Orientational Metaphors and Their Constant Presence in Economic Language

Prep. drd. Oana - Adriana Duţă

Universitatea din Craiova

Abstract:
Conceptual metaphors are one of the main methods of showing creativity in a language.
Cognitive linguistics has connected metaphors to human thought, bringing them to daily reality and
basically taking the term out of specialized jargons. Preconceptual experiences, which are
possessed since childhood, are materialized in highly abstract concepts, through metaphorical
projection. Conceptual metaphors are, thus, used in very wide contexts, and most of the
persons resorting to them are not aware that they are uttering a special linguistic construction.
Within the category of conceptual metaphors, orientational metaphors entail a spatial orientation
of the suggested terms and have a primarily evaluative function. They express various types of
ideas in terms of location: up and down (for increase and decrease), front and back (for future and
past), deep and superficial (known and unknown), central and peripheral (for important and less
important). The use of orientational metaphors, be it conscious or not, is based on our own
corporal experience and on the way in which we transfer new meanings to physical space and
movements.
Orientational metaphors are highly present in economic language, especially in their up-
down hypostasis. They are not indispensable, of course, but one can barely find a single economy
paper or book without an orientational metaphor. They provide complex and creative ways of
expressing the trends of various indicators, such as economic growth, profit, capital, income,
revenues, expenses, inflation, unemployment, salaries, risks and so on. It can be seen, thus, how an
apparently simple phrase can become the meeting point of unrelated fields, namely semantics and
economics.
As conceptual metaphors, orientational metaphors represent a linguistic universal and,
hence, they are not characteristic to a certain language, as is the case of idioms or phrasal verbs
for example. The latter cannot be subject to word-by-word translation, as there is a high chance
that awkward and odd constructions may result. Instead, orientational metaphors may be
transferred, lexeme by lexeme, into another language and, even though they may not always sound
fully accurate, they are perfectly understandable. This is, of course, an important requisite of
economic language, which must be clear, concise and unequivocal. Both a native speaker and a
basic, non-proficient foreign speaker of English know that when prices go up, they increase,
because it is exactly the same as, for instance, in Spanish (los precios suben), German (Preise
steigen), French (les prix haussent) or Romanian (preţurile urcă). 

