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Discrediting the metaphors of Р.A. Stolypin as a method of playing down in the speeches of deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Empire

E.P. Dulesov
$2.50

 

https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.1-20.065

 

Dulesov Evgeniy P.,

PhD Student of the Russian Language,

Theoretical and Applied Linguistics Department,

Udmurt State University

e-mail: evdules@gmail.com

 

Pyotr Stolypin, one of the outstanding political leaders in Russia at the beginning of the XX century, gained a reputation as a remarkable public speaker, both among his supporters and his opponents. Public speaking served him as a means to establish a dialogue between the authorities and society, the government and the parliament. Speaking before the State Duma members, P. Stolypin often expressed his most significant thoughts in the form of extended creative metaphors. However, a critical attitude toward the other person's metaphor is typical of political discourse, given its competitive and controversial character. The paper considers a particular technique for downplaying the adversary’s status, namely discreditation of their metaphor, which implies the opponent’s verbalized reaction to the proponent’ metaphor aimed to put the proponent in a bad light and/or reject their argument. It is found that there are several ways to discredit one’s political adversary’s metaphor: challenging its applicability (un explicit accusation of using an inappropriate analogy), remetaphorization (rejection of the proponent’s metaphor and introduction of the opponent’s ‘counter-metaphor’ from another source domain), extension (developing the initial metaphor to defend opponent’s standpoint) and ‘retargeting’ (exploitation of the proponent’s metaphor for conceptualizing another target domain).

Keywords: cognitive metaphor, political metaphorology, creative metaphor, parliamentary discourse, discreditation, Stolypin.

 

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