The ‘radicalization’ of political language

This article examines the language of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders and his anti-immigrant Party for freedom (PVV) against the yardstick of “extreme right”. Should we consider Wilders who is charged because of hatred against Muslims as a populist or rather an extreme-rightist? The core question of the article is
addressed in a theory section on populism, right-extremism and its (metaphor) style, and an empirical section that tracks the political style and thematic choice of Wilders. The empirical case concerning language use of Geert Wilders includes a metaphor analysis using a metaphor index that is a quantitative view of the
metaphorical power of a text (De Landtsheer 2009).