ABSTRACT
The use of metaphors often characterizes contemporary public discourses on various issues. By the same token, metaphors have been used extensively in the discourse on the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the war metaphor as a framing and rhetorical device with distinct persuasive potency within the Croatian sociocultural context. The analysis shows that militaristic metaphors were omnipresent in the Croatian public discourse at the beginning of the pandemic. Their dual role, explanatory and persuasive, was instrumental in convincing the public to understand the pandemic and accept the restrictive mandates put in place.
ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the analysis of metaphorical representations of the coronavirus pandemic in texts selected by continuous sampling from German-language media. The methodological basis of the research is the theory of conceptual metaphor, as well as the Russian theory of metaphorical modeling, which allow us to single out universal metaphorical models that are in line with the Zeitgeist and are part of the national picture of the world. Pandemic discourse was selected as the research space. It is understood as a media supertext or as a collection of media texts united by one topic and aimed at reflecting events associated with the pandemic. Further, the article examines predictable metaphorical models - the military model with an extensive system of slots representing most of the elements of "military" actions aimed at combating the virus;the disaster model (tsunami, storm, fire) showing the attitude to the virus as to a dangerous and uncontrollable phenomenon;the ambivalent road model (the road from the pandemic, on the one hand, and the road along which the virus is walking around the world, on the other);the legal model focusing attention on the protest part of the discourse;the zoomorphic model;the theatrical-game model. The author shows an example of the interaction of units of different metaphorical models for the implication of certain nuances of meaning. The conceptual metaphors that fill the slots of these models show the complex moral and psychological state of society and an ambiguous social attitude towards the pandemic reality. The final part of the article describes living metaphors, born as a response to the anxiety of the situation and fear, realizing unconventional meanings, to some extent a carnival attitude to what is happening, speaking ironically and/ or describing everything in a plain, upfront way. A striking linguistic fact in this category of metaphors is serial metaphors, which form large word families and, by one feature, characterize a number of objects or phenomena of the new reality. Attention is drawn to complex metaphors, the semantics of which is made up of a pun on the direct meanings of the components. The conclusion states the high degree of emotional impact of metaphors, the dynamism of the metaphorical picture of the pandemic reality, its dependence on many objective and individual factors, as well as on ideological reasons. The prospect of the research is seen in the description of anthropomorphic metaphorical images of pandemic discourse of the corona-humoristic texts.
ABSTRACT
Conceptual Metaphors are part of human cognition and are essential to human knowledge and experience. The study reported here examines the COVID-19 conceptual metaphors underlying the metaphoric language employed by Jordanian government officials during two periods in 2020, namely from February to May and September to December. To this end, a corpus of official statements (n=213) reported in Al-Rai ‘The Opinion', an Arabic daily mainstream newspaper, was collected and analyzed using the Cognitive Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003). Identified conceptual metaphors are categorized under the following eight source domains: WARFARE, CONTAINER, OCEAN, JOURNEY, NATURAL PHENOMENON, EXAMINATION, ANIMAL, and SPORT. A comparison of the frequency of these metaphors in each period is established. The analysis reveals that WARFARE and CONTAINER metaphors have the highest frequency in both periods followed by OCEAN and JOURNEY. The percentage of the other four domains is less than five percent. Conceptual metaphors subsumed under the frequent domains, namely, WARFARE, CONTAINER, OCEAN, and JOURNEY are further examined and discussed following Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black 2004). The results show that during the first period, the priority given by the Jordanian government was to focus on convincing people of the restrictive measures which suspended freedom. Therefore, WARFARE has dominated the scene. However, as the crisis progressed, the CONTAINER metaphors took over. This study may assist government agencies to use the right metaphors to impact the public opinion and win the masses to their stands. © 2023, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This paper illustrates the essential aspects of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and framing. In particular, it presents an analysis of every-day linguistic expressions whose metaphorical nature may not be immediately recognizable. Furthermore, it discusses the implications of the use of "war" metaphors for the framing of different domains of experience: discussions, the patient-disease relationship, and the emergency situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, it shows how the theoretical paradigm of Cognitive Linguistics has been applied to the critical analysis of public discourse: this is illustrated with examples of the representation of the migrations in Italian press headlines.Copyright © Mattioli 1885.
