Applying conceptual metaphor and Blending Theory to culture-specific speech functions in rap lyrics

Based on a corpus of 150 rap lyrics taken from Brazilian culture and 150 from German culture, the first stage in our research project on metaphor, rap lyrics, and culture demonstrated that the conceptual (THE MC 'S) LIFE IS WAR metaphor, found in both corpora, which implies cultural variation in relation to the specific mapping parts involved. Thus, while in the German lyrics, the adversary is mapped onto the other MC, in the Brazilian lyrics, the adversary is mapped onto more abstract entities like politics, society, or the upper class. Currently, the second stage in the project focuses on specific expressions which have been selected from all the lyrics and include the war metaphor as one input that forms a blending network with at least one more metaphor input. Thus, in the German corpus, the striking and reiterated double-scope network results in a blend constituted by the inputs War and Rape, whereas in the Brazilian corpus, there is evidence that the formation of a blend constituted by War and Apocalypse is preferred. It will be shown how these dispersing tendencies might be related to different cultural contexts and functions of speech.