doi: 10.56294/sctconf2024.1173

REVIEW

Conceptual Metaphors and Image Schemas in the conceptualization of Neoliberalism and Socialism in Presidential Inauguration Speeches. An infometric approach

Metáforas conceptuales y esquemas de imagen en la conceptualización del Neoliberalismo y el Socialismo en los discursos de inauguración presidencial. Un enfoque infométrico

Sara Nidhya Camacho Estrada¹ *, Wilber Orlando Romero Villarroel¹ *, Edison Gerardo Llerena Medina¹ *, Luis Efraín Velasteguí López² *

¹Universidad Técnica de Ambato, Ambato, Ecuador.

²Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador, Ambato, Ecuador.

Cite as: Camacho Estrada SN, Romero Villarroel WO, Llerena Medina EG, Velasteguí López LE. Conceptual Metaphors and Image Schemas in the conceptualization of Neoliberalism and Socialism in Presidential Inauguration Speeches. An infometric approach. Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología - Serie de Conferencias. 2024; 3:.1173.  https://doi.org/10.56294/sctconf2024.1173

Submitted: 25-02-2024                   Revised: 03-06-2024                   Accepted: 30-09-2024                 Published: 01-10-2024

Editor: Dr. William Castillo-González

Corresponding author: Sara Nidhya Camacho Estrada *

ABSTRACT

Introduction: this study explores how neoliberalism and socialism are conceptualized through image schemas in political discourse. These conceptual frameworks are best analyzed using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, specifically its analytical tool of image schemas. The metaphorical structures identified in the analyzed texts reflect a polarized stance, particularly opposing right-wing ideologies. Neoliberalism is metaphorically framed as something negative, associated with darkness, evil, and positioned downward.

Objective: to analyze how neoliberalism and socialism are conceptualized in political discourse using image schemas.

Method: the study employed a bibliographic review to collect and analyze political texts, focusing on metaphorical language. Articles were selected based on relevance and discarded if they lacked clear metaphorical usage or did not align with the research focus. The analysis utilized the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify image schemas in the discourse.

Development: the study highlights that the conceptual metaphors present in political discourse shape public perception by framing neoliberalism as inherently negative, using metaphors of darkness and downward movement. Conversely, socialism is portrayed through positive metaphors, symbolizing light and upward movement. This metaphorical polarization reflects broader societal and political divisions, where language reinforces ideological opposition.

Conclusions: the study concludes that political discourse consistently uses conceptual metaphors to portray neoliberalism negatively and socialism positively. These metaphors contribute to reinforcing ideological divisions, emphasizing the role of language in shaping political perspectives. The objective of understanding these conceptualizations was met through the identification of recurring metaphorical patterns.

Keywords: Conceptual Metaphor; Image Schema; Political Discourse; Neoliberalism; Socialism; Polarization.

RESUMEN

Introducción: este estudio explora cómo se conceptualizan el neoliberalismo y el socialismo a través de esquemas de imagen en el discurso político. Estos marcos conceptuales se analizan mejor utilizando la Teoría de la Metáfora Conceptual, específicamente su herramienta analítica de esquemas de imagen. Las estructuras metafóricas identificadas en los textos analizados reflejan una postura polarizada, especialmente opuesta a las ideologías de derecha. El neoliberalismo se enmarca metafóricamente como algo negativo, asociado con la oscuridad, el mal y posicionado hacia abajo.

Objetivo: analizar cómo se conceptualizan el neoliberalismo y el socialismo en el discurso político utilizando esquemas de imagen.

Método: el estudio empleó una revisión bibliográfica para recopilar y analizar textos políticos, enfocándose en el lenguaje metafórico. Los artículos fueron seleccionados en función de su relevancia y se descartaron aquellos que carecían de un uso metafórico claro o que no se alineaban con el enfoque de la investigación. El análisis utilizó la Teoría de la Metáfora Conceptual para identificar los esquemas de imagen en el discurso.

Desarrollo: el estudio destaca que las metáforas conceptuales presentes en el discurso político moldean la percepción pública al enmarcar el neoliberalismo como inherentemente negativo, utilizando metáforas de oscuridad y movimiento hacia abajo. Por el contrario, el socialismo se presenta a través de metáforas positivas, simbolizando la luz y el movimiento ascendente. Esta polarización metafórica refleja divisiones sociales y políticas más amplias, donde el lenguaje refuerza la oposición ideológica.

