“Metaphor as argument: Rhetorical and epistemic advantages of extended metaphors” (original) (raw)
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Metaphor Framing in Political Discourse
Mythos-Magazin, ISSN 2627-8685, 2019
This paper analyses applications of "framing" theory to figurative political discourse. It reviews in detail Lakoff et al.'s Cognitive approach, which has been the main paradigm for metaphor framing studies in the last decades and highlights its objectives, advantages and limitations. Specific attention is paid to the relationship with Fillmore's "Frame" theory developed in the 1970s. By going back to this source, the crucial issue of framing reception, i.e. the difference between frame activation and frame acceptance is made salient. The third part provides a case study illustrating this difference by charting the discourse history of the metaphorical slogan 'Britain at the heart of Europe', which was widely accepted at its launch as framing UK policy but lost acceptance over the course of three decades (whilst retaining its potential for activation). In conclusion, it is argued that receptive acceptance is the product of enriching schematic frames to rhetorically and pragmatically elaborated scenarios.
“Undoing” a Rhetorical Metaphor: Testing the Metaphor Extension Strategy
Metaphor and Symbol, 2017
Political metaphors do more than punch up messages; they can systematically bias observers' attitudes toward the issue at hand. What, then, is an effective strategy for counteracting a metaphor's influence? One could ignore or criticize the metaphor, emphasizing strong counterarguments directly pertaining to the target issue. Yet if observers rely on it to understand a complicated issue, they may be reluctant to abandon it. In this case, a "metaphor extension" strategy may be effective: Encourage observers to retain the metaphor but reinterpret its meaning by considering other, less obvious implications. The current studies support this claim. Under conditions where participants gained a strong (versus weak) epistemic benefit from a rhetorical metaphor, they were more persuaded by a rebuttal that extended (versus ignored or criticized) that metaphor. The studies use converging operational definitions of epistemic benefit and offer insight into how political attitudes are made and unmade. Even a cursory glance at public discourse, from campaign speeches to political cartoons, reveals a slew of metaphors. For example, politicians liken the economy to a vehicle that can "sustain a reasonable cruising speed" (Hargreaves, 2013), displays of the Confederate flag to "scraping old wounds" (Oppel, 2011), and refugees to "a rabid dog running around your neighborhood" (McCaskill, 2015). More systematic analyses show that metaphors pervade rhetoric surrounding terrorism (Kruglanski, Crenshaw,
Ideological and non-ideological metaphors: A cognitive-pragmatic perspective
2011
In this paper, the ideological dimensions of metaphor are captured at the conceptual, cognitive, and pragmatic levels. At the conceptual level, metaphor makes a given source domain salient for a given target domain by virtue of framing it with that particular source domain. This will be argued to contribute to the stabilization of metaphoric meaning in discourse. At the cognitive level, the anchorage of metaphor in a particular concept at the conceptual level will draw attention to itself, with the result that the source domain elements get foregrounded in the mapping while other potential domains of conceptualization are backgrounded. This hiding and highlighting dimension of metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) greatly contributes to metaphor's ideological import. At the pragmatic level, the persistence of the same source concept to structure the same target concept together with the type of discourse in which these occur, tend to determine metaphor's perlocutionary effect on participants in discourse. Thus, non-ideological discourse tends to fail to have pragmatic effects on discourse participants owing to the non-persuasive intentions of authors. What may enhance metaphor's ideological aspect is, however, the fact that ideological discourse tends to draw more on conventional metaphors while non-ideological discourse tends to depend more on novel metaphors. As showed for ideological discourse such as promotional discourse, conventional metaphors tend to be more persuasive than live or novel ones. upon to illustrate non-ideological and ideological uses of metaphor comes from popular songs and literary discourse, and promotional and political discourses, respectively.
This paper suggests a way to understand and analyze the uses of conceptual metaphors from an argumentative perspective. The examples to illustrate the place of conceptual metaphors in arguments originate from Chilean parliamentarian's media participation. To achieve the purpose, first some differences between argument by analogy and arguing by metaphors are distinguished; second, a descriptive metaphorical model to distinguish the mapping process between conceptual domains is proposed; and third, extracts of actual Chilean parliamentarian media participation will be examined applying the concepts discussed and the methodologies distinguished previously, with special reference to a parallel between the metaphorical model and the factual logic model for the analysis of arguments. The parallel shows that conceptual metaphors work as 'backing' in the factual logic model, and that proverbial expressions work as 'warrant' when conceptual metaphors are contained in proverbs. #
What can Metaphor Theory contribute to the study of political discourse?
The application of conceptual metaphor analysis to the critical study of political discourse has generated a wealth of publications over the past decades. This paper attempts to take stock of some of the theoretical developments in the field and reflect on their contribution to methodological advances in metaphor research generally and to the understanding of metaphor in political discourse in particular. The data comprise metaphorisations of the state as a (human) body, which has played a prominent role in Western political thought and discourse. This metaphor field shows a high degree of semantic variation, both intra- and cross-culturally, and thus invites an analysis that reflects their universality and/or cultural specificity. It is therefore argued that the conceptualist/cognitive approach to the analysis of political metaphors needs to be complemented by pragmatic and discourse-historical methodologies.
Metaphorical Framing in Political Discourse
Handbook of Political Discourse, 2023
Metaphors may create realities for us […]. A metaphor may thus be a guide for future action. Such actions will, of course, fit the metaphor. This will, in turn, reinforce the power of the metaphor to make experience coherent. In this sense metaphors can be self-fulfilling prophecies. (Lakoff & Johnson 1980/2003: 156) With the above statement in Metaphors we live by, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson inspired what has become a thriving sub-field of “Conceptual Metaphor Theory” (CMT), i.e. studies of Figurative Speech in Politics, with their own specialized acronym, CMA (Critical Metaphor Analysis, coined in recognition of the close interaction with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), see Charteris-Black 2004: 243-53, 2005: 45-49). Since the 1980s, hundreds of dedicated monographs and editions, and thousands of articles and chapters have been published that have analysed metaphorical political metaphor use and reception. Lakoff himself has (co-)authored at least a dozen studies in this field, partly stepping into the realm of activist literature that evaluates current US politics as being “framed” by partisan (i.e. mainly conservative) master metaphors. This chapter will not attempt to give a comprehensive overview of the vast field of publications nor will it provide a historiography of its theory development over the past decades. Instead, it focuses on central categories and methodological issues that have informed important debates about the remit of analysing metaphorical language in politics and illustrates them with key examples to sketch future research perspectives.