The missing metaphor

Research output: Contribution to specialist publicationArticle

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

To determine the metaphor that represents cloning, a contemporary scientific revolution, this study examines articles published in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Science, and Time that describe the cloning of the sheep Dolly. A plethora of figurative language may be garnered from these articles, and this study describes a number of them: metaphor (dead, natural, and technical), simile, hyperbole, personification, irony, cliché, paronomasia, antithesis, metonymy, anthimera, oxymoron, the rhetorical question, and analogy. The significance and relationship to cloning are explicated. The article concludes that the figures do not support a central metaphor. Further research is suggested to determine if the lack of a metaphor is a fluke or a trend in the development of scientific research and what the difference may be between scientific and technical metaphor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages373-390
Number of pages18
Volume31
No4
Specialist publicationJournal of Technical Writing and Communication
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The missing metaphor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this