The gulf of mexico oil spill a corpus based study of metaphors in british and american media discourse 6 1

CHAPTER METAPHORS IN AMERICAN & BRITISH MEDIA DISCOURSE: A CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE 6.1 Introduction: The American broadsheets vs. the British broadsheets (A comparative approach) Musolff (2004, p.61) states that the specific function of metaphors in political (and media) discourse is to “frame arguments into stereotypical scenarios that suggest particular conclusions”. In other words, Musolff sees metaphor as a persuasive tool that effectively exploits our specific cultural values in order to evoke a particular outlook desired by those in power. He goes a step further by stating that these metaphors are “best analysed by way of the distributional analysis of sufficiently large amounts of corpus data which reveal the usage patterns and relative dominance of certain scenarios”. Hence, this particular study aims to combine the functions of two leading webbased concordancing software to document and analyse the aggregate metaphorical framings pertaining to the BP oil spill. The overarching aim is to establish a methodology that is inductive, empirically based and most importantly, repeatable. At this juncture, it is important to note that while this study aims to explicitly identify and critique the aggregate range of conceptual metaphors and their corresponding scenarios in the target corpora, the resultant analysis is not value neutral. This is simply due to the fact that the entire categorical slots for participant roles and narratives are generated from the analyst’s 256 perspectives that are constrained by socio-cultural experiences and stereotypes. Hence, while other readers and metaphors analysts are free to challenge, reify and recontextualise the associated scenarios and conceptual metaphors, it is hoped that the IICM provides an empirical and inductive platform for metaphorical analysis in large representative corpora that would result in useful methodological uniformity. This would provide a common platform for subsequent metaphorical disagreements and discussions. As a definitive statement on a broadsheet’s stance cannot be made from a single study due to the inherent limitations in any corpus and in the scope of the study, all the statements and claims made in this thesis are generalisable only to this dataset, and are not extendable to each broadsheet’s overarching political stance per se until further validation across a wider range of comparable studies are carried out. The findings in this thesis are the result of the careful compilation of 250 articles EACH from four separate broadsheets, all gleaned according to strict criteria and in accordance to a predetermined timeframe. It is important to note that the analysis is streamlined into two broad evaluative categories across both American and British media discourse: 1. The potentially nationalistic portrayal of the key players in the entire disaster: Namely the respective evaluative stances taken towards BP and the US Government (specifically, the Obama administration, the Bush administration and the associated range of governmental agencies like the MMS). 257 2. The pre-eminence of the WAR/CRIME/CONFLICT metaphors across all four corpora: With particular emphasis placed on the variations in the aggregate framing of the disaster e.g. the predominance of HEALTH AND DISEASE vs. NATURAL DISASTER scenarios, the metaphorical foregrounding of nationalistic sentiments (and the relentless pursuit of justice) vs. the emphasis on pragmatic economic considerations, predominantly framing business as CONFLICT. Table 6.1 below presents an aggregate overview of the two broad evaluative categories stated above: Table 6.1 – Aggregate comparison of metaphor types in British and American Broadsheets (G & TT, NYT & WP): Conceptual Key NYT WP G TT (Types/ Tokens) (Types/ Tokens) % 54.1 53.6 (Types/ Tokens) % 47.5 42.3 (Types/ Tokens) % 64.4 68.1 % THE OIL SPILL WAR/CRIME/THREAT BP/ OIL INDUSTRY DEBTOR/CRIMINAL / ENEMY/INCOMPETENCE/ PRAGMATIC OPPORTUNIST/RECKLESS/ OUTDATED/ GREEDY/ (PERSONIFICATION: NEGATIVE) 56.1 54.9 25.6 31.9 21.1 22.8 14.1 21.4 18.8 22.6 BP/ OIL INDUSTRY FIGHTER/ CONTRITE CHILD/ SCAPEGOAT/ ENTREPRENEUR/ PHILANTHROPIST/ COSMOPOLITAN ENTITY/ INVITED GUEST/ ACQUITTED DEFENDANT/VICTIM/PREY (PERSONIFICATION: POSITIVE) 10.6 10.4 14.4 16.2 21.9 25.3 30.1 36.4 THE US GOVERNMENT/ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CRIMINAL/ INCOMPETENT (PERSONIFICATION: NEGATIVE 21.8 21.4 16.5 15.4 8.3 9.9 9.0 9.2 THE US GOVERNMENT/ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PARENT/ EEFECTIVE LAW ENFORCER (PERSONIFICATION: POSITIVE) 13.9 7.5 10.1 10.4 8.5 7.3 2.3 7.1 258 Summing up the results of the aggregate empirical analysis and the metaphor conceptual keys mined from the IICM, it is clear that the corpora from the conservative broadsheets (WP-Corpus and the TT-corpus) generate a significant proportion of conceptual metaphors that focus on the mitigation and negation of BP’s culpability in the entire oil spill. This can be seen in the specific nature of the embodiment within the WAR/CRIME/THREAT conceptual key in the WP-corpus (53.6%) and TT-corpus (68.1%), conceptualising BUSINESS as a WAR/ GAME OF SURVIVAL in an effort to justify BP’s continued economic survival. On the other hand, the metaphors mined from the more liberal broadsheets (NYT-Corpus and the G-Corpus) focus on the scale of the disaster and emphasise