“SEGÚN EL SAPO ES LA PEDRADA”

Abstract

This study examines the use of conceptual metaphors in Mesoamerican editorial articles in Spanish language newspapers published on September 4, 2015. The method of study is mainly qualitative based on cognitiv linguistics, also when quantitative method is useful in word counting to compare the positive or negative meanings of these words. The conclusion is that the use of metaphors indeed appear in each and every editorial in the seven newspapers studied here. Furthermore, the use of metaphors is so widely spread that in some cases there were three or even four metaphors in one single editorial. The main aim of this study is to investigate how these metaphors will function as a means of interpretation, and if this is the case how it would handle about a linguistic tool to gain, support, maintain or undermine a politic ideology. Finally, the study identifies that the most used verb form by the editorialist or editorial board is the untemporary, gnomic or indefinite tense, to intensify the ethical aspects of the message aimed to be understood by most of the readers.