Keywords: orientational metaphors, economic language, semantics

The origin of the term “metaphor” can be traced back to 335 B.C. when, in his Poetics,
Aristotle stated: “Metaphor is the application of a strange term either transferred from the genus and
applied to the species or from the species and applied to the genus, or from one species to another or
else by analogy.” (Müller 2008:1) In short, metaphor makes it possible that two distinct terms are
presented as identical. We have to be aware, however, that there is a difference between literary
metaphors (belonging to the personal style of an individual, not used in everyday language, and
mostly intended to convey a poetical image) and linguistic metaphors, or fossil metaphors,
which have entered our usual reality and cannot be perceived as such without proper knowledge in
semantics. This happens because, before studying semantics, we study literature in school and we
learn about figures of speech when we are not yet teenagers (the term “metaphor” is used in
Romania in literature classes with 11-year old children). Hence, one gets the idea that a metaphor is
that specific literary device and, unless he/she studies semantics later on, at the university, he/she
will be under the impression that this is the only meaning of the word.
Conceptual metaphors are so rooted in everyday language that most of us do not think of
them as such. If we ask a computer scientist whether the word “mouse” is a metaphor, it is most
probable that he/she will laugh at you, but, yet, a semanticist knows that it is indeed a metaphor,
because the original term, used for naming a small rodent, was borrowed for designating the
peripheral computer device. Language is, in essence, creative and, hence, metaphorical. Why does
this happen? Basically, preconceptual experiences, which are possessed since childhood, are
materialized in highly abstract concepts, through metaphorical projection. In Metaphors We Live By
(1980), Lakoff and Johnson state that the formation of metaphors is not only an additional function
of language, but an integral part of the operation of a language. This happens because our mental
processes, i.e. our form of reasoning, of conceptualising things, are deeply metaphorical (Trantescu,
Pisoschi 2004:264). Within conceptual metaphors, Lakoff and Johnson distinguish three types,
according to their cognitive function: structural metaphors (metaphorically structuring a concept in
terms of another), orientational metaphors (implying a spatial orientation of the designated
concepts) and ontological metaphors (referring to our experiences as objects and substances).
Within the category of conceptual metaphors, orientational metaphors, as shown by their
name, entail a spatial orientation of the suggested terms: up and down (increase and decrease),
forward and backward (progress and regression, future and past), central and peripheral (important
and less important), deep and superficial (known and unknown). They have a primarily evaluative
function and their use, be it conscious or not, is based on our corporal experience and on the way in
which we transfer new meanings to physical space and movements.
We intend to provide, in this paper, a brief presentation of how orientational metaphors
function in economic language. As we have already said about conceptual metaphors, they are
represented by the most common wordings and terms, so it should be no wonder that such a
specialized linguistic term (at first sight) is so deeply present in economy. We refer mainly to the
up-down hypostasis, which metaphorizes the concepts of more and less. According to García
Jurado, we tend to orient the concepts we are surrounded by in an imaginary space, generally a
vertical one (2003:98). In every chart, the origin is always at the bottom and the other positive
numbers follow upwards on the ordinate. However, one doesn’t have to resort to mathematical
representations in order to explain this type of metaphors. A child has no idea of Cartesian
coordinates and, however, it can use such constructions correctly, even without being aware of it,
because, whenever a certain amount of objects (books, pencils, toys) accumulates, a pile thereof
goes up with the quantity and goes down when objects are taken out of it.
Of course, orientational metaphors are not indispensable in economic language, but, due to
their deep rooting in everyday thought, one can barely find a single economy paper or book without
an orientational metaphor. They provide complex and creative ways of expressing the trends of
various indicators, such as economic growth, profit, capital, income, revenues, expenses, inflation,
prices, unemployment, salaries, risks, leverage, assets, receivables and so on. What is more
important, orientational metaphors belong to linguistic universals. They operate primarily at the
level of thought and then at the linguistic level, and their conceptualization is present in every
language. This is another reason for their ubiquitous presence in economic language. This type of
language must be clear, concise and unequivocal. If they were characteristic to a certain language,
as is the case of idioms or phrasal verbs for example, orientational metaphors could hardly be
subject to word-by-word translation, as there is a high chance that awkward and odd constructions
may result. However, given their linguistic universality, orientational metaphors are perfectly
transferable, lexeme by lexeme, from one language to another and, even though they may not
always sound fully accurate, they would be perfectly understandable. For instance, both a native
speaker and a basic, non-expert foreign speaker of English know that, when prices go up, they
increase, because it is the same concept involved by the Spanish los precios suben, the German
Preise steigen, the French les prix haussent and the Romanian prețurile urcă.
We shall illustrate this point by means of real items of corpus, retrieved from the internet,
from newspapers or specialized websites in the field of economy, in English, Spanish and
Romanian. It has to be clear that the list below is not exhaustive; economic language, just as
everyday language, contains many more constructions based on orientational metaphors.

