This book uses critical metaphor analysis to show from a cognitive perspective how climate change is conceptualized in the USA. The author enriches his linguistic analysis with cognitive aspects such as source-target domain mapping and metaphor opposition to explain how metaphor works in terms of framing this issue, drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis-informed framework to demonstrate how politicians represent the climate crisis in their attempts to trigger social change. Using a data set of speeches given by US-based politicians, governors and mayors speaking in the context of the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, the book categorizes metaphors on different conceptions such as war, construction, unfairness, journey, and cleanliness to bridge the gap between ecolinguistics and critical metaphor analysis. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in fields including applied linguistics, political communication, ecolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics and psychology.
Author(s): Othman Khalid Al-Shboul
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 279
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgment
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction
Overview
An Overview of Climate Change
Paris Climate Agreement
Political State of Affairs Between 2015 and 2017 in the United States
Levels of the U.S. Government
References
2: Climate Change Discourse/Politics in Linguistic Studies
Climate Skepticism
CDA Analysis into Climate Discourse
Experimental Research into Climate Discourse
Aims and Objectives
References
3: A Detailed Overview of Theory: CDA, Ecolinguistics and Metaphor
The Theoretical Foundations: Critical Discourse Analysis
The Theoretical Foundations: Ecolinguistics
The Theoretical Foundations: Metaphor
Main Types of Research Investigating Metaphor
References
4: Methods and Strategies of Sampling
Methods
Strategies for Sampling
The Governors
Senators
The Mayors
References
5: Analyzing Politicians’ Metaphors Supporting the U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris agreement
Types of Metaphors
Impediment Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Impediment as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Impediment)
Unfairness Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Unfairness as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Unfairness)
War Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of War as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (War)
Journey Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Journey as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Journey)
Cleanliness Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Cleanliness as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Cleanliness)
Construction Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Construction as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Construction)
Theft Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Theft as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping
Metaphor Opposition (Theft)
Conclusion
References
6: Analyzing Politicians’ Metaphors Opposing the U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
Types of Metaphors
Journey Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Journey as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping (Journey)
Metaphor Opposition (Journey)
War Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of War as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping (War)
Metaphor Opposition (War)
Cleanliness Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Cleanliness as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping (Cleanliness)
Metaphor Opposition (Cleanliness)
Construction Metaphor
The Cognitive Understanding of Construction as a Conceptual Metaphor
Source-Target Mapping (Construction)
Metaphor Opposition (Construction)
Conclusion
References
7: The Politicians’ Use of Mixed Metaphors in the U.S. Climate Discourse
Mixed Metaphors
Metaphor as a Trigger for Social Change
References
8: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Climate Discourse in the Web News
Introduction
Section One: Aspects and Actions That the Media Focuses on About Climate Change
Section Two: Debate on Climate Change in the Media
Conclusion
References
9: Ecosophy
Ecological Philosophy (Ecosophy)
Classification of the Politicians’ Perspectivization Based on My Ecosophy
References
10: Contributions
Contribution to Metaphor Theory and Analysis
Contribution to Studying Climate Change Debate in the U.S.
Contribution to Ecolinguistics
Summary and Further Research
References
Appendix A: The Paris Agreement
Appendix B: The Letter to the UN on Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement
Appendix C: The Governors’ Environmental Activities
Index
