ABSTRACT
Metaphor analysis has been gaining credence as a profitable tool in critical discourse studies (CDS). Cognitive approaches to metaphor, as the dominant paradigm in metaphor studies today, assert that metaphor is not merely about how we talk about something, but more significantly, how we may think about particular subjects in systematic ways (e.g., Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Kövecses 2002; Goatly 2007). Such authors argue that, because metaphor has a cognitive basis, examining its realisations in text and talk can help us discern dominant and structured ways with which people conceive of aspects of reality. In turn, particular metaphors can be strategically deployed to construct and perpetuate particular worldviews and versions of reality for addressees. Insofar as CDS is concerned with the exercise of power to influence perception and action in and through discourse, the analysis of metaphor can help probe ideological structures and foundations in text and talk, and discern the concepts and ideologies purveyed in discourse. In short, metaphor can no longer be seen as merely rhetorical or decorative, but also constitutive of reality, and acknowledged for its ideological character. It is this ideological potential that makes metaphor analysis an appropriate tool for critical research.
