Article published In:
Journal of Language and PoliticsVol. 8:3 (2009) ► pp.416–432
Figurative language in international political discourse
The case of Iran
Figurative language is used in all domains of communication, including political discourse. And since figurative language is largely socio-culturally constructed it presents a significant locus for misinterpretation or even manipulation when it collides with the realm of international politics. This paper presents an analysis of several cases of the use of figurative language in Iranian political discourse. For example, it shows how transposing a Persian metaphor onto an English metaphor has led to a conceptual shift. Given the potential risks involved in misconstruing political discourse internationally, the paper concludes by calling for additional systematic comparative studies with respect to other languages.
References
Adams, J
2004 Father George? Brother John? The familial metaphor in presidential campaign discourse. Syracuse Post-Standard. Available at: [URL]
Anderson, R. D., Jr
Arnold, S
2005 Politics disguised: Disguising politics. International Studies Review 71, 636—638. 
Bates, B. R
2004 Audiences, metaphors, and the Persian Gulf War. Communications Studies 55(3), 447—463.
Beer, F. A. and De Landtsheer, C
2004 Metaphorical World Politics. East East: Michigan State University Press.
Bergen, B
2003 To awaken a sleeping giant: Cognition and culture in September 11 political cartoons. In: M. Achard and S. Kemmer (eds). Language, Culture, and Mind. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications, 23—36.
Billig, M. and MacMillan, K
2005 Metaphor, idiom and ideology: The search for ‘no smoking guns’ across time. Discourse and Society 16(4), 459—480.
Chandler, D
2002 Semiotics: The Basics. London: Routledge.
Chilton, P. A
1996 Security Metaphors. Cold War Discourse from Containment to Common House. New York: Peter Lang.
2004 Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
Chilton, P. A. and Ilyin, M
1993 Metaphor in Political Discourse: The case of the ‘common European House’. Discourse and Society 4(1), 7—31.
Cibulskiene, J
2002 The metaphorization of election as war in the 2001 general election campaign of Great Britain. Respectus Philologicus 2(7). Available at: [URL]
EkstrÖm, M
2001 Politicians interviewed on television news. Discourse and Society 12(5), 563—584.
Howe, N
1988 Metaphor in contemporary American political discourse. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 3(2), 87—104.
Iyengar, S
2005 Speaking of values: The framing of American politics. The Forum 3(3), Article 7. Available at: [URL] doi:
Lakoff, G
1995 Metaphor, morality, and politics, or, why conservatives have left liberals in the dust. Social Research 62(2), 177—213.
1996 Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know that Liberals Don’t. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M
1980 Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mihas, E
2005 Non-literal language in political discourse. LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 5: Proceedings of WIGL 2005, 124—159.
Musolff, A
2006 Metaphor scenarios in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol 21(1), 23—38.
Paris, R
2002 Kosovo and the metaphor war. Political Science Quarterly 117(3), 423—450.
Rosati, J. A
2000 The power of human cognition in the study of world politics. The International Studies Review 2(3), 45—75.
Schäffner, C
1997 Metaphor and interdisciplinary analysis. Journal of Area Studies 111, 57—72.
2001 Attitudes towards Europe � mediated by translation. In: A. Musolff, C. Good, P. Points, and R. Wittlinger (eds). Attitudes Towards Europe: Language in the Unification Process. Aldershot: Ashgate, 201—217.
2004 Political discourse analysis from the point of view of translation studies. Journal of Language and Politics 3(1), 117—150.
Cited by
Cited by 9 other publications
Carta, Caterina
2014. Use of metaphors and international discourse: The EU as an Idiot power, a deceptive Pangloss and a Don Juan in his infancy. Cooperation and Conflict 49:3 ► pp. 334 ff. 
Carta, Caterina
Collin, Richard Oliver
2013. Moving Political Meaning across Linguistic Frontiers. Political Studies 61:2 ► pp. 282 ff.
Duncombe, Constance
2016. Representation, recognition and foreign policy in the Iran–US relationship. European Journal of International Relations 22:3 ► pp. 622 ff.
Maley, William
2018. Minimal English and Diplomacy. In Minimal English for a Global World, ► pp. 71 ff.
Peeters, Bert
2016. APPLIED ETHNOLINGUISTICS is cultural linguistics, but is it CULTURAL LINGUISTICS?. International Journal of Language and Culture 3:2 ► pp. 137 ff.
Peeters, Bert
2017. Applied ethnolinguistics Is Cultural Linguistics, but Is It cultural linguistics?. In Advances in Cultural Linguistics [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 507 ff.
Sharifian, Farzad
2014. Advances in Cultural Linguistics. In Approaches to Language, Culture, and Cognition, ► pp. 99 ff.
Warnaar, Maaike
2013. Studying Iranian Foreign Policy: A Constructivist Approach. In Iranian Foreign Policy during Ahmadinejad, ► pp. 11 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.