“If big brother England votes to leave the EU … we will be treated like upstart children”: Irony and a United Kingdom family of nations metaphor in Scottish nationalist discourse

Abstract

This study explores the inter-play between metaphor and irony in the communication of contrasting UK “family of nations” (UK-FON) metaphor variants by Conservative and Scottish National Party members of the UK Parliament. The study proposes: first, that debates surrounding the intertwined issues of Scottish independence and Brexit triggered an increase in the deployment of the UK-FON metaphor, particularly by Scottish nationalist speakers; second, that competition for control over the metaphor’s meaning has produced two competing variants (i.e. an initial Conservative aspirational/positive one framing the UK-FON as unified, equal, beneficent, expansive, and historically-rooted, followed by an ironic SNP hypocritical/abusive variant framing it as unequal, coercive, and disrespectful); and; lastly, that the SNP communication of the ironically reinterpreted hypocritical/abusive variant contributes rhetorical weight to the expression of Scottish nationalist grievances, objectives, and perspectives on belonging in the UK and Europe.