Metaphors as register markers

We present our work on the register-dependence of metaphor, where register is defined as variation of linguistic behaviour appropriate for a given communication situation, including the purpose of the interaction. We investigated this dependence on the basis of a new German corpus of six text types with a wide range of register properties, which we annotated for metaphor. Specifically, we analysed the relation between register and metaphor in terms of investigating correlations between metaphor and specific register features, as they are exhibited by the text types. Focussing on metaphors that can serve as explicit register markers and annotating a subgroup of them in our corpus, we found significant differences between the text types in metaphor usage, which we interpreted in terms of specific register properties of the text types.