Metaphors In Political Discourse Research Articles

How Metaphors Impact Political Discourse: A Large-Scale Topic-Agnostic Study Using Neural Metaphor Detection

Metaphors are widely used in political rhetoric as an effective framing device. While the efficacy of specific metaphors such as the war metaphor in political discourse has been documented before, those studies often rely on small number of hand-coded instances of metaphor use. Larger-scale topic-agnostic studies are required to establish the general persuasiveness of metaphors as a device, and to shed light on the broader patterns that guide their persuasiveness. In this paper, we present a large-scale data-driven study of metaphors used in political discourse. We conduct this study on a publicly available dataset of over 85K posts made by 412 US politicians in their Facebook public pages, up until Feb 2017. Our contributions are threefold: we show evidence that metaphor use correlates with ideological leanings in complex ways that depend on concurrent political events such as winning or losing elections; we show that posts with metaphors elicit more engagement from their audience overall even after controlling for various socio-political factors such as gender and political party affiliation; and finally, we demonstrate that metaphoricity is indeed the reason for increased engagement of posts, through a fine-grained linguistic analysis of metaphorical vs. literal usages of 513 words across 70K posts.

Dehumanizing to Demonizing: Critical Discourse Analysis of George Bush’s Speeches for Exploring the Influence of Dehumanizing Metaphor in Political Discourse

To legitimize US invasion of Iraq, Bush fabricated fake intelligence reports, and depended solely on propaganda; he manipulated language in a well-calculated manner; most particularly, the metaphors chosen and devised for his speeches were such that convinced the US citizens about the legitimacy of the invasion, elicited financial support of the European allies and moral support of the majority of the world community. This research work used discourse analysis to study the metaphors that were used by George Bush in the speeches he made on 8 different occasions, and the theoretical framework used in it is the combination of critical discourse analysis CDA with postcolonial theory concept of orientalism.It utilized both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools.It found that most of the task was accomplished through the linguistic manipulation in the shape of metaphor used to dehumanize the enemy, which first made the US citizens feel as victims to the jealousy of rogue Muslim states for intending to completely annihilate them; then, it made appeal to their sense of justice, sense of security, and right to self-defense. By grouping the world citizens into Us and Them groups, the innocent, peace-loving and the war-mongers, the angels and the devils, and then by placing themselves and the rest of the world among the first group and placing the powerfulMuslims states among the second group, the US exploited the feelings and thoughts of all. Despite the UN and the rest of the world having come to know the sheer lies of the US now, the US still has managed to flog a dead horse and blind-fold majority of the world through this linguistic manipulation in the form of using dehumanizing metaphors

METAPHORICAL MODELING OF THE IMAGE OF CHINA IN MODERN POLITICAL DISCOURSE

The paper explores the characteristics and functions of metaphors in Chinese political discourse. The aim is to analyze the dominant metaphorical models with the target domain “China” used in the Chinese authoritative print media. The papers «People’s Daily» and «Guangming Daily» serve as sources of material for analysis. The study uses the continuous sampling method, the manual selection method, the metaphorical modeling method, the cognitive-discursive analysis and the quantitative processing method. The research material includes 231 metaphors, which correspond to 15 metaphorical models. The results show that the most frequent models are war, journey, sports and games, and inanimate nature metaphors. Their frequency is due to the fact that the source domains are well-structured, known and understood by everyone and are included in the universal cognitive base, which increases the effective use of metaphors in political discourse. These metaphors perform the following important functions: they focus attention on the existing problems, influence people’s behavior, motivate them, have an emotional impact on the audience, evoke feelings of unity, solidarity, and responsibility, promote trust in the party and its leader, transform the political worldview and the value system. The results of the study contribute to the further development of the theories of political discourse and metaphorical modeling, and can be used in the courses of political linguistics, semantics, and linguoculturology.

РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЯ КОНЦЕПТОВ "СВОЙ" - "ЧУЖОЙ" В РОССИЙСКИХ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ МЕТАФОРАХ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ ЭЛЕКТРОННЫХ СМИ)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the reflection of the concepts "friend or foe" in political media texts using metaphors. Particular attention is focused on describing the role and functions of metaphors in political discourse, as well as relationships between metaphors and political life. The relevance of the article lies in the fact that political metaphors are an important topic in the study of political discourse. Political discourse is characterized by a pronounced presence of the binary opposition "friend or foe". With the help of metaphors, addressees express the position of “their own” or “someone else's” and show the political values of the linguistic personality. The value system is closely related not only to the individual, but also to the whole society. As a result of the study, it has been proved that changes in values largely reflect the development and changes of society. The article combines political values and political metaphors for a comprehensive analysis of value orientations and characteristics of the use of metaphors in political media texts.

