Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject Communications - Intercultural Communication, grade: 2, Kozminski University, language: English, abstract: This thesis provides an analysis of the use of metaphorical expressions concerning war in political discourse from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. It is divided into three chapters. The aim of the first chapter is to present the theoretical framework for the practical part of the thesis. It begins with pivotal theories and concepts behind metaphors and their importance for not only the language but also the world around. In this section, first, a definition of metaphor and some key concepts concerning metaphor such as conceptual metaphor, structural metaphor, conventional metaphor and the scope of metaphor will be illustrated one by one in detail. Among numerous definitions of the phenomenon suggested by scholars, only those capturing peculiar traits of metaphor will be presented. Secondly, metaphor will be characterized as a basic and crucial mean of communication, for both laypersons and professionals. Chapter two is devoted to the presentation of researches on metaphor in political discourse. As first, the theories on metaphor and its function in political discourse will be described. Although recognized and acknowledged, the omnipresence of metaphor in political discourse raises a question of its function. The following chapter is an individualistic attempt to answer the following question: is metaphor construed as an ornamental figure of speech or symbolic trope, or does it influence the way political issues are comprehended and evaluated? Political discourse is driven by underlying conceptual metaphors deeply rooted in the ideology and cultural environment of the speaker. The more distant the object, the more important the vehicle of comprehension metaphor is. Chapter three analyzes metaphorical expressions of war in political discourse using cognitive linguistics. It studies data from Polish and English politicians' public addresses, revealing mappings between WAR and politics. This metaphor is deeply ingrained in citizens' minds, readily applied due to its association with conflicts among groups in politics.

The volume explores the vast and heterogeneous territory of Political Linguistics, structuring and developing its concepts, themes and methodologies into combined and coherent Analysis of Political Discourse (APD). Dealing with an extensive and representative variety of topics and domains - political rhetoric, mediatized communication, ideology, politics of language choice, etc. - it offers uniquely systematic, theoretically grounded insights in how language is used to perform power-enforcing/imbuing practices in social interaction, and how it is deployed for communicating decisions concerning language itself. The twenty chapters in the volume, written by specialists in political linguistics, (critical) discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and social psychology, address the diversity of political discourse to propose novel perspectives from which common analytic procedures can be drawn and followed. The volume is thus an essential resource for anyone looking for a coherent research agenda in explorations of political discourse as a point of reference for their own academic activities, both scholarly and didactic. "Politics in today's world consists of almost continuous interconnected talking and writing in a constantly expanding media universe. This comprehensive collection of papers edited by Urszula Okulska and Piotr Cap helps readers to get a hold on the flow of discourse that constitutes politics today. Indispensible for anyone seeking perspectives for understanding the language of politics and research methods for probing beyond the surface."

Far from being rhetorical ornaments, metaphors play a central role in public discourse, as they shape the structure of political categorisation and argumentation. Drawing on a very large bilingual corpus, this book, now in paperback, analyses the distribution of 'metaphor scenarios' in more than a decade of public discourse on European integration, elucidating differences in UK and German attitudes and argumentation. The corpus analysis leads to a refinement of cognitive metaphor theory by systematically relating conceptual, semantic and argumentation levels and incorporating the historical dimension of metaphor evolution. Finally, drawing on examples of metaphor negotiation and on a reassessment of Hobbes' concept of metaphor in Leviathan, the book highlights the ethical dimension of metaphor in politics.

The objective of this book is to understand variation in political metaphor. Political metaphors are distinctive and important because they are used to achieve political goals: to persuade, to shape expectations, to realize specific objectives and actions. The analyses in the book go beyond the mere identification of conceptual metaphors in discourse to show how political metaphors function in the real world. It starts from the finding that the same conceptual domains are used to characterize politics, political entities and political issues. Yet, the specific metaphors used to describe these conceptual domains often change. This book explores some of the reasons for this variation, including features of political leaders (e.g., their age and gender), countries, and other sociopolitical circumstances. This perspective yields a better understanding of the role(s) of metaphors in political discourse.

Understanding the nature of the 'cold war' that followed World War II is now more than ever a focus of debate. Security Metaphors starts from the premise that political and international realities are created, sustained and unraveled in discourse. The book begins by examining the conceptual underpinnings of international relations theory, and by careful linguistic analysis shows how metaphorical discourse contributed to the beginning and ending of the dangerous competition between 'East' and 'West'. It concludes not by attributing power to language, but to the hegemonic power that can best wield it.

This book explores the linguistic patterns of conflict, crisis and threat generation in Polish political rhetoric that have been at the heart of state-level policies since the Law and Justice (PiS) Party came to power in October 2015. Analysing a vast corpus of speeches, statements and remarks by prominent Law and Justice Party politicians, this book sheds light on internal parliamentary and presidential discourse against opponents of the government, before widening its lens to Poland's strained relations with the EU regarding refugee distribution and immigration. Drawing on theories from contemporary critical discourse studies and critical-cognitive pragmatics, the book shows how the crisis, conflict and threat elements in these discourses produce public coercion and strengthen the Party's leadership. Piotr Cap extends his argument further to examine discursive examples from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Italy and the UK, highlighting the correlation between the Law and Justice Party and broader socio-political and rhetorical trends in contemporary Europe. The result is an authoritative panorama of the mutual dependencies and shared discursive strategies of European right-wing groups.