ABSTRACT
The use of metaphors often characterizes contemporary public discourses on various issues. By the same token, metaphors have been used extensively in the discourse on the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the war metaphor as a framing and rhetorical device with distinct persuasive potency within the Croatian sociocultural context. The analysis shows that militaristic metaphors were omnipresent in the Croatian public discourse at the beginning ofthe pandemic. Theirdualrole, explanatoryandpersuasive, wasinstrumental in convincing the public to understand the pandemic and accept the restrictive mandates put in place. © 2022 University of Rijeka. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the conceptualization of Covid-19 related expressions in political discourse based on the conceptual metaphor theory from a cognitive linguistic point of view. In particular, we discuss why infectious diseases such as Covid-19 are metaphorically used, and analyze the conceptualization patterns and mapping of [COVID-19 IS A WAR] metaphors. First, in political discourse, the study discusses why war metaphor is used most frequently in terms of empirical, emotional, and structural aspects. In terms of experience, metaphor plays an important role in structuring our thoughts and concepts, and conventional metaphors are based on the embodied primary sensory motor experience. In terms of emotion, war metaphors are appropriate for immediate attention and delivery of the seriousness of the crisis, as they cause strong negative emotions such as fear and anxiety, even if there is no military confrontation. In terms of structure, war metaphors use basic schematic knowledge that can easily be thought of in different situations, such as battles between opposing forces or a series of battle events unfolding over time and space. Furthermore, we examine how the metaphor [COVID-19 IS A WAR], which appears most frequently in political discourse, is conceptualized and mapped for each component of the source domain of war and the target domain Covid-19. Finally, the implications of Covid-19 metaphor are discussed in terms of crisis communication, national integration and social community consciousness, compassion and empathy, and appeal of world peace. © 2022 KASELL All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The study aims at describing COVID-19 metaphorical representations in media discourse. The analysis of conceptual metaphors in political and medical discourse enables a reconstruction of metaphorically based knowledge of coronavirus in English speech communities. Being produced by world political leaders and media presenters these conceptual metaphors influence the social understanding of the novel disease both directly and indirectly. The study is based on the Conceptual Metaphor theory, Conceptual Integration theory and Discourse analysis. The range of the target domain COVID-19 includes the following source domains: WAR and PERSON. The latter is further elaborated as GUEST, INTRUDER, ENEMY, CRIMINAL, SPY, TEACHER. The focus is on the cross-space mappings which present the sets of systematic correspondences between the target and source domains. The novel conceptualisations based on the conventional use of metaphoric patterns are analysed within the framework of the following cognitive devices: extending, elaboration, questioning, and combining. The conceptual blends and emergent structures that provide additional layers of COVID-19 interpretation are represented by means of Conceptual Integration Networks, namely, double- and multiple-scope models. The analysis reveals that the conceptual metaphor COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS WAR is mostly represented in political discourse that refers to the disease as a general threat to the world. In medical discourse the metaphor COVID-19 IS PERSON is objectified, with further elaboration of the source domain. The correlation COVID-19 IS TEACHER reveals positive connotations of the phenomenon. © 2022 Kaunas University of Technology. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine the relationship between the interpretation of the consumption concept of individuals and their mental well-being levels during the pandemic period. Metaphors are the essential communication tools used in defining and interpreting the consumption concept. The effort to reveal the interpretations loaded on a complex and multidimensional concept such as individuals' consumption expresses the important contribution of this research. The fact that these interpretations were made during the pandemic turned individuals' lives upside-down increases the degree of contribution. The study's originality has been tried to be revealed by establishing a relationship between the interpretations of the consumption phenomenon of individuals and their mental well-being. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson was used in metaphorical interpretation. The metaphorical approach, which is one of the alternative approaches based on subjective experiences, enables the comprehension of concrete and well-known concepts, concepts, symbols, or elements that are more difficult and complex to understand. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) was used to determine the mental well-being levels of individuals. All the metaphors developed and evaluated regarding the concept of consumption have been grouped into three conceptual categories: "pleasure, insatiability and vanity", "necessity and requirement", and "addictive and harmful". In this study, the mental well-being average of all participants was calculated as 53.46. The lowest average was calculated in the "addictive and harmful" category according to conceptual categories in terms of mental well-being averages. It was determined that the mental well-being averages of the participants who interpreted the concept of consumption as "negative" were also low.