the range of negative emotions arising from the BP Oil Spill, favouring a narrative centering on the pursuit of justice and the relentless castigation of culpable parties. This can be seen in the higher percentage of negative evaluations for the key players in the oil spill in the NYT and G-corpus. Thus, it would appear that the corpora gleaned from the conservative broadsheets adopt a less explicit, and a more subtle and mitigated approach to the metaphorical evaluation of the key actors in the oil spill – in an effort to foreground the more pragmatic, pro-business editorial ideology. This is in contrast to the corpora obtained from the liberal broadsheets which are more focused on the more explicit and intense metaphorical framings of the scale of the disaster and on the ideological adherence to notions of justice and ecological sustainability. However, it is important to note that in most of these cases, the differences amongst all four broadsheet corpora are lesser than expected from our preconceived biases. In a comparable study done by Semino (2002, p.4-5) 259 where she analyses the metaphorical representations of the euro in British and Italian newspapers, “overarching similarities” were found in the metaphorical patterns involving the euro in both sets of newspapers. Semino attributed these similarities to two main factors. 1. The “significant similarities in the conceptual metaphorical systems underlying (British) English and Italian”. 2. The “predictable mutual influences between reports about the euro in different countries”. While Semino’s observations are somewhat transferable to the context of this analysis, it is important to note that there are significant differences in the frequencies of the various types of metaphors as well as in the subtle metaphorical realisations of the same source domain within this study. This can be attributed to the differences in the dominant attitudes and editorial perspectives to the oil spill in accordance to specific experiential embodiments, cultural influences and political affiliations that are captured within these specific corpora subsets. These subtle metaphorical textures will be uncovered in the subsequent analysis in this chapter. The analysis for this chapter will take the following structure: • A detailed cross-cultural comparison of the range of analogy-based metaphors identified by the IICM across the four empirically-salient USAS domains analysed in this thesis: 260 1. Substances & Materials: Liquid (NYT_1/ WP_1/G_1/TT_1) 2. Speech: Communicative (NYT_2/ WP_2/ G_6/TT_8) 3. Damaging and Destroying (NYT_5/WP_5/G_7/TT_6) 4. Green Issues (NYT_11/WP_7/G_5/TT_10) The metaphors mined from these four domains will be analysed with reference to another new salient USAS domain: Other Proper Names (NYT_4/WP_3/ G_2/TT_1). The analysis of this additional domain is motivated by the significant recurrence of two contextual references that seem to run throughout all four corpora: a. The constant reference to the BP Oil Spill as the environmental and corporate equivalent of the “9/11” attacks in 2001. b. The persistent parallels drawn between Obama’s handling of the BP Oil Spill and the Bush Administration’s handling of “Hurricane Katrina” in 2005. This will serve as an additional analysis to triangulate the metaphorical findings generated by the IICM thus far. The complete realisation of Phase Two/Step Four in the IICM: The formal representation of the identified complex of metaphors through the adaptation of Grady, Taub & Morgan’s (1996) concept of Metaphorical Primitives and Compounds. This is significant as the 261 adaptation of Grady, Taub & Morgan’s (1996) concept of Primitive and Complex metaphors provides a systematic account of the various metaphorical complexes in the target discourse. In other words, it is a systematic and integrated visual representation of Musolff’s (2004a, 2004b) Scenarios/Conceptual Metaphors and Charteris-Black’s (2004) Conceptual Keys/ Conceptual Metaphors/ Linguistic Metaphors. 6.2. A cross-cultural comparison of analogy-based metaphors in American and British media discourse Kovecses (2002, p.69) states that conceptual metaphors are inevitably grounded in experience, either “perceptual, biological or cultural”. These physical, socio-cultural and sensory embodiments are thus collectively referred to as the experiential basis of metaphor. For the purposes of this cross-cultural metaphorical analysis, only the metaphors that entail most independent and culturally specific experiential basis will be analysed. This is because generic level metaphors would tend to merely reflect universally shared perceptions. Thus, the range of analogy-based metaphors identified in the IICM will be the springboard for a cross-cultural evaluation of the metaphors framing the BP oil spill. The choice of these metaphor subsets is a strategic one because the embodied nature of these metaphors results in participants negotiating the way a concept is represented and understood in specific situations, facilitating a textured cross-cultural metaphor analysis in the process. 262 6.2.1. A cross-cultural analysis of two recurring contextual metaphors: The 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina: Other Proper Names (NYT_4/WP_3/ G_2/TT_1). The critical metaphor analysis in this section will be preceded by the critical analysis of two recurring contextual references throughout the analysis thus far: 1. The contextual references to the unprecedented scale of the ecological and economic damage inflicted with reference to the 9/11 attacks (THE BP OIL SPILL IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL 9/11). 