The Colherent Function Of Metaphor In Political Addressform Teh Persepctiv Of Relevance Theory

Discourse coherence has long been the focus of study in the field of discourse analysis. Previous researches from the angles of semantics, pragmatics and cognitive science contribute enormously to the understanding of coherence.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how conceptual metaphor plays the coherent function in political address from the perspective of Relevance Theory.The year 1980 witnesses a cognitive approach to analyze discourse coherence with the publication of Lakoff & Johnson's Metaphors We Live By. They put forward Conceptual Metaphor Theory and hold that coherence can be constructed by the systemic nature of metaphor.Indeed, Lakoff & Johnson's approach is convincing in analyzing discourse coherence. However, it is not the whole story. Sperber & Wilson's Relevance Theory provides significant insights into discourse coherence. According to Sperber & Wilson, the ostensive-inferential characteristic of Relevance Theory is the basis of discourse coherence. The author of this thesis combines Lakoff & Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Sperber & Wilson's Relevance Theory as the theoretical basis and regards metaphor's coherent function as the consequence of the addressee's pursuit of relevance. The author of this thesis tentatively claims that discourse coherence is the product of men's cognitive interactions which is achieved when the addresser's ideology expressed by metaphor is recognized and accepted by the addressee.The conclusion and significance of this thesis are listed below:(1) From the perspective of Relevance Theory, the understanding of metaphor and relevance are closely related.(2) In political address, metaphor's coherent function can be analyzed from the perspective of Relevance Theory. Relevance is determined by contextual effect and cognitive efforts. For one thing, a metaphor used by the addresser can be seen as a new piece of information interacting with the addressee's contextual assumptions. The interaction between metaphor and the contextual assumptions in the addressee's cognitive environment gives rise to certain contextual implication, or the contextual effect. Metaphor produces the contextual effect and facilitates the addressee's understanding of the addresser's ideology. For another, the less cognitive efforts the addressee pays to interpret the addresser's intention, the more relevance exists between the addresser's intention and the addressee's interpretation. Since coherence is resulted from relevance, the less cognitive efforts the addressee pays to interpret the addresser's intention, the more coherent the discourse is. Metaphor is abundant in political address for metaphor is an effective way to convey the addresser's ideology. The addresser's ideology expressed by metaphor is transmitted to the addressee automatically and inexplicitly for the addressee takes the ideology expressed by metaphor as a kind of world knowledge. The use of metaphor greatly saves the audience's cognitive efforts in interpreting the addresser's ideology. Consequently, discourse coherence is achieved for mental coherence is bridged between the addresser and the addressee.(3) The author of this thesis tentatively claims that discourse coherence is the product of men's cognitive interactions, which is achieved when the addresser's ideology is recognized and accepted by the addressee. The analysis is further carried out from three aspects to prove that metaphor's coherent function in political address which derivates from the addressee's pursuit of relevance can be applied in both English and Chinese addresses:The first is within the scope of metaphor's emotion-stimulating function; the second is from the perspective of metaphor's evaluative function; the third is from the perspective of shared cultural environment between the addresser and the addressee.The combination of Relevance Theory and Conceptual Metaphor Theory as theoretical framework to probe into the coherent function of metaphor serves as a constructive supplement to the study of discourse coherence.