English:
Despite the high level of debt, the company's stock still soared to high levels.
(http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Do-Debt-Levels-Predict-Stock-Prices-GRMN-TRMA-
FCX-MGRC0323.aspx)
When inflation goes up, there is a decline in the purchasing power of money.
(http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/inflation1.asp)
Just as inflation goes high, the price of gold also goes upward and balances the amount of
savings.
(http://ibvgold.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=The-Bullion-Can-Save-You.html&Itemid=8)
Twitter growth goes through the roof.
(http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200916/3466/Twitter-growth-goes-through-the-roof)
Fuel prices go down Tuesday.
(http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-news/4422-fuel-prices-go-down-tuesday.html)
Economic paradox: N.Y.'s ascending economy plagued by unemployment
(http://connection.ebscohost.com/content/article/1031583080.html;jsessionid=FA90EE2CC1A8E30A2CFC2E
5452F4376C.ehctc1)
If mortgage interest rates are low, should you take advantage of the lower rates to refinance
your mortgage?
(http://financialplan.about.com/cs/mortgagesloans/a/LowInterestRate.htm)
The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has issued an alert on
a new global food price escalation.
(http://fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&ndb=1&id=34891)
The just released ADP National Employment Report shows non-farm private employment
declined 22,000 in January.
(http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/marksjarvis_on_money/2010/02/employment-declines-22000-in-adp-
report.html)
Net income climbed to $125 million and sales mounted 17 percent in the quarter, operating
profit ascended 31 percent. (…) Yahoo!’s share rose 0.4 percent at the close on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, compared with 0.6 percent gain on the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
(http://www.hellocompany.org/entry/yahoo-profit-ascends-21/)
The country is experiencing a "close to the worst-case" scenario of falling business activity
and rising unemployment, causing consumer confidence and spending to tumble.
(http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5282J820090309)

Spanish:
La tendencia ascendente del Dólar canadiense está en riesgo ya que el posicionamiento
está sólidamente sobrevendido.
(http://www.forexpros.es/fundamental/analisis/la-tendencia-ascendente-del-d%25C3%25B3lar-canadiense-est
%25C3%25A1-en-riesgo-ya-que-el-posicionamiento-est%25C3%25A1-s%25C3%25B3lidamente-sobrevendido-36087)
Creció la desocupación en el tercer trimestre de 2009. Según el Indec, el indicador subió a
9,1%, y marcó un avance de 1,3 puntos respecto al mismo período del año pasado. La tasa de
desocupación ascendió en el tercer trimestre a 9,1%. (…) La tasa de desocupación se ubicó en
8,8% al cierre del segundo trimestre, lo que implicó un alza de 0,8 puntos respecto a igual período
del año pasado, según el Indec.
(http://www.cronista.com/notas/212214-crecio-la-desocupacion-el-tercer-trimestre-2009)
Por la lluvia faltan verduras y los precios se dispararon por las nubes.
(http://www.lavoz901.com.ar/despachos.asp?cod_des=97143&ID_Seccion=12)
Zapatero anuncia que las pensiones subirán si la inflación supera el 1%.
(http://www.sitiosespana.com/notas/2010/mayo/zapatero-inflacion.htm)
Subidón histórico en la Bolsa española. El Ibex-35 de la Bolsa de Madrid escaló el cielo,
con la mayor subida de su historia.
(http://archenanewsnacional.blogspot.com/2010/05/subidon-historico-en-la-bolsa-espanola.html)
El mercado inmobiliario se desploma. La venta de pisos desciende un 27% y en algunas
comunidades más del 40%. Las hipotecas para viviendas sufren la mayor caída registrada nunca
por el INE. (…) De aterrizaje suave, nada. El mercado inmobiliario se tambalea. Los promotores
llevaban tiempo hablando de que en el último semestre de 2007 las ventas habían caído en torno al
40%, pero no manejaban datos oficiales.
(http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/mercado/inmobiliario/desploma/elpepieco/20080327elpepieco_4/T
es)
Muchas personas se asombran de las altísimas tasas de interés que cobran las tarjetas de
crédito.
(http://www.dineroycredito.com/por-que-las-tarjetas-de-credito-pueden-cobrar-intereses-tan-altos/2485/)
Si bajan los precios, ¿bajan los sueldos? – consecuencias de la deflación
(http://mafiainmobiliaria.com/2009/07/01/si-bajan-los-precios-¿bajan-los-sueldos-consecuencias-de-la-
deflacion/)
Caída de la economía del país supera a la de Grecia y Espańa. Letonia, el país más
golpeado en Europa, retrocedió 5,1% y Venezuela 5,8%. (…) Mientras el PIB de Venezuela
registra un desplome de 5,8% al contrastar el primer trimestre de este ańo con el mismo lapso de
2009, Grecia, país que ha necesitado un plan de ayuda del Fondo Monetario Internacional para no
caer en la insolvencia sufre un descenso de 2,3%. (…) Esta caída de la economía venezolana
también fue la más profunda de Latinoamérica después del declive de 6,5% sufrido por México.
(http://spanish.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=92541)

