ISSN: 2302-920X

Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud

Vol 17.2 Nopember 2016: 65 - 72

Metaphorical Expressions Related To God Found In Coca : A Semantic Analysis

I Kadek Sanjaya1*, I Made Rajeg2, Ni Ketut Sri Rahayuni3 123Faculty of Arts, Udayana University 1[[email protected]] 2[[email protected]]

3

3[[email protected]]

Corresponding Author

Abstrak

Tiga puluh enam tahun terakhir ini dapat dilihat perkembangan pesat dalam bidang metafora. Hal ini dikemukakan pertama kali oleh Lakoff dan Johnson (1980) bahwa metafora adalah kiasan yang tidak hanya ada dalam ranah bahasa, tetapi juga dalam pikiran dan tindakan manusia sehari-hari. Konsep inilah yang memperkaya pemikiran dan ide – ide dalam mempelajari metafora untuk menemukan konsep – konsep yang mendasari ekspresi – ekspresi metaforis di dalam sebuah korpus dengan judul Metaphorical Expressions Related to God Found in COCA : A Semantic Analysis.

Sumber data diambil dari COCA (Corpus of Contemporary America) yang sampai saat ini memiliki lebih dari 520 juta kata dalam teks. Data diperoleh dengan menggunakan satu kata kunci dalam konteks, yaitu “God” untuk memunculkan konkordansi. Metafora – metafora dalam konkordansi ini diidentifikasi menggunakan “Pragglejaz’s MIP” (Metaphor Identification Procedure/Prosedur Identifikasi Metafora) (2007) dan juga “Steen’s five steeps” untuk mengidentifikasi metafora (1999, 2009). Data tersebut dianalisis dengan dasar teori metafora konseptual oleh Lakoff dan Johnson (1980); Lakoff (1987, 1993).

Hasil yang diperolah menunjukkan bahwa semua jenis metafora konseptual, yaitu metafora struktural, orientasional, dan ontologis dapat ditemukan di dalam data dengan jumlah yang beragam. Lebih lanjut lagi, metafora konseptual yang mendasari ekspresi linguistik yang berhubungan dengan Tuhan (God), dan paling banyak muncul adalah konsep Tuhan sebagai manusia, yaitu konsep tuhan adalah manusia (god is human).

Kata kunci: Tuhan, Metafora Konseptual, Pemetaan

  • 1.    Background of the Study

Metaphor is a major area of interest within the field of semantics. Metaphor is an integral part in poetry in order to beautify words and sentences of poetry. In addition, metaphors are essential parts in poetry writing that makes it distinct from other texts. 65

Lakoff (1993:202) states that “Metaphorical expressions are assumed to be mutually exclusive with the realm of ordinary everyday language: everyday language had no metaphor”. Furthermore, metaphor is seen as a conscious and deliberate use of words, and requires special talent to be able to do it.

However, a modern theory of metaphor was introduced by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) who have considered the traditional view of metaphor itself and emphasized that metaphor is used in everyday language and daily activities of people. In addition, they found that metaphors are not merely found in language, but also used in thought and action. Lakoff and Johnson (1980:3) further state that “Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature”.

In this study, investigating the word ‘God’ is a continuing concern within metaphorical expression in its use. God is related to a belief of human beings in a group or community which is concerned with the culture of the group or community. In addition, among cultures in the world God is defined in some different ways. As Rajeg and Primahadi Wijaya R. (2015: 6) stated that God is Human. This causes the metaphorical expression of God to be different in the western culture, as can be found in COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English).

Hence, the desire and relevancy to view metaphor as a part of linguistics are grounded on the new perspectives proposed by Lakoff and Johnson.

  • 2.    Problems

Based on what was described in the preceding part, the problems of the study are formulated as follows:

  • 1.    What metaphorical expressions related to God are found in COCA?

  • 2.    What conceptual metaphors underlay the metaphorical expressions?

  • 3.    Aims of the Study

Every purposeful action has its own destination in a particular purpose. This study is as well having some purposes in order to comprehend the subject matter being

discussed. Moreover, based on the problems of the study above, the aims of the study are proposed generally in order to describe what metaphor is all about and to realize the knowledge. Specifically, in regard to the problems mentioned above, the aims of this study are

  • 1.    To identify the metaphorical expressions related to God found in COCA.

