The next speaker in this session at the ECREA 2026 conference in Brno is Guillem Lloret i Triola, whose focus is on the analysis of metaphors in the Catalan electoral campaign of 2021. This builds on a complete corpus of speeches during the campaign, which took place after the annulled independence referendum and the exiling of pro-independence political leaders. This marked the end of the independence cycle, also against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The analysis of the speeches during the election builds on critical discourse analysis and critical metaphor analysis, and translates this to political communication in the complicated Catalan context. Two speeches were analysed for each of the six main political actors: their final campaign speeches, and their final statements in a televised political debate. These were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively, with a particular focus on metaphors.
For the anti-independence actors, ‘Catalunya’ emerged as a key term; the independence actors use ‘País’ instead. Anti-independence actors speak of the independence process as a labyrinth; pro-independence actors instead focus on building a new nation. Anti-independence actors used Spanish language to attack, and Catalan for presenting their programme and identity; pro-independence actors used only Catalan, which was itself a political statement.
Anti-independence actors drew a lot on journey metaphors, while pro-independence actors used construction and transformation metaphors, including organic terms like ‘blossoming’. An anti-independence actor who had been Spanish minister of health during the pandemic used health metaphors to describe the drive towards independence as a disease that needed to be managed.
Far-right anti-independence actors spoke about the reconquest of Catalonia as property to be reclaimed by Spain, while pro-independence actors described the nation as a butterfly needing to finish its transformation. This shows the diverging uses of metaphors especially in the unique context of a stateless nation, and similar approaches might be used for the study of such political debates in other stateless nations like Scotland or Kosovo.
