Abstract

During the civil-military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990), systematic human rights violations were committed, including torture and forced disappearances. The objective of this study is to analyze conceptual metaphors in the testimonies of political pris oners of the Chilean civil-military dictatorship. The theoretical framework is constituted by the postulates of Cognitive Linguistics and Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Along with this, the characteristics of testimonial discourse are described. The study uses a quali tative methodology based on Grounded Theory and the Constant Comparative Method to identify patterns and relationships in the data. The corpus analyzed consists of testimonies of 30 political prisoners compiled in the book Cien voces rompen el silencio: Testimonios de ex presas y presos políticos de la dictadura militar en Chile (1973-1990) (Kunstmann & Torres, 2008). Coll-Florit and Climent’s (2019) model of analysis was applied for the identification and formulation of conceptual metaphors. The results were organized by target domains: prison, people, moods, affection, time. Some metaphors analyzed are THE PRISON EXPERIENCE IS A JOURNEY, PEOPLE ARE ANIMALS, TIME IS A RESOURCE, GOOD MOOD IS UP-BAD MOOD IS DOWN. This research shows that metaphors facilitate the articulation and understanding of complex and painful experiences. In this way, metaphor helps to convey the magnitude of their pain and the brutality of the oppressors in a way that resonates deeply with readers and listeners.