Metaphor in Political and Economic Contexts

Olga Makarova (Moscow City Teachers’ Training University, Samara, Russia)

Email: Olga_Makarova@samaramail.ru

 

ABSTRACT:

Serious political and economic changes in the modern world have led to the transformation of social relations in the society. Politicians, scientists, businessmen, publicists aim to comprehend the new social reality. Changes in speech and especially the realization of a number of metaphorical presentation models of a present-day reality have become an unconscious reflection of the new state of the world. Language reflects changes in the society. Moreover, it is a kind of verbal indicator of these changes.

The research is carried out in the cognitive linguistics context. It compares metaphors in political and economic contexts in different countries. The context serves as a cognitive field, an indispensable condition of cognition in the social-and-cultural aspect. Political context is a constituent part of public and social communication. Its metaphors are aimed at comprehension of problematic situations. Political metaphors are stronger and more dangerous than they are considered to be. They can be not only an instrument of communication but also an important element of control and manipulation. In economic context, on the contrary, metaphors play an absolutely special role helping understand difficult scientific information and terminology. The research reveals the conceptual ‘filling’ of metaphors in political and economic contexts. It also compares metaphorical expressions according to their newness/triteness degree.