A Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In American Presidential Debates Between Trump And Hilary

Based on Conceptual Metaphor theory and framed by Critical Metaphor Analysis,the thesis makes a comparative study of the metaphorical expressions in Trump and Hilary’s corpora of 2016 American presidential TV debates.The thesis attempts to probe into the following questions: 1)What conceptual metaphors are used in 2016 American presidential debates respectively? 2)What are the similarities and differences in those conceptual metaphors used in the presidential debates? 3)Why are there some similarities and differences?The result shows that: 1)Based on Conceptual Metaphor theory,according to the three procedures of Critical Metaphor Analysis,that is,metaphor identity,metaphor interpretation and metaphor explanation,the thesis classifies those conceptual metaphors employed in Trump’s and Hilary’s corpora,making a comparative analysis to show that there are seven major conceptual metaphors both of them share with higher percentage: human metaphor,journey metaphor,war metaphor,game metaphor,nature metaphor,construction metaphor and plant metaphor.2)Both of them have the metaphor use in common,that is,those conceptual metaphors are of higher density,human metaphor,journey metaphor,war metaphor,game metaphor,nature metaphor,construction metaphor and plant metaphor in both corpora,especially human metaphor and journey metaphor take up the most.However,each candidate has his/her preference of the metaphor keywords,such as the selection of lexical words and the proportion of those conceptual metaphors.3)Those metaphor source domains share some similar distribution patterns,which is derived from the cultural homogeneity,including historical background,religious factors,economic power and sports.The prominent differences are related with the following reasons.Firstly,the use of business terms may be concerned with the profession.Secondly,some differences are influenced by the gender culture and political strategies.In addition,some differences can be caused by moral systems,that is,Republican Party is a representative of the Strict Father Model,while Democratic Party is a representative of the Nurturant Parent Model.