This blog is primarily meant for students who would like to learn more about how metaphors are used in the English language. These students may include native or non-native English speakers, or students of many different disciplines. I believe many teachers or professors could benefit from this blog. Here is a more comprehensive list:
Non-native English Speakers
ESL Students
People who are learning ESL (English as a Second Language) in high schools and colleges in the United States can learn what metaphors are and how they are used in English.
EFL Students
People who are learning EFL (English as a Foreign Language) study English in their schools in hundreds of countries around the world. They can also learn more about metaphors which are often very confusing to students who do not live in the United States.
Native English Speakers
Teachers in ESL and EFL Programs
ESL and EFL teachers are not always experts in linguistics. This blog can help all ESL and EFL teachers explain metaphors to their students.
Students and Teachers of English
All elementary, middle school, high school and college students study English at some point in their curriculum. Understanding metaphors is crucial to be to be able to read with comprehension and to become effective writers.
Students and Professors of Journalism, Political Science and Linguistics
High school and college students have the opportunity to study many subjects in which metaphors are used on a daily basis. Journalism students can benefit from understanding how metaphors are used in newspapers and magazines as well as radio and TV broadcasts. Political science students can learn how ubiquitous metaphors are in political discussions. And finally, students and professors of linguistics can learn from the examples and explanations of these ubiquitous metaphors.
Feel free to send questions and comments. I would be happy to help you learn more about metaphors. Thanks for your interest in this subject!
Dears,
My name is Mohamed. I am from Libya. I intend to do my PhD degree in the difficulties of translating cultural-bound political metaphors from English into Arabic and vice versa. Kindly please how I tackle the subject, from a linguistic, cultural or socio-political point of view. What is the best way to collect my data (media, politicians speeches or other sources) and what is the best model that can fit such research.
I really appreciate your suggestions in this regard.
Regards.
Hello Mohamed!
Thanks for your interest in political metaphors. Sorry for the slow response but I have been swamped with work lately. It sounds like you are doing some important research there in Libya. I don’t know if I can answer all of your questions but here are some ideas. By the way, are you collecting data in English or Arabic? Or both? I think you can easily collect data from politicians through their speeches. Most speeches by the US president are transcribed and put on the Internet by major newspapers such as the New York Times or the Washington Post. Does that happen in Libya? I also spent hundreds of hours watching TV news broadcasts and noting all the metaphors the broadcasters use. You can also analyze articles in news magazines or those that specialize in politics. If you want a historical perspective, you can check into books that collect famous political speeches. I am sure you have those in Libya and/or other Arab countries as well.
As for a model of research, I was trained in the framework of Lakoff and Johnson. If you are not familiar with this research, you can check my bibliography page for their books. I would highly recommend Metaphors We Live By, and Philosophy of the Flesh. There are also two amazing books published recently on metaphors in international politics. One is called Politicians and Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Metaphor by Jonathan Chateris-Black. The other is called Metaphors in International Relations Theory by Michael P. Marks. They are both excellent examples of how to study metaphors in political contexts.
I hope I have answered some of your questions. Please let me know if I can help you further. — Andy
Hello, Andrew!
I’m Tums from Kazakhstan and I’m doing my master’s degree and writing my master’s thesis on the lingua-conceptual and pragma-stylistic aspects of political metaphors. I actually found your website so interesting and informative. Thank you for that. To be honest, I’m a bit confused about where I should start doing the research. For example political speeches by politicians or other political events. Could you please recommend something. I would be very grateful:)
Hello Tums! Thank you for your interest in my blog. I am glad that you found the articles interesting. I am not sure how to help you. First of all, I think you may need to narrow down your field of study. If you are studying pragmatics, you should consider whether you want to study written documents or political speeches as they may have different stylistic, pragmatic or rhetorical characteristics. You may also need to choose between classic speeches such as those by Martin Luther King, Jr. or Winston Churchill, or more modern speeches such as those by Barack Obama or Donald Trump. Finally, I assume that you are going to study metaphors in English. Do you want to study metaphors used by native speakers of English or by non-native speakers? Do the political leaders in Kazakhstan give speeches in English? I was just reading that the native language there is Kazakh, but people also speak Russian. Is that correct? It would be fascinating to see how many political metaphors are used by politicians who are non-native speakers of English. That would be a great thesis! I can give you more specific recommendations on books to read if we can communicate via email. Please email me at andrewgallagher2012@gmail.com if you would like more information. 🙂