Metaphern in deutschen und spanischen Medien zu Beginn des Ukrainekrieges: Eine kontrastive Analyse

Abstract

This article examines the use of 21 German and 22 Spanish metaphorical constructions in media discourse during the initial phase of the war in Ukraine. The study investigates which creative and innovative metaphors shaped public communication, which dimensions of the conflict they highlighted, and how their pragmatic and semantic functions operated across two linguistic and cultural contexts. The analysis draws on corpora of media texts and political statements collected from major German and Spanish online newspapers. Methodologically, the research is informed by cognitive and pragmatic approaches, acknowledging that metaphors not only reflect conceptual structures but also function as persuasive and emotive devices in political communication. By simplifying complex realities, metaphors guide interpretation, evoke emotions, and influence collective attitudes toward war, responsibility, and solidarity. Results show that German discourse frequently emphasizes national debates about political hesitation, historical responsibility, and the economic impact of the conflict, while Spanish discourse places greater weight on the European dimension and the framing of political actors. Despite these differences, both media contexts converge in portraying Russia as a fundamental threat and in legitimizing support for Ukraine through humanitarian assistance, military aid, and solidarity discourses. On a structural level, the study highlights how German often relies on compound nouns to condense meaning into compact lexical units, whereas Spanish tends to favor extended metaphorical expressions at the phrase or sentence level. In both cases, nouns play a dominant role in compressing information and achieving communicative precision. The article concludes that metaphors serve not only cognitive but also persuasive, emotional, and argumentative functions, making them powerful tools in shaping public opinion, constructing political narratives, and steering processes of social cognition in times of conflict.