ABSTRACT
This present study is aimed at taking a look at the Covid-19 coverage in political discourse considering the metaphor-based method. This article mainly aims at examining the substantial role of metaphor as well as language in a manner we understand and converse as special metaphorical notions seem to be the fundamental mechanisms of forming actuality in the prevailing era. Discourse and cognitive analysis along with modeling, statistical and contextual analyses are taken into account to accomplish the study's objectives. The study's outcomes acquired demonstrate that nowadays, dominant sorts of metaphors, including war or military metaphors and catastrophe and animal ones. The mentioned metaphors are examined in political discourses on a gross scale.
ABSTRACT
So far, cognitive linguistics studies on COVID-19 have focused mainly on conceptual metaphors, paying scant attention to other construal operations such as force dynamics (FD). Adopting Kovecses's (2020, Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio) hybrid account of conceptual metaphor and ED, this study attempts to outline an enriched cognitive view of the figurative conceptualization of illness. It also aims to answer the question: Can FD and conceptual metaphors be merged in illness metaphors, particularly corona-related ones? Research in cognitive linguistics has focused on certain source domains, such as WAR, FIRE, NATURAL FORCE, and WILD ANIMAL, through which COVID-19 is conceptualized metaphorically. Since these metaphors feature the exchange of forces and actions, a more detailed account of these two construals could be fruitful, especially the potential FORCE SCHEMA which underlies the detected source domains. Using an amalgamated model of conceptual metaphor theory and FD, significant associations were identified between two force-exerting elements, namely Agonist and Antagonist. These findings raise important theoretical issues that have a bearing on clarifying the correlation between illness metaphors and Talmy's force-dynamic theory to cast some light on the complex metaphorical expressions embracing the subject under scrutiny.
ABSTRACT
This article addresses the metaphorical conceptualization of the Coronavirus in presidential speeches. The analysis is based on a corpus of four presidential speeches delivered in March 2020, when the virus arrived in South America, and are available on the websites of the Presidencia de la Nación de Argentina, the República Federativa do Brasil, the Presidencia de República de Chile and the Presidencia de República de Colombia. The research adopted a sociocognitive view of language, focused on the line of Cognitive Linguistics, with a conceptual metaphor approach directed to the corpus and discourse. Based on the target domain method to identify the metaphors present on the corpus, metaphorical expressions related to the Coronavirus and connected to some lexemes related to conceptual metaphors, were collected. The analysis showed the persuasive and manipulative strength of some metaphors, such as CORONAVIRUS IS A WAR, CORONAVIRUS IS A GAME, CORONAVIRUS IS A PRISON, among others. These metaphors are based on moral cultural models and have ideological and moral goals. © 2021 Universidad Pompeu Fabra. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Conceptual metaphors have received much attention in research on discourse about infectious diseases in recent years. Most studies found that conceptual metaphors of war dominate media discourse about disease. Similarly, a great deal of research has been undertaken on the new coronavirus, i.e., COVID-19, especially in the English news discourse as opposed to other languages. The present study, in contrast, analyses the conceptual metaphors used in COVID-19 discourse in French-language newspapers. The study explored the linguistic metaphors used in COVID-19 discourse in these newspapers and conceptual metaphors that underlie and motivate them, using a conceptual metaphor theory framework (CMT). Therefore, two North African French-language newspapers, namely Libération, published in Morocco, and La Presse de Tunisie, published in Tunisia, formed the corpus of the current study. The results showed that the most frequent framing of COVID-19 was in terms of WAR, followed by DISASTER and KILLER, respectively. © 2022