2. The constant contextual parallels with Hurricane Katrina with respect to the Obama administration’s handling of the BP oil spill and the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina (THE BP OIL SPILL IS OBAMA’S KATRINA). As is the convention in this thesis, the IICM phases are applied to the analytical process for the USAS domain: Other Proper Names (NYT_4/WP_3/ G_2/TT_1). 6.2.1.1. A cross-cultural analysis of contextual metaphors: The 9/11 attacks - Other Proper Names (NYT_4/WP_3/ G_2/TT_1). Figures 6.1-6.4 show the entire range of concordances mined from the respective corpora via Sketch Engine for the recurrent parallel reference, “9/11” 263 or “Sept.11”. The analysis for this section will focus on the range of metaphors linked directly to this recurrent parallel reference in the target text. Fig. 6.1 Collocates for ‘9/11’ (NYT-corpus) in Sketch Engine (All instances) Figure 6.1 displays all eight instances of the 9/11 references in the NYT-corpus. A dominant unifying thread in these concordances is the constant allusion to the details associated with the “9/11 victim’s compensation fund” (seven out of eight instances). This aptly foregrounds the main preoccupation of the victims of the spill: that of economic survival and monetary compensation. The intertwined moral axioms of “victim’s rights” and “fair compensation” as a result of the victims being the targets of unsolicited violence serves to produce group cohesion as it addresses the group’s embodied concerns directly. These concerns are captured in Texts 6.16.2 below: Text 6.1 Screenshot for ‘9/11’ (NYT-Corpus) in Sketch Engine 264 Text 6.2 Screenshot for ‘9/11’ (NYT-Corpus) in Sketch Engine Text 6.1 aptly conveys the full extent of the moral accounting metaphor. It is clear that the victims of the oil spill claim “justice” and “rationality” as guarantees of full compensation and the castigation of the relevant parties. The construction of reality in this extract clearly casts BP in the role of the CRIMINAL. This can be seen in the second sentence of Text 6.1 where “White House officials have said that BP could be liable for more than $20 billion”. The semantic connotations of being “liable” refer to BP’s culpability in causing damage and injury and is hence legally obliged to make compensation and/or be punished accordingly. However, a critical analysis of the text actually conceals the US government’s oversight and failed enforcement measures as key contributors to the current economic and ecological disaster. The overarching presumption seems to contain overt xenophobic strains where the innocent victims’ “emotion, anger and frustration” are fully directed against the FOREIGN AGGRESSOR. This selflegitimisation is further emphasized in Text 6.2 where the blame attribution rests solely on BP (and not its other equally culpable partners on the rig). This can be seen in the way the Obama administration is trying to ensure that “BP will not be able to walk away from its responsibilities” and in the references to BP’s “uneven treatment and (slow) response” to the victim’s claims. This 265 recipients of exploitative criminal actions invokes a widespread sense of “nationalistic indignation” against both the foreign aggressor (CRIMINAL) and the US government (INCOMPETENT LEADER). The apparent critical scrutiny placed on the perceived incompetence of the US government in the NYT-corpus is replaced with the foregrounding of pragmatic economic concerns in the Text 6.9 from the WP-corpus. While Text 6.8 makes reference to the Obama administration paying the “political price” for being “not as visible as (Obama) should have been”, the key concern here seems to be the economic restitution that would be borne by BP. This is in line with the ideology of economic pragmatism consistently advocated in the WPcorpus in this study. Such a stance entails a commitment to ensuring fair economic settlements to the aggrieved parties while guaranteeing the longterm survival of BP due to its central economic role in both British and American societies. This pragmatic ideology deviates from the outright nationalism embodied by the NYT-corpus. Text 6.10 Screenshot for ‘KATRINA’ (G-Corpus) in Sketch Engine Text 6.11 Screenshot for ‘KATRINA’ (TT-Corpus) in Sketch Engine 275 Texts 6.10-6.11 represent the corresponding metaphorical evaluative disjunctions in the British broadsheets. The G-corpus embodies the overtly nationalistic view that establishes a negative value judgment on the “outsider” (in this case, the Obama administration). Text 6.10 highlights the Obama administration’s inability to protect its territory and citizens from BP’s “stinking tide of oil advancing on the white sand beaches of Alabama and Florida”. This associated helplessness in the face of a foreign intruder serves to evoke negative sentiments with regard to the US government’s inability to assert its basic leadership functions, generating an implicit diametric opposition that reflects the British government in a positive light. The ontological personification of the US government as an INCOMPETENT LEADER is further exacerbated by the unhedged reference to its total dependence on the FOREIGN AGGRESSOR’s survival. This is achieved through the clear emphasis on BP’s economic centrality to the wellbeing of the Gulf States. This seems to further