Архетипическая метафора в контексте политической риторики

The article discusses various approaches to the study of archetypal metaphors in political discourse. A brief review of the results obtained by linguists in this direction is given. Particular attention is paid to highlighting the main provisions of the theory of the archetypal metaphor of M. Osborne, which are accompanied by the author's comments. The results of the empirical study of the archetypal binary opposition (ABO) LIGHT/DARK, based on the material of modern American political media discourse, are presented for consideration. The mechanism of actualizing the speech-acting potential of metaphorical images within the framework of the cognitive-discursive paradigm is described. The existence of the correlation between the methods of influencing on information recipients and the cognitive characteristics of ABO LIGHT/DARK is proved. The description of four ways of influencing on public consciousness is presented: emotional, referential, appellative and mental. The characteristic to the corresponding methods of manipulative impact on the audience is given. The correlation of these methods and techniques with cognitive characteristics of archetypal concepts and their metaphorical representatives is revealed. The relevance and novelty of this approach lies in the fact that it allows not only to ascertain the presence of an acting potential of the archetypal metaphor, but also explains the cognitive mechanism that ensures its manipulative influence on the mass consciousness of the target audience made by the author of political discourse.

外交语篇中的概念隐喻对比研究- 以中韩领导人外交演讲为例

Linguists had always been interested in conceptual metaphors in political discourse. An American linguist George Lakoff, conducted an analytical research on conceptual metaphors in politics including war, terrorism, and diplomatic language. As metaphors in diplomatic language are rich in strong political colors, directly related to the interests of each state, and given the differences in cultural and linguistic characteristics, it is urgent to address difficulties in conducting researches based on common denominators. Although South Korea and China are close neighbors with the Yellow sea between them, the two countries'' diplomatic expressions are distinguishable due to their different political systems, state positions and linguistic habits. In order to avoid and minimize possible misunderstandings in diplomatic discourses between the two countries, this study attempts to analyze the conceptual metaphors found in diplomatic documents from South Korea and China by comparing and examining examples and to identify similarities and differences based on different political strategies, cultural and ethnic characteristics.

Strategies of conveying metaphors in political discourse: analysis of the Turkish translations of George Orwell's “Animal Farm”

Translating metaphor and metaphoric expressions is one of the disputable problems in translation studies due to the conceptual discrepancies which exist between the source culture and the target readership, moreover, if the metaphor plays a crucial role in creating an appeal to the reader as in the political text. In this respect, it is under the discussion of how to deal with a metaphor when translating political discourse, and what are the dominating strategies and traditions of translating metaphoric units in Turkish translations. Caused by the theoretical and practical urgency of the problem, this paper is aimed to analyze strategies of conveying metaphors from English to Turkish based on the novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and its Turkish translations by Sedat Demir and Celal Üster. To achieve the aims of the research the efforts were undertaken to compare the original text with its two different translations. For the precise analysis, Old Major’s speech was thoroughly scrutinized on the point of the metaphoric expressions in the text and their correspondences in the Turkish translations.

A multifactorial analysis of metaphors in political discourse

Abstract The rising prominence of women in politics has sparked a growing interest in comparing the language of male and female politicians. Many researchers have explored whether gender in politics has had an impact on their metaphor styles. While these studies have been oriented qualitatively and have concentrated on the two-way interaction between metaphor and gender, the possibility that metaphor and gender may interact with other additional factors is largely overlooked. This article adopts a quantitatively oriented approach complemented with textual analysis to explore potential multiple-way interactions between ‘metaphor’, ‘gender’, ‘speech section’ and ‘political role’ in political discourse. By conducting a case study of metaphor use in Hong Kong political speeches, we found evidence of gendered metaphors and their variability according to politicians’ political roles and different rhetorical sections in their speeches.

