Westminster on the late Queen – metaphor as a discourse vehicle in condolence debates after Queen Elizabeth II’s death

Abstract

This paper investigates the patterns of discourse present in the record of condolence debates in Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Specifically, two research questions were examined. The study aims to prove specific patterns related to the expression of feelings caused by the Queen’s death, as well as those related to metaphors illustrating her. The study is conducted on the corpus of 249,882 tokens of written records of over 20 hours of speeches delivered in the British Parliament, subdivided into subcorpora for either House. The analysis employs the methodology of corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS), based mostly on Baker (2023) and includes the tools of word frequency lists, collocation search, and concordances. The resulting concordance lines were interpreted using conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson 2011). The analysis proved that the discussion strategies of the speeches could be organised into three distinct categories. Across the lines of political divisions, the Queen was depicted as a figure to preserves the stability of the nation, an illustrious guide for all her subjects, particularly those in power, and finally a renowned example of Britain around the world and for all Britons. By employing those themes, the late Queen was presented as both a relatable figure and an extraordinary leader, evoking positive associations and setting her as an example to be follow both by the politicians and the electorate.