reinforce the ontological representation of the US government as an INCOMPETENT LAW ENFORCER/LEADER, unable to uphold justice by enforcing the requisite punitive measures on BP. Text 6.11 from the TT-corpus unabashedly foregrounds its pragmatic economic editorial focus. This can be seen in the discourse that utilises financial concepts (such as profits, bottom lines and share prices) in order to establish coherence. The disastrous ecological effects directly associated with the oil spill are deliberately hidden behind a slew of financial cost-benefit analysis measures. This is shown in the nationalistic pride inherent in reference to BP’s open defiance against US government’s absurd demands that BP “stops paying dividends” and “compensates all workers across the 276 industry”. Hence, it is clear that the deliberate utilisation of financial metaphors to create the discourse platform avoids the direct reference to BP’s culpability in the oil spill. BP’s culpability is further concealed by the foregrounding of Obama’s political missteps, casting him as “tilting” from “perceived timidity to clumsy hostility”. Thus, this demonstrates how the dominant editorial perspective has the potential to provide a mechanism for a conceptual shift by foregrounding particular entailments and avoiding others through the insidious use of conceptual metaphors. 6.2.2. A cross-cultural analysis of analogy-based metaphors in four salient USAS domains: Substances & Materials: Liquid/ Speech: Communicative/ Damaging and Destroying/ Green Issues The IICM advocates an inductive and empirical approach to the mining and analysis of conceptual keys, scenarios and metaphors in large representative corpora. The resultant metaphors are subsequently divided into four categories: Structural Metaphors, Ontological Metaphors, Orientational/ Spatial Metaphors and Analogy-Based Metaphors. The complete discussion pertaining to these metaphor categories can be found in Section 3.3.4 of this thesis. Taken in tandem, these four categories of metaphors cover the full spectrum of metaphors in the target discourse, albeit with some unavoidable overlaps and fuzzy distinctions. The metaphors chosen for analysis in this comparative approach fall under the Analogy-Based Metaphors category. This category was chosen as it embodies the most independent and culturally specific experiential entailments 277 that influence the way people negotiate a specific contextual representation. These metaphors contrasts with generic level metaphors that would merely reflect universally shared perceptions (e.g. GOOD IS UP, LIFE IS A JOURNEY). Hence, it is believed that an in-depth comparative analysis of this metaphor category would facilitate a textured comparative analysis across all four corpora from Britain and America. Tables 6.2-6.5 provide an overview of the range of Analogy-Based metaphors mined across all five USAS domains from all seven empirically selected lexical items. It is important to note that these tables only reflect the range of significant Analogy-Based metaphors associated with the target entity – and excludes generic Structural Metaphors, generic Ontological metaphors and Spatial/Orientational metaphors. Thus, Tables 6.2-6.5 provide an overview of the distribution of the Analogy-Based metaphors across all four broadsheets, revealing the dominant scenarios, conceptual metaphors and evaluative strands for each entity in the BP oil spill. 6.2.2.1. A comparative metaphorical representation: The oil spill Table 6.2 embodies the range of image and contextual metaphors used in direct reference to the “oil spill” as a target domain: 278 Table 6.2 An aggregate comparison of Analogy-Based Metaphors in British and American Broadsheets (NYT, WP, G, TT: “Oil”/“Damage”/ “History”/ “Rhetoric”/ “Environment”/ “Katrina”/ “9/11”) – BP OIL SPILL TARGET DOMAINS (ENTITIES/ EVENTS) OIL SPILL/ OIL WELL NYT-Corpus WP-Corpus G-Corpus TT-corpus LANDMARK DISASTERS: LANDMARK DISASTERS: LANDMARK DISASTERS: LANDMARK DISASTERS: NUCLEAR DISASTER (CHERNOBYL) NUCLEAR DISASTER (CHERNOBYL) ENVIRONMENTAL 9/11 ENVIRONMENTAL 9/11/ NEW THREE MILE ISLAND FALLOUT NATURAL DISASTER OBAMA’S 9/11 HURRICANE KATRINA IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS NEW EXXON VALDEZ DISASTER NEW SANTA BARBARA DISASTER TOYOTA ACCELERATION CRISIS DUST BOWL OF THE 1930S NEW LXTOC SPILL COLLISION WITH AN ADVANCING VEHICLE NEW EXXON VALDEZ SLOW-MOTION HURRICANE KATRINA/ OBAMA’S KATRINA NEW LXTOC SPILL NATURAL DISASTER COMPOUNDED BY HUMAN ERROR (TSUNAMI, HURRICANE KATRINA, EARTHQUAKE) NEW EXXON VALDEZ CAR ACCIDENT CAR ACCIDENT NEW PIPER ALPHA OIL SPILL LANDMARK DISASTER NATURAL DISASTER HEALTH & DISEASE HEALTH & DISEASE HEALTH & DISEASE HEALTH & DISEASE SICKNESS DISEASE/ SICKNESS SERIOUS ILLNESS DISEASE TO THE OIL INDUSTRY RUPTURED ARTERY RUPTURED ARTERY LIKE SUNBURN ON A CANCER PATIENT ENTITIES: ENTITIES: ENTITIES: BEAST *WEREWOLF DEMON WELL BEAST MISCELLANEOUS: MISCELLANEOUS: MISCELLANEOUS: MISCELLANEOUS: CURVEBALL BURNING BUSH (*message from God) BOMB OIL IS MILK TO AN INFANT US ECONOMY COMPLEX NARRATIVE LEAKING WALLET UNFOLDING DRAMA - POLITICAL FIRESTORM It is interesting to note the common metaphorical evaluative threads involving the use of a series of landmark disasters (ranging from Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 to other significant nuclear, man-made or large-scale natural disasters) as common source domains across all four broadsheets. Interestingly, 279 the IICM manages to