Metaphorical Representation of Self and Others A Political Discourse Analysis of the 2008 Obama-McCain Presidential Debates

Abstract

Amira, Nazih Mohamed. Metaphorical Representation of Self and Others: A Political Discourse Analysis of the 2008 Obama-McCain Presidential Debates. Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation, Ain Shams University, Faculty of Alsun, English Department, 2016. This dissertation investigates the conceptual metaphors used by the US 2008 presidential candidates, Sen. Barak Obama and Sen. John McCain, as they employed strategies of self-legitimization and other-delegitimization. It hypothesizes that self and other representation uses strategies where conceptual metaphors directly or indirectly help create the legitimization of the self and the delegitimization of the other. This research covers the three US presidential debates that took place from September 26 to October 15, 2008. It constitutes a part of Political Discourse Analysis. It grounds in Chilton's (2004) definition of legitimization and delegitimization and is anchored in the linguistic theory of metaphor and the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980/2003; Lakoff, 1979/1993). It integrates the findings of previous relevant literature and presents the first elaborate study of self and other representational strategies and representational conceptual metaphors used by Obama and McCain in their presidential debates. Keywords: representation, conceptual metaphor, target / source domains, legitimization, delegitimization, victimization, immoralization, illogicalization / irrationalization, hypocriticization