  • 2.    To analyze and disclose the conceptual metaphor underlying the metaphorical expressions related to God found in COCA.

  • 4.    Method of Analysis

Theoretically, all the data used in the study can be considered primary data, since all the data were taken directly from a primary source, that is, COCA (Corpus of Contemporary America). The data for this study were collected using the corpus based-study.

A corpus is a collection of machine-readable, authentic text, samples, and representative of a particular language or language variety. Additionally, the word corpus is derived from a Greek word, corpora, meaning the body. Corpus linguistics uses language naturally, whether it is spoken, academic, newspaper, magazine, fiction, etc. The characteristics of corpus make this study exploratory and interpretative in nature.

Considering the technique used in collecting the data, this study adopted the observation method proposed by Sudaryanto (1993: 133-135), since metaphorical expressions have something to do with a language use. Therefore, the observation method and note-taking technique were applied in the study. Additionally, as mentioned previously that the expressions were quoted from the COCA expressions that have the target domain “God” metaphorically.

Picture 1 – the concordance of the word “God” as the KWIC in COCA


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1

2014

MAG

USCathoIic

A

B

C

(women ) are denied hearing someone Ilike them speak about

2

1993

ACAD

TheoIogStud

A

B

C

be in the text, abbreviated as AI . Talking About

3

1993

ACAD

TheoIogStud

A

B

C

generosity and thereby neglect the needy who are the beloved of

4

1991

MAG

NatlReview

A

B

C

, who does not find the image of the Father -

5

2007

FIC

Read

A

B

C

and I were snugly tucked in . Hal : You owe

6

1994

FIC

FantasySciFi

A

B

C

of that conversation and then tell him that sometimes it takes

7

1996

ACAD

ForeignAffairs

A

E

C

.FanaticalMuslimsconsiderthekiIIing of the enemies of

S

1994

MAG

ChristCentury

A

B

C

on Psalm 150 ) , " Heaven , " " Is

9

1997

ACAD

ChurchSiState

A

B

C

duties to civil authorities -- the ultimate loyalty was owed to

10

1996

MAG

ChristCentury

A

B

C

about how God acts differently in some cases from the way

11

1999

FIC

SouthwestRev

A

B

C

You okay , Randolph 7 " # The Greek friggin '

12

2004

FIC

B k: G sth e ring Sto rm

A

B

C

. Some Saythatthe Quman were a punishment sent from

13

2015

FIC

BkiBrideAtLast

A

B

C

last month when her letter first arrived ? Why had n't

14

1998

NEWS

CSMonitor

A

B

C

man ,s free will to choose immortality over mortality or why

15

1998

FIC

Analog

A

B.

C

was standing in a half-open stall near the door . Sweet

16

2008

MAG

USCathoIic

A

E

C

? Why would we need to confess to a priest when



This study used the qualitative approach to investigate whether or not there were metaphorical expressions related to God in COCA from 1000 data taken from it. In addition, the inductive approach was also applied in the study (Bungin, 2008: 28).

In analyzing the data, the method used was the Content Analysis (Bungin, 2008: 155-159). This Content Analysis has something to do with the content of communication; in this case, the metaphorical expressions related to God found in COCA. Moreover, the Content Analysis covers the efforts of: classifying symbols used in the communication, using criteria in classifying, and employing particular analysis technique in analyzing.

As the characteristics of the data analyzed as the non-numerical data or qualitative data, the data were analyzed using the descriptive qualitative method.

Moreover, in this present study, the method and technique of analyzing data was done using the Pragglejaz’s MIP (Metaphor Identification Procedure) (2007) and the Steen’s five steeps (1999, 2009) and to map the expression mentioned metaphorically the Steen’s formulas was used. Furthermore, Longman and Macmillan Dictionary gave so much help in the study.

  • 5.    Result and Discussion

The essence of the study is the metaphorical expressions related to God found in COCA. It is the time to give a birth to the end. The conceptual metaphor was described using small bold capital letters; the italics represent the metaphorical linguistic expressions being analyzed, and the focuses of the analysis in the expressions are shown with bold letters.

