L’uso delle metafore concettuali come propaganda contro l'immigrazione. Analisi delle Pagine Facebook di Matteo Salvini e Jörg Meuthen


Abstract


The present study investigates how Italian and German populist leaders use conceptual metaphors on their Facebook pages to describe the migration crisis that has hit their respective Countries. By means of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis, metaphors are examined as a means of representing migration in mass media. The aim is to analyse the creation of the different metaphoric representations in the reference languages as well as to ascertain possible intercultural differences or common argumentative patterns which might be identified in the media language of the two politicians. The research is based on a corpus of posts shared on Facebook from January 2017 to December 2018 by the Italian leader of “Lega Nord” Matteo Salvini and from the German leader of “Alternative für Deutschland” Jörg Meuthen. The contrastive analysis of metaphors representing migration and migrants in Salvini’s and Metuthen’s posts shows that migration is represented with negative conceptual potential through images transmitting anxiety, despair, threats to life. In addition, the results show how the Facebook posts reproduce a “distorted” perception of immigrants and, consequently, a state of insecurity and general panic.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v35p101

Keywords: Conceptual metaphors, migration, political rhetoric, Facebook, Political Discours

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