Metaphor-based zeugmas in web-based promotional tourism discourse: A formal-functional study

Nazi Iritspukhova
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University

The article systematically examines metaphor-motivated zeugmatic constructions in web-based promotional tourism discourse, drawing on texts from the official destination websites of Georgia, the UK, and the USA. Employing a mixed-method research design, which combines quantitative data inspection and qualitative discourse analysis, the study identifies formal, functional, and positional peculiarities of zeugmas in the analysed material. These findings corroborate, enrich, and challenge prevailing assumptions in contemporary scholarly literature on zeugma and metaphor (Lanham 1991; Steen 2016; Tartakovsky and Shen 2023). The paper highlights that metaphor-motivated zeugmas represent another form of deliberate metaphor, thereby broadening the scope of its manifestation patterns. Furthermore, the study reveals that such zeugmas are often strategically used at key points in promotional texts to frame and emphasise essential messages. These insights may provide valuable guidance for marketers in developing comprehensible, impactful, and emotionally resonant promotional content, which is essential in cross-cultural contexts of tourism promotion.

Publication history

Date received: 15 March 2024

Date accepted: 27 December 2024

Published online: 18 August 2025

Table of contents

Metaphors work best when the source and target domains are distinct. Zeugma is the ultimate infraction of this advice, in that it requires words to simultaneously have source- and target-domain meanings.

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