Communicative Functions of Metaphorical Expressions in English And Uzbek Political Discourse

Abstract

Political discourse relies on linguistic choices that make complex programmes, conflicts and future projections intelligible to broad audiences. Metaphor is especially important because it organizes political concepts, evaluates events and influences listeners’ emotional orientation. This article examines the communicative functions of metaphorical expressions in contemporary English and Uzbek political discourse from a comparative cognitive-pragmatic perspective. The study combines Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Metaphor Analysis, discourse-oriented metaphor research and the principles of MIP/MIPVU. The empirical material is a purposive micro-corpus of official political speeches delivered in Uzbek and English between 2020 and 2024. The analysis shows that JOURNEY, BUILDING, STRUGGLE, BODY/HEALTH and movement-related schemas occur in both discourse traditions, but their communicative realization differs according to rhetorical purpose and institutional context. In the selected English texts, metaphor frequently diagnoses crisis, attributes responsibility and legitimizes difficult policy choices by representing government action as repair, rebuilding or a change of direction. In the Uzbek texts, journey and construction metaphors are particularly productive in representing reform as a collective, historically continuous process and in mobilizing solidarity around national development. The findings demonstrate that metaphor simultaneously simplifies abstract processes, frames evaluation, legitimizes decisions, constructs collective identity, activates emotion and projects desirable futures.