| Keywords [eng] |
Conceptual metaphor, political discourse, Persian Gulf crisis, CNN, Fox News, konceptualioji metafora, politinis diskursas, Persijos įlankos krizė |
| Abstract [eng] |
This thesis explores the conceptualisation as well as underlying ideologies in the discourse of left-wing and right-wing US media on the Persian Gulf crisis of 2019-2021. It investigates conceptual structure patterns of the Gulf crisis as compared to the previous conflicts in the Persian Gulf, and the differences of metaphor use between the left-wing and right-wing media, i.e., CNN and Fox News, respectively. The data was analysed by applying such research approaches as Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The analysis shows that both left-wing and right-wing media conceptualise the Persian Gulf crisis similarly in terms of conceptual structures and number of occurrences, where the target domain of politics is conceptualised as a journey, business, game, or play; power as physical force; states, governments, and military equipment are personified; conflicts are mostly conceptualised as physical force or heat; and finally, people are perceived as objects. The overall conceptualisation suggests a high correspondence with the previous metaphor studies on conflicts in the Persian Gulf, which also coincides with the metaphor structures prevalent in political discourse. At the same time, the lack of certain conceptualisations as compared to the previous studies is due to the state of escalating tensions, rather than of a full-scale war, making certain conceptual structures unnecessary and unimportant in the discourse and context of the crisis. While both left-wing and right-wing media recognise Iran as the aggressor, CNN, however, also acknowledges the role of the US in the escalation of the conflict, specifically Trump, whereas Fox News supports Trump and rather denies the United States’ involvement in the escalation. However, such metaphorical representation of the crisis identified in both CNN and Fox News plays into the idea of the Iranian regime needing guidance from the US in becoming a democratic state, which dehumanises and demonises Iran. |
