Metaphor as the means of creating the political leader image in the German media discourse

Abstract

The specification of the metaphorical models as the means of formation of the political leader image in the modern German media discourse, comprises the objective of the research. The metaphor serves as the reflection of the continuous processes and the establishment of the individual global picture, and image construction in particular. The image of a modern political leader is presented as a complex psychosocial phenomenon as well as a linguo-cognitive phenomenon that has occurred due to an impact of a certain culture. In our research, we have analyzed 120 examples of conventional metaphors that have been employed in the formation of the political image. The results confirm that the following conventional metaphorical domains are utilized in order to form the political image: anthropomorphic domain (ORGANISM, DISEASE, AND FAREWELL), artifactual domain, social occurrence domain (THEATER, STRUGGLE), organic domain (NATURAL PHENOMENA). The encountered metaphorical models are represented via the basic model formula X → (Y2) + Y + Y1 as well as the sub-model formula X → (Y2) + (Y + Y1). The majority of metaphorical models are connotatively ambivalent and may be employed in order to form a positive image and a negative one alike. The lion’s share of the analyzed metaphors assembles the associative field containing a positive evaluation of A. Merkel and a negative evaluation of her opponents. The metaphorical transference is unsuccessful in case the receiver fails to identify the donor sphere due to the lack of background knowledge.