Recent scholarship in ecolinguistics and environmental communication has increasingly turned its focus to the role of metaphors in shaping public understanding of the climate crisis (Fill and Penz 2018; Lakoff 2010; Stibbe 2021; Augé 2023). Yet, in major studies dedicated to environmental discourse in Italian (e.g. Biffi/Dell’Anna/Gualdo 2023; Antelmi 2018) a significant gap remains, particularly regarding how the pragmatic functions of metaphors interact with text architecture to shape awareness-raising content about the climate crisis. This research addresses this gap from the theoretical point of view and pursues two interrelated aims. First, based on relevant literature on metaphors and rhetorical strategies (e.g. Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Demjén and Semino 2020; Prandi 2023; Mortara Garavelli 2018) it investigates the cognitive and pragmatic functions of the used metaphors—e.g. how they enhance clarity, elicit emotions, or establish a shared conceptual framework with readers according to context. Second, building on key theories on text linguistics and discourse studies (e.g. Bonhomme 2017; Ferrari et al. 2021; Antelmi 2012; Amossy 2006) it examines how these functions contribute to rhetorical strategies within the architecture of the text—e.g. how they enable argumentative economy, promote a consistent point of view, or emphasize the salience of information. By tracing how metaphors operate both locally (in sentences and utterances) and globally (across paragraphs and the entire text), the analysis reveals a deep interplay between language and persuasion.
