Metaphor and Political Discourse

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.

Topicality debate on European integration in full swing and this book deals with the ten years and more of public discourse on this issue Original research data from the 'Bank of English' and from the largest German language linguistic database (COSMAS) First contrastive, corpusbased study of metaphor use in this political area Extends theory with introduction of semantic category 'metaphor scenario' into the cognitive model of metaphor Innovative link of cognitive metaphor theory to evolutionist models of cultural development 6 Reassessment of Hobbes' concept of metaphor in Leviathan

Autorentext
Andreas Musolff is Professor of Intercultural Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK, and has published on political rhetoric and its history in Britain and Germany. His books include Metaphor, Nation and the Holocaust, Mirror Images of Europe, and Metaphor and Intercultural Communication.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Metaphor and Politics
Conceptual Domains and Scenarios
Analogical Argument in Political Discourse
Corpora and the Semantics of Metaphor
Europe as a Body Politic
Discourse History in a Metaphor Corpus
Metaphor Negotiation
Metaphor as Deception
Open and Closed Metaphor Scenarios
References
Index