A Metaphor Identification Procedure for Specialized Corpora (MIPSpeC): The Case of Promotional Wine-Tasting Discourse

The purpose of this work is to present a procedure for identifying metaphors in
specialized texts, termed MIPSpeC. Building on established authoritative procedures
(MIP and MIPVU), a nine-step procedure is proposed, enhanced by the inclusion of
concept maps in Step 2 (conceptual exploration) and Step 9 (conceptual redefinition),
and the introduction of specialized glossaries in Step 8 as a final validation filter,
thereby ensuring both methodological rigor and replicability. The procedure was
developed as part of a critical investigation of the metaphor WINE IS A HUMAN BEING in
promotional wine tasting notes from UK-based wine sellers. Following the
introduction of the notion of metaphor identification and upon outlining the two
primary approaches – inductive and deductive – the MIP and MIPVU procedures are
reviewed, alongside the main implementations of metaphor identification through
Wmatrix. The proposed procedure is then presented step by step, followed by a
demonstration of its application to the investigation of metaphor in specialized
genres, with a focus on wine-tasting notes. Having an integrated procedure for
specialized languages allows for more accurate identification of metaphorical
expressions, with results that can be applied both in the field of Specialised
Terminology as well as Critical Discourse Studies, or their intersection. The
development of MIPSpeC forms part of a broader effort to advance the establishment
of Corpus-Assisted Critical Specialised Discourse Studies (CACSDS).