Conclusiones: el estudio concluye que el discurso político utiliza consistentemente metáforas conceptuales para retratar el neoliberalismo de manera negativa y el socialismo de manera positiva. Estas metáforas contribuyen a reforzar las divisiones ideológicas, destacando el papel del lenguaje en la conformación de las perspectivas políticas. El objetivo de comprender estas conceptualizaciones se logró a través de la identificación de patrones metafóricos recurrentes.

Palabras clave: Metáfora Conceptual; Esquema de Imagen; Discurso Político; Neoliberalismo; Socialismo; Polarización.

INTRODUCTION

Conceptual metaphors contain a wide variety of schemas. In this paper, the study is focuses on image schemas (CONTAINER-PATH-FORCE). This conceptual pattern that come from bodily (sensory motor) and social experiences help to mentally structure perceptions and events.⁽¹⁾ In this context, the speeches of the former president Correa were chosen because of his clear left-wing position. He named it as ‘moderated socialism’, participatory democracy, or ‘21st Century Socialism’ . Correa uses many metaphorical strategies to communicate his position and makes arguments that appeal to the working class’s ideology and cultural background. His discourses focus on contrasting the county’s negative past with an appeal to a better future. This idealistic future centers on Correa himself and his unique ability to lead the country. A great majority of Ecuadorian citizens are deeply influenced by his position because of his arguments. In fact, the results of the previous three elections show Correa have an overwhelmingly positive support.

Taking these three presidential periods into account, in section 2 of this study, there is a description of conceptual metaphor theory, image schemas and political discourse. In section 3, an explanation of the method and data analysis is presented. In addition, three research questions are included to guide this study: 1) How does Rafael Correa conceptualize neoliberalism and socialism from the image schemas perspective? 2) What are the most relevant concepts under the image schemas classification? 3) How does his ideological, cultural perspective and experience influence the source and target domains chosen? In section 4, a socio-cognitive approach to metaphor is followed to analyze conceptual metaphors. All the metaphorical expressions are classified according to image schemas which have been classified as: LIGHT-DARK, GOOD-BAD, UP-DOWN. Finally, section 5 presents the conclusions and areas for further research based on the results found throughout the course of the metaphorical analysis.

Theorical framework

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Conceptual metaphors are placed within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics. Lakoff and Johnson⁽¹⁾ identify different types of metaphors depending on their cognitive functions. In this study, we will be looking at non-structural or image metaphors as when, for example, we evaluate a concept by assigning a positive or negative value to it—GOOD IS UP, BAD IS DOWN”; Appearing very frequently in the political discourses analyzed are the images of ‘LIGHT IS UP’ representing socialism and ‘DARK IS DOWN’ representing neoliberalism.

Semino⁽²⁾, based on Lakoff and Johnson’s⁽¹⁾ seminal work, explains metaphor as “systematic sets of correspondences, or ‘mappings’, across conceptual domains, whereby a ‘target’ domain (e.g. our knowledge about arguments) is partly structured in terms of a different ‘source’ domain (e.g. our knowledge about war)”. In the same way, Sullivan, (2013:6) claims that “in CMT that metaphor occurs when conceptual structures from one domain of experience is applied to a different, usually more abstract, domain. The conceptual metaphor itself is named using the format target domain as the source domain, such as in PROPERTIES ARE POSSESSIONS”. As mentioned before, these definitions help to understand ‘one thing in terms of another’ which makes processing more abstract information (the target domain) easier by relating it with a more concrete, physical one (the source domain). It is important to mention that as a target domain is understood in terms of a source domain, it never works the other way round.

For example, Correa in his first discourse said, “This level has reached Latin America in the dark and sad neoliberal night.” Where THE NEOLIBERAL SYSTEM IS NIGHT/DARKNESS. Consequently, NEOLIBERALISM (target domain) is understood in terms of (source domain) NIGHT/DARKNESS. This negative description is used to conceptualize neoliberalism as something dangerous, unknown, unclear and not reliable. These concepts are related to darkness because it blocks up to see because of its lack of transparency. In the following section, image schemas are developed.

