Scholarly record

NEGATIVE - POSITIVE BALANCE: CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN SPEECHES OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS (“THREAT OVERCOMING” PERSUASIVE STRATEGY)

V. I. Zabotkina, E. M. Pozdnyakova

Abstract

The study deals with the cognitive approach to investigation of conceptual metaphors in speeches of American presidents. According to G. Lakoff, conceptual metaphors are cognitive mechanisms that structure the perception of socio-political reality in the minds of population. Conceptual metaphors, used by a particular president, form the scope of key concepts crucial to balancing negative and positive in minds of people. Investigation of these mechanisms within a considerable period of time provided new data for conceptual metaphor role in influencing and changing mindsets of population. The obtained data can be used for further research not only in the USA, but in other countries. The goal of the investigation consists in identifying key conceptual metaphors of “threat to the nation” and “counteracting / overcoming threat” in president’s speeches from R. Reagan to D. Trump. Much attention is paid to the methodology of metaphor identification. Methods, employed in research, are: method of conceptual analysis, method of cognitive modeling of complex conceptual categories; method of mental spaces blending. The research was based on published speeches of American presidents. The result of the study was in finding out how conceptual metaphors of “threat” and “threat counteracting / overcoming” helped each president bring to the minds of people the balance of negative and positive in perception of political, economic, and sociocultural threats.

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