Conceptual metaphors in the naming convention of the United States Armed Forces

Abstract

This paper is concerned with a linguistic analysis of selected popular names of the United States Armed Forces airplanes and military equipment. The study takes into consideration the strictly metaphorical character of the naming conventions and makes primary use of the conceptual metaphor theory. In the analysis, it is claimed that the emergence of metaphorical names for military vehicles and equipment is motivated by the experiential reality of language users and the character of armed service. Thus a number of conceptual metaphors are identified. This paper is essentially an abridged version of the author’s Bachelor’s thesis supervised by dr Joanna Redzimska at the University of Gdańsk.