showcase the textured usage patterns and the relative dominance of particular metaphorical evaluations in the use of these four common source domains. The previous analysis in Chapters 4-5 indicates that the American and British liberal broadsheets (the NYT-corpus and the G-corpus) favour a distinctly idealistic stance that elicits a powerful emotional response from its readers. These liberal broadsheets tend to utilise specific scenarios in order to evoke maximum emotional force e.g. the use of MORAL ACCOUNTING METAPHORS intertwined with the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT SCENARIOS. The intended reference to the power of moral legitimacy serves to further galvanise the citizenry against a common external aggressor. Hence, both the NYTcorpus and the G-corpus foreground the “shambolic responses” as well as the shared perceptions of US government incompetence in its failure to protect its citizens and prevent enemy encroachment on its territory. The NYT-corpus includes a much more significant range of historical contextual parallels that serve to reinforce the dissatisfaction with the US government by referencing the Iranian-hostage crisis that was widely seen as the symbol of US government impotence. It also makes a reference to Chernobyl to draw links with the potentially devastating ecological effects of the oil spill. Other analogical references to a range of US-specific disasters are also alluded to in order to maximise the metaphorical impact of these referents e.g. the Exxon Valdez Disaster, the Santa-Barbara Disaster etc. Where the NYT-corpus seems to reflect the full force of its dissatisfaction with the failures of the US government, the contextual differences in the G-corpus leaves some room for the specific negotiation of metaphorical references. In this case, the negativity 280 directed towards the US government serves to mitigate BP’s culpability in its cleanup response by apportioning blame to the US government’s general incompetence and ineffective cleanup measures. This is clearly portrayed by metaphorically referencing the oil spill as a POLITICAL FIRESTORM and as a BOMB, thus portraying BP as COLLATERAL DAMAGE in the political crossfire as well as the VICTIM of a terrorist attack. It also sets up an implicit diametric comparison with British politics, inadvertently casting the Cameron administration in a positive light. In contrast, the previous analysis in Chapters 4-5 have shown that the more conservative broadsheets, the WP-corpus and the TT-corpus, tend to espouse a more economically-pragmatic stand that is more measured in its metaphorical evaluations. A clear trend can be seen in the use of the idea of a CAR ACCIDENT as a source domain in both broadsheets. The WP-corpus portrays the oil spill both as a NATURAL DISASTER (compounded by human error such as a tsunami, hurricane or earthquake) as well as a CAR ACCIDENT that effectively conceals a degree of culpability from both sides. The TTcorpus also utilises the ACCIDENT source domain in reference to the series of unfortunate events that led to the culmination of the oil spill. Furthermore, the WP-corpus frames the entire issue as a COMPLEX NARRATIVE, hedging the narrative in terms of factual, sequential discourse. This is in contrast to the castigating approach adopted by the NYT-corpus that advocates the pursuit of moral justice at all costs. Due to the British interests embodied by the TTcorpus, the survival of BP and its health (reflected by profits, dividends and share prices) is foregrounded through the overarching metaphor key of ECONOMIC PRAGMATISM. This is most clearly seen in the powerful analogy 281 referencing OIL as MILK TO AN INFANT US ECONOMY. The allusions to the Piper Alpha Oil Spill and the Ixtoc Spill also serve to make reference to the earlier precedents where the companies in question were ultimately given a lifeline of future economic survival. 6.2.2.2. A comparative metaphorical representation: The US government Table 6.3 An aggregate comparison of Analogy-Based Metaphors in British and American Broadsheets (NYT, WP, G, TT: “Oil”/“Damage”/ “History”/ “Rhetoric”/ “Environment”/ “Katrina”/ “9/11”) – THE US GOVERNMENT TARGET DOMAINS (ENTITIES/ EVENTS) US GOVERNMENT (OBAMA ADMINISTRATION/ MMS) NYT-Corpus NAVIGATING POLITICS IS WALKING A TIGHT ROPE POLITICS IS A GAME OF JUGGLING UNHOLY ALLIANCE (BACCHANAL GLOSS) WP-Corpus THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION IS A MOVING VEHICLE THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARING IS A PERFORMANCE PAWN OF THE OIL INDUSTRY G-Corpus REPUBLICAN TERRITORY IS ENEMY TERRITORY THE MMS IS A DYSFUNCTIONAL BODY PART TT-corpus POLITICS IS NAVIGATING A MINEFIELD POLITICAL PRESSURE IS POISON A HEALTHY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP IS A HEALTHY BODY PART POLITICS IS A FIRESTORM SUBSERVIENT HANDMAIDENS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’ S POLL NUMBERS IS A LEAKING WELL Table 6.3 seems to reinforce the metaphorical evaluations in the previous segment. The idealistic metaphorical portrayals inherent in the liberal broadsheets are captured by the NYT-corpus. The strong use of religious allusions serves to evoke both ethical and religious values in legitimising the castigation of the guilty criminals. This is seen in the metaphorical reference to the corrupt relationship between the MMS and BP as an UNHOLY ALLIANCE. The other analogy-based metaphors used in the NYT-corpus give the reader a 282 mental