Ruiz, Ismael Ramos , RAMOS RUIZ, ALVARO
No
Rev. Lat. Comun. Soc.
Article
Científica
1
1
01/01/2026
001766870800008
2-s2.0-105037827638
Introduction: This study examines the use of natural-phenomena metaphors and their evaluative orientation, understood in terms of semantic prosody, in Spanish press coverage of Brexit. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and research on semantic prosody, it explores how a complex political and economic process was discursively reframed through more accessible and experientially grounded representations in mainstream media discourse. Methodology: The analysis is based on a corpus of 9,035 newspaper texts published between 24 June 2016 and 31 January 2020 in four leading Spanish digital newspapers, El Pais, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, and ABC, compiled from the Factiva (R) database. The study adopts a combined quantitative and qualitative lexico-semantic approach. Metaphorical uses were identified using a predefined list of terms associated with natural phenomena and organised into five conceptual domains. This identification process followed a semi-automatic procedure based on the MIP method and was complemented by systematic manual revision. Results: The findings reveal a clear predominance of hydrological and atmospheric metaphors, together with a secondary presence of biological and geological metaphors. Across the four newspapers analysed, these metaphorical patterns display a predominantly negative semantic prosody. Discussion: This configuration constructs Brexit as a process associated with instability, disruption, and crisis, with only limited variation across newspapers, suggesting the circulation of shared interpretive frames in the Spanish mainstream press. Conclusions: Natural-phenomena metaphors operate as cognitive and discursive devices that contribute to naturalising and dramatising Brexit, thereby reinforcing a predominantly adverse representation of the process in Spanish media discourse.
conceptual metaphor; natural-phenomena metaphors; semantic prosody; media discourse; Spanish press; Brexit; corpus linguistics