Personification in political press language

Abstract

This study examines personification as a central discursive strategy in political journalism and analyzes its cognitive, rhetorical, and ideological functions on an integrative theoretical foundation. Building on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson), Framing Theory (Entman), and Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough), an analytical approach is developed that systematically captures the interplay of linguistic form, cognitive processing, and the production of social meaning. The empirical corpus comprises journalistic articles and selected entries from Google Books from the German-language media outlets FAZ, Die Zeit, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, as well as other digital sources, from the period 2015 to 2026. A total of 23 documented instances of personification were identified and analyzed. The results show that personification does not merely function as a stylistic or heuristic means of reducing complexity, but is also employed as an effective strategy for emotional framing, cognitive structuring, and ideological positioning. Particularly in economic and crisis-related discourse, personification contributes to the personification of abstract systems and thus significantly influences the perception of political and economic reality in public discourse.