| The role of metaphor shifts in different stages. The development of cognitive linguistics brings forth unprecedented concern on the study of metaphor. Metaphor is a way of thinking for people to understand the world. Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory provide theoretical frameworks to the understanding of metaphor within a cognitive perspective. As the advent of Critical Discourse Analysis, the study on metaphor in particular discourse wins favor. Furthermore, Charteris-Black (2004) especially proposes an approach of Critical Metaphor Analysis to deal with metaphors in different corpus. This approach promotes studies on metaphors in political discourse.The use of metaphor is a ubiquitous phenomenon in political discourse. By resorting to Cognitive Metaphor Theory and the approach of Critical Metaphor Analysis, this study makes a critical cognitive analysis of metaphors in political discourse. In order to provide factual basis, this study chooses Mr. Barack Obama’s2008campaign speeches as data. Firstly, metaphors in Mr. Obama’s campaign speeches are identified according to Charteris-Black’s steps for metaphor identification so as to determine the metaphor keywords which are those words that are commonly used with a metaphorical meaning. Secondly, the frequency of these metaphor key words appeared in these speeches is measured with the help of the software AntConc3.3.4w so as to provide specific statistics for the classification of metaphors. Thirdly, typical conceptual metaphors are identified for interpretation under the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory. Lastly, it is an exploration of the covert motivation of metaphor use by this politician, that is, the explanation of Mr. Obama’s use of metaphor.This analysis thoroughly tackles metaphors in selected speeches. Mr. Obama applies a huge number of metaphors in his campaign speeches. With the help of metaphor use, he successfully conveys his information to his audience. According to the given statistics, it is observed that Mr. Obama shows his special favor to certain types of metaphors, namely journey metaphors, building metaphors, conflict metaphors, religious metaphors, body part metaphors as well as sport and game metaphors. From these identified metaphors, conceptual metaphors like POLITICS IS A CONFLICT, POLITICS IS A JOURNEY, POLITICS IS A BUILDING, POLITICS IS BODY PART, POLITICS IS RELIGION and POLITICS IS A SPORTS GAME are refined for the further interpretation. Meanwhile, the operation of conceptual blending helps understand these metaphors better within a cognitive perspective. The use of metaphor in Mr. Obama’s2008campaign speeches can persuade the audience to support this presidential candidate so as to lead to his final victory. The fundamental reason is that the use of metaphor creates a political myth of American Dream and constructs an ideology that change has come to America.From this study, it can be revealed that the use of metaphor in political discourse is not random at all. The use of metaphor in political discourse has certain rules to follow. Political leaders choose to apply metaphors and also show preference to certain types of metaphors to convey their information in order to achieve the desired results. The use of metaphor serves as the political covert motivation by way of creating political myth and constructing particular ideology. |
