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Cited by 165

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Politics is Football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy

Semino, Elena, Masci, Michela·1996·Discourse & Society

Abstract

In this paper we examine the use of a set of recurring metaphors in the discourse of Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who became Italy's Prime Minister in 1994. We focus specifically on metaphors drawn from the source domains of football, war and the Bible. Drawing on the cognitive theory of metaphor proposed in Lakoff and Johnson (1980), we consider the possible effects that each metaphorical connection may have on Berlusconi's audience in the specific political and cultural context within which he operates. We argue that Berlusconi adopts different metaphors in an attempt to alter the way in which Italians relate to politics, to create a positive public image for himself and his new political party and to attract particular sections of the electorate. We conclude that metaphor is an essential part of a new type of populist and heterogeneous political discourse that Berlusconi has introduced in Italian politics.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0957926596007002005

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Metadata

Authors
Semino, E., & Masci, M.
Venue
Discourse & Society
Published
1996-04
Volume
7
Issue
2
Pages
243-269
ISSN
  • 0957-9265 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-3624
OpenAlex
W2062270359
Cited by
165
References
1
FWCI
1.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Politics is Football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/0957926596007002005
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Semino, E., & Masci, M. (1996). Politics is Football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. Discourse & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926596007002005

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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