The Metaphorical Representation of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Albanian Public Discourse

ABSTRACT

From a cognitive linguistics perspective it is widely known that well known conceptual domains are used to explain complex or emerging concepts. As of recent, in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic, a wider usage of metaphors has been noticed in various public discourses. This paper aims to explore the most common metaphorical expressions used in the Albanian public discourse from the period of March 2020 until June 2020, in official political statements and media reports. It draws on the concepts of discourse metaphors and metaphor scenarios. The findings suggest that the pandemic in Albania is mostly framed in terms of WAR, NATURAL DISASTER and JOURNEY. However, even though these metaphors are used within the pandemic context they are not specific to Covid-19. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.