Publication details
A Cognitive Rhetoric Approach to National Identity: The Case of Taiwan (the ROC)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | A search for identity |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | Cognitive linguistics; metaphor; rhetoric |
| Description | The present paper adopts a Cognitive Linguistic approach to the national identity of Taiwan, addressing how metaphor serves as a rhetorical means by which the Nationalist presidents impose a Chinese mindset on their citizens. I in particular discuss some selected examples from Taiwan Presidential Corpus, a representative collection of Taiwanese presidential speeches. In the excerpts that I discuss, the presidents compare the country to a building constructed in the past, a building that needs reconstruction, and a plant while focalizing it root, which are all rhetorical strategies used by the Nationalist presidents in spreading their China-oriented political agenda. I conclude by claiming that Cognitive Linguistics, especially its most important research thread, the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor, can serve as a useful analytical framework in the investigation of national identity. |
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