Features of the translation of metaphors of Arabic political discourse

Metaphors play an important role in determining the discursive meaning of a political text. Although the hermeneutic significance of the metaphor is limited to political materials, the definition of its discourse depends on the experience of the translator. The relationship between political discourse and the translator is determined by the interpretation. Interpretation always takes into account subjectivity, especially since the connection of political discourse with ideology does not allow the translator to remain neutral. However, since translation is always performed at an intercultural level, the requirement to bring it as close as possible to the derived text demonstrates the professional skills and responsibility of the translator. The fact that translations in the Kazakh language are often the result of a secondary derivative process is often associated with a shortage of qualified translators who are fluent in both Kazakh and foreign languages. Researchers pay attention to many unresolved issues in the relationship “political discoursetranslator-ideology”. And in this regard, there are still a lot of translation problems faced by translators serving the Kazakh audience. The translation of metaphors used in political discourse is an urgent problem for translation into Kazakh. The article defines the functions of metaphors in political discourse, considers the features of the translation into Kazakh of metaphors used in speeches and addresses of Arab politicians and officials; analyzed the difficulties that the translator faces in preserving the national color of metaphors in translation. Key words: political discourse, interpretation, metaphor, translation methods.

Cognitive-Pragmatic Strategies for English Translation of Colloquial Metaphors in Political Discourse

The colloquial metaphor is a distinguishing feature of Chinese political discourse. Relevance theory of cognitive pragmatics is instructive and significant for the English translation of colloquial metaphors in political discourse, according to which, in the process of metaphor translation, the translator is supposed to take into consideration the cognitive context and pragmatic-communicative intention of the author, and also the cognitive environment of the target readers. Taking the Chinese an

Simile and Metaphor in Political Discourse

Simile and metaphor can be frequently found in poems and fiction novels, as it is traditionally considered to be a device limited to literary texts. However, journalists also resort to using a variety of stylistic devices to put the message across to the reader, ranging from allusion to pun and oxymoron. Both simile and metaphor are among stylistic devices which are used in editorials and news reports and are very often combined. The paper looks at the differences between the two.

The Role of the “Path” and the “Container” Image Schemas in Political Discourse in Kenya

The study of conceptual interaction has attracted the attention of many scholars in Cognitive Linguistics. Primarily, the analysis has focused on the role of image-schemas in the construction of metaphors. This study explores the PATH and the CONTAINER image-schemas and the role they play in conceptual formation of metaphors in political discourse in Kenya. The study presents the PATH and its subsidiary image schemas of Verticality, Process and Force-Motion and the CONTAINER image-schema and the subsidiary image-schemas of Excess and In-Out. The analysis reveals that both the PATH and the CONTAINER image-schemas structure the relationship between the source domains (journey and container) and the target domain (politics) by activating subsidiary image-schemas in metaphors of politics in Kenya. The study further reveals that image-schemas provide the axiological value (positive or negative) of metaphorical expressions in political discourse. A positive political environment is a key ingredient for green growth and knowledge economy. The study contributes to the field of metaphor in political discourse by examining the politicians’ conceptualization of politics as a journey, which consists of four structural elements (a source, a destination, contiguous locations which connect the source and the destination and a direction) and as a container, which consists of an interior, an exterior and a boundary. The study used the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as a tool to establish conceptual metaphors used during the 2005 Draft Constitution referendum campaigns in Kenya and the Image-Schema Theory to account for the presence of image-schemas in political discourse in Kenya. Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory is the locus classicus of the image schema theory.

Metaphors in political communication

Abstract This article analyses the use of (deliberate) metaphors in political discourse produced by French-speaking Belgian regional parliamentarians during non-institutional political interviews. The article first investigates if the use of deliberate metaphor limits itself to a particular type of political discourse (i.e. public and institutional political discourse) or if metaphor use is also found in other types of settings (i.e. non-institutional political discourse). Second, the article analyses the variation of deliberate metaphor use between political actors depending on gender, seniority and political affiliation. To this end, the article applies Steen’s (2008) three-dimensional model of metaphor analysis on biographical interviews conducted with French-speaking Belgian regional parliamentarians (RMPs). Our results indicate that RMPs, when using non-deliberate metaphors, mostly rely on source domains such as construction, battle and relationships. This is in contrast with the use of deliberate metaphors, where source domains like sports, nature and container take the upper hand.

Direction Metaphors in Political Discourse: Imran Khan and the Rhetoric of Change

Journey Metaphors are among the most pervasive source domains used both in daily life and in political discourse as they follow a clearcut source-path-goal schema where the direction is a fundamental element. The crossdomain mapping between source and target domains is a means of gaining insight into the cognitive activity of the speaker. Metaphors of the journey are widely used in the political discourse generated by Imran Khan with special emphasis upon direction. Metaphorical expressions identified from speeches of Imran in both English and Urdu language have been analyzed using the Critical Metaphor Analysis approach given by Charteris-Black (2005) where linguistic metaphors have been interpreted semantically, pragmatically and in cognition to generate conceptual metaphors. Khan’s obsession with direction activates the PAKISTAN IS OFF TRACK conceptual metaphor necessitating a journey of change under his leadership. He highlights the failures of others to evoke images of a destructive past from which freedom becomes essential.

