Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This dissertation looked at how satirical programs in Egypt and the United States of America employed conceptual metaphors and impoliteness strategies to criticize the status quo of the country. The programs chosen were Elbernameg, an Egyptian political satire show hosted by Bassem Youssef, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an American political satire show; the episodes chosen from both programs were from April, May and June, 2013. A quantitative and qualitative approach was used to answer the research questions about the similarities and differences between the two programs in their use of conceptual metaphors and impoliteness strategies. Lakoff and Johnson{u2019}s (1980) framework of conceptual metaphors and Culpeper{u2019}s Model of Impoliteness (1996, 2005) were used. The analysis showed that neither program used orientational metaphors. Besides, structural metaphors were more common than ontological metaphors with POLITICS AS ART, THE GOVERNMENT AS AN INCOMPETENT BUSINESS MODEL, THE PUBLIC AS AN OBJECT, RULING PARTY/POLITICIANS AS RACISTS, RULING PARTY AS A PARTNER, and POLITICS AS A COMPETITION being the most used in both programs. As for ontological metaphors, only personification was used in both programs and was used only once in each of the programs. The analysis also showed that the two programs were similar in their use of 2bald on record3, 2positive impoliteness3,2negative impoliteness3, and 2off-record3 superstrategies. In addition, neither program used 2mock politeness3 or 2withhold impoliteness3

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