RECESSION: Defining Source Domains through WordNet and SUMO

This paper argues that the sorting of metaphorical expressions according to source domains can be verified through using the WordNet lexical knowledgebase and SUMO ontology. This study uses the examples from RECESSION and demonstrates that expressions such as ‘painful recession’ and ‘the exacerbated recovery’ are related to the decreasing physical state of organism (i.e., ECONOMY IS A DISEASE). The relatedness of these expressions can be established using WordNet and SUMO from which their related senses and ontological nodes can be identified. This study strengthens the metaphorical analyses that are carried out intuitively. This research contributes to the study of language processing and more specifically the processing of conceptual metaphors at the cognitive level. 1.0 Introduction In an English corpus-analysis based on the 1995 Washington and Los Angeles Post (available through the Language Data Consortium), metaphorical expressions related to the target domain RECESSION were examined. These metaphorical expressions were analyzed based on the Conceptual Mapping (CM) Model (Ahrens 2002, Ahrens, Chung and Huang 2003, Chung, Ahrens and Huang, 2003a and Chung, Huang and Ahrens 2003b). In this model, a conceptual metaphor is identified when there is a mapping between the concrete source domain and the abstract target domain. Using this model, examples discussed previously are IDEA IS BUILDING and ECONOMY IS A DISEASE. As a model based on the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor (CTM) (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980), the CM model extends beyond the CTM by providing the specific Mapping Principle (MP) between the source-target domain mapping. This Mapping Principle states in specific terms which aspect of the source and target domains is mapped in conceptual metaphors. In this paper, the discussion of RECESSION will extend from the previous work on corpora analyses of conceptual metaphors. This study aims to define the source domains related to RECESSION through examining linguistic expressions occurring within the each source domain. Expressions such as ‘recover from recession,’ ‘plagued by recession’ and ‘painful recession’ will be examined using WordNet and an upper ontology (Suggested Upper Merged Ontology or SUMO) to define the relatedness of these expressions with their respective source domain. The incorporation of computational tool reduces the manual determination when sorting out the expressions according to source domains. Chung, Ahrens and Huang (2004) examined the target domain of CAREER and CULTURE. One aim of this paper is to verify the steps operationalized in Chung et al. (2004) by investigating another target domain --RECESSION. The steps involved are: First, extract all metaphorical expressions from the corpora. Second, select the most concrete sense from WordNet (through the Academia Sinica Bilingual Ontological WordNet (BOW; available at http://bow.sinica.edu.tw). The WordNet senses lead to the related ontological nodes of SUMO. Third, examine the Wordnet explanation then later the SUMO nodes to decide which source domain