Шотландский регионалистский дискурс в британских СМИ (Scottish Regionalist Discourse in British Press)

Russian Abstract: Статья посвящена шотландскому регионалистскому дискурсу в британской качественной прессе. Охватывается период с момента проведения референдума о независимости в 2014 году и до 2019 года. Регионалистский дискурс рассматривается как объект лингвистического изучения. Предлагается определение термина регионалистский дискурс как разновидности политического дискурса. Задаются рамки изучения регионалистского дискурса с позиций политической лингвистики. С помощью семантико-стилистического и дискурсивного анализа выявляются специфические характеристики, присущие шотландскому регионалистскому медиадискурсу. Среди последних представлены метафоризация с опорой как на универсальные, так и культурно-специфические образы, а также филологический вертикальный контекст. Кратко уточняются функции метафоры в политическом дискурсе. Анализируются универсальная метафора бракоразводного процесса и культурно-специфичная метафора, основанная на цветовом символизме и культурной привязке. Особое внимание уделяется географическому маркированию границы между севером и югом в шотландском регионалистском дискурсе. Обсуждается потенциал исторического и филологического вертикального контекста. Выявляются коммуникативные стратегии апеллирования к авторитету шотландских литературных деятелей (Р. Бернс, В. Скотт, Р. Л. Стивенсон). Рассматривается стилистический потенциал диалектных шотландских вкраплений в англоязычный текст. English Abstract: The article is devoted to the Scottish regionalist discourse in the British quality press. The period from the time of the referendum on independence in 2014 till 2019 is covered. Regionalist discourse is considered as an object of linguistic study. The definition of the term regionalist discourse as a kind of political discourse is proposed. The framework for the study of regional discourse from the standpoint of political linguistics is given. With the help of semantic-stylistic and discursive analysis the specific characteristics inherent in the Scottish regionalist media discourse are revealed. The latter include metaphorization based on both universal and culturally specific images, as well as a philological vertical context. The functions of metaphor in political discourse are briefly clarified. The author analyzes the universal metaphor of the divorce process and the cultural-specific metaphor based on the colour symbolism and cultural reference. Particular attention is paid to the geographical marking of the border between North and South in the Scottish regionalist discourse. The potential of historical and philological vertical context is discussed. Communicative strategies of appeal to the authority of Scottish literary figures (R. Burns, W. Scott, R. L. Stevenson) are revealed. The stylistic potential of Scottish dialect inclusions in the English text is considered.

Metaphors in Political Discourse in Kenya: Unifying or Divisive?

Metaphor has been viewed as a tool that is used in political discourse to structure human thought. In the structuring function of metaphor, it is assumed that there is a similarity between the source and the target domains. However, the similar structure in the target domain does not always exist before the metaphor is coined (Lakoff & Turner, 1989). Rather, the metaphor can create the similar structure in the target domain. The politicians’ reference to war, religion, business and animals among others, therefore, serves to structure and limit the thought of the electorates to view politics from certain perspectives. The basic argument in this study is, therefore, that metaphors are ingrained in our conceptual faculties and play a significant role in structuring our thought patterns in politics. The structuring through metaphor can, however, either be positive and/or negative. In other words, the structuring could either be unifying or divisive. As Rozina (2001:12) asserts, ‘…political discourse is primarily focused on persuading people to take specified political actions or to make crucial political decisions.’ Using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA), this study investigated the extent to which metaphors in political discourse in Kenya create, reflect or symbolize the values of national unity and inclusiveness enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya. The study found that both positive and negative axiological values are present in metaphors in political discourse in Kenya. However, the negative axiological value overrides the positive value.

