Parole: Journal of Linguistics and Education, 11 (2), 2021, 145-152 Available online at: http://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/parole Copyright © 2021, Parole: Journal of Linguistics and Education, p-ISSN 2087-345X, e-ISSN 2338-0683 Broken Relationship Metaphors Portrayed in Taylor Swift’s Exile (2020): A Cognitive Linguistic Perspective Meutia Rini Zahra 1 , Deli Nirmala 1 1 Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia A B S T R A C T A R T I C L E INF O Exile is a song written by Taylor Swift that describes a relationship that is no longer working on two people. This song describes a broken relationship through metaphors. This study aims to examine broken relationship metaphors in Taylor Swift’s Exile through a cognitive linguistic perspective. The method used for this research is the non- participant observation and identity referential method. The result shows that there are several metaphors that indicate a broken relationship in that song, namely [RELATIONSHIP IS A FILM], [PARTNER IS A HOMELAND], [MOVING ON IS EXILE], [OPINION IS A BREAKING BRANCH], [MOVING ON IS A SIDE DOOR], and [UNCERTAINTY IS A THIN LINE]. In conclusion, this song describes a situation of a broken relationship that is expressed in a metaphorical way to set a scene of breaking up, misunderstanding, and showing different opinions from one to another. 1. Introduction Song, one of the arts that people are familiar with, has become one of the most crucial things in life. Through song, people can express their feelings without any hesitation. For instance, when someone tries to express her feelings about a certain condition but she cannot do it despite a certain reason, writing a song can help. She can write anything she wants without people judging her. One of the songwriters that tend to pour her feelings out is Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift, a singer-songwriter, has a magnificent way to express her feelings through her song. It is shown by one of her songs called Exile that describes a broken relationship that happens to a couple who tried their best to make things work, but it did not. Creating a song can be a challenge for some people. Most of the people struggle with writing the lyric since it is an important aspect to look up to in finding a good song. When people look for a meaningful song, they will see the lyrics and decide whether it is a good song or not. Writing song lyrics is better when someone has the ability to write creatively. By writing creatively, it can attract more audience and will be such a satisfaction for everyone who listens to it. Writing creatively can be started by using figurative language since it can give variety in writing. One of the figurative languages that are commonly used to make the writing more colorful is metaphor. Metaphor is a cognitive capability for comprehending one concept to another (Lakoff, 2003). In understanding and creating metaphor, it is crucial to have an experience that is stored in the mind, an understanding of the metaphor in the unconscious mind, and an interpretation from source-domain to target-domain (Lakoff and Johns 1 on, 1999). 1 Email Address: meutiarzahra@gmail.com (Zahra). deliundip@gmail.com (Nirmala) Paper type: Research Article Article history: Received: 11/07/2021 Revised: 30/08/2021 Accepted: 20/08/2021 Keywords: ▪Metaphor ▪Exile ▪Tylor Swift