Conceptualising presidential elections

Abstract

This contribution investigates the metaphorical conceptualisation of US-presidential elections. A solid onomasiological metaphor study (cf. Jäkel 2003) brings out alternative and even competing models. One point of this paper is to decide which approach to the analysis of political metaphor is better suited for a critical discourse analysis: Steen’s (2008, 2011a) concept of deliberate metaphor on the one hand, or Charteris-Black’s (2012) purposeful metaphor on the other hand. This is discussed on the basis of authentic discourse data from the US-presidential campaign of 2016 and the 2018 midterm elections. Following a concise analysis of some conventional metaphors instatiating standard alternative models in the public media domain, Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s uses of metaphor are compared to results of an investigation of former US-president Barack Obama’s metaphorical language in a corpus of eight of his major speeches held between 2008 and 2012 (cf. Jäkel 2012).