Climate Crisis Discourse in Italian Newspapers: Rhetoric, Textuality, and the Metaphors We Are Chosen By
Metaphors shape the way we see and act in the world. So, how does such metaphors shape the way we think about the climate crisis? Do they help create action, or do they rather reinforce inertia?
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Daria Evangelista is a visiting postdoc researcher at University of Copenhagen. She is visiting the Research Group for Rhetoric, Democracy, and Public Culture in the week 22, 2025. In this talk she addresses the rhetorical role of metaphor in the climate crisis
Abstract
Recent scholarship in ecolinguistics and environmental communication has increasingly turned its focus to the role of metaphor in shaping public understanding of the climate crisis (Fill & Penz 2018; Lakoff 2010; Stibbe 2021; Augé 2023). Yet, in major studies dedicated to environmental discourse in Italian (e.g. Biffi/Dell’Anna/Gualdo 2023; Antelmi 2018) a significant gap remains, particularly regarding how the pragmatic functions of metaphors interact with text architecture to shape awareness-raising discourse content about the climate crisis. This pilot study addresses that gap through a corpus-based qualitative analysis of metaphors in Italian newspapers.
The study pursues two interrelated aims. First, based on relevant literature on metaphor and rhetorical strategies (cf. e.g. Lakoff/Johnson 1980; Demjén/Semino 2020; Prandi 2023) it investigates the cognitive and pragmatic functions of the used metaphors— e.g. how they enhance clarity, elicit emotions, or establish a shared conceptual framework with readers. Second, building on key theories on text linguistics and discourse studies (cf. e.g. Bonhomme/Paillet/Wahl 2017; Ferrari 2021; Amossy 2006) it examines how these functions contribute to rhetorical strategies within the architecture of the text – e.g. how they enable argumentative economy, promote a consistent point of view, or emphasize the salience of information. By tracing how metaphors operate both locally (in sentences and utterances) and globally (across paragraphs and the entire text), the analysis reveals a deep interplay between language and persuasion.
Through the study, a broader reflection aims to be raised: if our conceptual metaphors shape the way we think about the climate crisis, might current metaphors be reinforcing inertia rather than action? As Brendon Larson (2011: 18) insightfully notes, “It is not so much that we choose a metaphor; rather, we are chosen by those within our cultural context”. This observation prompts a critical question for both scholars and communicators: in order to catalyse effective climate action, do we need new metaphors and rhetorical strategies?
