Figurative Language Used by Australian Facebookers During COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the metaphorical speech acts used by Australian commentators on Facebook during COVID-19. The sample contained 50 Facebook comments that were analyzed qualitatively. The study adopted Searle taxonomy of speech acts, namely, directive, assertive, expressive, commissive, and declarative. This helped in identifying the different functions of the metaphorical speech acts. Moreover, Austin taxonomy of speech act forms, namely, locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary, was adopted. The findings revealed that the most common types of metaphors that were used by the Australian commentators were war and conflict metaphors, followed by psychological status metaphors and irony metaphors. The study found that war and conflict metaphors were the most commonly used forms of speech by the commentators. This is in alignment with the literature that also highlights how the advent of a crisis, such as COVID-19, results in excessive use of war and militarized metaphors. The study found that the most common speech act was directive, while expressive was the least common form used by Australian commentators during the COVID19 pandemic.