Metaphor and Entertainment ― A Corpus-Based Approach to Language in Chinese Online News

The internet has changed the way news media write about various issues and disseminate information and opinions. It has reshaped the way people look for leisure and pleasure. Metaphor and Entertainment investigates the online language practice of a relatively new genre of news writing in contemporary China: online entertainment news. It focuses, in particular, on the patterns of metaphor, which are used to inform the rhetorical goal of providing readers with the latest information about the popular entertainment industry (movies, TV and pop music), while entertaining them.

The author argues that these patterns of metaphor are products of the changing landscape of Chinese society. They reveal an emergent discourse pattern where mainstream media discourse interacts with and is constantly re-shaped by traditional literary legacy and the public and grassroots discourse. This cutting-edge analysis will be of interest to scholars and students dealing with media discourse, metaphor and Chinese language.

Chong Han is Associate Lecturer in Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Her research interests are in the areas of Semantics, Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting Studies.