Disclosing Metaphorical Analysis in Political Discourse
Lukman Supriadi and Aceng Ruhendi Syaifullah
Department of Linguistics, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Metaphor, conceptual metaphor, good governance, source domain, target domain.
Abstract: Political speeches are often rowdy by various styles of rhetoric. Metaphor, for instance, becomes one of
intensive linguistic features employed in the language of politics by the elites in various parts of the world.
With regard to this issue, the present study focuses on investigating the form and meaning of metaphor
acquired through the mapping between source domain and target domain in Jakarta gubernatorial candidates’
speeches 2017. In addition, the study also aims to describe the similarities and differences, as well as to
address its relation to the concept of good governance through the metaphorical expressions found in the
study. The data in this qualitative research were collected through observation method and note-taking. Based
on the results of the study, it can be revealed that the application of conceptual metaphor by the candidates
seems to considerably vary and not only discuss political issues but they also discuss the ongoing phenomena
to make the people realize the major problems and understand the visions of each candidate. Findings also
disclosed that metaphor with regard to the concept of good governance was employed to conceptualize a
number of leadership values which tend to be abstract such as country, power, democracy, integration and
transparency, law enforcement, social inequalities, and accountability. The results disclosed an overview
analysis as well as revealed the importance of interpreting the language use according to the context for in
some cases language might be literal and sometimes it might be metaphorical.
1 INTRODUCTION
Howarth (2000) and Angotti (1993) mentioned that
politics is struggle for power in order to put the certain
ideas of politic, economic and social into practices. In
this respect, all of those values cannot be detached
from the role of language that always exists and is
used in the political actions. Even the use of language
has received considerable attention is notably
important human culture. Through language, human
beings are not only expressing their thoughts, but also
conceptualizing and interpreting the world enclosing
them. In this process, language plays an important
role, for any political action is prepared,
accompanied, influenced and employed by language
(West & Turner, 2008).
In the last decades, the study of the relationship of
language and politics is increasingly attracting the
attention of experts from various disciplines (see, for
example: Arrese 2016; Fairclough 2001; Boroditsky
2000; Cameron 2010; Ferrari 2007; Howarth 2000;
Ives 2004). Acording to the relation of language, In
this paper the researchers will therefore turn the
attention towards the examining the role of language
through the matter of metaphor towards the
embodiment of the concept of good governance in
campaign speeches delivered by the gubernatorial
candidates of DKI Jakarta 2017-2022 period as part
of democratic society, and in turn, this shall emerge
as an area for attention in the recent project because
the speeches examined presented vision, mission and
issues as well as the actual discourse emerging in the
middle of the Jakarta community.
Lakoff and Johnson (2003) stated that metaphor is
pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in
thought and action. Our conceptual system thus plays
a central role in defining our everyday realities. The
concept of good governance in the modernization
nowadays, according to has become one of the basic
keys in the political discourse to restructure the
system of organization of government in Indonesia.
Based on the several illustrations above, it seems
that metaphor is not just a linguistic phenomenon.
Instead, linguistic metaphors reflect how concepts are
organized in our minds. Hence, the study of metaphor
could be stated as something that never get enough to
serve as research topics.
Supriadi, L. and Syaifullah, A.
Disclosing Metaphorical Analysis in Political Discourse.
DOI: 10.5220/0007165002290232
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 229-232
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
229

Even more in depth research about the metaphor
keeps remain with the review of various aspects of the
discipline. Therefore, it is important the presumably
discuss how language is used in the realm of politics.
Understanding of the language and thoughts of each
candidate can be reflected through the analysis of
conceptual metaphors in speeches of the
gubernatorial candidates of DKI Jakarta 2017.
Focusing on the use of metaphors, This research
shall not only describe, but also understand one thing
in terms of another by transferring, or ‘mapping’
knowledge about one concept (the ‘source concept’)
to another (the ‘target concept’). Since a large part of
language is metaphoric, as per the conventionality
argument, it follows that our conceptual knowledge is
also largely metaphoric. By knowing the various
structures, the formulation against the concept of
good governance through the metaphorical concepts
found in the results of the research can be revealed.
