Abstract This article analyzes intercultural academic discourse in an international research project involving German and Southern African scholars, with an eye on the use of figurative language in authentic communication. It combines intercultural pragmatics with a cognitive approach to figurative language as an expression of conceptual, cognitive patterns. This paper intends to show how international academics involved in intercultural communication actively and creatively apply metaphoric and other forms of figurative language to co-construct and conceptualize academic subject matter in transculturally understandable forms, and to forge a group identity in what has been called a “discursive interculture.” The quality and communicative success of figurative language for such purposes depends on various factors, for which both pragmatic and cognitive linguistic perspectives provide explanations, which is why an interdisciplinary integration of methods is advisable.

中文翻译：

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跨文化交际中的比喻语言-以德国-南非非洲国际学术话语为例

摘要本文在一个涉及德国和南部非洲学者的国际研究项目中分析了跨文化学术话语，着眼于在真实的交流中使用比喻语言。它结合了跨文化的语用学和比喻性语言的认知方法，将其作为概念性认知模式的表达。本文旨在说明参与跨文化交流的国际学者如何积极，创造性地运用隐喻和其他形式的比喻语言，以跨文化的可理解形式共同构建和概念化学术主题，并以一种所谓的“话语多元文化。” 为此目的，比喻语言的质量和交际成功取决于多种因素，