POLITICAL METAPHORS: AN ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY PAKISTANI POLITICIANS’ INTERVIEWS

Abstract

Metaphor is used frequently by politicians in their discourses to carry across the desired narratives to the listeners. Such usage of the discourses along with the intended metaphors triggers the audience to elicit the functions desired by the discourse-producers. This paper centers on interpreting the kinds of metaphors used by the Pakistani Politicians in their discourses, particularly in interviews. Also, it looks at how far the discourse-producers  are successful in embedding and carrying across their proposed ideology while using various metaphors. To meet the purpose of this study, critical/conceptual metaphor theory was used, wherein eight English interviews given by four contemporary Pakistani politicians to the international media on different occasions were analyzed using the process of interpretation. During the said process, the identified themes were interpreted along with their examples in the selected interviews. Furthermore, it is found that the politicians frequently use the selected metaphors to portray their narratives and ideologies. Amongst the metaphors, the most common are those which are related to battle, emotions, dead and journey themes. Such categories indicate how politicians shape their ideas within the discourse(s) to embed their ideologies to the masses with the use of language. Resultantly, the discourses in form of interviews encapsulate metaphors as the persuasive strategies to elicit the desired functions by the discourse-producers.