| dc.description.abstract | Cognitive Linguistics (CL) posits that a cognitive study of language is the study of patterns of conceptualization. It views metaphor as a powerful conceptual mapping at the core of human thought in which abstract concepts are structured in terms of conceptual domains of human experience. Embodiment emphasizes the importance of human experience, which manifests itself at the cognitive level though image schemas. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) has been extensively used to study conceptual metaphor. CMT, however, falls short of accounting for a full comprehension of metaphors. This study, therefore, combines the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis and the Image Schema Theory to investigate use of linguistic metaphors in political discourse in Kenya; to describe conceptual mappings of metaphors in political discourse in Kenya; to describe ideologies in metaphors in political discourse in Kenya; and to test the extent to which image schemas account for the comprehension of metaphors in political discourse in Kenya. To achieve these objectives, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative data research techniques. Document review of 120 newspaper leaves provided by the researcher was done by each of the four coders assisting the researcher in order to obtain verbatim recorded reports of 'metaphorical' expressions used by the politicians during the 2005 constitutional referendum campaigns. The study population thus comprised metaphorical expressions of those who campaigned for and those who campaigned against the 2005 Draft Constitution. Purposive sampling was employed to get the sample size. Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) was then used to isolate Metaphor Related Words (MRWs). Seventy five (75) metaphorical expressions were found. Thematic coding of categories was then done from which eight conceptual metaphor models and four basic image schemas were derived. Conceptual metaphor mappings were then done based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) while Image Schema Theory (IST) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) assisted in the discussion of image schemas and ideologies respectively. Quantitative data was analysed by calculating the percentage of metaphors that were accounted for by image schemas. The results demonstrate that six (6) ideologies pervade Kenya's political discourse. The study further demonstrates that embodied experience in political discourse in Kenya manifests itself through the CONTAINER, the PATH, the LINK and the SCALE basic image schemas. This study sheds light on the teaching and learning of the English language as conceptual metaphorization is displayed in word formation, in semantic changes and in collocation of words. The study also demonstrates how politicians conceptualize politics, which reveals their ideologies and their policies. The study further offers insight to scholars on how image schemas help in the comprehension of metaphors. The study concludes that metaphor is an important cognitive mechanism for the conceptualization of politics in Kenya; that metaphor and ideology are intertwined; that politics in Kenya is conceptualized in terms of the PATH, CONTAINER, LINK and SCALE image schemas; and that no single approach to meaning is suffice in the study of metaphor. | en_US |