Generally speaking, metaphors help shape our thought and our view of the world.
Likewise, metaphors used in political communication are but a reflection of how politics are conceived in our society, both ideologically and historically. Some authors like Gibbs (2017: 226), support the view that metaphors which are “widely associated with political positions shape one of the ways individuals think about politics.” However, “this doesn’t mean that people are enslaved by their metaphors or that the choice of metaphor is a matter of taste or indoctrination.” (Gibbs: 148). Nevertheless, metaphors are able to shape political and media discourses without necessarily brainwashing citizens but allow us to portray a political reality in a particular way by building connections between we, the spectators and they, the speakers.
In order to conduct our analysis, we collected a corpus of metaphors used in politics news headlines. We have observed that each metaphor encloses both open and hidden meanings. These meanings have allowed us to understand the different strategies employed as a discursive exercise by politicians and journalists. Hence, when a metaphor appears in a political discourse, it can be transformed into an indirect critique against political elites (if it comes from journalists) or against a political adversary (if it comes from politicians).
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We have also seen that once metaphors become common in the media and political discourse, their meaning can be tested, derided and even distorted (Mio, 1997: 129). In fact, the interpretation of each metaphor is very personal and individual. According to Radman (1997: 160), the interpretation cannot be literal because “such interpretation cannot help us and is therefore useless.” Besides, and also according to this scholar, “the only way to understand a metaphor is to interpret it metaphorically” (Radman: 160). Thus, after analyzing the data collected for this research it became evident that metaphors used in political discourse mainly illustrate tensions. Metaphors referring to both internal and external disputes are overwhelmingly dominant over those in which politicians try to seek solutions and show a mutual agreement.
Therefore, we can conclude that war and sport metaphors help illustrate politics as it is really conceived in our culture: a competition, a clash, a race, etc., between two or more political parties that are fighting for the presidential position. Ergo, journalists use war and sport metaphorical expressions in headlines because they help them catch “the readers’ attention” (Mussolf, 2016: 16) and also, make a particular political situation clearer for citizens. Along with this idea, Joseph (2016: 118), states that “if the party uses language in a way that prevents concrete mental pictures from being called up, people will not understand what is happening to them, and they cannot rebel against what they do not understand.”
At this point, it has to be mentioned that one of the objectives set forth at the beginning of this study has proved not to be as fruitful as expected. After comparing the use of metaphors in both languages in source domains (Section 3.1 and Section 3.2), we realized that their use is extremely similar with the data available for the study. Also, and as future research, we would like to try to provide an in-depth explanation about the importance of intentionality and ideology of each newspaper based on the type of
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metaphors they most commonly used. However, ideology is important because metaphors are linguistic tools used against one party or another depending on the newspaper editorial line but, this study has focused on the metaphors themselves and, for this reason, it focuses on the linguistic aspects of these rhetorical tools, not on the ideological ones.
Finally, just to conclude, mention that words and metaphors are valuable elements that have an impact in our daily life since they help us shape, process and understand events. The political purposes behind each metaphor have to be understood for what they are: psychological instruments that idealize politicians’ particular views of society whilst deconstructing others. As stated by Lakoff (2008: 34), we, as citizens, have the responsibility to “make the cognitive unconscious as conscious as possible.”
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31 Appendix
List of online newspapers consulted:
SPANISH ENGLISH/AMERICAN
El Confidencial BBC News
El Español The Guardian
El Diario Daily Mail
Público The Telegraph
Voz Populi Mirror
El Independiente The Times
La Gaceta The Economist
El Nacional The Independent
El País Manchester Evening News
La Razón The Press and Journal
El Mundo Birmingham Mail
ABC Daily Record
La Vanguardia First News
El Financiero The Oxford Times
El Español Daily Express
El Periódico Financial Times
La Sexta Diario The New York Times
Diario Córdoba CNN
El Plural Usa Today
Deia Wall Street Journal
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Democresia New York Daily News
Es Diario Washington Post
Region Digital Mohave Daily
Ceuta Actualidad The Daily Bee
Noticias Mallorca St. Paul Pioneer Press
La Cerca San Franciso Chronicle
La Voz de Lanzarote The Gazette
Gazteiz Hoy National Catholic Reporter
El Periòdic The Hill
Ávila Red Bay News 9
Vigo al Minuto Brooklyn Young Republican Club
Zamora News The Christian Science Monitor
Diario Siglo XXI The Fiscal Times
Sevila Press Red Alert Politics
Isabadell Huff Post Politics
Mediterránero Digital Associated Press