Magic tricks with race cards: Conceptual integration theory and political discourse

Abstract: The paper examines the use of creative figurative language in American political discourse. In particular, the paper focuses on the use of the expression to play the race card and the creative figurative language motivated by the use of this expression in the contemporary American political discourse. The aim of this paper is to show that conventional metaphors can be creatively stretched through conceptual blending, producing instances of creative figurative language which contributes to achieving different discourse goals and discourse coherence. Specifically, applying conceptual integration theory, the paper analyzes innovative conceptual blends, motivated by the conventional CARD GAME metaphor, which are used to achieve different discourse goals. In addition, such creative metaphorical blends also provide discourse coherence at the intertextual level.