representation that intertwines greed, corruption and voluntary emasculation. This disturbing voluntary emasculation of the federal government and their shameless worship of mammon mutually reinforce the resultant overarching and overlapping conceptual metaphors, portraying the US government agencies as A PAWN OF THE OIL INDUSTRY or as SUBSERVIENT HANDMAIDENS. This reinforces the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT as well as the MORAL ACCOUNTING metaphors in the NYT-corpus by foregrounding the US government’s incompetence and its status as an accomplice. The WP-corpus has been shown to embody the importance of a common pragmatic ideology even while overcoming a national crisis. This is clearly shown in the hedged critical representation of the congressional hearing led by the US government as a PERFORMANCE. The presidential commission tasked to investigate the spill is also metaphorically portrayed as a MOVING VEHICLE. It is obvious that the intensity of emotions associated with this references lacks the moral and religious conviction evident in the image metaphors contained within the NYT-corpus. The TT-corpus utilises the HEALTH AND DISEASE domain to characterize US political pressure as a POISON. The use of the term “poison” in the context of politics often denotes the agency of a COWARDLY AGGRESSOR and evokes strong emotions of indignation for the VICTIM. Hence, this TTreference has the intended effect of personifying the US Government as the VICTIM of US political pressure in succumbing to the strong calls to castigate BP, concealing BP’s agency in the disaster that has caused extensive ecological and economic damage, ruining countless lives in the Gulf states. On the other hand, the analogical metaphor reference within the HEALTH AND 283 DISEASE scenario is significantly more evocative. This is captured by the reference to the MMS as a DYSFUNCTIONAL BODY PART and strained international relations as a DISEASED BODY PART. This is presumably attributed to its more incendiary stance in general. 6.2.2.3. A comparative metaphorical representation: BP Table 6.4 An aggregate comparison of Analogy-Based Metaphors in British and American Broadsheets (NYT, WP, G, TT: “Oil”/“Damage”/ “History”/ “Rhetoric”/ “Environment”/ “Katrina”/ “9/11”) – BP TARGET DOMAINS (ENTITIES/ EVENTS) BP/ THE OIL INDUSTRY NYT-Corpus WP-Corpus PREY WAR ZONE RIVAL OIL INDUSTRIES ARE VULTURES VICTIM (“RUSH TO JUSTICE”) G-Corpus TT-corpus AN OUTDATED REGIME ENGINE THAT NEEDS OVERHAULING A SINKING SHIP PREY (TO HUNGRY PREDATORS – CHINA AND RUSSIAN OIL COMPANIES) AGGRESSOR (STRANGLEHOLD /CHOKING OFF) VICTIM OF PUBLIC LYNCHING CASH COW THE PRIDE OF THE BRITISH WORLD UNIFYING FORCE VICTIM (BEATEN BLACK AND BLUE) THE NEW EAST INDIA COMPANY WOMAN IN NEED OF A PATRON (“MIDDLE EAST SUGAR DADDY”) 284 ECONOMIC FOUNDATION FOR THE US ECONOMY AMERICAN ECONOMIC CORNERSTONE VICTIM OF BETRAYAL VICTIM (HEAD CHOPPED OFF) VICTIM OF UNFAIR BUSINESS TREATMENT (LIBYAN CONTRACT) LONE SOLDIER IN ENEMY TERRITORY PREY FOR BLOOD SPORT (“DECLARED OPEN SEASON ON THE OIL GIANT”) Finally, Table 6.4 shows the full gamut of analogy-based metaphors used in the representation of BP across all four corpora. It is interesting to note how the detailed analysis of image and contextual metaphors can showcase the range of experiential and cultural embodiments that serve to heighten the evaluative associations for specific target audiences. This point is clearly demonstrated in the NYT-corpus and the WPcorpus. The predominantly idealistic and nationalistic editorial stance in the NYT-corpus is clearly encapsulated by the highly evaluative and explicit representation of BP as an AGGRESSOR placing a chokehold on the US economy. This representation insidiously re-casts the entire scenario from an accident (with the US government counted amongst the several culpable parties) to a national declaration of war against a foreign aggressor. This metaphor serves to strengthen the moral legitimacy of the Obama administration while galvanizing the electorate against the “other”, concealing the multiple failings of the US government. In contrast, the predominantly pragmatic editorial stance embodied by the WP-corpus personifies BP as a VICTIM of partisan politics, a political scapegoat that is denied due process in the “rush to justice”. The WP-corpus foregrounds the economic facet of the issue, propagating the fact that ensuring moderation in the punitive measures levelled at BP is in America’s national interests. This is framed in the language of ECONOMIC PRAGMATISM where the diametric opposition of the MORAL ACCOUNTING METAPHOR is concealed. The British broadsheets utilise a range of analogy-based metaphors to maximize the “cumulative expressive effect of unconscious associations” pertaining to the representation of BP (Charteris-Black, 2005, p.206). The 285 predominantly nationalistic sentiments embodied by the more liberal G-corpus portray BP as the PRIDE OF THE BRITISH WORLD. The systematic and extensive reinforcement of this portrayal can be seen in the parallel reference to BP as the NEW EAST INDIA COMPANY, a poignant and significant symbol of British economic and military dominance in the 20th century. The G-corpus also evokes images with a powerful emotional impact that are designed to be effective in times of national crisis. This includes the degrading and immoral connotations associated with BP being reduced to a WOMAN IN NEED OF A PATRON (“MIDDLE EAST SUGAR-DADDY”). The allusion