METAPHOR AND METONYMY IN THE APRIL REVOLUTION: A STUDY WITH POLITICAL DISCOURSES

Authors

  • Sara Pita Universidade de Aveiro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34630/polissema.v1i23.5324

Keywords:

metáfora, metonímia, discursos políticos, 25 de abril de 1974, Presidente da República, historicidade

Abstract

The formal ceremony celebrating 25 April 1974, which first took place in 1977, is marked by the speech of the President of the Portuguese Republic. In these addresses to the nation, metaphors and metonymies are identified, sometimes used intentionally to communicate more competently, sometimes unconsciously due to their pervasiveness in society. Metaphors and metonymies, when they are the choice of the speaker, allow the confirmation of a thesis, by virtue of inducing an evaluation, as well as the legitimization of future actions. Therefore, it can be said that they transcend the ornamental role attributed by some scholars, assuming an argumentative function. The present study aims to identify the metaphors and metonymies present in two speeches (1977 and 2022), corroborating Coseriu's assumption that there is a revisiting of existing cultural objects, and to discuss the degree of metaphoricity of the expressions used and their communicative intentionality. To do so, we started to identify the main metaphors and metonymies defined by prominent authors based on the lexemes that make up the various conceptual fields. The data point to the presence of metaphors of the GREAT CHAIN OF BEING, TREE, WAR in both discourses, as well as metonymies of INSTITUTION BY PEOPLE or DATE BY EVENT. Moreover, some metaphorical expressions are objective choices of the speaker, but others seem to be impregnated in society.

References

Abramova, E., Pavlycheva, E., Tarasova, O. & Tsilenko, L. (2021). Man-tree metaphor in British linguoculture. E3S Web of Conferences, 284, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128408009

Batoréo, H. (2018). Aquisição/ aprendizagem da competência metafórica no contexto do Português Língua Não Materna: importância da reestruturação conceptual na expressão de emoções e valores. In Henrique Barroso (ed.), O Português na Casa do Mundo, Hoje (53-79). Humus, Babelium Centro de Línguas/ Universidade do Minho.

Black, M. (1993). More about metaphor. In Andrew Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and thought (19-41). Cambridge University Press.

Blank, A. (1999). Co-presence and sucession: A cognitive typology of metonymy. In Klaus-Uwe Panther & Günther Radden (eds.), Metonymy in Language and Thought (169-191). John Benjamins

Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus Approaches to Critical Metaphor Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.

Chilton, P. (1996). Security Metaphors: Cold War Discourse from Containment to Common House. Peter Lang Inc.

Coseriu, E. (1979). Sincronia, Diacronia e História. O Problema da Mudança Linguística. Editora da Universidade de São Paulo.

Danesi, M. (1992). Metaphorical competence in second language acquisition and second language teaching: The neglected dimension. In James E. Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (125-136). Georgetown University Press

Dunn, J. (2010). Gradient semantic intuitions of metaphoric expressions. Metaphor and Symbol, 26:1, 53-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2011.535416

Gentner, D. & Bowdle, B. (2001). Convention, form, and figurative language processing. Metaphor and Symbol, 16 (3-4), 223–247. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327868MS1603&4_6

Goatly, A. (1997). The language of metaphors. Routledge.

Goossens, L. (2003). Metaphtonymy. The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in expressions for linguistic action. In R. Dirven & R. Porings (Eds.), Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast (349-378). Mouton de Gruyter.

Hanks, P. (2007). Metaphoricity is Gradable. In A. Stefanowitsch & S. Gires (Eds.), Corpora in Cognitive Linguistics. Vol.1: Metaphor and Metonymy (17-35). Mouton de Gruyter.

Kövecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: a Practical Introduction. OUP.

Lakoff, G. (2003). Metaphor and War, Again. UC Berkeley. https://shorturl.at/kotKN

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Langacker, R. (1993). Reference-Point Constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 4, 1-38. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.1993.4.1.1

Müller, C. (2008). Metaphors dead and alive, sleeping and awaking: a dynamic view. The University of Chicago Press.

Musolff, A. (2004). Metaphor and Political Discourse. Analogical Reasoning in Debates about Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.

Pauwels, P. (1995). Levels of metaphorization: the case of “put”. In Louis Goossens et al. (Org.). By word of mouth: metaphor, metonymy and linguistic action in a cognitive perspective (125-158). John Benjamins.

Semino, E. (2008). Metaphor in Discourse. Cambridge University Press.

Silva, A. S. (1992).

Silva, A. S. (2006). O Mundo dos Sentidos em Português. Polissemia, Semântica e Cognição. Coimbra: Almedina.

Steen, G. (2004). Can discourse properties of metaphor affect metaphor recognition? Journal of Pragmatics, v. 36, n. 7, 1295–1313.

Steen, G. (2011). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: Now New and Improved. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 9, 43, 26-64. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.9.1.03ste

Wierzbicka, A. (1986). Human emotions: Universal or culture-specific. American Anthropologist, 88(3), 584–594. https://shorturl.at/tGJX9

SÍTIOS PARA RECOLHA DOS DISCURSOS QUE CONSTITUEM O CORPUS:

Presidência da República Portuguesa. (2023). https://www.presidencia.pt/

Assembleia da República. (2023). Livros On Line. https://app.parlamento.pt/LivrosOnLine/DP/pdf/dp.pdf

Published

2023-12-30

How to Cite

Pita, S. (2023). METAPHOR AND METONYMY IN THE APRIL REVOLUTION: A STUDY WITH POLITICAL DISCOURSES. POLISSEMA – ISCAP Journal of Letters, 1(23), 91–114. https://doi.org/10.34630/polissema.v1i23.5324

Issue

Section

Research Articles