Image Schemas

Starting from a general definition, Kövecses⁽³⁾ claims that “image schemas are based on our most basic physical experiences and are inevitable in making sense of the world around us”. Kövecses⁽³⁾ expands this definition by saying that “the resulting image schemas (container, source–path–goal, force, etc.) provide meaning for much of our experience either directly (for literal concepts) or indirectly (in the form of conceptual metaphors)”. In the same way Sharifian⁽⁴⁾ states that “image schemas are regarded as recurring cognitive structures which establish patterns of understanding and reasoning, often elaborated by extension from knowledge of our bodies as well as our experience of social interactions”. Metaphors under these schemas describe entities and substances related to space as a container and orientation

An important detail claimed by Lakoff⁽⁵⁾ is that image schemas are visual, auditory, and olfactory and conform images of how forces act upon us. Also, Rhodes and Lawler⁽⁶⁾ in Lakoff⁽⁷⁾, mention sound images, and Talmy⁽⁸⁾ in Lakoff⁽⁹⁾ adds force images. Furthermore, image schemas are kinesthetic in nature. They have to do with the sense of spatial locations, movement, shape, etc. independent of any particular sensory modality. The definitions given by the authors are related to how speakers communicate a message in a speech to get their objective in an audience. Similarly, Lakoff⁽¹⁰⁾ says that different image schemas and transformations appear frequently in people’s everyday thinking, reasoning, and imagination which means that each image conceptualizes the things people see, hear or experience. Image schemas are thus a recurring structure within our cognitive processes which establish patterns of understanding and reasoning. It is claimed that these image schemas are conformed by our bodily interactions, from linguistic experience, and from our historical context.materials delivery in the process of training interaction using an online mode.

As an illustration, Lakoff⁽¹⁰⁾ describes some “image schemas that include UP-DOWN and FRONT-BACK schemas. These schemas provide particularly important evidence for the claim that abstract reasoning is a matter of two basic processes: (a) reason based on a bodily experience, and (b) metaphorical projections from concrete to abstract domains”. In the same way, Johnson⁽¹¹⁾ in Lakoff⁽⁵⁾, argues that “image schemas structure our experience pre-conceptually, corresponding image-schematic concepts exist. There are metaphors mapping image schemas into abstract domains preserving their basic logic, and the metaphors are not arbitrary, but are themselves motivated by structures inhering in everyday bodily experience”. An example in Correa’s third speech of a metaphor classified under the image schemas group is: “SOCIALISM IS LIGHT”, where LIGHT is defined as something GOOD, so it is UP. As consequence, socialism is conceptualized as something positive in the ex-president’s speech.

Semino⁽²⁾ summarizes the concept of image schemas and metaphors very clearly: target domains correspond to areas of experience that are abstract, complex, unfamiliar, subjective or poorly delineated such as time, emotion, life or death while source domains correspond to concrete, simple, familiar, physical and well-delineated experiences, such as motion, bodily phenomena, physical objects and so on. Keeping this in mind the author adds that “within CMT these experiences are captured in terms of simple, skeletal mental representations known as ‘image schemas’”. Most of the information contained in a metaphor is related to a person’s experience. As a result, a person’s events are mental processes; most of the situations around him or her count as mental representations, where image schemas play an important role when understanding and interpreting information.

Johnson⁽¹¹⁾ has a specific position about conceptual metaphors of image schemas. The author describes them as a subclass of conceptual images which arise from recurrent perceptual and motor experiences during cognitive development. The image schema list proposed by Johnson appears in Lakoff⁽⁵⁾ as “image schema transformation”. Thus:

1. First, a) CONTAINMENT/CONTAINER, PATH/SOURCE-PATH-GOAL, LINK, PART-WHOLE, CENTER-PERIPHERY, BALANCE. b) FORCE: ENABLEMENT, BLOCAGE, COUNTERFORCE, ATRACTION, COMPULSION, RESTRAINT, REMOVAL, DIVERSION.

2. Second, a) CONTACT, SCALE, NEAR-FAR, SURFACE, FULL-EMPTY, PROCESS, CYCLE, ITERATION. MERGING, MATCHING, SPLITTING, OBJECT, COLLECTION, [MASS-COUNT], [SUPERIMPOSITION]. b) UP-DOWN, FRONT-BACK.

