摘 要

奥巴马2014国情咨文以及在野党对其回应的讲话均为典型的政治语篇。本文通过对比其中美国两党所采用的不同隐喻，分析了它们所形成的原因，揭示了其在语篇中所起的实际语用效果。研究结果表明，两党所采用的不同的隐喻方式是以“慈父模式”和“严父模式”的家庭观念为基础的。民主党运用建筑隐喻来激发民众的积极情感，而共和党则运用战争隐喻来展示危险性以及紧迫感。这是由历史背景、社会背景以及他们的思想倾向所决定的：民主党追随马丁·路德金的脚步，呼吁自由与和平，而共和党在9.11的影响下，则要求更多的控制与服从；共和党强调责任，并要求人民服从他们的领导，而民主党则号召人们加强交流，共同发展。

关键词：政治语篇；隐喻；慈父模式；严父模式

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Demonstration 2

2.1 Research background 2

2.1.1 Metaphor and political discourse 2

2.1.1.1 The origin and development of metaphor 3

2.1.1.2 The functions of metaphor in political discourses 3

2.1.2 The American two-party system 4

2.1.2.1 Democratic Party: the nurturant parent model 4

2.1.2.2 Republican Party: the strict father model 4

2.2 Comparison of the metaphors adopted by the two parties 5

2.2.1 The Democratic Party 6

2.2.1.1 American development is a journey 6

2.2.1.2 America is a building 7

2.2.1.3 International relationship is a race 8

2.2.2 The Republican Party 9

2.2.2.1 Reform is a journey 9

2.2.2.2 Disagreement is a war 10

2.2.2.3 Development is a race 10

2.2.3 Comparison of the differences 11

2.3 Cause analysis for the differences 12

2.3.1 Historical background 12

2.3.2 Ideological intensions 12

2.3.3 Social background 13

3. Conclusion 14

Works Cited 15

Bibliography 16

A Comparative Analysis of Metaphors in American Political Discourse: A Case Study of State of the Union 2014 and Republican Responses

1. Introduction

Political speech is a typical political discourse, whose political views are clear and strong. Meanwhile, politicians tend to express political opinions through political discourses and achieve their political objectives. In the past many years, metaphors have been widely used in political discourses.

The earliest study of metaphor can be dated back to Aristotle who believes that metaphor is of great value both in poetry and in prose and that metaphor should be limited to poetic realm. Later on, more and more researchers start doing research and analysis about metaphor. At beginning, metaphor is used as a rhetoric device. Recently, however, scholars consider that metaphor is not only a figure of speech, but also a cognitive behavior for human beings. After the publication of Metaphors We Live By, scholars all over the world take a cognitive view to study metaphors. In their book, Lakoff and Johnson point out that, "Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language, but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature" (Lakoff and Johnson, 198). Meanwhile, Johnson believes that "We are in the midst of metaphor mania. Only three decades ago the situation was just the opposite---poets created metaphors, everybody used them, and philosophers ignored them. Today we seem possessed by metaphors" (Lakoff and Johnson, 76). The employment of metaphors on the one hand can simplify the politicians' language and on the other hand, the persuasiveness of metaphors can serve specific political purposes.

So, metaphor and politics are closely connected with each other. There exists a lot of research about metaphors in political discourses. However, there still exist many shortcomings. Some people may pay much attention to rhetorical devices or features of words or syntax, others just focus on stylistic features and most of the researches are carried out from the perspective of the listeners or readers, ignoring the politicians’ intentions when choosing the metaphors to describe, so their conclusions are incomplete, and even lopsided. Hence, this thesis will focus on a comparative analysis to show how different parties affect people’s modes of behavior by activating people’s cognitive mechanism and emotion.