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In:Metaphor, Nation and Discourse
Edited by Ljiljana Šarić and Mateusz-Milan Stanojević
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 82] 2019
► pp. 287–320

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Chapter 11
How to do things with metaphors

The prison of nations metaphor

 | University of Oslo
Published online: 20 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.82.12sar
Abstract
This chapter examines the prison of nations metaphor in South Slavic online sources, focusing particularly on its use and functions in contemporary Croatian discourse as reflected in the Croatian Web Corpus hrWaC. Assuming that certain metaphors in discourse are used consciously and deliberately, and making use of the notions of metaphor recontextualization and recycling, the chapter examines the evaluative force of the metaphor and its strategic use. The metaphor is shown to have different local functions (e.g., persuasion and delegitimization) and to be a shared resource for enacting everyday nationalism within political discourse generally and in the discourse of the political Right in particular.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.The metaphor’s origin and discourse history
  • 4.The dungeon of nations in the Croatian Web Corpus hrWaC
    • 4.1The frequency of the metaphor and its distribution across genres in hrWaC
    • 4.2The metaphor’s target domains and context types
    • 4.3Findings from hrWaC in a broader context
  • 5.Some specific features of the metaphor’s use
  • 6.The functions of the prison of nations metaphor
  • 7.The dungeon of nations as a strategically-used evaluative metaphor in nation-building: Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
  • Online sources
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