart blend of the show space with the details active in the history space, construing the show as a snapshot representation of the time. The use of snapshot as the source domain draws on the frame evoked by Nelsons characterization of the show with the term home movies. Construing the television show in this way highlights the complex relation between the show and the Nelson family. Since in the program the family members portrayed themselves, there is both an identity relation and a representation relation between the Ozzie and Harriet Show and the Nelson family. The initial use of the construction by the host is further mapped in the discourse by Nelson, who this time uses the pronoun it in the first NP slot, since the show is an accessible discourse entity. His utterance, Its a picture of an era that was, reinstantiates the blend produced by the host and extends it with additional details from the history space which are projected to the show space in the blend. The representation-identity blend is reinforced in Nelsons closing comments about people who grew up with his family. Because of the nature of this communicative event, the hosts initial use of the blend was probably constructed expressly to introduce the metaphorical blend in the upcoming speakers turn, as part of the process of integrating the edited segments into the news story. A number of metaphorical expressions in the corpus followed this pattern, with the host pre-figuring the upcoming blend of a newsmaker. From a processing point of view, this double presentation of the blend gives it greater saliency and may make it more likely to function as a memorable compression that cues the mappings inherent in the relevant discourse focus of the segment.

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As we have seen in these examples, the NP is a NP construction draws on the constructional meaning of the copula to indicate counterparts in two mental spaces. The indefinite second NP indicates an instance of a type that serves a particular purpose in the context of the discourse. Furthermore, the distinctive meanings of reduced forms, like pronouns or shortened noun phrases, which signal accessible discourse entities in contrast to full proper nouns or lengthy modified NPs, which signal new entities in the discourse, also contribute to the metaphorical mappings. Table2 provides a summary of the various realizations of the NP is a NP construction.
Table2. NP is a NP construction and discourse functions
Construction Form NP1 is a NP2 NP1 = full name NP2= credential Discourse Function Introducing/closing Functions in the grounding space to introduce a featured speaker or to close the segment in which the speaker was interviewed. Non-metaphorical use Discourse elaboration Functions in discourse presentation space to elaborate the discourse entity in support of main discourse topic Non-metaphorical & Metaphorical uses

NP1 is a NP2 NP1 = shortened name, common noun, or pronoun; accessible discourse entity NP2= elaborated common noun

In the news magazine genre, the discourse purpose of the construction may relate either to the grounding space, managing the ongoing communicative event, or to the discourse presentation space, elaborating the main discourse topic. In the discourse elaboration function, both metaphorical and non-metaphorical utterances draw from the frame of the second NP to cue the relations to be mapped. In the nonmetaphorical expressions in Examples (3) and (4), the noun combination zeitgeist creature and the elaborated noun a mix of pure tradition and modern interpretation each provide a frame that is mapped in a counterpart blend with the discourse entity in the first NP. In the metaphorical expressions in Examples (5) and (6), a similar process cues a counterpart blend between the discourse entities expressed in the first NPs spy wars and the show with the frames of the second NPs sideshow and snapshot of the time in American History. In all examples, the type of relation cued by the blend is constrained and elaborated by the discourse context. Thus we find similar blending processes in both metaphorical and non-metaphorical utterances. We also find similar contributions of constructional meanings and discourse grounding. In this genre, the meanings of the metaphorical expressions are explicitly elaborated by the discourse context preceding and following the expression.

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The vast majority of the metaphorical utterances appearing in the NP is a NP construction in this corpus drew on more conventional metaphors, as we saw in the snapshot instance above. More novel metaphorical utterances were most commonly introduced by a related construction, Its like NP. We now turn to a brief examination of this construction. 7.3 Non-metaphorical use of Its like NP The non-metaphorical uses of the Its like NP construction were less common than the metaphorical uses in this genre. Of the 21 total instances of the construction, 8 were non-metaphorical.5 Example (7) provides an illustration of the use of these non-metaphorical expressions. It is part of an interview segment in which various speakers comment on their experience witnessing death row executions. The speaker in this example is a reporter, who is talking about covering such an execution. He uses the Its like NP construction to introduce a new discourse entity, any other unpleasant situation, in order to elaborate the main discourse topic.
Example (7) MORITZ: The first execution I did, I was wondering how Id react to it, but its like any other unpleasant situation a reporter is asked to cover. At some point theres a detachment. You realize that its not about you; its about the guy whos about ready to be put to death. 10/12/00

