Polarising metaphors in the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis
The 23rd of January 2019 marked the beginning of the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis, a unique socio-political
conflict that confronted Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, to the self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaidó. This paper explores
the divisive power of conceptual metaphors in this context through the analysis of polarising metaphors, namely, metaphors that
conceptualise ‘Us’ positively and/or ‘Them’ negatively. More specifically, from a corpus-based critical socio-cognitive
perspective (Musolff 2016; Soares da Silva
2020; Charteris-Black 2011), this study looks at the main polarising
metaphors of Maduro and Guaidó’s political discourses and examines their role in the discursive construction of ideological
polarisation, social identities, and legitimacy using a target-based approach (Stefanowitsch
and Gries 2006). The results show that both leaders strategically use polarising metaphors, especially those of
CONFRONTATION, HUMAN BEING and JOURNEY, to reproduce their ideologies, reinforce their social
identities, and legitimise their political positions.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Metaphors and polarisation in discourse
- 3.Polarising metaphors: A proposal
- 4.Methodology
- 5.Results and Discussion
- 5.1Intragroup dimension
- 5.2Intergroup dimension
- 6.Conclusion and future directions
- Declaration of conflicting interests
- Notes
-
References
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