3. Third, a) INANIMATE MOTION, ANIMATE MOTION, SELF MOTION, CAUSED MOTION, LOCOMOTION.

Political discourse

In reference to argumentation, Ritchie⁽¹²⁾ claims that “metaphors come out of our clearly delineated and concrete experiences and allow us to construct highly abstract and elaborate concepts, like that of an argument”. These arguments use metaphors as tools to get the audience’s attention and acceptance. As Charterist-Black⁽¹³⁾, states “metaphor is effective in realizing the speaker’s underlying goal of persuading the hearer because of its potential for moving us”. This process is enriched with cultural aspects derived from people’s backgrounds, a fact that helps ideas to be transmitted. Likewise, what motivates or moves an audience is the use of touching, powerful and sad stories. Most of the time these stories are based on personal or group experiences. Charterist-Black⁽¹³⁾, mentions that “this is why the critical part of metaphor analysis is identifying the propositions that underlie the cognitive basis of metaphor and reveal the intentions of speaker” When a metaphor is identified in a discourse, it has to be carefully analyzed because of the cognitive factors that are implicit in them; most of the persuasive details can be revealed as well as the quality of the discourse Charteris- Black.⁽¹³⁾ Also mentions that a metaphor frequently hides the persuasive intention which is based on the conceptual metaphor to convince others about their thinking.

Correspondingly, Sharifian⁽⁴⁾ argues that from the perspective of Cultural Linguistics, political discourse is not free from cultural influence and that it is, in fact, heavily entrenched in cultural conceptualizations. This is one of the main reasons a speaker works multidisciplinary schemas into the context of a speech. Furthermore, the author says that “cultural cognition draws on a multidisciplinary understanding of the collective cognition that characterizes a cultural group”. Correa deftly manages these characteristics because of his background and knowledge of the multi-diverse cultural context in Ecuador as he has experienced living in different regions of the country among different ethnic groups. Another important aspect about political discourse claimed by Semino⁽²⁾ is the political domain that is generally constructed metaphorically which includes: situation, problems, causes, solutions, plans and policies, the future from a positive and negative perspective, types of participants, the in-group and out-group and political actions. Notably, all of these details have been included in the president’s speeches when describing all the negative decisions and actions made by the out-group against the in-group as well as the bright future that will be brought by socialism based on the new policies, political actions and honesty that will rule the nation according to his descriptions.

Neoliberalism and socialism

Neoliberalism and Socialism are identified as two antithetical terms. They have different ideologies and movements, and divide political thought and action.⁽¹⁴⁾ These opponents could be placed from central to extremes, but their positions are clear enough to determine specific essence of each position. In the same context, Lakoff and Turner⁽¹⁵⁾ argues that conservatives and liberals split the political world into opposing camps, based on different ideals of family life, specifically the “strict father” model for conservatives and the “nurturant parent” model for liberals. Besides, the authors, make an important clarification about these two tendencies in Politics. It is about the version of family-based morality a political group or people use. These political positions respond to cultural and historical events, economical situations, experience and necessities in a context. There are some functions in language. One of them is for communicating the purposes such as arguing, stating, suggesting, expressing feeling, refusing, and many others.⁽¹⁶⁾ In particular discussion, Thwaite⁽¹⁷⁾, suggests some functions of the language, among others are such as interactional function, personal function, and heuristic function. Interactional function is the function of language for interacting with other people. IT is similar to the argument by Bailey & Lee⁽¹⁸⁾ Facebook account can be used for social purposes like interaction. Some of them are as follows:

In this line, the kind of speech performed can become a powerful tool when trying to convince an audience. It is important to build a persuasive and well supported speech. Metaphors are part of this construction. They influence on people’s views about social life and political aspects; they also influence on an audience’s behavior and beliefs. Lakoff⁽⁹⁾, as cited in Figar⁽¹⁹⁾ claims “the locus of metaphor is not in language ... but in the way we conceptualize one mental domain in terms of another”. It is more important how an idea is interpreted in terms of another one; how something is said rather than what is said.

Both political positions try to legitimate themselves and delegitimize the others through their speeches. The concept of Us vs. Them becomes fundamental in an ideological polarization process.⁽²⁰⁾ Norms and values are used as part of an ideal society and well performed arguments. they focus on logical (logos), ethical (ethos), and emotional (pathos) aspects that will persuade people in favor or against an ideological group.

Ideology

Ideology as part of a sociological and political framework is defined as a system of beliefs and a form of social cognition. It involves knowledge, opinions, attitudes, norms and values which are shares by social collectivities. As consequence, it does not exist personal ideologies, but collective ones because they are shared beliefs. In the same way as there are not personal languages.⁽²⁰⁾ This conceptual description includes personal and collective experiences, both depend on each other and grow together in the construction of different mental representations, in this specific case shared ideas or ideologies.