to BP’s “public lynching” at the hands of the US media invites the inference that the “other” is not moral and implicitly asserts the UK’s superior morals and rationality. Finally, the metaphorical reinforcement of BP’s status as a POLITICAL SCAPEGOAT/ VICTIM is embodied in its spectacular fall from grace, from the PRIDE OF THE BRITISH WORLD and the UNIFYING FORCE IN BRITISH POLITICS to its current depiction as HELPLESS PREY, susceptible to HUNGRY PREDATORS like rival Chinese and Russian oil companies. This tangential Cold War reference seems to activate the mental representation of BP under attack by hostile forces, stimulating feelings of anxiety or fear, forming part of an insidious coercive strategy to galvanise the electorate. In contrast, the TT-corpus seems to veer away from the establishment of heightened nationalistic fervor, but subtly focuses on the pragmatic and economic representations of BP. This is demonstrated in the reference to BP being a VICTIM OF UNFAIR BUSINESS TREATMENT as it was being unfairly castigated by the US government for its links to Libyan oil fields. This is in spite of the fact that its American rivals Exxon and Shell have already 286 ventured into the oil fields in Libya without facing castigation by the US government and other interest groups. BP was also represented as a VICTIM OF BETRAYAL by its rig partner operators as it was left to bear the costs of the cleanup and the brunt of the negative media backlash on its own. The emotional impact of this portrayal is further exploited by the poignant reference to BP being the LONE SOLDIER IN ENEMY TERRITORY, valiantly and single-handedly taking the battle to the enemy. This foregrounds the sacrificial nature of the task and simultaneously conceals BP’s agency in the unleashing of the monster. However, the strategic exploitation of a nation’s indignation is also encapsulated in BP’s depiction as a PREY FOR BLOOD SPORT. This reference made by the Obama administration’s commitment to “declare open season on (BP)” with regards to all compensation matters pertaining to the oil spill. In conclusion, the detailed analysis of the range of analogy-based metaphors across the target semantic domains indicates the presence of a clear unifying ideological thread across all four broadsheets. This clearly demonstrates how the choice of a source domain is often a deliberate strategy aimed at effectively exploiting salient mental representations that serve the interests of those in power. The strategic exploitation of the MORAL ACCOUNTING METAPHOR, the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT scenario or the selective foregrounding of ECONOMIC PRAGMATISM helps to “construct national identities, heighten political spectacles and clarify political decisions to facilitate the taking of a particular stance” especially in times of crisis and anxiety (Charteris-Black, 2005, p.205). The inherent power of these metaphorical evaluations in providing a concrete and accessible framework for 287 the evaluation of abstract political ideologies clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of the uncritical engagement of political and media texts. 6.3. Phase Two/Step Four of the IICM: Embodying a pictorial representation of the complex of metaphors in American and British media discourse (Grady, Taub & Morgan, 1996) In accordance to the inductive and empirical principles espoused by the IICM, the lexical item selected for analysis in this section will be the top lexical item from the most empirically-salient semantic domain from across all four broadsheets: Substances and Materials: Liquid_“Oil”. While Chapters 3-6 have addressed the detailed the key socio-political implications of the metaphor choices in the respective broadsheets, the resultant sprawling metaphorical complexes and their mutual interrelationships in their totality have not been adequately accounted for. Table 6.5 provides an aggregate view of the scale of metaphor type and token distributions across all four broadsheets: Table 6.5 – An aggregate overview of Metaphors Types and Token Distribution in British and American Broadsheets (NYT, WP, G, TT: Substances and Materials: Liquid_“Oil” Broadsheet Metaphor Types Metaphor Tokens NYT 51 110 WP 55 128 G 82 168 TT 60 130 Thus, an adaptation of Grady, Taub & Morgan’s (1996, p.181-187) notion of Primitive and Compound Metaphors serves as an attempt to address 288 the following difficulties that arise from the large scale application of conceptual metaphor theory to large representative corpora: • Firstly, the need to formulate a systematic model that organises the sprawling metaphorical complexes that often arise from large-scale discourse studies (e.g. Table 6.5 shows that there are 51 metaphor types and 110 metaphorical tokens mined from the NYT-corpus alone). The resultant diagrammatic depiction organises the range of conceptual metaphors into a coherent hierarchical framework. The hierarchical aspect of the representation in terms of frequency is reflected by the corresponding size of the circles. • Secondly, the delineation of metaphors into primitives and compounds enables the cross-cultural comparisons of complex metaphors. This is due to the fact that a direct inter-textual comparison of the metaphorical primitives (which tend to be more experientially embodied) enables the analyst to see the direct contextual and cultural influences that are bound by context and culture (Johansson Falck & Gibbs Jr, 2012, p.254). Hence, the following pictorial depictions in Figures 6.9-6.12 are essentially the diagrammatic equivalent of the analysis in Section 6.2.2. These diagrams provide the potential analyst with an overview of the complete range of conceptual keys, scenarios and conceptual metaphors mined through the IICM and their suggested interrelationships. As proposed by the IICM-framework, all these conceptual keys, scenarios and metaphors are 289 classified according to these four classifications: Structural Metaphors, Ontological Metaphors, Orientational/Spatial Metaphors and Image/Analogybased Metaphors. The corresponding size of the circles reflect the corresponding statistical salience of these metaphorical classifications for the lexical item under analysis: 290 [...]