Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This study attempted to examine the use of metaphor through a cognitive semantic lens in political discourse, specifically in recent American and Egyptian presidential inaugural speeches. The data consisted of four presidential inaugural addresses delivered by two American and two Egyptian presidents, namely, Barack Obama (2009) and Donald Trump (2017), Mohamad Morsi (2012) and Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi (2014). The study was primarily set to find out the most frequently used source domains of metaphor in the given inaugural addresses, to investigate the role metaphor plays in unveiling the speakers{u2019} ideological underpinnings, and to figure out the commonalities and differences between the speakers in question with regard to metaphor choice. It illustrated the importance of this political genre that prompted the speakers to resort to various persuasive strategies such as metaphors to convince the audience of their viewpoints and to impose their ideologies in times of political instability, domestic strife and economic uncertainty. Within Charteris-Black{u2019}s (2004) Critical Metaphor Analytic approach, the linguistic metaphorical realizations of four conceptual metaphors were identified, interpreted, and explained

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