An important base for ideology is claimed by, Semino⁽²⁾ who says that thought and language are representations of views; and in the same line, Ritchie⁽¹²⁾, states that “no political ideology addresses the main issue head-on. In fact, many ideologies argue that matters of personal or cultural meaningfulness are secondary or to be addressed later”. According to this position, the author highlight that some political ideologies do not take into account the cultural factors. This action creates a division in a social group which is the starting point to create a polarized society or group.

An example of this situation is what Correa said in his first speech; “The darkest hour is the closest to the dawn, and the disastrous neoliberal cycle has definitely been overcome by the people of our America” meaning “NEOLIBERALISM IS DARKNESS THAT DESTROYS THE COUNTRY”. The purpose in the president’s discourses when picturing neoliberalism as something dark is to stand out all the possible negative arguments that could arise from his speech in order to convince people to agree with his socialist position. Correa presents his arguments using different metaphors in his discourses which have been successfully adapted to the context. These concepts have been planted in people’s mind’s forming a connection; as Kövecses⁽³⁾ claimed, from a cognitive point of view “a concept is assumed to be represented in the mind by a number of other concepts that form a coherent whole, a functional domain, that is, a mental frame”. As soon as this mental schema sets in one´s mind, right then a leader has the opportunity to control the crowds who follow a pre-stablished ideology.

Polarization

Ideology is a central element that builds polarization. Along the same line, discourses are created to shape peoples’ ideologies and attitudes in order to be reproduced in society. Polarization is represented in the (positive) Us or in-group vs. (negative) Them or out-group. It affects structures at all levels of discourses and its communicative contexts such as: metaphors, arguments, images, lexical items, among other.⁽²⁰⁾ These descriptions are always positive poor the in-group which creates a well performed story. They usually describe themselves as peaceful, virtuous, fair, legal, honest and so on while the out-group is described as aggressive, unfair, illegal, corrupt, and so on. This is a starting point to learn and later to make them reproduce this kind of discourse.

Neoliberalism and Socialism

In this context, as manipulation grows “otherization” does too. It takes the form of a common enemy found in a historical context, empowered by the experiences, culture and ideology which must be attacked. Metaphors are one of the tools used in a discourse to confront a common enemy ‘the others’. In reference to this Romero-Trillo⁽²¹⁾ argues “the most important victory of a leader is to arrive at the ‘‘otherization’’ of the enemy in what is called ‘‘membership categorization analysis’’: the clear-cut definition of the line between we/our and they/their etc.”. The objective of creating a division is vital in a political context because it makes easier for them to gain power and domination. The leader becomes stronger and tries to control as much as he/she can, which is dangerous because a dictatorship system could be implanted.

According to this Zizek⁽²²⁾ the creation of two groups means that one is recognized as part of a social body, while the other represents the enemy for that system. These ‘enemies’ become “representatives” or standing in for a new social group. The result of this, as the author mentions, is that as soon as minorities (enemy) become a single group with a cultural form of marginal identities, the very mention of capitalism incites accusations and confrontation. These groups are part of the so called multiculturalism which is not a direct form of racism but rather a form of absolute otherization. When people start to stereotype other people, they start to separate or classify others.

Diamond⁽²³⁾, as cited by Romero-Trillo⁽²¹⁾, claims ‘‘Power is not just the ability to coerce someone or to get them to do something against their will, but rather, it is the ability to interpret events and reality and have this interpretation accepted by others’’. In fact, polarization is a valuable element in ideology which guides people´s attitudes towards others as mentioned before. Besides, to reach this point, persuasion takes place in the ideological adding process. As soon as a significant group joins to support a leader, he or she gains power and can dominate and even abuse depending on the context. On the other hand, the other, the enemy or the scapegoat is persecuted in different ways in order to eliminate the one who is an opponent.

METHOD

The speeches chosen to be analyzed in this study were the ones that took place in Rafael Correa’s three presidential inaugurations.

1. The presidential inauguration speech that took place on January 15th, 2007, and has 4 710 words.

2. The presidential inauguration speech that took place on August 10th, 2009, and has 7 959 words.

3. The presidential inauguration speech that was given on May 24th, 2013, and has 13 189 words.

A total number of 15 metaphors were identified following Sharp⁽²⁴⁾ identification method by which the target domains NEOLIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM, as well as all expressions belonging to the same semantic field were searched for. The metaphors were next classified into three categories according to image schemas: LIGHT-DARK, GOOD-BAD, UP-DOWN.

