Pragmatic and Metacognitive Applications of Metaphor and Metonymy in Dialogic Professional Genres: the Case of the Job Interview

Abstract

This article brings into focus the notion of metaphorical competence (MC) and posits the inclusion of its explicit training in LSP syllabi, stressing its important function in dialogic self-evaluative genres like the job/selection interview. A perspective of the different approaches to MC is given prior to discussing the features and specific difficulties intrinsic to the interview, as well as to analysing the meta-cognitive and pragmatic roles of metaphor and metonymy and the constraints governing them. Both tropes prove efficacious lexical activators and mnemonics and valid politeness strategies, especially as conflict neutralizers, intimacy builders, hedges, persuasive devices and topic-closing formulas. Key words: metaphorical compe- tence, metaphor, metonymy, metacognition, pragmatic impact, LSP