Metaphorical modeling of migration: on the material of the U. S. mass media

Abstract

This article is dedicated to examination of metaphorical peculiarities of representation of migration in the U. S. press. The object of this research is the metaphorical perception of migrants and migration in mass media language of the United States. The subject is the metaphorical models structuring the concept sphere of “migration” in mass media language of the United States. The goal of this work consists in analysis of the peculiarities of metaphorical modeling of migration in the U. S. political media discourse. The relevance is defined by insufficient coverage of metaphorical perception of the migration processes by modern mass media of the United States. The research is based on the cognitive approach, according to which metaphor is a fundamental phenomenon in perception of the surrounding environment. Study of the linguistic material and description of metaphorical model allowed determining the attitude towards migrants at the current stage of development of the U. S. society. The analysis of conceptual metaphors was conducted via continuous sampling from digital versions of the well-known newspapers “The New York Times”, “USA Today” and “The Wall Street Journal”. The author highlights the three main groups of metaphors: signifying natural phenomena and disasters; military; and goods-commodity.