This thesis investigates the effects of metaphoric framing on the evaluation of immigrants. More specifically, the effects of the metaphoric description of immigrants by politicians and media,...Show moreThis thesis investigates the effects of metaphoric framing on the evaluation of immigrants. More specifically, the effects of the metaphoric description of immigrants by politicians and media, equating them with viruses that are harmful for countries they enter. In line with the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and prior metaphor research, the hypothesis of this thesis is that heightening contamination concern of participants results in a more negative evaluation of immigrants. The study contributes to our understanding of the role of metaphor in public discourse, by showing the effects of metaphors on people’s reasoning, which could eventually undermine the position of immigrants.Show less
For decades an objective for linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence and/or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic...Show moreFor decades an objective for linguistics as a study field has been to assess the existence and/or strength of a link between language and thought. The present study focuses on crosslinguistic differences in observed intrusion of the spatial domain on the temporal domain by comparing English monolinguals toMan darin-English bilinguals. The main question in this study is whether the observed linguistic differences in the temporal domain between Mandarin and English bear influence on the conceptualization of this domain by the human mind. The present study comprises of two replicated experiments. When the two presently replicated experiments were conducted originally they drew deviating conclusions from one another regarding a similar question. While the results of the present study remain inconclusive, results hint at a global difference between Mandarin-English bilinguals’ conception of time and English native speakers’ conception of time based on language. This hint implicates that there might be an underlying effect of language on the mental representation of time. The second experiment has not revealed any implication on linguistic processing due to observed crosslinguistic differences.Show less
A key part of what made both media and people talk about Trump seems to be his effective use of metaphors. Trump’s promises to ‘drain the swamp’ and end the ‘flood of refugees’ made for excellent...Show moreA key part of what made both media and people talk about Trump seems to be his effective use of metaphors. Trump’s promises to ‘drain the swamp’ and end the ‘flood of refugees’ made for excellent newspaper headlines. Despite this potent use of metaphors, it has been stated that Donald Trump “rarely uses live metaphors in his speeches”. In this thesis, I disprove this claim by analysing three of Trump's speeches, and provide empirical data on Trump's use of metaphors by applying the MIPVU method on said speeches.Show less
