1, Mohamad Syafiq Ya Shak

Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 13. Number 2. June 2022
Corpus-based Studies of Metaphor: An Overview
Abdul Malik, Ya Shak, Mohamad & Joharry 
Arab World English Journal
www.awej.org
ISSN: 2229-9327
523 
Hence, it is still being employed as a theoretical perspective in many metaphor studies. Some of 
the other analyzed past studies did not use any theory in studying metaphor. These researchers of 
metaphor utilized corpus approach to identify metaphor in a discourse. The research involved 
quantitative analysis such as word frequencies and collocations which allow the linguists to learn 
aspects of language based on empirical evidence (Charteris-Black, 2004). This matter enables 
various theoretical descriptions in numerous fields to explain how a particular language is used. 
Semino (2016), she used corpus analysis, i.e., lemma search and concordance analysis, to identify 
metaphors in Oxford English Corpus (OEC). Meanwhile, Jaworska (2017) and Stampoulidis and 
Bolognesi (2019) identified metaphors using Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) guidelines 
without using any theoretical lens. The same goes with Skorczynska and Ahrens (2015), who used 
metaphor signaling and MIP guidelines to examine words and phrases metaphors in different 
genres. 
Conclusion 
This review exposed several gaps in the selected studies. First, the corpus-based studies of 
metaphor in this review focused on written discourse. Other specialized corpora are understudied, 
especially the ones that involve spoken discourse. As suggested by Mauranen (2006), analyzing 
spoken discourse that happened naturally could provide fresh insights into language while 
revitalizing linguistics and challenging "the adequacy of sentence-based models which have 
developed from analyzing written [discourse] – or invented sentences" (2006, p.143).
Secondly, the researchers of the reviewed past studies utilized analytical tools that are not 
explicitly intended for metaphor analysis. These researchers used tools that could produce basic 
frequency and concordance lists, such as #Lancsbox, WordSmith, Wmatrix, and GloWbE web 
interface. This situation could be attributed to the lack of specific analytical tools to analyze 
metaphors. However, at least two tools are available on the internet for this purpose. The first one 
is VU Amsterdam Metaphor Corpus, a corpus tool for metaphor identification by Steen et al. 
(2010). The second one is FinMeter, a tool for analyzing Finnish poetry's meter and rhyme, 
semantics, and metaphors. 
Third, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) was still highly referred to across the selected 
studies. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) who proposed the theory has had more than its fair share of 
criticism over the years (Cameron, 2007, 2010; Gibbs,2011; Kövecses, 2020; Zhang, 2021). Gibbs 
(2009), for instance, reported that this theory had been widely criticized "both as a theory of 
metaphor use and for its claims about the embodied, metaphorical character of abstract thought" 
(2009, p.14). Cserep (2014) seemed to agree with this by suggesting that this theory lacks clarity 
in some of its statements and only a little attention was devoted to cross-cultural and linguistic 
aspects" (2014, p.283). Not only that but after more than thirty years the theory was introduced, 
more recent theories of metaphors have emerged (Barnden, 2006; Gibbs, 2008; Ortony, 1993; 
Vega, 2007; Wilson & Carston, 2006, 2008). 
Fourth, the selected studies from the year 2020 in this review did not focus on investigating 
metaphors used to report the COVID-19 pandemic, even though it is an exciting area to be looked 
at. The situation, however, could be linked to the fact that in early 2000, the pandemic was still in 

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