“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. Metaphors of inclusion and exclusion in the British and Italian Fascist discourse of the 1930s


Abstract


Abstract - The rationale behind this work lies in the current economic, political, and social turmoil and the crisis of modern democracies. Adopting a Cognitive Linguistics standpoint combined with Functional Grammar, the paper looks at metaphorical instantiations of nationalistic issues in the British Union Fascist press. The paper aims to ascertain what metaphorical frames are used to convey the totalitarian perspective typical of Fascist discourse. Being part of a wider project, a further aim is to look at similar metaphorical expressions in a less known magazine of the Italian Fascism called Legioni e Falangi. Findings show the presence of universal conceptual framings across cultures but through different lexicalizations as far as some metaphors are concerned.


DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v19p287

Keywords: fascism; ideology; metaphor; frame; identity

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