The “Belgian Tetrisâ€: assessing the political impact of metaphors on citizens’ perception of, and attitude towards Belgian federalism

The fact that “We live by metaphors†has now been widely accepted by the scholarly community of linguists around the world after the seminal work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980). Metaphors are not only figures of speech serving mere rhetorical purposes but also and above all powerful conceptual tools to depict abstract and complex realities through familiar domains. Metaphors can thus be found in our daily life, including our political life. Yet in this domain, the political impact of metaphors is often taken for granted. Therefore a more global understanding of what this political impact coul... Mehr ...