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When language users express and negotiate their points of view via Metaphorical Scenarios, they engage in Scenario Negotiation. Based on a corpus of online debates about the European Union, this study focuses on the genre-specific conceptual-communicative functions of Scenario Negotiation in naturally occurring discourse.

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For decades, the focus of Metaphor Studies laid on Conceptual Metaphor and its role in the human conceptual system. This study, however, focuses on metaphor in communication. Its aim is to shed light on how commenters in online debates discuss EU-related topics via Scenario Negotiation, expressing and negotiating their points of view via Metaphorical Scenarios. The study offers a review of current metaphor theory and practical approaches and proposes an Integrated Model of Scenario Negotiation. The results are based on context-sensitive, qualitative analysis of data which stem from a corpus of online debates from the Guardian´s Comment is free section. The discussion illustrates the genre-specific conceptual-communicative functions of Scenario Negotiation in naturally occurring discourse.

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Current theories of metaphor - Discourse-analytical approaches to metaphor - Online debating in the Guardian Comment is free section - The Integrated Model for Scenario Negotiation - Metaphorical Scenarios and Scenario Negotiation

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Stefanie Vogelbacher studied English and Spanish at the University of Heidelberg. She worked as a researcher at the English Department, where she also taught English Linguistics. She completed her PhD thesis on Scenario Negotiation in Online Debates in 2018. Today she teaches English and Spanish at a secondary school.

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