METAPHORICAL INCOHERENCE OR WHAT MAY’S LETTER MAY MEAN
METAPHORICAL INCOHERENCE OR WHAT MAY’S LETTER MAY MEAN

Summary/Abstract: The image we create about the surrounding reality is utterly subjective and that it is deeply andundoubtedly culturally dependant. There is a huge difference between the ‘real’ reality and our ownversion of it and this difference is generated by the multitude of filters that come into play when weprocess the ever growing amount of information that is constantly sent our way. The paper aims atanalysing the potential metaphorical incoherence of the letter sent by Theresa May, the Prime Minister ofthe UK, to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.By means of specific analytical tools belonging to cognitive linguistics, we prove that not only the deepstructure of the letter does not support the apparent message but it contradicts it significantly. The lexicalinventory selected by the author of the text, such as the use of personal and possessive, along with thesource domains used to conceptualise the target domains of ‘UK’, ‘EU’, or ‘negotiations’ clearly displaya different perspective upon the relationship between the two protagonists of the UK’s withdrawal fromthe union than the one suggested by the obsessive phrase ‘a deep and special partnership’.

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