Monomodal and multimodal instantiations of conceptual metaphors of Brexit

Abstract

This article offers a linguistic analysis of the conceptual metaphors of Brexit, in which the source and the target belong to the same semiotic mode or to different ones. It is shown that the variation of high-level cognitive models underpinning metaphoric images of Brexit reflects the author's stance towards the event. Phases of Brexit are associated with different image-schematic cognitive models, and this impinges on the range of those metaphors of Brexit that involve low-level concepts.

Conceptual Model of Politics in American English

“…(11) My reading of the township experiments suggests that while their demise was consistent with the tide of southern politics, it was not as inevitable as it might seem today (58). [13]: politics of the twentieth century (279); range of years [19]: politics of the 1960s (348); present [21]: current politics (251); past [10]: the past 44 years of politics (657); future [8]: politics in years to come (148); history period [18]: Cold War politics (489, 503); post-war politics (361).…”

“…They are surrounded by everyday events and a great part of that belongs to politics. Through a range of developments, politics is consciously considered by humans, which produces some mental representations generally called cognitive models (Ruiz de Mendoza & Galera Masegoza, 2014) or simply concepts (Carey, 2000;Morozova, 2017).…”

Falling stars and sinking ships: Framing and metaphor in cartoons about Brexit

“…On the other hand, two recent articles focus more extensively on cartoons, and set out to provide a comprehensive overview of different scenarios. The first, by Olena Morozova (2017), successfully identifies a broad range of Brexit scenarios in verbal and multimodal metaphors (such as sport, war, divorce and game of cards), and detects a widespread interplay between metaphor and metonymy (which will be discussed further in this paper). The second, by Cinzia Spinzi and Elena Manca (2017), explores the use of metaphor and metonymy in cartoons published by British magazines and newspapers in the light of three overarching categories: 'confusion', 'conflict' and 'EU's role and identity'.…”

Untitled

“…Scholarly research into metaphor in use is rather representative (to name but a few [Arutiunova 1990;Charteris-Black 2004;Kövecses 2004Musolff 2004Musolff , 2016bSemino 2008;Zinken, Hellsten, & Nerlich 2008;Musolff & Zinken 2009;Ritchie 2010;Gibbs 2011;Hanne 2014;Deignan 2017]). Metaphors referential to the EU have also been extensively researched [Musolff, 2000[Musolff, , 2004Danilet, 2017;Morozova 2017;Zhabotynska 2018, etc.]. Yet, no attempt has been made so far to consider from the cognitive-discursive perspective how metaphors referring to the EU and functioning in Ukrainian newspapers imply microstories that merge into coherent wholes, thus revealing the writers' political dispositions and preferences.…”