A STUDY OF METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS FOUND IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ONLINE NEWSPAPER: A SEMANTIC APPROACH.

Abstract: Metaphor is part of figurative language that compares one thing to another. Metaphor helps speakers or writers to describe two different things. Metaphor is not only found in a poem, short story, movie, but also in a newspaper articles. This study entitled “A Study of Metaphorical Expressions Found In The New York Times Online Newspaper: A Semantic Approach” is an attempt to identify types of metaphor and functions of metaphor to analyze the meaning of metaphor in newspaper articles. This study aims to explain the types and functions of metaphor taken from eleven articles of The New York Times online newspaper. This study is conducted using the qualitative design. The types of metaphor were analyzed using Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) theory, while functions of metaphor were based on Knowles and Moon (2006). In terms of types, the writer found 25 data show that there are 12 data belong to structural metaphor; 4 data belong to orientational metaphor and 9 data belong to ontological metaphor. In terms of functions, 10 data belong to the first function of metaphor namely to clarify, describe, express, evaluate, and entertain; 8 data belong to the second function of metaphor namely to imply meaning and connotation meaning, than through straightforward, literal language, and 7 data belong to the third function of metaphor namely to describe thought or feeling in a short sentence. The meaning newspaper articles are various of each. Every word is transferred from abstract to concrete meaning and each article refers to certain object of target and source.
Keywords: Metaphor, Structural Metaphor, Orientational Metaphor, Ontological Metaphor.