This study focuses on metaphors as a way of organizing a conceptual structure within cognitive linguistics as part of political discourse analysis.⁽²⁵⁾ The identification of targets and domains and the explanation of the mappings behind each metaphor are described in the text as well as in charts. The quantitative data has been included in different tables below. These tables show the percentages of each schema per discourse.

This methodological approach follows Charterist-Black’s⁽¹³⁾ idea that “qualitative judgments are necessary initially to establish what will be counted as metaphor. Then quantitative analysis can allow us to measure the frequency of metaphor in a corpus and to estimate the extent to which a particular metaphorical sense of word form has become conventionalized”. The process followed to analyze Correa’s political discourses was organized in five steps:

1. An extensive and intensive reading of the texts to identify metaphors that conceptualize the idea of socialism and neoliberalism took place.

2. The identification in the metaphors of the source domains and the correspondence or mapping with the target domains was made following Sharp⁽²⁴⁾ “metaphorical pattern analysis” of target domains. It consisted of selecting and searching for vocabulary related directly to target and source domain concepts, then, identifying cases where those words were embedded in metaphorical expressions and, thus, the metaphorical mappings that link the target and source domain.

3. The corresponding sections of the texts were translated from Spanish to English.

4. Metaphors were classified into containing image schemas (LIGHT/DARK – GOOD/BAD – UP/DOWN –CONTAINER – EMBODIED - PERCEPTION)

5. The relation between cultural and ideological background of the metaphors was identified and described in the analysis.

DEVELOPMENT

The metaphorical conceptualization of Neoliberalism

In this section, the metaphors that correspond to image schemas are explained based on the following definitions. Sharifian⁽⁴⁾ considers image schemas as recurring cognitive structures which establish patterns of understanding and reasoning, often related to our bodies and experience. Consequently, image schemas are classified according to mental images (physical embodied or social experience), light-dark, up-down, good-bad, container and embodied and perception.

NEOLIBERALISM IS DARKNESS THAT PUTS THE COUNTRY DOWN

(D.1.1) Latin America has reached that level in the dark and sad neoliberal night

NEOLIBERALISM IS DARKNESS THAT DESTROYS THE COUNTRY

(D1.2) The darkest hour is the closest to the dawn, and the disastrous neoliberal cycle has been overcome by the people of our America.

Examples 1 and 2 describe neoliberalism as something evil, dark, and sad. All negative consequences during the neoliberal period are linked to the political, social and economic problems. This description fits within the concept of time because the night is over and the dawn is coming which means the ending of a cycle and the starting of a new one. As consequence, neoliberalism is the night which is over.

NEOLIBERALISM IS A CONTAINER THAT PUTS THE COUNTRY DOWN

(D.1.3) Congratulating a finance minister for the excellent economic policy, when it destroys jobs. It is like congratulating a chef for having burned the food and having paid for the suppliers too much.

NEOLIBERALISM IS A CONTAINER FULL OF SECRETS

(D2.4) “Technical” secrecy; no one, for decades, would have been able to uncover this pot of crickets.

Examples 3 and 4 show that neoliberalism had a well-structured system that contained all the secret decisions made, decisions that have seriously affected the political and economic situation in the country, secrets that have been well covered for decades and that have been difficult to bring to light. This description fits with Pandora’s box and the dangers that comes up when opening it.

NEOLIBERALISM IS EMBODIED IN THE COUNTRY AS A TUMOR.

(D2.5) But to eradicate forever the structural causes that make poverty possible.

NEOLIBERAL POLITICIANS ARE EMBODIED IN GARBAGE.

(D.1.6) The Ecuadorians already condemned the actors and authors to the garbage dump of history.

Examples 5 and 6 describe the neoliberal system as deeply corrupt. It is conceptualized as a tumor that must be removed to stop poverty. The image of a tumor and corruption cause negative thoughts, rejection in the audience. Additionally, neoliberalism is described as garbage which is thrown to the dump. It is a symbolic way of judging neoliberals and condemning them for their crimes. The idea is that only righteous individuals (the socialists) have the power to judge the unrighteous ones (the neoliberals).

FIRE IS A PUNISHMENT TOOL – DOWN

(D3.7) Stay alert, before I am taken to the SIP or to the CIDH, call to Torquemada to burn me in the bonfire.

