Metaphor in the Discourse of Revolutionary Organisation November 17: Analysis Based on a Corpus of the Organisations Communiques.

Gogorosi, Eleni (2009) Metaphor in the Discourse of Revolutionary Organisation November 17: Analysis Based on a Corpus of the Organisations Communiques. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the use of metaphor by Revolutionary Organisation November 17 (17N). In particular, I am concerned with the way in which 17N used metaphor in 82 communiques to represent their victims and targets, the political situation Greece was perceived to be in, and the 17N organisation. My analysis is broadly based on Cognitive Metaphor Theory and placed within the context of studies on the rhetorical and persuasive functions of metaphor. I view metaphor as an important conceptual and linguistic device that reflects and shapes people's beliefs, attitudes, and world views. With the help of corpus analysis methods, I identify particular groups of metaphorical expressions in 17N's texts, which evoke specific source domains, and which are rhetorically exploited by the organisation. During the course of my analysis I use evidence from a background corpus, the Hellenic National Corpus, to support my claims on the frequency and use of metaphorical expressions in 17N's texts. Moreover, I take into account the immediate co-text and context of 17N's communiques as well as the broader historical and cultural context in which the communiques were produced. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of my data I argue that metaphor plays an important part in structuring 17N's rhetorical strategies of legitimising their course of action and de-legitimising the course of action of their opponents and targets. This is achieved mainly via the representation of the organisation's targets in a negative way and the construction of oppositions between 17N and their targets, which result in 17N being represented in a positive way. Moreover, a negative and pessimistic outlook on the Greek political situation of the time is presented in order to justify and legitimise 17N's violent intervention in the country's affairs. My analysis contributes to the study of metaphor in political discourse and in particular in the genre of terrorist organisations' communiques. Moreover, it achieves a deeper understanding of 17N's moral code and world view.