2 METHODS
The data in this qualitative research were collected
through observation method and note-taking. Data
analysis techniques consisted of data reduction, data
displays and conclusion.
Under the context to interpret data based on
theory, this study is presented within George Lakoff
and Mark Johnson (1980) Conceptual Metaphor
Theory and Jonathan Charteris-Black’s (2004)
Critical Metaphor Analytic Approach. It was
developed by Jonathan Charteris-Black (2004), in his
book Corpus Approaches to Critical Metaphor
Analysis, as an approach for analyzing metaphors in
political discourse. CMA is an approach to discourse
that enables us to challenge existing ways of thinking
and feeling about human behavior and its relation to
language (Charteris-Black, 2004). A comprehensive
examination of metaphor choices in a certain
discourse can help the readers figure out the hidden
intentions of language users and further develop the
readers’ awareness of social relations that are loaded
in metaphoric expression.
Firstly, based on the finding that metaphors have
played a salient role in political construction, CMA of
political discourse has long been mostly concentrated
on speeches delivered by political leaders and news
report, such as Yu-hua & Yan (2007. Apart from the
political texts, the researchers have extended their
projects to metaphor analysis of financial discourse,
such as Charteris-Black (2004), Koller (2006) and
López (2010). Besides, the framework of CMA has
also been employed in religious discourse, such as
Charteris-Black (2004).
Charteris-Black (2004) adopts the three steps in
his research: identification, interpretation and
explanation of conceptual metaphors. Metaphor
identification indicates a close reading of a sample of
texts to figure out candidate metaphors. Metaphor
interpretation is concerned with ascertaining the
relationship between metaphors and the cognitive and
pragmatic elements that determine them. At this
stage, it is likely to consider the extent to which
metaphor choices account for constructing a socially
important representation.
After metaphor identification and interpretation,
discourse analysts can go further to explain the
reasons why these metaphors instead of the others are
chosen in a certain situation. Interpretation against the
language use of metaphor and the research findings
of empirical research by focusing on the relevance of
context and formulation of the concept of good
governance. Through these steps, it can be seen that
the contextual approach by reviewing and looking at
the context that existed around the metaphor phrase is
the primary step that cannot be ignored.
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
As cited on the part of the framework, metaphor use
in political speeches were investigated in this study.
And each of the reports was examined in search of
metaphors. Overall, these metaphors could be
categorized into the following dominant types:
structural (20 times), ontological (17 times), and
orientational metaphor (6 times). To know each
category a conceptual metaphor, the table below
presented the identification data in forms of the use of
metaphoric expressions in the speeches of
gubernatorial candidates’ campaign in DKI Jakarta
2017:
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
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From the analysis that has been done in this
study, on the whole, the findings revealed 43
metaphoric expressions. For instance, the candidates
chose to keep the public from realizing their primary
vision and mission as a result of the coming of
gubernatorial elections of DKI Jakarta.
Consequently, this research revealed the important
role of metaphors to frame good governance issues
and sever certain political interests.
First, the first candidate, Agus Harimurti
Yudhoyono employed most efficiently 20 metaphoric
data of conceptual metaphors (46.5%). It consisted of
the use of structural metaphor (8 data). Furthermore,
the second candidate, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
employed the least (9 data) of conceptual metaphor
among others (30%). It consisted of the use of
structural metaphor (3 data), ontological metaphor (5
data), and orientational metaphor (1 data). Last,
metaphors employed by the third candidate, Anies
Baswedan, 14 data (32,5%) could be categorized into
the following dominant types, It consisted of the use
of structural metaphor (9 data), ontological metaphor
(4 data), and orientational metaphor (1 data).
The possible tendency that could be drawn was
that each candidate was capable of packaging ideas
conveyed to the public through metaphoric
expressions. Once it happened in reality, one should
seize the chance. The metaphor by means of the
campaign speeches was highly persuasive,
convincing the hearers that it was a golden
opportunity which could never be missed. Therefore,
the metaphor implicitly expressed the gubernatorial
candidates’ approval of the issue.
