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AN ANALYSIS OF WAR LANGUAGE IN COVID 19 SPEECHES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Corresponding Author(s) : Imdad Ullah Khan
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021): May
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The study aims to include the hidden ideology working behind the metaphor that is used in the speeches of both countries. It will also analyze the source domains used by both countries and will explore whether the two countries are employing similar source domains or using different source domains.
Methodology: The Theoretical framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) by Charteris-Black (2004) has been employed to study the metaphors used.
Main Findings: The results reveal that the USA is quite racist in its president naming the virus CHINESE VIRUS, and it appears as an authoritative, dominant, and strong nation that intends to hold its supremacy all around the world. Whereas the UK shows its nationalistic approach. The source domains of War, Enemy, soldier, Home front are found to be a similar while different source domains used are wartime president, victory in the USA, and Blitz spirit, wartime government in the UK.
Applications of this study: As the ideologies of the different governments have been linguistically assessed through the metaphorical frameworks used, this study is a helpful study to understand the stance being used by the different governments in dealing with universal problems. It can be helpful in political studies of governmental responses.
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- Abdel-Raheem. A, (2021) Reality bites: How the pandemic has begun to shape the way we, metaphorically, see the world. Discourse & Society, 26. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265211013118 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265211013118
- Bates, B. R. (2004). Audiences, metaphors, and the Persian Gulf War. Commun. Stud. 55, 447–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970409388631 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970409388631
- Bates, B. R. (2020) The (In)Appropriateness of the WAR Metaphor in Response to SARS-CoV-2: A Rapid Analysis of Donald J. Trump's Rhetoric. Front. Commun, 5, 50. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00050 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00050
- Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus approaches to crit¬ical metaphor analysis. New York Palgrave Mac¬millan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000612 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000612
- Charteris-Black, J. (2005). Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501706 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501706
- Edelman, M. (1971). Politics as Symbolic Action. Mass Arousal and Quiescence. Chicago, IL: Markham.
- Flusberg SJ, Matlock T, Thibodeau PH (2018). War metaphors in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992
- Hart, C. (2010). Critical discourse and cognitive science: New perspectives on immigration discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299009
- Lowe, N. K. (2018). Words matter. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 47(1),1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2017.11.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2017.11.007
- Ivie, R. L. (1984). Speaking “common sense†about the Soviet threat: Reagan’s rhetorical stance. West. J. Speech Commun. 48, 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318409374140 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318409374140
- Koller, V. (2005) 'Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Cognition: Evidence from Business Media Discourse', Discourse & Society 16: 199 science, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0402_4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926505049621
- Lakoff, G., and Johnson. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor', in A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed, pp. 202-51. Cambridge: Cambridge University. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173865.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173865.013
- Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
- Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical dis¬course analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. Los Ange¬les: Sage.
- Mirghani, S. (2011). The war on piracy: analyzing the discursive battles of corporate and government-sponsored anti-piracy media campaigns. Crit. Stud. Media Commun, 28, 113–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15 295036.2010.514933 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2010.514933
- Semino, E. (2002). Ä Sturdy Baby or a Derailing Train? Metaphorical Representations of the Euro in British and Italian Newspapers, Text, 22, 107-39. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.001
- Semino, E. and Masci, M. (1996). Politics is Football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. Discourse & Society, 7, 243-269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926596007002005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926596007002005
- Semino, E. (2021). Not Soldiers but Fire-fighters – Metaphors and Covid-19. Health Communication, 36(1), 50-58, https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
- Sudajit. M. (2017). A Critical Metaphor Analysis of Disability Identity and Ideology in the Thai Undergraduates’ Home for Children with Disabilities Website Project. https://doi.org/10.7575/aia c.alls.v.8n.5p.79 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.5p.79
- Van Dijk, T.A. (1998) Ideology. A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: SAGE.
