Comparing Metaphors In Reports On The Work Of Government Of China And State Of The Union Addresses Of USA

Metaphor simplifies the complex political terms and arouses the emotions,to its maximum.The two important functions support the wide use of metaphor in politics.Conceptual metaphor theory,by Lakoff and Johnson,provides a specific way to analyze the relations between metaphor and our thinking pattern.Therefore,analyzing metaphors in political discourse is a useful way to find out the thinking model of the government and the ideology hidden,which is useful to strengthen our politics sensitivity.The thesis is aimed at revealing the subtle ideological changes of a government as reflected in the metaphorical usage in the Report on the Work of Government(henceforth the Report)and the State of Union Address(henceforth the Address)over the past 10 years.Based on the three kinds of conceptual metaphor by Lakoff and Johnson,the thesis provides a more detailed classification based on their different source domains.The thesis annotates the metaphor,with UAM tool,and analyzes their meaning and distribution.Firstly,metaphors are classified into different categories according to the different source domains;secondly,metaphors are annotated in the UAM tool;finally,analyses about their frequencies and meaning are made based on the data.The thesis shows that there are similarities and differences in the metaphorical expressions of the Report and the Address.Source domains in two documents are similar,showing the shared cognition and value by two countries.There is no trouble when understanding the two documents because the basic knowledge about the physical world is same.And it is the experience that shapes our conceptual system.However,there are differences in their frequencies and distributions.Due to the different national benefits of China and USA,metaphors,from the same source domain,reflect different governmental wills.The thesis is helpful in understanding about Chinese and American politics,and it contributes to the translations of political metaphors.