摘要：

隐喻一直是专家学者们所关注的一个话题，其研究历史已长达两千多年。它不仅是一种语言现象，也是一种认知手段和思维方式；作为人们思考事物以及表达思想的基本方式，隐喻普遍应用于政治语篇中，美国总统就职演讲就是政治语篇的重要形式之一，演讲者在演讲中大量使用隐喻这一修辞手法，借此阐述政见，做出许诺，以鼓动民心并支持其政策，最终达到激发民众情感和劝说的目的。本文试图对概念隐喻在奥巴马就职演讲中的运用进行分析研究，以莱考夫(Lakoff)提出的三种概念隐喻理论为基础，揭示其中的概念隐喻及一种概念隐喻下的多种隐喻表达，并分析了这些隐喻及隐喻表达在说服大众，激发情感等方面的作用。本文通过分析发现概念隐喻在演讲中大量存在，且其框架定性、移情劝说功能在奥巴马演讲中得到充分体现。此外，本文不但为莱考夫和约翰逊的概念隐喻理论提供了进一步的佐证，而且能够帮助语言学习者更好地理解美国总统就职演讲辞。

关键词：隐喻；概念隐喻；奥巴马就职演讲

Abstract:

Metaphor is an important research topic that has drawn intellectual pursuits since ancient times. It has been studied for more than two thousand years. Metaphor has become not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also means of cognition and ways of thinking. As a basic way for people’s thinking and expressing, metaphor has been commonly applied in political discourses, and the American president inaugural address is one of the important forms of political discourses. The speaker uses metaphors to set forth politics and make some commitments to persuade the public to support him and his policy, which finally seems powerful and emotional. The present thesis, according to conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff, attempts to make a study of conceptual metaphor in Obama's inaugural addresses  and to clarify the conceptual metaphors in political discourse and investigate the basis and functions of these metaphors at large which will also reveals how metaphor works in political language. By the analysis, the author has found out that the uses of conceptual metaphor abound in Obama’s speech and the functions of framing and persuasion have been fully reflected. This thesis focuses on the analysis of metaphor in political discourses. What’s more, the findings of the research not just offer supporting evidence for the conceptual metaphor theory, but also help linguistic learners get a better understanding of American policies.

Key words: metaphor; conceptual metaphor; Obama's inaugural addresses