... spill 6. 2.2 .1 A comparative metaphorical representation: The oil spill Table 6. 2 embodies the range of image and contextual metaphors used in direct reference to the oil spill as a target domain: 278 Table 6. 2 An aggregate comparison of Analogy -Based Metaphors in British and American Broadsheets (NYT, WP, G, TT: Oil /“Damage”/ “History”/ “Rhetoric”/ “Environment”/ “Katrina”/ “9 /11 ”) – BP OIL SPILL TARGET... Analogy -Based metaphors associated with the target entity – and excludes generic Structural Metaphors, generic Ontological metaphors and Spatial/Orientational metaphors Thus, Tables 6. 2 -6. 5 provide an overview of the distribution of the Analogy -Based metaphors across all four broadsheets, revealing the dominant scenarios, conceptual metaphors and evaluative strands for each entity in the BP oil spill. .. stance to the American broadsheets While the American broadsheets contain the expected ideological oppositions in the metaphorical evaluation of the oil spill, the key focus remains on either the evocation of the moral accounting metaphor (in an effort to obtain a measure of justice and financial compensation from BP and the culpable parties) or on the investigation narrative (focusing on the inquiry procedures... broadsheets, the WP -corpus and the TT -corpus, tend to espouse a more economically-pragmatic stand that is more measured in its metaphorical evaluations A clear trend can be seen in the use of the idea of a CAR ACCIDENT as a source domain in both broadsheets The WP -corpus portrays the oil spill both as a NATURAL DISASTER (compounded by human error such as a tsunami, hurricane or earthquake) as well as a CAR ACCIDENT... once again clearly demonstrated, triangulating the findings from the previous IICM analysis Finally, the eight concordance lines in the TT -corpus with the node term “9 /11 ” conceptualises the oil spill in more measured terms (Figure 6. 4) This is seen in the way six of the eight concordance lines references the 9 /11 attacks in terms of the scale and unprecedented nature of the oil spill, rather than on the. ..unabashed self-legitimisation by the Obama administration is invoked by producing group cohesion amongst the victims of the spill by defining the spill against the backdrop of the moral accounting metaphor, depicting the administration as an EFFECTIVE LEADER taking appropriate action, thus concealing the key facts pertaining to the true situation Fig 6. 2 Collocates for ‘9 /11 ’ (WP -corpus) in Sketch... that an in- depth comparative analysis of this metaphor category would facilitate a textured comparative analysis across all four corpora from Britain and America Tables 6. 2 -6. 5 provide an overview of the range of Analogy -Based metaphors mined across all five USAS domains from all seven empirically selected lexical items It is important to note that these tables only reflect the range of significant Analogy -Based. .. area of metaphorical analysis: 1 The efficiency of analysis by organising the dominant range of conceptual metaphors into a coherent relational framework 2 The facilitation of a comparative cross-cultural and intra-cultural analysis as the specific experiential embodiments in each context will be foregrounded through the specific choice of analogy -based metaphors A more detailed exposition of Grady... analysis of analogy -based metaphors in four salient USAS domains: Substances & Materials: Liquid/ Speech: Communicative/ Damaging and Destroying/ Green Issues The IICM advocates an inductive and empirical approach to the mining and analysis of conceptual keys, scenarios and metaphors in large representative corpora The resultant metaphors are subsequently divided into four categories: Structural Metaphors, ... COMPLEX NARRATIVE LEAKING WALLET UNFOLDING DRAMA - POLITICAL FIRESTORM It is interesting to note the common metaphorical evaluative threads involving the use of a series of landmark disasters (ranging from Hurricane Katrina, 9 /11 to other significant nuclear, man-made or large-scale natural disasters) as common source domains across all four broadsheets Interestingly, 279 the IICM manages to showcase the . ENVIRONMENTAL 9 /11 ). 2. The constant contextual parallels with Hurricane Katrina with respect to the Obama administration’s handling of the BP oil spill and the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane. resulted in two broad advantages in the area of metaphorical analysis: 1. The efficiency of analysis by organising the dominant range of conceptual metaphors into a coherent relational framework that the analysis is streamlined into two broad evaluative categories across both American and British media discourse: 1. The potentially nationalistic portrayal of the key players in the