Briefly, in this study, it was found that there were some conceptual metaphors that describe God in daily life, thoughts, and actions. Additionally, the concepts as well cover three types of conceptual metaphor, i.e. structural metaphor, orientational metaphor, ontological metaphor, and personification (as the extension of ontological metaphor). However, in this part, the most frequent concept would be the only concept being mentioned and explained. The rests would appear in concluding section.

GOD IS A HUMAN

Expression: … when you say "yes" to God’s possibilities, God says "yes” back to you.

Step 1:

God

Step 2:

P1 (God say)

P2 (back P1)

Step 3:

SIM {ƷF, Ʒa

[F (God)]t

[say (a)]}s

Step 4:

SIM

{[expressing things by words (God)]t

[say (human)]}s

Step 5:

GOD > HUMAN

Inferences:

GOD IS A HUMAN

The concept GOD IS A HUMAN is manifested through these linguistic expressions as mentioned below.

  • 1.    God says.

  • 2.    God comes.

  • 3.    God answers.

Considering the metaphorical concept god is a human is not arguable result anymore. All of the beliefs or religions over the world mention God can act or do something merely like human beings. Additionally, the concept god is a human is one of the real examples of the personification perspective. God is considered a human being that can do human activities, such as; acting, saying words, protecting, holding, creating something, loving, judging, giving birth, or even having children like parents.

Moreover, it is one of the people’s ways of depicting God that has abstract concepts and understanding Him easier as the concepts come from human beings themselves (activities and/or body parts) which are close to them. Surprisingly, there are a lot of entailments of it as found in the analysis, i.e. COMPANION, HEALER, CREATOR, FORTUNE TELLER, JUDGE, KING, LAW MAKER, LEADER, LIAR, LOVER, PARENT, PEACE MAKER, PERSON WHO EXPERIENCES BIRTH, PLANNER, PLAYER, POOR CREATURE/HOMELESS MAN, RIVAL, SAVIOR, and SENTRY. Furthermore, in order to have an accurate and trusted analysis, the Macmillan Dictionary supports this current analysis by giving the basic meaning of “say” (expression 1); it is to express something using words. On the other hand, the Longman Dictionary helps it from another side by mentioning the basic meaning of “act” (expression 2); it is to do something in a particular way or for a particular reason. This focuses in the analysis that has something to do with human activities, or merely human beings can do such things, for instance, expressing something using words. Finally, the analysis can amazingly reveal the point of view of the personification of the eye by stating the metaphorical concept god is a human.

  • 6.    Conclusion

The present study comes finally to the concluding part of the stages. The conclusion of the result is shown in the following points:

  • 1.    All types of the conceptual metaphors that are structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors, as well as their related figures and personifications were found from the study. The most frequent metaphorical concept appearing in the analysis is GOD IS A HUMAN. God is often physicalized as a human by showing that He does human actions represented by verbs or verb phrases, such as act, allow, chose, command, could do, enter, forbid, find, lead, hear, help, make, and so forth or an adjective dead. Apart from this concept,  God is depicted by some other

lexical items, among others: nouns a present, war, squad, armor, rule, glory, kingdom, majesty, servant, throne, service, praise, reign, kingship, judgement seat, judgement, image, cull, healing, and medicine, verbs or verb phrases allow, chose, judge, forgive, punish, follow, disobey, have, return to, comes from, and sent from,

adjectives dim, punitive, fair, prepositions above, under, on, up, in, into, from, and to, and an adverbial phrase a little bit.

  • 2.    Regarding to the conceptual metaphors underlying the metaphorical expressions, the frequencies are as follows: GOD IS A GIFT (1 expression), GOD IS A WARRIOR (4 expressions), GOD IS A WAY (1 expression), GOD IS A RULE (2 expressions), GOD IS A LORD (2 expressions), GOD IS LIGHT (1 expression), GOD IS A KING (16 expressions), GOD IS A JUDGE (1 expression), GOD IS A HEALER (1 expression), GOD IS A DESTROYER (1 expression), GOD IS UP/ABOVE (7 expressions), GOD IS AN ENTITY (72 expressions), GOD IS A CONTAINER (19 expressions), GOD IS A SOURCE (10 expressions), and GOD IS A HUMAN (453 expressions). Furthermore, the rest 409 expressions taken from COCA are known having literal meaning instead of metaphorically used.

  • 7.    Bibliography

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