The Europe of Scary Metaphors: The Voices of the British Right-Wing Press

Abstract

Abstract The United Kingdom’s (UK) relationship with the European Union (EU) and the ongoing Brexit negotiations have become the primary focus of both media and public attention. The decision to leave the EU marks not only a crucial point in the UK’s history, it also indicates the current political developments in both Britain and Europe. Brexit can be seen as a manifestation of right-wing populism. In the context of the EU membership referendum, it is particularly revealing to trace the linguistic representation of Europe in the national British press. The present corpus-based analysis focuses on metaphorical patterns and related discursive strategies employed in the construction of the idea of Europe in The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Sun in the years 2016–2018. The analysis aims to identify the linguistic mechanisms that ensure the adaptability of the right-wing ideology promoted by these newspapers in the changing social and political environment of contemporary Britain. Methodologically, the research applies a mixed approach involving discourse analysis and corpus linguistics with a focus on the metaphorical patterns employed in the construction of the idea of Europe. The analysis reveals a wide range of metaphors applied in reference to Europe, with EUROPE AS A CONTAINER, EUROPE AS A UNION and EUROPE AS A HUMAN occurring most frequently and DEATH OF EUROPE, EUROPE AS SUICIDAL and RELATIONSHIP WITH EUROPE AS A (BROKEN) MARRIAGE as the most creative as well as the most negative.