COGNITIVE METAPHORS AS A MEANS FOR LANGUAGE DEMAGOGY IN CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN POLITICAL SPEECHES

Abstract

Cognitive political metaphorology combines together the traditional scientific potential of the old rhetoric and new hyperdynamic linguistic constructs, which are an adequate reflection of the fast-developing society. Research on political speech acts and analyses of its cognitive essence add a specific dimension to contemporary linguistics. Metaphors are a cognitive tool that coordinates cognitive structures such as perception, language, thinking, memory, action. The task of this research is to examine cognitive metaphors in Bulgarian political speeches. It aims to analise them as a linguistic component in a specific communicative situation, to explain them in terms of linguistic and mental ontology. The material for the research on the metaphors is taken from key media-covered speeches of political figures.