Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Marburg, language: English, abstract: When it comes to framing the war linguistically, metaphors have always been key for many politicians in conveying their message and distinguishing in a simplistic manner between good and evil. Employing metaphors in political discourse helps politicians simplify their content and make the audience understand their message more clearly, as Lakoff notes: “Abstractions and enormously complex situations are routinely understood via metaphor” (1991: 25). Lakoff further describes the use of metaphors as something not necessarily good or bad, but rather depicts it as a stylistic device that is widely common even in everyday language. Therefore, it seems highly interesting to look even closer at how metaphors are being used in the context of war-related speech in the United States. The focus of this paper will be on metaphors used in the State of the Union Address, since I assume that the latter is perfectly suited for an exemplary analysis of how war-related metaphors are constructed and which specific purpose they serve.

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.

When photographs documenting the torture and humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib came to the attention of a horrified public, national and international voices were raised in shock, asking how this happened. At War with Metaphor offers an answer, arguing that the abuses of Abu Ghraib were part of a systemic continuum of dehumanization. This continuum has its roots in our public discussions of the war on terror and the metaphors through which they are repeatedly framed. Arguing earnestly and incisively that these metaphors, if left unexamined, bind us into a cycle of violence that will only be intensified by a responsive violence of metaphor, Steuter and Wills examine compelling examples of the images of animal, insect, and disease that inform, shape, and limit our understanding of the war on terror. Tying these images to historical and contemporary uses of propaganda through a readable, accessible analysis of media filters, At War with Metaphor vividly explores how news media, including political cartoons and talk radio, are enmeshed in these damaging, dehumanizing metaphors. Analyzing media through the lenses of race and Orientalism, it invites us to hold our media and ourselves accountable for the choices we make in talking war and making enemies.

Scholars in many of the disciplines surrounding politics explicitly utilize either a narrative perspective or a metaphor perspective (though rarely the two in combination) to analyze issues -- theoretical and practical, domestic and international -- in the broad field of politics. Among the topics they have studied are: competing metaphors for the state or nation which have been coined over the centuries in diverse cultures; the frequency with which communal and international conflicts are generated, at least in part, by the clashing religious and historical narratives held by opposing groups; the cognitive short-cuts employing metaphor by which citizens make sense of politics; the need for political candidates to project a convincing self-narrative; the extent to which the metaphors used to formulate social issues determine the policies which will be developed to resolve them; the failure of narratives around the security of the nation to take account of the individual experiences of women and children. This volume is the first in which eminent scholars from disciplines as diverse as social psychology, anthropology, political theory, international relations, feminist political science, and media studies, have sought to integrate the narrative and the metaphor perspectives on politics. It will appeal to any scholar interested in the many ways in which narrative and metaphor function in combination as cognitive and rhetorical instruments in discourse around politics.

Synthesising diverse research avenues for politics, discourse, and political discourse, this cutting-edge Handbook examines the formative traditions, current theoretical and methodological landscape, and genres and domains over which political discourse extends.

Until a century ago, a metaphor was just a mere figure of speech, but since the development of discourse analysis a metaphor has become more than merely incidental to the content of the arguments or findings. Students and scholars in political studies know the importance of metaphors in electoral and policy-related politics, coming across metaphors that are, knowingly or unknowingly, influencing our perception of politics. This book is the first to develop new methodological approaches to understand and analyse the use of metaphor in political science and international relations. It does this by: Combining theory with case studies in order to advance substantive work in politics and international relations that focuses on metaphor Expands the range of empirical case studies that employ this category descriptively and also in explanatory logic Advances research that investigates the role of metaphor in empirical and discourse-based methodologies, thus building on results from other disciplines, notably linguistics and hermeneutic philosophy. This innovative study will be of interest to students and researchers of politics, international relations and communication studies.

This book analyzes the rhetoric of speeches by major British or American politicians and shows how metaphor is used systematically to create political myths of monsters, villains and heroes. Metaphors are shown to interact with other figures of speech to communicate subliminal meanings by drawing on the unconscious emotional association of words.