The construction cues the listener to compare the experience to other unpleasant experiences that a reporter might cover and to categorize it as such an experience. The reporter-in-unpleasant-situation space provides the organizing frame for the blend, highlighting the professional detachment the reporter drew on in order to neutralize a potentially strong emotional reaction to the execution. The mapping created provides a space in which to understand the statement that follows, that the experience is not about the reporters feelings; it is about the person about to be executed. The Its phrase highlights an accessible discourse entity. The like phrase in this context inherits from the constructionally-derived meaning of the like NP phrase, which encourages a categorization construal (Moder 2010). The modifying phrase that follows the like phrase elaborates the organizing frame of the input space that the categorization is meant to highlight in the context of the discourse. 7.4 Metaphorical use of Its like NP Metaphorical uses of the Its like NP construction were more common in this corpus, accounting for 13 of the 21 instances (62%). The construction typically cued

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a blended space in which the main discourse entity was related to a new discourse entity that provided the frame necessary to compress details from the prior discourse. The new discourse entity introduced a frame that is not normally shared by the discourse entity. The like NP phrase was generally followed by an expression that elaborated the aspects of the new frame that would organize the mapping in the blended space. Example (8) is drawn from a news story segment in which the main discourse entity is a U.S. Labor Department regulation concerning worker safety. This regulation was first extended to include employees who work from home and then withdrawn the next day.
Example (8) PRAKASH: About 20 million Americans now work for employers from home, thanks to new technology that makes it easier to run an office out of a home. But business groups say that the new arrangements will wither if the federal governments regulates them heavy-handedly. Jennifer Krese of the National Association of Manufacturers. KRESE: What the administration essentially and what we have a problem with is that the administration is trying to apply a 30-year-old statute to a year 2000 work force. Its like two puzzle pieces that just dont fit together. So thats our biggest problem. (ATC 1/5/00)

The main discourse entity is the regulation of home workers. The discourse subtopic for this part of the interview is the view of manufacturers that such regulation is heavy-handed. The representative of the manufacturers, Krese, provides the assessment that the Labor Department is trying to apply a thirty-year old statute to the year 2000 workforce. The construction highlights the speakers evaluation of this attempt in a compressed and memorable form. The statute and the current workforce, which are accessible discourse entities, are blended with the new frame inherent in the domain of puzzle pieces. The that-clause makes explicit the relational mapping the speaker intends. Interestingly, the puzzle frame, in which pieces are crafted to fit tightly and smoothly together, is evoked to create a disanalogy relation in the blend: the statute and the year 2000 workforce do not fit together. It suggests further possible mappings in the blend; the absurdity and incompetence of those who make puzzle pieces that do not fit together can be projected as an assessment of the labor department administration. The discourse function of this mapping is to support the discourse purpose of one speaker in one sub-topic. It does so with a blend that activates a frame from a new input space to derive a relational mapping in a compression that reflects the speakers evaluation. As indicated above, it would be unlikely for such a blend to represent the overall purpose of the news segment since it entails an evaluative

