Gender, Aphorisms, and Moral Metaphors in Political Speeches

This study examined the aphorisms and moral metaphors employed in the selected speeches of two political leaders in Basilan Province, Philippines – one male and one female – following Den Hartog and Verburg (1997) classification of techniques in analyzing aphorisms and the Nation-as-Family framework of George Lakoff (2002), specifically the categories stipulated in the studies of Moses and Gonzales (2015) and Wolters (2012). The results show that the female political leader used more aphorisms and Nurturant Parent Metaphors are more apparent in her speeches. On the other hand, the male political leader employed more Strict Father Metaphors in his speeches. Thus, it was found that gender significantly differentiates the utilization of the rhetorical devices analyzed. Overall, the results provide a new perspective on how political leaders are able to shape policy agenda and political rhetoric in their constituents. The paper further recommends that future research endeavors in the study of rhetoric might include more speeches from a randomized number of male and female political leaders, and evaluate more political issues to examine whether they influence the frames used in the speeches