In metaphor 7, fire is conceptualized as a tool used to punish and to purify people from sin. In this context has a negative connotation because it is a sin to be against the neoliberal system in this context. Neoliberalism is seen as a torturing and frightening system, so it is DOWN.

The metaphorical conceptualization of Socialism

The metaphors that conceptualize socialism are also presented as image schemas.

Image Schema.

Following the same system, these schemas are classified according to mental images (physically embodied), such as LIGHT-DARKNESS, GOOD-BAD, UP-DOWN, schemas.

DEMOCRACY IS LIGHT, NEOLIBERALISM IS DARK

(D1.8) The resistance of some traditional political forces has given way to a consensus for acceptance of our project without having mediated any dark or underground, as the eternal soothsayers of disaster are already proclaiming.

SOCIALISM IS LIGHT, NEOLIBERALISM IS DARKNESS

(D3.9) But the darkest moment of the night is also the closest to the dawn, and a new Ecuador has awakened.

KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING IS LIGHT, IGNORANCE IS DARKNESS

(D2.10) From Alfaro, we vindicate the slogan of a country freed from ecclesiastic ties, of ignorance and obscurantism.

In examples 8, 9 and 10, socialism is described as the light that has illuminated people towards the path of knowledge. Religion is conceptualized as a neoliberal tool to control the country because it keeps people ignorant and oppressed. Besides, neoliberalism is represented as darkness and ignorance while socialism represents knowledge and light just like the day is and the coming future drawn in the speech.

SOCIALISM IS GOOD, HUMANIZED WHILE NEOLIBERALISM IS BAD, DEHUMANIZED

(D1.11) With regard to human labor – a fundamental point that must characterize the new economic policies - which must differentiate the socialism of the XXI century from that long and sad neoliberal night.

SOCIALISM IS GOOD/HONEST/PASSIONATE. NEOLIBERALISM IS BAD.

(D1.12) We keep on looking for the best men and women who, with clean hands, lucid minds and burning hearts for the Homeland, lead the different state institutions.

In example 15, some people who are in jail are victims of the neoliberal system. These people have committed crimes because of the crisis and necessity. As a consequence, socialism gives them strength to keep on fighting injustice, as well as hope to stop loneliness and abandonment. All the negative consequences are assigned to the neoliberal system.

In the present study, the 65 metaphors found are classified into three categories. All of these metaphors are related to the target domain NEOLIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM. This quantitative classification shows the percentages or weight each category has in each discourse as follows:

Table 1. Metaphors per speech
Discourse	Number of words	Image Schemas	Percentage of metaphors per discourse
1.- 15/01/2009	4,710	8	53,4 %
2.- 10/08/2013	7,959	4	26,6 %
3.- 24/05/2015	13,189	3	20 %
Total metaphors	25,858	15	100 %

Image schemas are metaphors that represent cognitive structures that establish patterns of understanding and reasoning.⁽⁴⁾ These mental representations are focused on describing neoliberalism as dark, bad and down. The president appeals imagery to provide his audience with a vivid mental experience related to what people see, hear or experience⁽¹⁰⁾ in order to root negative emotions toward his political enemies, right-wing groups. Meanwhile, Correa describes his own political views, socialism, using positive language, light, an upward direction (e.g. implying heaven) and good. He uses this language to reinforce the idea that he will rescue the country from poverty, oppression and inequity.

In general, the ex-president reduces the use of metaphors related to socialism and neoliberalism from the first discourse to the third discourse as follows: in the first discourse, Correa uses 8 metaphors of the 15 that represent 53,4 %. In the second one, 4 metaphors representing 26,6 %, and in the last discourse 3 metaphors representing 20 %. He moved from a very deep ‘otherization’ concept in his first discourse towards a report about how he has cleaned up the country from corruption in the second discourse; to end up with a plan to continue with his revolutionary socialist system in the last speech. However, Correa maintains the idea of attacking neoliberalism and enhancing socialism. Furthermore, the president changes the tone of the discourses from very formal and combative in the first discourse to informal and aggressive in the last discourse.

