The warrior metaphor in the net jargon

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Tambov State Technical University

THE WARRIOR METAPHOR IN THE NET JARGON

Klyukina Yuliya Viktorovna, Ph. D. in Philology

Shipovskaya Anna Anatol'evna, Ph. D. in Philology

Annotation

The article is devoted to the problem of the warrior metaphor representation in the net jargon. The purpose of the article is to study the links between social, national and universal concepts. The research proves that some national concepts, forming the source domain for mapping onto the social ones, are, in their turn, connected with the universal concept “warrior”. The authors come to conclusion that the universal concept can be considered as the primary source for metaphorical mapping onto the target domain, expressed by the net jargon.

Key words and phrases: cognition; concept; conceptualization; language; metaphor; archetype.

Àííîòàöèÿ

Äàííàÿ ñòàòüÿ ïîñâÿùåíà ïðîáëåìå ðåïðåçåíòàöèè ìåòàôîðû «âîèí» â àíãëîÿçû÷íîì ñåòåâîì æàðãîíå. Öåëüþ äàííîé ñòàòüè ÿâëÿåòñÿ èçó÷åíèå âçàèìîñâÿçåé ìåæäó ñîöèàëüíûìè, íàöèîíàëüíûìè è óíèâåðñàëüíûìè êîíöåïòàìè. Èññëåäîâàíèå äîêàçûâàåò, ÷òî ðÿä íàöèîíàëüíûõ êîíöåïòîâ, ÿâëÿþùèõñÿ îáëàñòüþ èñòî÷íèêîì äëÿ ñîöèàëüíûõ êîíöåïòîâ, â ñâîþ î÷åðåäü, ñâÿçàí ñ óíèâåðñàëüíûì êîíöåïòîì «âîèí». Àâòîðû ïðèõîäÿò ê âûâîäó, ÷òî óíèâåðñàëüíûé êîíöåïò ìîæåò ñ÷èòàòüñÿ ïåðâè÷íîé îáëàñòüþ-èñòî÷íèêîì ïðè ìåòàôîðè÷åñêîì ïåðåíîñå â îáëàñòü öåëè, ðåïðåçåíòèðóåìóþ ñåòåâûì æàðãîíîì.

Êëþ÷åâûå ñëîâà è ôðàçû: êîãíèöèÿ; êîíöåïò; êîíöåïòóàëèçàöèÿ; ÿçûê; ìåòàôîðà; àðõåòèï.

The main text

The present day cognitive linguistics concentrates on the most crucial role of metaphor in the process of categorization. As a complex phenomenon metaphor became a research object for many scholars and led to creation of theories that explain the conceptual process of metaphorization, such as the classical theory of conceptual metaphor, conceptual integration theory, model of conceptual projection, theory of metaphorical modeling, coherent model of metaphor, primary and compound metaphors theory etc. Despite the diversity of theories the approaches suggested by the researchers can be considered rather complementary than controversial.

Depending on the focus of the study, the term “metaphor” gets a variety of interpretations. In broad sense the term implies the understanding of one idea in terms of another. warrior metaphor net jargon

In this article, to describe the results of research, we use the terms of the conceptual metaphor theory. The main idea of the conceptual metaphor theory, suggested by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, is that metaphor primarily operates at the mental level. Metaphors link together two conceptual domains, the “source” domain and the “target” domain. The source domain includes a set of linked concepts expressed at the language level through related words and expressions. In metaphorical processes the components of the source domain are mapped onto the target domain. Target domains are therefore considered to have the same structural components which reflect those found in the source domain. At the language level, the target domain is represented by words and expressions from the source domain [8]. In other words, a human mind has an ability to blend together two concepts from different spheres of knowledge as both of them share some similar components, thus, perceiving one idea through the frame of another.

According to the Concise Dictionary of Cognitive Terms, the concept can be considered “an operational meaningful unit of memory, mental lexicon, conceptual system, brain language, and the whole picture of the world reflected in the human mind” [1, p. 90].

Z. D. Popova and I. A. Sternin believe, that being a complex mental unit, the concept contains such components as: 1) universal (shared by all human beings);

2) national (determined by the national culture a person lives in);

3) social (influenced by a particular social environment a person belongs to);

4) group (depending on a certain age or gender);

5) individual (formed under the influence of personal characteristics - education, training, experience and individual physiological characteristics) [2, p. 42]. So, depending on the sphere of representation a concept can be recognized as universal, national, social or individual.

Metaphor gives us an opportunity to reveal the links between the universal, national and social concepts as we are going to do on the example of the warrior metaphor represented by the net jargon.

Cambridge dictionary defines the term “jargon” as “special words and phrases that are used by particular groups of people, especially in their work” [7]. The term “net jargon” relates to the sublanguage of people who work in IT sphere or to those who are interested in computer technology. It is developing as a kind of shorthand, to express ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group. In cognitive sense, the idea manifested with a jargon word or expression proves its great importance for the social group thus becoming an object for linguistic study.

Every country and every nation has a great warrior tradition and accompanying warrior myths. The ancient Greek, Roma, India, Persia, Japan and China as well as pagan tribes have the stories of warriors and war.

On the social level represented by the net jargon, the warrior metaphor is closely connected with the concept “hacker” verbalized with such words as “cowboy”, “dark-side hacker” and “samurai”. Consider, for example: cowboy - Synonym for hacker [3].

