Cover not available

Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 6:1 (2016) ► pp.134–155

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The role of metaphor and metonymy in framing terrorism

The case of the Beslan school siege in the Russian media

 | University of Pavia
Published online: 12 May 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.6.1.06pin
In this paper I analyze the role of metaphor and metonymy in framing conflict events. In particular, when framing a terrorist attack in media discourse these two linguistic elements are crucial for the interpretation of the event. The data from two Russian newspapers, the “Novaja Gazeta” and the “Rossijskaja Gazeta”, show how metaphorical and metonymical processes are used to promote a particular interpretation and modify the structure of the event itself.
References (36)
Bathia, M.V. (2005). Fighting words: Naming terrorists, bandits, rebels and other violent actors. Third World Quarterly, 26(1), 5–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benveniste, É. (1946/1966). Structure des relations de personne dans le verbe. In Problèmes de linguistique générale, 11 (pp. 225–236). Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benveniste, É. (1956/1966). La nature des pronomes. In Problèmes de linguistique générale, 1 (pp. 251–257). Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L., Pelosi, A., & Pedroso de Moraes Feltes, H. (2014). Metaphorizing violence in the UK and Brazil: A contrastive discourse dynamics study. Metaphor and Symbol, 291, 23–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus approaches to critical metaphor analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W., & Cruse, D.A. (2004). Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunn, E.W., Moore, M., & Nosek, B.A. (2005). The war of the words: How linguistic differences in reporting shape perceptions of terrorism. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, 5(1), 67–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London & New York: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferrari, A. (2007). Breve storia del Caucaso. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goossens, L. (2003). Metaphtonymy: The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in expressions for linguistic action. In R. Dirven & R. Pörings (Eds.), Metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast (pp. 349–378). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hellsten, I. (2000). Dolly: Scientific breakthrough or Frankenstein’s monster? Journalistic and scientific metaphors of cloning. Metaphor and Symbol, 15(4), 213–221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hellsten, I., & Renvall, M. (1997). Inside or outside of politics? Metaphor and paradox in journalism. Nordicom Review, 18(2), 41–47.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hughes, J. (2007). The Chechnya conflict: Freedom fighters or terrorists? Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 15(3), 293–311. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hűlsse, R., & Spencer, A. (2008). The metaphor of terror: Terrorism. Studies and the Constructivist Turn. Security Dialogue, 39(6), 571–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kagarlitsky, B. (2006). The anatomy of terror. Russian Politics and Law, 44(1), January-February, 81–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, V. (2000). Intended tropes and unintended metatropes in reporting on the war in Kosovo. Metaphor and Symbol, 15(4), 253–265. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A.W., Crenshaw, M., Post, J.M., & Victoroff, J. (2008). What should this fight be called? Metaphors of counterterrorism and their implications. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 8(3), 97–133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed.) (pp. 202–251). Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001). Metaphors of terror. Retrieved: [URL]
. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006). Thinking points. Communicating our American values and vision. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, L., & Ahrens, K. (2008). Ideological influence on building metaphors in Taiwanese presidential speeches. Discourse & Society, 19(3), 383–408. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Musolff, A. (2006). Metaphor scenarios in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 21(1), 23–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2012). Special feature. The study of metaphor as part of critical discourse analysis. Critical Discourse Studies, 9(3), 301–310. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norris, P., Kern, M., & Just, M. (2003). Framing terrorism. The news media, the government and the public. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Popovski, V. (2007). Terrorizing civilians as a “counter-terrorist operation”: Crimes and impunity in Chechenya. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 7(3), 431–447. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radden, G. (2000). How metonymic are metaphors? In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads (pp. 93–108). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F.J. (1997). Metaphor, metonymy and conceptual interaction. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 19(1), 281–295.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russel, J. (2005). Terrorists, bandits, spooks and thieves: Russian demonization of the Chechens before and since 9/11. Third World Quarterly, 26(1), 101–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Santulli, F. (2005). Le parole del potere, il potere delle parole: Retorica e discorso politico. Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tuman, J.S. (2003). Communicating terror: The rhetorical dimension of terrorism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vervaeke, J., & Kennedy, J.M. (1996). Metaphors in language and thought: Falsification and multiple meanings. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 11(4), 273–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Understanding cultures through their key words. English, Russian, Polish, German and Japanese. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, J. (1990). Politically speaking. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Cheshmedzhieva-Stoycheva, Desislava
2024. The Trojan Horse in Our Backyard. In Muslims in the Bulgarian and the British Press, ► pp. 173 ff. DOI logo
Mobarki, Yahya Abdu A. & Fahad Alzahrani
2024. Sports fanaticism as a disease: a Corpus-based study of metaphors in Saudi newspapers. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Al Ibrahim, Daleen & Yibin Shi
2020. Framing terrorism: A comparative content analysis of ISIS news on RT Arabic and Sky News Arabia websites. Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research 13:2 ► pp. 215 ff. DOI logo
Anna De Fina & Alexandra Georgakopoulou
2020. The Cambridge Handbook of Discourse Studies, DOI logo
Demjén, Zsófia & Elena Semino
2020. Metaphor, Metonymy and Framing in Discourse. In The Cambridge Handbook of Discourse Studies, ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue