MUSICAL METAPHORS AND CULTURAL IDENTITY: A COGNITIVE-CULTURAL APPROACH TO FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN GERMAN (DaF/DaZ) PEDAGOGY

This article examines the role of conceptual metaphor in structuring emotional experience and identity formation in German popular music produced between 2000 and 2010. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and recent cognitive–cultural approaches to meaning-making, the study conceptualises song lyrics not merely as stylistic artefacts but as cognitively salient sites in which abstract experiences such as love, uncertainty, intimacy, and self-orientation are rendered intelligible through recurring metaphorical mappings. Using a qualitatively curated corpus of widely circulated German-language songs from the early twenty-first century, the analysis identifies and categorises metaphorical expressions according to their underlying source–target domain relationships and cognitive functions. The findings reveal a marked predominance of structural metaphors grounded in domains of movement, force, containment, and spatial orientation, suggesting that these mappings function as shared cognitive frameworks through which young listeners narrativise emotional vulnerability and relational instability characteristic of the period. Rather than operating in isolation, the identified metaphors form interconnected clusters that stabilise meaning across texts and artists, pointing to the emergence of what this article terms musical metaphor ecologies. By situating metaphor use within its historical and cultural context, the study contributes to cognitive linguistics by demonstrating how popular music participates in the collective organisation of emotional experience. The article concludes by outlining pedagogical implications for German as a foreign or second language (Deutsch als Fremdsprache/Deutsch als Zweitsprache - DaF/DaZ) instruction, arguing that song-based metaphor analysis can enhance figurative competence, cultural interpretation, and learner engagement, particularly in non-immersive learning environments.