Romanian:
Turismul brașovean a intrat pe o pantă descendentă.
(http://brasov.time4news.ro/ultima-ora/turismul-brasovean-a-intrat-pe-o-panta-descendenta/)
De ce a picat bursa românească, într-o singură zi, cu 10%?
(http://www.romanialibera.ro/bani-afaceri/bursa/de-ce-a-picat-bursa-romaneasca-intr-o-singura-zi-cu-10-
187702.html)
Piaţa materialelor de construcţii s-a prăbuşit până la nivelul din 2005.
(http://www.eurourbanism.ro/articol.php?id=6653)
Rata șomajului va atinge un vârf în prima parte a lui 2010, dar acesta se va plasa probabil
sub 10%.
(http://www.bloombiz.ro/cariere/banca-mondiala-varful-somajului-in-romania-va-fi-atins-in-prima-parte-din-
2010)
Până la ora actuală, datele despre inflație au reflectat prea puțin tendința ascendentă de
un an a economiei japoneze.
(http://www.ghiseulbancar.ro/articole/109/5518/Cum_vor_evolua_dobanda__valuta_si_piata_de_capital.htm
)
Prețul cerealelor a sărit în aer din cauza stocurilor mici din SUA.
(http://www.zf.ro/business-international/pretul-cerealelor-a-sarit-in-aer-din-cauza-stocurilor-mici-din-sua-
3105457/)
Economia este la pământ, viitoarea tranșă nu va mai merge în salarii și pensii.
(http://www.financiarul.com/articol_43816/fmi-economia-este-la-pamant-viitoarea-transa-nu-va-mai-merge-in-
salarii-si-pensii.html)
 Several conclusions may be drawn after analyzing the examples above. First and foremost,
the constructions marked in bold are built around the same pattern (more is up, less is down) in all
three languages. The mechanism is very similar, although lexicalization is made by various means.
We may see that in Spanish and Romanian orientational metaphors are mainly lexicalized by means
of nouns or verbs, unlike in English, where many metaphors are based on the adverbial component
of phrasal verbs (go up, go down). This is due to the fact that there is no such construction as
phrasal verbs in Spanish and Romanian, hence go up and go down have no exact lexical
correspondent in these languages. Idioms are used in many cases (go through the roof, dispararse
por las nubes, a fi la pământ), which proves how deeply rooted in language these metaphors are.
From this point of view, too, we may notice that Spanish and Romanian are much more similar to
one another. The idiom a fi la pământ, for instance, has a fully identical correspondent in the
Spanish phrase estar por los suelos, but this does not occur with English. On the other hand,
however, there is no exact transfer of to go through the roof into Spanish and Romanian.
We have seen, hence, that many situations of the economic reality may be spatialised
through the metaphorical use of certain lexemes which, generally, have a locative meaning. Even
though lexicalization may sometimes be different, conceptualisation is always the same, due to the
existence of certain conceptual prototypes, possessed since childhood and materialised in language
use, by means of metaphorical projection. Apparently simple sentences, such as inflation goes up
and fuel prices go down, can become the meeting point of two unrelated fields, namely semantics
and economics. Both these fields have their own specialized language and techniques, but they are
used by human beings, whose brains operate according to the same prototype of thinking,
irrespective of their profession. This is the inevitable proof of a polyvalent reality, of the beautiful
human mind: different concepts coming to overlap, and one object considered in terms of another,
in an infinite stream of creativity.

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