Elena Semino is Professor of Linguistics and Verbal Art and Head of the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK. She also holds a Visiting Professorship at Fuzhou University in China.

Zsófia Demjén is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at UCL Institute of Education, University College, London.

Introduction: Metaphor and language

Section 1: Theoretical approaches to metaphor in language

1. Conceptual metaphor theory

2. Figurativeness, conceptual metaphor and blending

3. Relevance theory and metaphor

4. Metaphor, language, and dynamical systems

Section 2: Methodological approaches to metaphor in language

5. Identifying metaphors in language

6. Finding systematic metaphors

7. From linguistic to conceptual metaphors

8. Corpus-linguistic approaches to metaphor analysis

9. Analysing metaphor in gesture: A set of metaphor identification guidelines for gesture (MIG-G)

10. Analysing metaphors in multimodal texts

Section 3: Formal variation of metaphor in language

11. Metaphor and parts-of-speech

12. Textual patterning of metaphor

13. Genre and metaphor: use and variation across usage events

14. Creative metaphor in literature

15. Conventional and novel metaphors in language

16. Metaphor and diachronic variation

17. Metaphor in translation

18. Metaphor in Sign language

Section 4: Functional variation of metaphor in language

19. Metaphor use in educational contexts: functions and variations

20. Metaphor and the representation of scientific issues: climate change in print and online news

21. Metaphor and persuasion in politics

22. Metaphor and persuasion in commercial advertising

23. Metaphor and story-telling

24. Metaphor, impoliteness, and offence in online communication

Section 5: Applications/Interventions: using metaphor for problem solving

25. Using metaphor in healthcare: mental health

26. Using metaphor in healthcare: physical health

27. Using metaphor as a management tool

28. Using metaphor in the teaching of second/foreign languages

29. Using metaphor for peace-building, empathy, and reconciliation

30. Using metaphor to influence public perceptions and policy: Or, how metaphors can save the world

Section 6: Language, metaphor and cognitive development

31. Metaphor processing

32. Psycholinguistic approaches to metaphor acquisition and use

33. Metaphor acquisition and use in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders

34. Metaphor comprehension and production in a second language

35. Metaphors for language and communication