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emotional stance incompatible with the purported neutral stance of the public radio network. As in this example, such uses were typically part of the assessment of one particular interviewee, which would be juxtaposed with other views. This juxtaposition suggests a value for such metaphorical expressions in this genre; they make the speakers assessment more compressed, more memorable, and possibly more persuasive. In contrast to the NP is a NP construction, the presence of like in the Its like NP construction provides an explicit cue to the understander that a new, and perhaps unexpected, frame is about to be introduced. This explicit cueing is directly related to the constructional meanings of like, introducing a nominal that is to be put in a counterpart relation of comparison and/or categorization with the preceding nominal (Moder, 2008, 2010). In a dynamic spoken discourse context, such explicit cueing may aid the casual listener in focusing on the intended mapping. This communicative context grounding may provide some explanation for the greater association of the Its like NP construction with more novel metaphorical expressions in this genre. Example (9) shows a use of the Its like NP construction with a broader, more novel mapping that thematically encompasses a point about the overall discourse topic. In this news story segment, the host first introduces the topic of multi-tasking and related brain processes. He then introduces the reporter, Jon Hamilton, and the setting that begins the interview, a diner. This part of the story intersperses sound bites from the diner, with reporter segues and speaker comments on the difficulty of handling multiple tasks. The reporter segues to the topic of multi-tasking as a common contemporary experience and introduces a neuroscientist who points out that the brain does not really multi-task, but rather switches rapidly from one task to another. The setting then moves to a brain research lab, where Hamilton introduces neuroscientist Daniel Weissman, who is charge of the lab. The remainder of the story is constituted by Weissmans comments, interspersed with Hamiltons segues.
Example (9) HAMILTON: But Weissman says even simple tasks can overwhelm the brain when we try to do several at once. WEISSMAN: If Im out on a street corner, and Im looking for one friend whos wearing a red scarf, I might be able to pick out that friend. But if Im looking for a friend whos wearing a red scarf on one street corner, and in the middle of the street Im looking for another friend whos wearing a blue scarf, and on the other side of street Im looking for a friend whos wearing a green scarf, at some point I can only divide my attention so much. HAMILTON: So the brain starts switching. Scan for red, switch. Scan for blue, switch. Scan for green, switch. The part of the brain that does this is called the

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executive system. Its a bit like one of those cartoon conductors telling the orchestra louder, softer, faster, slower. The conductor in our heads lives in the brains frontal lobes, basically above our eyes. WEISSMAN: So, executive processes allow us to make plans for future behaviors. They allow us to exert some sort of voluntary control over our behavior. WEISSMAN: Hunting requires a lot of planning, right? Youve got to think about, well, whats that tiger going to do? And Ive got my group of friends, how can we coordinate ourselves and surround the tiger? HAMILTON: And keeping track of all of these things wouldnt be possible without the executive system, that symphony conductor in our frontal lobes. ME 10/2/08

At the beginning of Example (9), Weissman explains how the brain deals with multiple tasks. This turn is the key to the discourse purpose. Weissman opens a hypothetical space which illustrates the main discourse topic of multi-tasking. Hamilton elaborates the searchforfriends space and then introduces a new discourse entity, the brains executive system, as the key entity responsible for task switching. He characterizes this system by introducing a new domain and an associated frame with the Its like NP construction. The unexpected use of the conductor domain is highlighted not only by the use of the spacebuilder like but also by the hedge a bit. The construction opens an additional space for the conductor and supplies actions from the music domain to serve as identity and analogy counterparts to the actions in the search-for-friends space. The blend of these spaces is explicitly cued by the following phrase the conductor in our heads, which is elaborated with the expression lives in the brains frontal lobes. The news story continues with further details about the frontal lobes, followed by comments about the possible evolutionary advantages of task switching to humans. The last pair of utterances given in Example (9) continues this topic. Of note is that Hamilton reinstantiates the conductor blend in this later turn with the phrase, that symphony conductor in our frontal lobes, which appears near the close of the story. In this example the reporter introduces the blend in his own segue comments in order to instantiate the key information from a featured speaker about the brain and then re-uses the blend as a compression of the previous mappings. This mapping cues analogy and representation relations to explicate the way the executive system of the brain functions. Presentation of this switching process is the key purpose of this news story. The Its like NP construction serves to map this blend as a central argument relevant to the ongoing discourse topic. Once introduced and mapped, the blend is available for re-instantiation in a less prominent NP form. Table3 presents a summary of the functions of the Its like NP construction.

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Table3. Its like NP construction and its discourse functions

Construction Its like NP It= discourse topic NP + modifiers= new entity + elaboration Discourse Function Introduces new, often novel, entity as a category that provides an organizing frame for compression of mappings of the active discourse topic; may elaborate speakers attitude or a relational focus. Frequently used metaphorically.