According to the definition, the jargon words “cowboy” and “hacker” are the total synonyms as the jargon word “cowboy” has metaphorical word formation. The source domain is represented with the romanticized image of cowboys formed by Western movies which was mapped onto hacker. To get an idea of associative connection between the word “cowboy” and “hacker”, let us consider the definition of “a hacker” as it is reflected in the New Hacker's Jargon Dictionary:. An expert at a particular program. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic [5], whose ethical duty is to share the expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible; the one who believes that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the he/she commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality [6]. As it follows from the example the concept “hacker” includes such components as “being a skillful programmer who is able of breaking into the computer system” (an expert in a particular program who believes that system-cracking for fun and exploration) but “making no harm” (commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality) thus “appreciating positive values” (ethical duty is to share the expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computing resources; the one who believes that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK).

The cinema industry popularized cowboys and portrayed them as skillful fearless warriors whether they are good guys or bad guys. In the films the good guys followed special ethical rules, such as the “cowboy code”, that encouraged respect and honorable behavior. So, “the skillfulness” and “high moral philosophy” as well as “positive connotation” are shared by both concepts “good cowboys” and “hacker” giving the ground for “cowboy” mapping onto “hacker”. Due to the synonymy the jargon word “hacker” has such synonyms as “a dark side hacker” and “a samurai”.

1. dark-side hacker- A criminal or malicious hacker. The implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended [4].

2. samurai - a hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith [10]. As it comes from the definitions, all of the listed jargon lexical units are the synonyms to the word “hacker” whether in their pure form like “cowboy” or having the same root idea (“hacker”), but not absolutely identical on the conceptual level like “dark-side hacker” and “samurai”. These concepts are built according to the model “concept `hacker' + additional component”.

The additional component of the concept “dark-side hacker” is “committing a crime by breaking computer system” (a criminal). The source domain “a Jedi Knight seduced by the dark side of the Force”, from George Lucas's film series “Star wars”, was mapped onto “a criminal hacker”. These two domains correspond to each both having the same component “committing a crime” as a criminal hacker attempts to get unauthorized access to a computer system in order to do harm, so a Jedi Knight, seduced by the dark side of the Force, commits evil outrages.

As it follows from the definition of the “dark-side hacker”, the implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended” [4], the source domain “Jedi Knight” has strong connections with the target domain “hacker” as “the elite marital status in the galaxy” maps onto “elite academic status in the IT sphere”. Just like Jedi Knights possess extensive knowledge and skills in martial arts and a kind of ethical philosophy, hackers have considerable knowledge in programming (see the example above: an expert in programming) and a sense of the group ethics (ethical duty; systemcracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the he/she commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality). Thus, such components as “having extensive knowledge” and “following ethical rules” were also projected from the source domain “Jedi Knight” onto the target domain “hacker”.

The metaphorical association with the evil force gives us the ground to think that such conceptual component as “committing a computer crime” plays a crucial part in the concept formation and gives the concept negative connotation. So, positive connotation from the source domain “Jedi Knight” maps onto the target domain “hacker” and negative connotation from the source domain “Jedi Knight seduced by the dark side of the Force” maps onto a criminal hacker. The concept “samurai”, represented in the hacker jargon, has a conceptual structure: concept “hacker“ + additional component “breaking into a computer system within the law” (hires out for legal cracking jobs).

The jargon word “samurai” has a metaphorical word formation. It was derived from the word “samurai” that originally referred to a skillful Japanese warrior, a Japanese knight of the past and means “one who serves” [7]. With the help of the cinema industry the term got popularity outside Japan.

The process of metaphorical mapping replicates the process of forming the new concept out of the concept “hacker”. The image of samurais portrayed by the films shows them as professional warriors capable of managing almost every task, following a set of ethical rules called bushido, brave and honorable in their actions and thoughts. Samurais served landlords. The idea of serving is extremely important in Japan culture. Ethical rules supported loyalty to the landlord and justified any actions made in his benefit [12].

The conceptual components of “extensive knowledge and skills in martial arts” as well as “following ethical rules of bushido”, “acting for the benefit of the landlord” from the national source domain map onto “extensive knowledge and skills in programming” (a hacker), “following ethical rules of the hacker society” (legal cracking), “acting for the benefit of the organization” (hires out for cracking, snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases)of the social target domain “samurai”, verbalized in hacker jargon.

The closer look at the source domains reveals that the concepts “cowboy”, “samurai” and “Jedi Knight seduced by the dark side of the Force” represent the warrior archetype on the national level.

In present-day cognitive studies the term “archetype” is defined as “a primeval image, character or pattern that recurs in thought consistently enough to be considered a universal concept” [11, p. 6].

As the movie industry plays an important part in image making, so, the images created in the process have not much to do with reality but still shape generalized character of good and bad warriors regardless of the historical epoch. Jungian psychologist Robert Moore argues that the warrior archetype includes such component as “being skillful in martial arts”. There are two archetypical oppositions of warrior depending on the moral standards: the positive one, who builds his life according to honorable principles, and the negative one, the so-called “shadow”, who rejects them and lives in search for material pleasures [9]. These characteristics support the idea that the warrior archetype serves as a prototype to “cowboy”, “samurai” and “Jedi Knight seduced by the dark side of the Force” depicted in the movies.

The research proves that such concepts of the national culture as “cowboy”, “Jedi Knight seduced by the dark side of the Force” and “samurai”, represented at the language level by related words and expressions, get linked with the social concepts “cowboy”, “dark-side hacker” and “samurai” through the process of metaphorization. As for the national concepts listed above, all of them share such similar conceptual components with the universal concept “warrior” as “being skillful in martial arts”, “following/rejecting a set of ethical rules” and corresponding connotation, thus giving the ground to suppose the interrelation between these national concepts and the universal concept “warrior”. Following the logic of transitivity, the universal concept “warrior” implicitly became the source domain for mapping onto the concepts, represented by the jargon expressions “cowboy”, “dark-side hacker” and “samurai”.

So, metaphorization, in this case, involves mappings between three conceptual domains instead of two: social, national and universal.

References

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