In addition, the potential metaphors used by the
candidates that could be seen in the table above were
likely to be deliberately diverse in their use as an
effort to give the effect of anesthesia and to persuade
the public. In this research, on the type of structural
metaphor, one interesting evidence of deserving
attention was the metaphorical use of the journey,
commodity, and objects metaphors. For instance, the
data “time bomb” (bom waktu) as part of object
metaphor of ontological category revealed the
conflict metaphors employed to give a positive
assessment of their own party ideology and to present
a negative evaluation of the party of the opposition.
Further example, the use of adjective “bitter” (pahit)
in structural metaphor “Let us make welfare so that
none of the citizens of Jakarta feel the bitterness of
life.” as form of food metaphors used to conceptualize
feelings related to the social disparities occuring in
Jakarta.
Whereas, the use of nominal “heart” (jantung) in
metaphoric data “Proclamation was echoed in the
heart of the capital city Jakarta.” (“Proklamasi
dikumandangkan di jantung ibu kota Jakarta.”) as
form of part of body metaphors used to conceptualize
animate thing in accord with Jakarta itself.
In addition, the findings also disclosed the
similarity indicating non-human entity metaphors
that tended to be consistent in figuring out metaphoric
expressions which consisted of condition meaning
(being) and substance use. In this respect, a reflection
that wanted to be disclosed through the use of
metaphors was mainly obvious, the gubernatorial
candidates tried to objectify something abstract. This
can be made clear by looking at the following data
“time is getting closer.” Where the time serves as the
target domain that has the abstract concept is
projected with the human figure that has the ability to
step closer or away.
Therefore, as the analysis done on such example
revealed that existing elements behind the source
domain was on the form of human entity. This can be
discovered through the use of metaphors that derive
from the word closer (mendekat). By understanding
the details of the data above, this phenomenon also
disclosed that the diversity of meaning occurs due to
the expansion because there were two words used in
metaphoric expressions compared in different
contexts.
Based on the results of the study, it can be
revealed that the application of conceptual metaphor
by the candidates seems to considerably vary and not
only discuss political issues, they also discuss the
ongoing phenomena to make the people realize the
major problems and understand the visions of each
candidate. Findings also disclosed that metaphor with
Table 1: Data of conceptual metaphoric use.
Candidates
Conceptual Metaphor
Total
%
Structural
Ontological
Orientational
Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono
8
8
4
20
46,5
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
3
5
1
9
30
Anies Baswedan
9
4
1
14
32,5
Total
20
17
6
43
Percentage
46,5%
39,5%
14%
100%
Disclosing Metaphorical Analysis in Political Discourse
231

regard to the concept of good governance was
employed to conceptualize a number of leadership
values which tend to be abstract such as democracy,
justice, integration and transparency, law
enforcement, and social inequalities. The results
disclosed an overview analysis as well as revealed the
importance of interpreting the language use according
to the context for in some cases language might be
literal and sometimes it might be metaphorical.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A comprehensive examination of metaphor choices in
a certain discourse can help the readers figure out the
hidden intentions of language users and further
develop the readers’ awareness of social relations that
are loaded in metaphoric expression. The existence of
metaphors can be traced through the existence of a
mapping from a domain concept the source and target
domains. As for the concepts used in the mapping of
source domain and target domain in the gubernatorial
candidates’ campaign speeches of DKI Jakarta 2017
consists of two concepts, concrete and abstract
concepts. This research has been able to uncover the
existence of similarities and differences in realization
of conceptual metaphor in which the use of
metaphoric expressions not only discussing political
issues itself, but also discussing the happening issue
thus the society is aware of the existing problems and
understands the political vision and mission of each
candidate. And in fact, metaphors are used to build a
particular discourse meant as non-textual contexts
understood by the candidates and the citizens of DKI
Jakarta, which demonstrated the campaign speeches
of Jakarta 2017. Metaphors in accord with the concept
of good governance is used for conceptualize the
metaphorical expressions against the effort of
realizing governance order that is likely to be abstract
such as democracy, justice, integration and
transparency, law enforcement, and social disparities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors delightfully thank to Indonesia
Endowment Fund for Education of The Ministry of
Finance (LPDP RI) for the financial support. Without
its support, this paper would not have materialized.
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Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
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