As discussed above, the construction inherits aspects of the meaning of like NP, which introduces a new nominal that stands in a counterpart relation to a preceding nominal expression. Like explicitly opens an input space which provides a frame from which to project relational features relevant to the already accessible discourse entity. The construction prompts a blend that compresses the mappings into a blended space. The mapping is elaborated with the specific relational features explicitly stated in the modifying phrase that follows the NP. This blending process is similar across non-metaphorical and metaphorical utterances. The greater frequency of metaphorical utterances appearing in this construction in this genre may be related to attention and salience. Given the casual listening behaviour of the radio audience, the discourse must be packaged to be as easily comprehensible as possible. The use of the explicit space-builder like prepares the listener for an unexpected mapping, focusing attention on the upcoming metaphorical expression. Since metaphorical expressions are defined in terms of their incongruence with the ongoing discourse topic, the new frames that they introduce are more likely to be salient and better remembered than the simplex frames that are introduced by the non-metaphorical expressions. Making the discourse more memorable would be a positive feature in the news magazine genre. 8. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that in this discourse genre there were differences in the mappings cued by the two different constructions under study. The more frequent NP is a NP construction served separate functions in the grounding space of the communicative event and in the discourse presentation space. In the grounding space, the construction served to provide discourse relevant credentials for a speaker, either as an introduction to that speakers contribution or as information for the listener at the close of the interview. In the discourse presentation space, the NP is a NP construction elaborated the ongoing discourse topic. It compressed already accessible details about the discourse topic into an

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organizing frame created by the expressed blend, which construed the accessible discourse entity named in the first NP as an instance of a type named in the second NP in order to highlight a key discourse purpose. The discourse might then either continue to elaborate the mappings of the blend or conclude, using the blend as a compression of the entire segment. The Its like NP construction introduced a new discourse domain to highlight relational mappings already active for the main discourse entity in order to focus on a new aspect of the discourse topic, typically a speaker evaluation or a discourse purpose. This new aspect was then elaborated in the immediately following discourse. When the construction represented a speaker evaluation, the blend it created typically had relevance at a particular point in the discourse. When it elaborated a sub-topic it typically was relevant to the overall discourse purpose. In terms of blending theory, the Its like NP construction appears to serve as an explicit space building expression, opening a new input space to be blended with a space previously established and elaborated by the discourse. The NP be NP construction served to compress various non-metaphorical mappings previously expressed in the discourse into the organizing frame of the new discourse domain and to provide opportunities for further elaboration in the blended space. In both constructions, the functions of the grammatical constructions used in the metaphorical expressions were similar to those in the non-metaphorical expressions. Furthermore, it is important to note that in this genre the listener was not typically cued to map an infinity of possibilities. The grammatical constructions in which the expressions appeared cued already activated frames, roles, and values from the ongoing discourse in systematic ways. The blending process and its relevant mappings were closely constrained by the combination of the grammatical construction and the ongoing discourse context. The findings of this study suggest that a detailed analysis of the specific discourse contexts and the grammatical constructions in which metaphorical expressions appear in specific genres can greatly enhance our understanding of the ways that metaphorical expressions are used and interpreted in naturally-occurring discourse. Discourse contexts and grammatical constructions are two central pieces that do fit together in the cognitive metaphor puzzle.

Notes
1. This level of specificity of the constructions was adopted to establish basic form-meaning pairings. As the later discussion will indicate, the constructions may participate in hierarchies of more and less schematic constructions.

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2. All examples are taken from naturally occurring discourse from the corpus under study. Examples are transcribed using orthographic conventions to facilitate reading. The abbreviation ME 8/18/09 indicates that the example came from a Morning Edition broadcast on August 18, 2009. Similar abbreviations are used for all examples. ATC in later examples refers to the program All Things Considered. The expression under discussion is presented in bold face. 3. I categorize this example as non-metaphorical, because the basic meaning of creature is neutral with respect to humanness. 4. The like phrases in this expression are examples of a like construction in a categorization function. See Moder (2010) for further discussion. 5. Adopting a more schematic form of this construction NP is like NP would have increased the total number of instances by 12. In the first noun slot, 6 instances had common NPs, 2 had a proper noun and 4 had gerund phrases. Four of these expressions, three of which were gerund phrases, were metaphorical.

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Authors address
Carol Lynn Moder Oklahoma State University 205 Morrill Hall Stillwater, OK 74078 USA carol.moder@okstate.edu

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