A CORPUS- AND AI-BASED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF METAPHORS IN AZERBAIJANI AND ENGLISH POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Annotasiya

This study investigates the use of metaphor in Azerbaijani and English political discourse through a comparative, corpus-driven, and AI-assisted approach. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and developments in critical discourse analysis, the research examines how metaphor structures political meaning, persuasion, and ideology across linguistic and cultural contexts. A bilingual corpus of political speeches, official statements, and media texts was analyzed using corpus linguistics tools and natural language processing techniques. The findings reveal that while both languages share dominant conceptual metaphors—such as POLITICS IS WAR, POLITICS IS A JOURNEY, THE STATE IS A LIVING ORGANISM and POLITICS IS A GAME—their pragmatic functions and ideological orientations differ significantly. Azerbaijani discourse tends to foreground unity, collective identity, and legitimacy, whereas English discourse emphasizes competition, evaluation, and individual agency. The study demonstrates that metaphor is not only a cognitive mechanism but also an ideological resource shaped by socio-political context. Methodologically, the integration of AI enhances scalability and analytical precision, contributing to emerging intersections between linguistics and digital humanities.