Conceptual Metaphors in Political Discourse in Croatian, American and Italian Newspapers

Abstract In political discourse metaphors are frequently employed for persuading and manipulating the public. The aim of our research is to show whether there are differences in the use of source domains of conceptual metaphors among Croatian politicians in comparison with American and Italian politicians. The corpus of our research consists of political newspaper articles and interviews from Croatian, American and Italian daily newspapers (Jutarnji list, Večernji list, Corriere della Sera, Repubblica, ABC, USA Today and The New York Times), downloaded from newspaper archives. We can conclude that metaphorical expressions vary from language to language, but often the same metaphorical expressions appear in all languages. Expressions that frequently recur are victory, attack, battle, race, defense, splay, stage and role. Except for two ontological metaphors in Croatian examples, we can say that there is no major difference in the source domains between Croatian, American and Italian political discourse.

Функции концептуальной метафоры в политическом дискурсе

Функции концептуальной метафоры в политическом дискурсе

RUSSIAN <i>BEAR</i> AND CHINESE <i>LONG</i>: ZOOLOGICAL METAPHOR IN RUSSIAN AND CHINESE POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Zoometaphor plays a very important role in linguistics, especially in contrastive studies, and has long attracted the attention of both Russian and Chinese linguists, including A. N. Baranov, A. P. Chudinov, F. N. Guketlova, T. S. Vershinina, Zhao Yanfan, Xue Yahong, Guo Weihai and others who also show deep interest in the role of this kind of metaphor in political discourse. Russian linguist A. P. Chudinov believes that each concrete metaphor reflects the worldview of one person thus contributing to the creation of a common metaphorical picture of the world of a certain society. Representations of the animal world, characteristic of Russian and Chinese cultures are reflected in zoometaphors involved in political discourse in both languages. Chinese linguists Xue Yahong and Guo Weihai consider the conceptual metaphor “man is an animal” one of the most important means of cognition and representation of knowledge in language. By resorting to zoometaphors statesmen and politicians choose a more effective and efficient way of conveying their political views and thus exercise a stronger influence on the target audience. The article analyzes examples of metaphors with the “bear” component and metaphors with the “Long” component. These two words play an important role in conceptualizing the world of Russian and Chinese people and metaphorically represent the two cultures. The image of the bear metaphorically represents the political authority of Russia; the use of the word “bear” stands for “strength” contributing to a positive image of a powerful state that can protect itself. Likewise, Long represents China, and in the eyes of the Chinese it is a symbol of everything sacred, noble, strong and successful, so it shows China as an authoritative state. It is stressed in the article that both Long and the dragon have mythological roots and arouse different associations, therefore it is appropriate to use the word “Long” rather than “dragon” when addressing Chinese culture. Analysis of metaphors with the bear and Long components in western political discourse shows that respective metaphors can transmit negative attitudes, which points to a controversial attitude of western politicians to Russia and China.

Metaphorical Nomination of Politicians in Russian and English

The article deals with transferred meanings of the nouns denoting subjects of professional activity (zhandarm, lavochnik, myasnik, soldat, axeman, executioner, slave-driver, sportsman, etc.) in Russian and English political communication. Research material was selected from the National Russian Corpus and the Oxford English Corpus. Special attention is paid in the article to the identification and modeling of the structure of knowledge lying at the basis of metaphorization. The analysis of the sample has shown that the following semantic subspheres within the sphere “Professional Activity” regularly serve as sources of metaphorization in political communication: supervision and investigation; military service and sport; witchcraft and magic, commerce and finance. The Russian and the English languages display a similarity between the regular features of metaphorization in the given semantic groups. The presence of a pejorative component in the transferred meanings of lexemes nominating workers of law enforcing and punitive bodies, as well as those associated with cruelty and violence (meat and wood purveyance), is typical of both Russian and English political communication. Metaphorization of lexemes is regularly employed by the military and sport spheres, and the focus is placed on the stereotypical positive personality traits of military men and sportsmen (military men are presented as noble, courageous, self-sacrificing, loyal people; sportsmen nominations are used to denote honest politicians who abide by the rules of the game and know how to lose). In both languages, the metaphors from the sphere of commerce regularly include a negative evaluative component, but the reasons for the negative evaluation may be different: in English, the nominations of traders serve to denote politicians who are engaged in dissemination and propaganda of something unpleasant and dangerous; in Russian, the accent is placed on the personal traits of the seller, which allows creating nominations of greedy officials ready to do anything for personal gain and willfully using something for their own personal profit. The transferred meanings of the lexemes from the semantic subsphere “Witchcraft and Magic” show that the character of the evaluative component of metaphors in political discourse (negative: the metaphors are used to denote rogues and deceivers) may not correspond to the type of evaluation in other kinds of communication (positive evaluation associated with reference to outstanding abilities is quite frequent).