Table 2. Metaphors based on image schemas
Categories	D.1 15/01/2007	D.2 10/08/2009	D.3 24/05/2013	Total	%
Light-dark	3	1	1	5	33,33 %
Good-bad	2	1	1	4	26,66 %
Up-down	1	0	0	1	6,66 %
Container	1	1	0	2	13,33 %
Embodied	1	1	0	2	13,33 %
Perception	0	0	1	1	6,66 %
Total	8	4	3	15	100 %
Percentage	53,33 %	26,66 %	20 %	100 %

The image schema table shows that of the 15 metaphors found in the three discourses, 8 (53,33 %) are in the first discourse, 4 (26,66 %) are in the second discourse, and 3 (20 %) are in the last discourse. As can be seen, more metaphors are used in the first discourse than in the second and third. Similarly, there are 5 (33,33 %) metaphors related to light-dark and 4 (26,66 %) related to good-bad. This means that Correa’s speeches focus more on these two areas in order to appeal to the religious and historical background of Ecuadorians. More specifically, metaphors based on image schemas describe neoliberalism as bad, dark, nefarious, despaired and evil. Neoliberalism is represented as a container that destroys the country, embodies poverty and as a tool used to dominate people. In short, neoliberalism is represented as an enemy. Socialism is conceptualized as the hero that rescues the country from exploitation and slavery. This hero is represented by positive language such as upward movement, light, hope, goodness and honesty.

A similar applicable situation is described by Zizek⁽²²⁾ about the ‘otherization’ process which was applied in Venezuela, he claims “Chavez is not including the excluded in a pre-existing liberal-democratic framework; he is, on the contrary, taking the “excluded” dwellers of favelas as his base and then reorganizing political space and political forms of organization so that the latter will “fit” the excluded...”. In fact, Correa in his speeches mentions that “he would reach his objectives under the shadow of Alfaro and Bolivar” which is similar to The Bolivarian political system adopted by Chavez. Following this line of thought, Correa focuses on every excluded group, for example, people who were in jail, the working class, victims of the holiday banks, and so on. This is one of the reasons his speeches contain touching metaphors to persuade his audience.

CONCLUSIONS

This study aimed to identify and analyze the conceptualization of neoliberalism and socialism in Rafael Correa’s inauguration speeches. The results show a wide variety of metaphors organized into image schemas, which helped answer the research questions. Correa conceptualizes neoliberalism negatively, associating it with darkness and evil, while socialism is described positively, as light and goodness. Additionally, in his speeches, he establishes a distinction between his group, represented as the “good” (socialism), and the “others” (neoliberalism), who are seen as enemies.

Using metaphors such as LIGHT-DARK, GOOD-BAD, and UP-DOWN, Correa reinforces his political ideology, presenting socialism as a necessary revolution to move from the “darkness” of neoliberalism to the “light” of socialism. These metaphors make it easier for the audience to understand and visualize the content of his speeches, generating a persuasive effect. His left-wing stance is evident in his narrative, where neoliberalism is depicted as something to be fought against, and socialism as the solution for change.

Further research

Regarding further research, in the same line, it would be interesting to compare and contrast right wing versus left wing speeches through the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). It could provide another perspective of how a conservative party describes socialism. A correlated study could be taken as part of these comparative and contrastive study by focusing on body language from a contextualized cultural perspective. It may give more facts about interpreting real people’s thoughts and intentions when giving a political speech.

Finally, an analysis of the propaganda used by these two groups when in campaigns could give very interesting data, so that if these three studies were combined, they could provide a very effective and more realistic vision of each group’s position during a political process. The formation and development process in a political campaign until reaching political positions can reveal the evolution of a candidate or group.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Dr. Isabel Margarida Ribeiro de Oliveira Duarte for giving me the opportunity to do my research stay in the Porto Universidade. Her guidance helped me in all the time in my doctoral research training and to write this article.

FINANCING

The authors received no funding for the development of this research.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION

Conceptualization: Sara Camacho Estrada.

Data curation: Wilber Orlando Romero Villarroel.

Formal analysis: Edison Gerardo Llerena Medina.

Research: Sara Camacho Estrada.

Methodology: Wilber Orlando Romero Villarroel.

Project Administration: Edison Gerardo Llerena Medina.

Resources: Efraín Velasteguí López.

Software: Sara Camacho Estrada.

Supervision: Wilber Orlando Romero Villarroel.

Validation: Edison Gerardo Llerena Medina.

Visualization: Efraín Velasteguí López.

Writing - original draft: Sara Camacho Estrada.

Writing - revision and editing: Wilber Orlando Romero Villarroel.