Home Chapter 2. From economic crisis to austerity policies through conceptual metaphor
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 2. From economic crisis to austerity policies through conceptual metaphor

A corpus-based comparison of metaphors of crisis and austerity in the Portuguese press
  • Augusto Soares da Silva
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
The Language of Crisis
This chapter is in the book The Language of Crisis

Abstract

This chapter analyses the role of conceptual metaphors in the conceptualization and ideological exploitation of the global financial crisis and the subsequent austerity policies in the Portuguese press. The analysis relies on a corpus of news and opinion articles published between September 2008 and March 2009, when the financial breakdown that led to the global economic crisis took place, in June-July 2011, after the entry of the Troika in Portugal and the announcement of the first austerity measures, and May 2013, when protests against the austerity policies intensified. Assuming the general frameworks of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus-based and discourse-based approaches to conceptual metaphor, the study highlights how metaphor can be a powerful conceptual and discourse strategy to frame economic, political and social issues and to serve emotional and ideological purposes.

Abstract

This chapter analyses the role of conceptual metaphors in the conceptualization and ideological exploitation of the global financial crisis and the subsequent austerity policies in the Portuguese press. The analysis relies on a corpus of news and opinion articles published between September 2008 and March 2009, when the financial breakdown that led to the global economic crisis took place, in June-July 2011, after the entry of the Troika in Portugal and the announcement of the first austerity measures, and May 2013, when protests against the austerity policies intensified. Assuming the general frameworks of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus-based and discourse-based approaches to conceptual metaphor, the study highlights how metaphor can be a powerful conceptual and discourse strategy to frame economic, political and social issues and to serve emotional and ideological purposes.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Notes on Contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Investigating the language of financial and organisational crisis
  6. Chapter 1. Crisis Marketing through conceptual ontology in metaphor in financial reporting 23
  7. Chapter 2. From economic crisis to austerity policies through conceptual metaphor 51
  8. Chapter 3. Responding to organisational misbehaviour 87
  9. Part II. Understanding discourses of political conflicts
  10. Chapter 4. Turning the heart into a neighbour 111
  11. Chapter 5. “Today, the long Arab winter has begun to thaw” 137
  12. Chapter 6. Metaphors for protest 169
  13. Part III. Studying personal crisis in psychotherapy and narrative
  14. Chapter 7. The ‘transformative’ power of metaphor 199
  15. Chapter 8. Co-constructing ‘crisis’ with metaphor 231
  16. Chapter 9. Narrative modulation in the storytelling of breast cancer survivors’ transitional experiences 255
  17. Chapter 10. Framing the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) 281
  18. Index 305
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.87.02soa

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Notes on Contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Investigating the language of financial and organisational crisis
  6. Chapter 1. Crisis Marketing through conceptual ontology in metaphor in financial reporting 23
  7. Chapter 2. From economic crisis to austerity policies through conceptual metaphor 51
  8. Chapter 3. Responding to organisational misbehaviour 87
  9. Part II. Understanding discourses of political conflicts
  10. Chapter 4. Turning the heart into a neighbour 111
  11. Chapter 5. “Today, the long Arab winter has begun to thaw” 137
  12. Chapter 6. Metaphors for protest 169
  13. Part III. Studying personal crisis in psychotherapy and narrative
  14. Chapter 7. The ‘transformative’ power of metaphor 199
  15. Chapter 8. Co-constructing ‘crisis’ with metaphor 231
  16. Chapter 9. Narrative modulation in the storytelling of breast cancer survivors’ transitional experiences 255
  17. Chapter 10. Framing the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) 281
  18. Index 305
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 22.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/dapsac.87.02soa/html
Scroll to top button