Publications

Publication details [#12359]

El-Sharif, Ahmad . 2015. A march towards reform: The Metaphorical Conceptualisation of ‘reform’ in King Abdullah II’s Language. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies 51 : 49–69. 21 pp. URL
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Universidad de Zaragoza
ISBN
11376368

Abstract

The Arab Spring and similar movements in the Middle East have given hope to millions of oppressed citizens in the area. An example of that is Jordan's current king, King Abdullah II. His policy in the last part of his mandate is one of reform and renewal with respect to previous, less transparent governments. Our article is a corpus-based approach that offers both qualitative and quantitative analyses of his policies. Texts of speeches and letters from 1999 to 2013 in both Arabic and English were retrieved from his official website. A total of 290.000 words are computed. Around 67% of metaphors about social structures and institutions in Jordan are based on spatial and building metaphors. Similarly, reform is conceptualized as a fruit and as a recipe to cure the country's economic crisis. Through these metaphors, the king strengthens the rhetorical force of his speech. This, in turn, seems to justify his reformist movement as a realistic, beneficial program for Jordanians at large.