A Study Of Megametaphors In American Presidential Inaugural Addresses From The Perspective Of Idealized Cognitive Model Theory

In the United States,delivering an inaugural address publicly by the newly appointed president has become a tradition.As an instrument of propagating the thoughts and viewpoints of those who are in power,American presidential inaugural addresses always touch upon the development plans of the nation,the situation of current events,the formulation of the policies and so on.Therefore,they have a profound impact on the life of people.Megametaphors,as their special structure and their ability of presenting complex concepts in simple ways,are repeatedly used in American presidential inaugural addresses.Although megametaphors are the extension of metaphors and are closely linked with them,the study on megametaphors in American presidential inaugural addresses is less in contrast with the extensive research on metaphors from different perspectives in American presidential inaugural addresses,and the study of megametaphors from cognitive perspective is even rarer.As a consequence,based on the theoretical foundation of Lakoff's Idealized Cognitive Model,this study intends to focus on the megametaphors in American presidential inaugural addresses and tries to answer the following three questions:1.What kinds of megametaphors are used in American presidential inaugural addresses?2.How are the meanings of megametaphors in American presidential inaugural addresses constructed?3.What are the functions of megametaphors in American presidential inaugural addresses?To answer these questions,57 American presidential inaugural addresses with a time span of over 200 years are collected.The megametaphorical expressions in these gathered inaugural addresses are identified,marked,classified and counted,and then these kinds of megametaphors are analyzed and compared in detail.Ultimately,this study draws the following conclusions:Firstly,the megametaphors gathered in the American presidential inaugural addresses mainly center on the following five categories: LIVING ORGANISM megametaphor,JOURNEY megametaphor,WAR megametaphor,BUILDING megametaphor,and LIGHT/FIRE megametaphor.Secondly,the meanings of all sorts of megametaphors are constructed through forming the complex model of ICM?CM₁+CM₂+…+CMn??ICM'?CM₁'+CM₂'+…+CMn'?.Thirdly,megametaphors demonstrate significant functions in the American presidential inaugural addresses.First of all,the meaning construction of megametaphors links the related cognitive models together,which realizes the coherent function of megametaphors in American presidential inaugural addresses.In addition,the meaning construction of megametaphors mainly highlights a couple of idealized cognitive models and thus endows the megametaphors the function of emphasis.Lastly,the meaning construction of megametaphors is on the basis of pairs of cognitive models,which makes megametaphors multi-angle,and therefore adds a strong force of persuasion to the American presidential inaugural addresses.To sum up,this paper expands the research of megametaphors,providing a new perspective for it.Besides,this paper also enriches the practical application of ICM theory.In the end,this study can aid people to comprehend American presidential inaugural addresses better,and improve their ability of analyzing and appreciating them.