Conventional metaphors in English as a lingua franca

Abstract

In the present article, I study the language used in three English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) digital marketing seminars, in which the tutor and other participants gave feedback about the ‘pitches’, (i.e., short marketing speeches), presented by students in the same session. As this activity involved making reference to what students said in their ‘pitches’, the seminars provide ample evidence for the metaphorical construction of speech activity by the participants in the seminars. The analysis shows that these ELF speakers mostly adopted pre-existing and conventionalised metaphorical models used in English and that they do not attempt to incorporate other source domains, except for one, which I have labelled storytelling, as it associates pitch delivery with telling a story. However, at the level of linguistic metaphors used, greater use of unconventional metaphors can be found, although mostly adapted to and consistent with the conceptual models identified. In general terms, metaphor innovation in this English as a Lingua Franca context seems to be ‘norm following’ rather than ‘norm transcending’.