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).