METAPHOR POWER AND SOURCE DOMAIN CONTENT: METAPHOR FUNCTIONAL TYPOLOGY INDEX

This article examines the dependence of the metaphor power in communication and patterns of the metaphorical mapping as well as methods for quantitative analysis of metaphors in the text. Metaphor functional typology index (MfTI) is proposed and tested. This index is based on the division of metaphors into orientational, ontological and structural, which perform descriptive, identification and restructuring functions. The mathematical logic of calculating the index assumes that, based on the final numerical value, one can draw a conclusion about the predominant function played by the system of metaphorical models in the text or discourse, and, as a result, analyze the level of its speech impact. This method was tested in practice to solve two research problems: a descriptive analysis of the whole text’s metaphor power and a comparative analysis of metaphorical models with different source domains and one target domain. We analyzed the metaphorical nature of the texts of the New Year addresses of the political leaders of the Russian Federation, China and Great Britain, the public speeches of V...