Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership
discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold
War speeches

C 2018

Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches

SEBERA, Jan and Wei-lun LU

Basic information

Original name

Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches

Authors

SEBERA, Jan (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Wei-lun LU (158 Taiwan, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

1. vyd. Amsterdam, Persuasion in public discourse : Cognitive and functional perspectives, p. 65-83, 19 pp. Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture (DAPSAC), vol. 79, 2018

Publisher

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Kapitola resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Field of Study

60203 Linguistics

Country of publisher

Netherlands

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Publication form

printed version "print"

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/18:00105044

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

ISBN

978-90-272-0138-6

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.79.04seb

UT WoS

000813447800004

Keywords in English

Cold War; crisis; leadership; legitimization; metaphor; Winston Churchill

Abstract

V originále

This chapter investigates Churchill’s Cold War speeches as a case of how cognitive and corpus linguistics may serve as a useful tool for analyzing how political leaders legitimize their agendas via linguistic means. We find that Churchill’s rhetoric makes extensive use of the source domains person, journey, and building. The argumentative purpose is at least twofold. First, journey and building metaphors give positive value to the country’s prospects. Second, the journey metaphor is found to co-occur with personification, with the purpose of seeking partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom. We conclude by discussing how political leaders linguistically represent and conceptually frame a crisis, especially via metaphorical means, convincing their people of the usefulness of certain proposals and thus legitimizing their agendas, with Churchill as a representative example.

Links

MUNI/A/1065/2016, interní kód MU

Name: Profilace výzkumných zaměření v anglofonní lingvistické a literární vědě II (Acronym: VZALL2)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

Citovat

SEBERA, Jan and Wei-lun LU. Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches. In Pelclová, Jana; Lu, Wei-lun. Persuasion in public discourse : Cognitive and functional perspectives. 1st ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2018, p. 65-83. Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture (DAPSAC), vol. 79. ISBN 978-90-272-0138-6. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.79.04seb.

@inbook{1481373,
   author = {Sebera, Jan and Lu, Weiandlun},
   address = {Amsterdam},
   booktitle = {Persuasion in public discourse : Cognitive and functional perspectives},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.79.04seb},
   edition = {1.},
   editor = {Pelclová, Jana; Lu, Wei-lun},
   keywords = {Cold War; crisis; leadership; legitimization; metaphor; Winston Churchill},
   howpublished = {tištěná verze "print"},
   language = {eng},
   location = {Amsterdam},
   isbn = {978-90-272-0138-6},
   pages = {65-83},
   publisher = {John Benjamins Publishing Company},
   title = {Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches},
   year = {2018}
}

TY  - CHAP
ID  - 1481373
AU  - Sebera, Jan - Lu, Wei-lun
PY  - 2018
TI  - Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches
VL  - Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture (DAPSAC), vol. 79
PB  - John Benjamins Publishing Company
CY  - Amsterdam
SN  - 9789027201386
KW  - Cold War
KW  - crisis
KW  - leadership
KW  - legitimization
KW  - metaphor
KW  - Winston Churchill
N2  - This chapter investigates Churchill’s Cold War speeches as a case of how cognitive and corpus linguistics may serve as a useful tool for analyzing how political leaders legitimize their agendas via linguistic means. We find that Churchill’s rhetoric makes extensive use of the source domains person, journey, and building. The argumentative purpose is at least twofold. First, journey and building metaphors give positive value to the country’s prospects. Second, the journey metaphor is found to co-occur with personification, with the purpose of seeking partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom. We conclude by discussing how political leaders linguistically represent and conceptually frame a crisis, especially via metaphorical means, convincing their people of the usefulness of certain proposals and thus legitimizing their agendas, with Churchill as a representative example.
ER  -

SEBERA, Jan and Wei-lun LU. Metaphor as a (de-)legitimizing strategy in leadership discourse : The language of crisis in Winston Churchill’s Cold War speeches. In Pelclová, Jana; Lu, Wei-lun. \textit{Persuasion in public discourse : Cognitive and functional perspectives}. 1st ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2018, p.~65-83. Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture (DAPSAC), vol. 79. ISBN~978-90-272-0138-6. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.79.04seb.

Detailed Information on Publication Record