A Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Speeches

The United Nations is an important international organization in the world,and the Secretary General plays the most important role.Although Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has now retired,his contributions to the UN and the world are widely acknowledged.Making speech is an important way for the Secretary General to express his ideas,which can help him deal with international affairs and perform UN's duties.Metaphor is one of the often used rhetorical devices in political address because it can help the speaker spread ideas and inspire audience,therefore,this thesis has conducted an indepth analysis for the usage of conceptual metaphors in Ban Ki-moon's speeches.By selecting Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's speeches in the ten years during his two terms as the corpus,this study,supported by the theory of conceptual metaphor,has analyzed the applications of conceptual metaphors.The study is carried out with both quantitative and qualitative methods by referring to the Charter of the United Nations.Through intensive analysis,the following conclusions are drawn:Firstly,six main types of conceptual metaphor are identified in the ten-year speeches.They are,in order of percentages,journey metaphor,conflict metaphor,updown metaphor,building metaphor,plant metaphor,and family metaphor.The journey metaphors occupy the largest percentage because such metaphor can best express UN's important purpose and arduous progress in the course of maintaining peace,seeking development and promoting harmony.The use of conflict metaphors takes the second because terrorist attacks and international problems have frequently taken place in recent years.Secondly,the study has also discussed the distribution trends of each type of metaphor,and further explored the factors that have influenced the changes of distributions,such as social instability,fluctuating economy and climate change etc.The journey metaphors are used most frequently but also have the biggest changes because of the early subprime crisis and later climate problems.The family metaphors remain relatively stable all the time since the UN regards the whole world as a big family,and has always been upholding the basic principles of equality,friendship,cooperation and prosperity,which are also the unchanged goals for the UN to pursue.By analyzing the use of conceptual metaphors and their distributions in Ban Kimoon's speeches,the study not only enriches the research results of metaphorical analysis,and strengthens understanding of metaphor,but also helps people better understand the purposes and obligations of the United Nations.