Framing the War. The Use of Metaphors in US Political Discourse: An Exemplary Linguistic Analysis of the State of the Union Address

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Marburg, language: English, abstract: When it comes to framing the war linguistically, metaphors have always been key for many politicians in conveying their message and distinguishing in a simplistic manner between good and evil. Employing metaphors in political discourse helps politicians simplify their content and make the audience understand their message more clearly, as Lakoff notes: Abstractions and enormously complex situations are routinely understood via metaphor (1991: 25). Lakoff further describes the use of metaphors as something not necessarily good or bad, but rather depicts it as a stylistic device that is widely common even in everyday language. Therefore, it seems highly interesting to look even closer at how metaphors are being used in the context of war-related speech in the United States. The focus of this paper will be on metaphors used in the State of the Union Address, since I assume that the latter is perfectly suited for an exemplary analysis of how war-related metaphors are constructed and which specific purpose they serve.