Situationally-triggered metaphors as political arguments: Public responses and argumentative exploitation
(2024) Journal of Argumentation in Context — Vol. 13, n° 1, p. 1-32 (2024)
Files
AUG1_R12.pdf
Preprint
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 383.07 KB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- This paper proposes to investigate the public responses to situationally-triggered metaphors as these have been observed in political argumentative discourse. Situationally-triggered metaphors occur when a nonmetaphorical connection is made between the source domain and an aspect of the relevant situational context. The question addressed in this research is: how are such metaphors perceived by the public when these form part of the political argumentation? To answer this question, the study focuses on a particular instance of political situationally-triggered metaphor i.e., Boris Johnson’s “James Bond” metaphor produced during COP26. The paper draws on Critical Metaphor Analysis and Deliberate Metaphor Theory to analyse the public comments and reactions posted on the social media platform Twitter in response to the politician’s arguments. The analysis reveals that most of the public responses exploit the “James Bond” metaphor to dispute Johnson’s self-identification to the fictional character and provide meta-arguments that revolve around the politician’s misuse of metaphors. In contrast, responses that exploit the metaphor to convey political arguments or endorsement are much more limited. It is thus argued that situationally-triggered metaphors do not only represent a political rhetorical device, but these are also effective political tools to shift public attention towards discursive patterns instead of arguments presented in discourse.
- Affiliations
Citations
Auge, A. C. (2024). Situationally-triggered metaphors as political arguments: Public responses and argumentative exploitation. Journal of Argumentation in Context, 13(1), 1-32. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/233807 (Original work published 2024)