- Home
- e-Journals
- Journal of Language and Politics
- Previous Issues
- Volume 13, Issue, 2014
Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2014
Volume 13, Issue 2, 2014
-
Metaphorical parasites and “parasitic” metaphors: Semantic exchanges between political and scientific vocabularies
Author(s): Andreas Musolffpp.: 218–233 (16)More LessThe metaphorical categorization of social and political adversaries as “parasites” has an infamous history in public discourse. For two centuries it has been routinely used for the purpose of racial and socio-political stigmatization: In those cognitive accounts, the parasite-metaphor has usually been treated as an example of semantic transfer from the biological to the social domain. Historically, however, the scientific uses cannot be deemed original or primary, as their emergence in the 17th and 18th centuries was preceded by a much older tradition of religious and social meanings. The paper charts the main traditions of diachronic variation in the discourse history of the parasite-metaphor and discusses the implications of its findings regarding the assumption of “uni-directionality” of metaphorization processes, which has been a central tenet of cognitive analyses. In conclusion, we ask whether metaphors in political discourse might fruitfully be viewed as a “parasitic” form of communication. Keywords: Anti-Semitism; Chain of Being; Discourse-historical approach; metaphor; meme; metonymy; parasite; racism
-
A cognitive approach to early conservatism
Author(s): Pascal Fischerpp.: 234–254 (21)More LessConservatism is notoriously difficult to define. In the present study, conceptual metaphor theory is used to elucidate the nature of this ideology in its early phase when it emerged in England as a force struggling with the ideas of the French Revolution. It can be shown that conservative authors frequently do not conform to the pattern of orientational metaphors described by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980), according to which “up” is usually regarded as positive and “down” as negative. Conservatives often associate their own ideas with depth or a downward movement, whereas the loathed ideas of the political opponents are related to height or an upward movement. This dichotomy is closely connected to the polarity between solidity, stability and weight on the one hand and gaseity, volatility and lightness on the other. The study bases its analysis on numerous political tracts, pamphlets, and novels from the 1790s and early 1800s.Keywords: Conservatism; French Revolution Debate; national identity; political writing; anti-Jacobin novels; conceptual metaphor theory; orientational metaphors
-
Conversational framing in televised political discourse: A comparison from the 2008 elections in the United States and Italy
Author(s): Alan Cienki and Gianluca Giansantepp.: 255–288 (34)More LessThe present study applies the notion of framing by examining how politicians may frame themselves as conversation partners with the audience, even in the virtual environment of television (and Internet video). The hypothesis is that ‘populist’ politicians are more likely than other kinds to frame their televised talk as a conversational encounter, given that this could facilitate mental simulation of ‘fictive interaction’ with their viewing audience. This study compares two national politicians in the U.S. and Italy known as ‘populist’ – Sarah Palin and Silvio Berlusconi – with their respective competitors: Joseph Biden and Walter Veltroni. For each speaker, a set of behaviours from televised debates or interviews in 2008 was analysed, including the use of pronouns, colloquial versus learned vocabulary, length of intonation units, syntax, and eye gaze and gesture. Consideration is given to the potential cognitive/affective consequences of framing in terms of conversational linguistic ‘performance’. Keywords: conversationalisation; debate; fictive interaction; framing; gesture; interview; populist; television
-
Addressee orientation in political speeches: Tracing the dialogical ‘other’ in argumentative monologue
Author(s): Melani Schröterpp.: 289–312 (24)More LessThis article suggests that the addressees as the dialogical ‘other’ loom large in monological political speeches. However, political speeches are produced under conditions of addressee heterogeneity, i.e. the speakers do not actually know who they will be talking to. It will be argued that the addressees are nevertheless a crucial element in speakers’ context models, that speakers orientate towards imagined addressees and that certain aspects – what possible addressees may do, think or believe and that they are a part of an imagined community – are particularly relevant from the speakers’ point of view. An analysis of addressee orientation in political speeches aims at reconstructing speakers’ conceptualisations of possible addressees. The analysis reveals patterns of addressee orientation which suggest that the addressees are framed in terms of epistemic proximity, i.e. presumed nearness (agreement) or distance (disagreement) to the speakers. Both presumed agreement and disagreement will be discussed in terms of how the speakers aim to impose their default perspectives on the addressees. The analysis is based on examples from a substantial corpus of German chancellors’ political speeches from 1951–2001. Keywords: addressees; political speeches; German chancellors; framing; stance; appraisal theory
-
Cognitive categorization and prototypicality as persuasive strategies: Presidential rhetoric in the USA
Author(s): Christoph Schubertpp.: 313–335 (23)More LessCognitive categorization is an indispensable instrument for organizing human experience. Owing to the obvious appeal of clear-cut categories in ideological discourse, polarization frequently serves as a strategy of political persuasion. The success of such rhetoric corroborates the allure of dichotomies, although they blatantly contradict the fuzzy nature of cognitive categories. Since prototypicality yields a great cognitive effect but demands only little processing effort, prototypes are particularly convenient in political speeches, where speakers must often get their message across to a wide and heterogeneous audience in a limited time span. Along these lines, the analysis of 32 presidential speeches from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush brings to light how the prototypical enemy or national hero is established. This paper aims to show that political rhetoric does not merely reflect existing categorizations but also has the power to shape and perpetuate them in the minds of the target audience. Keywords: persuasion; rhetoric; speech; categorization; polarization; prototypes; legitimisation; US presidents
-
Denotational boundary disputes in political discourse: ‘Defining the definition of marriage’
Author(s): Olaf Jäkelpp.: 336–363 (28)More LessThe cognitive semantic analysis of denotational incongruencies by means of comparative investigations of structural field patterns (cf. Jäkel 2001, 2003, 2010) can also be put to use in the investigation of certain kinds of contested concepts (Lakoff 1993), namely cases in which the field patterns themselves are under dispute. The case to be analysed is that of marriage, a cultural concept that has recently come under dispute in the socio-political discourse of Western countries. Competing cultural models (cf. Lakoff 1987) to be compared in this context include the traditional/conservative model as well as different versions of a more tolerant model and a liberal/progressive model. The analysis will focus on authentic language data from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany, supplemented by a diachronic comparison of dictionary definitions as well as the results of a survey done with young German informants. Keywords: denotational incongruency; contested concepts; denotational boundaries; lexical field patterns; marriage; same-sex marriage; cultural cognitive models; competing construals; alternative classifications; field semantics; structural
Volumes & issues
-
Volume 24 (2025)
-
Volume 23 (2024)
-
Volume 22 (2023)
-
Volume 21 (2022)
-
Volume 20 (2021)
-
Volume 19 (2020)
-
Volume 18 (2019)
-
Volume 17 (2018)
-
Volume (2018)
-
Volume 16 (2017)
-
Volume 15 (2016)
-
Volume 14 (2015)
-
Volume 13 (2014)
-
Volume 12 (2013)
-
Volume 11 (2012)
-
Volume 10 (2011)
-
Volume 9 (2010)
-
Volume 8 (2009)
-
Volume 7 (2008)
-
Volume 6 (2007)
-
Volume 5 (2006)
-
Volume 4 (2005)
-
Volume 3 (2004)
-
Volume 2 (2003)
-
Volume 1 (2002)
Most Read This Month
Article
content/journals/15699862
Journal
10
5
false

-
-
Radical right-wing parties in Europe
Author(s): Jens Rydgren
-
-
-
Right-wing populism in Europe & USA
Author(s): Ruth Wodak and Michał Krzyżanowski
-
-
-
Uncivility on the web
Author(s): Michał Krzyżanowski and Per Ledin
-
- More Less