Discursive Interaction of Metaphor and Metonymy in English News Articles

The paper analyzes the discursive interplay between metaphor and metonymy in modern English news stories on the role of such mental processes in shaping the media discourse. The analysis adheres to an integrative approach that does not see metaphor and metonymy as separate rhetoric tools but as mutually dependent processes that work in news stories. The research also analyzes the notion of metaphtonymy, which captures the systematic overlap and interaction between metaphorical and metonymic mappings in news texts. The headlines and lead paragraphs selected from news outlets covering political, social, and economic events constituted the empirical material. Specific metaphor and metonymy patterns were identified and analyzed. These included metonyms that imply the use of person for institution, place for government, and event for result. The metaphorical frames included such patterns as politics is a game, political crisis is a disaster, governance is control. The findings reveal that metonymy generally serves to perform a referential grounding and assign agency enabling the complex institutional actors and processes to be represented in a condensed form. In its turn, metaphor offers evaluative and interpretative framing where the emotionally and culturally relevant source domains are projected onto the abstract political realities. Most importantly, the research indicates that meaning in news discourse is usually a product of the interplay of these mechanisms. Metonymy in most instances provides the discourse anchor on which metaphorical assessment is built. It leads to the condensed metaphoric organization that influences the audience creating the feeling of responsibility, urgency, and legitimacy. The article emphasizes that the discursive interaction of metaphor and metonymy performs crucial ideological and persuasive functions in news discourse. The analyzed news articles demonstrate how these mechanisms structure representation and evaluation of the events starting from the headlines. The research contributes to better understanding of figurative language in media texts and highlights the importance of integrated analytical approaches in contemporary discourse analysis.The paper analyzes the discursive interplay between metaphor and metonymy in modern English news stories on the role of such mental processes in shaping the media discourse. The analysis adheres to an integrative approach that does not see metaphor and metonymy as separate rhetoric tools but as mutually dependent processes that work in news stories. The research also analyzes the notion of metaphtonymy, which captures the systematic overlap and interaction between metaphorical and metonymic mappings in news texts. The headlines and lead paragraphs selected from news outlets covering political, social, and economic events constituted the empirical material. Specific metaphor and metonymy patterns were identified and analyzed. These included metonyms that imply the use of person for institution, place for government, and event for result. The metaphorical frames included such patterns as politics is a game, political crisis is a disaster, governance is control. The findings reveal that metonymy generally serves to perform a referential grounding and assign agency enabling the complex institutional actors and processes to be represented in a condensed form. In its turn, metaphor offers evaluative and interpretative framing where the emotionally and culturally relevant source domains are projected onto the abstract political realities. Most importantly, the research indicates that meaning in news discourse is usually a product of the interplay of these mechanisms. Metonymy in most instances provides the discourse anchor on which metaphorical assessment is built. It leads to the condensed metaphoric organization that influences the audience creating the feeling of responsibility, urgency, and legitimacy. The article emphasizes that the discursive interaction of metaphor and metonymy performs crucial ideological and persuasive functions in news discourse. The analyzed news articles demonstrate how these mechanisms structure representation and evaluation of the events starting from the headlines. The research contributes to better understanding of figurative language in media texts and highlights the importance of integrated analytical approaches in contemporary discourse analysis.