- Van Dijk, T.A. (2000) 'Ideologies, Racism, Discourse: Debates on Immigration Ethic Issues', in J. Ter Wal and M. Verkuyten (eds) Comparative Perspectives on pp. 91-116. Aldershot: Ashgate. https://doi.org/10. 4324/9781315196374-5
- Van Dijk, T.A. (2001) 'Discourse, Ideology and Context', Folia Linguistic XXX/ 1-pp. 11-40. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2001.35.1-2.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2001.35.1-2.11
- Panzeri F, Di Paola S, Domaneschi F (2021) Does the COVID-19 war metaphor influence reasoning? PLoS ONE, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250651 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250651
- Chiang.Y.W & Duann.F.R.(2007) Conceptual metaphors for SARS: war with whom? Source: discourse & Society, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507079631 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507079631
- Guo, S. (2013). Metaphor studies from the perspective of critical discourse analysis: A case study of business acquisition. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(3), 475-481. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.3.3.475-481 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.3.3.475-481
- Mukunth V. If We’re at ’War’ With the New Coronavirus, We’re Doing It Wrong. The Wire 2020 April 15 [Cited 2020 October 6]. Available from: https://thewire.in/government/coronavirus-language-warmasculinity-climate-change-righ
- Thibodeau PH, Hendricks RK, Boroditsky L. How linguistic metaphor scaffolds reasoning. Trends in cognitive sciences, 21(11), 852–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.07.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.07.001
- Smith, C. A., Johnston-Robledo, I., McHugh, M. C. and Chrisler, J. C. (2010). Words matter: The language of gender. Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology, 361-377. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1465-1_18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1465-1_18
- Wise A. Military Metaphors Distort the Reality of COVID-19. Scientific American. 2020 April 17 [cited 2021 January 30]. Available from: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/militarymetaphors-distort-the-reality-of-covid-19/
References
Abdel-Raheem. A, (2021) Reality bites: How the pandemic has begun to shape the way we, metaphorically, see the world. Discourse & Society, 26. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265211013118 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265211013118
Bates, B. R. (2004). Audiences, metaphors, and the Persian Gulf War. Commun. Stud. 55, 447–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970409388631 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970409388631
Bates, B. R. (2020) The (In)Appropriateness of the WAR Metaphor in Response to SARS-CoV-2: A Rapid Analysis of Donald J. Trump's Rhetoric. Front. Commun, 5, 50. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00050 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00050
Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus approaches to crit¬ical metaphor analysis. New York Palgrave Mac¬millan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000612 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000612
Charteris-Black, J. (2005). Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501706 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501706
Edelman, M. (1971). Politics as Symbolic Action. Mass Arousal and Quiescence. Chicago, IL: Markham.
Flusberg SJ, Matlock T, Thibodeau PH (2018). War metaphors in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992
Hart, C. (2010). Critical discourse and cognitive science: New perspectives on immigration discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230299009
Lowe, N. K. (2018). Words matter. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 47(1),1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2017.11.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2017.11.007
Ivie, R. L. (1984). Speaking “common sense†about the Soviet threat: Reagan’s rhetorical stance. West. J. Speech Commun. 48, 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318409374140 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318409374140
Koller, V. (2005) 'Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Cognition: Evidence from Business Media Discourse', Discourse & Society 16: 199 science, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0402_4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926505049621
Lakoff, G., and Johnson. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor', in A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed, pp. 202-51. Cambridge: Cambridge University. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173865.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173865.013
Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical dis¬course analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. Los Ange¬les: Sage.
Mirghani, S. (2011). The war on piracy: analyzing the discursive battles of corporate and government-sponsored anti-piracy media campaigns. Crit. Stud. Media Commun, 28, 113–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15 295036.2010.514933 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2010.514933
Semino, E. (2002). Ä Sturdy Baby or a Derailing Train? Metaphorical Representations of the Euro in British and Italian Newspapers, Text, 22, 107-39. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.001
Semino, E. and Masci, M. (1996). Politics is Football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. Discourse & Society, 7, 243-269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926596007002005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926596007002005
Semino, E. (2021). Not Soldiers but Fire-fighters – Metaphors and Covid-19. Health Communication, 36(1), 50-58, https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
Sudajit. M. (2017). A Critical Metaphor Analysis of Disability Identity and Ideology in the Thai Undergraduates’ Home for Children with Disabilities Website Project. https://doi.org/10.7575/aia c.alls.v.8n.5p.79 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.5p.79
Van Dijk, T.A. (1998) Ideology. A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: SAGE.
Van Dijk, T.A. (2000) 'Ideologies, Racism, Discourse: Debates on Immigration Ethic Issues', in J. Ter Wal and M. Verkuyten (eds) Comparative Perspectives on pp. 91-116. Aldershot: Ashgate. https://doi.org/10. 4324/9781315196374-5
Van Dijk, T.A. (2001) 'Discourse, Ideology and Context', Folia Linguistic XXX/ 1-pp. 11-40. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2001.35.1-2.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2001.35.1-2.11
Panzeri F, Di Paola S, Domaneschi F (2021) Does the COVID-19 war metaphor influence reasoning? PLoS ONE, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250651 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250651
Chiang.Y.W & Duann.F.R.(2007) Conceptual metaphors for SARS: war with whom? Source: discourse & Society, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507079631 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507079631
Guo, S. (2013). Metaphor studies from the perspective of critical discourse analysis: A case study of business acquisition. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(3), 475-481. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.3.3.475-481 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.3.3.475-481
Mukunth V. If We’re at ’War’ With the New Coronavirus, We’re Doing It Wrong. The Wire 2020 April 15 [Cited 2020 October 6]. Available from: https://thewire.in/government/coronavirus-language-warmasculinity-climate-change-righ
Thibodeau PH, Hendricks RK, Boroditsky L. How linguistic metaphor scaffolds reasoning. Trends in cognitive sciences, 21(11), 852–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.07.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.07.001
Smith, C. A., Johnston-Robledo, I., McHugh, M. C. and Chrisler, J. C. (2010). Words matter: The language of gender. Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology, 361-377. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1465-1_18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1465-1_18
Wise A. Military Metaphors Distort the Reality of COVID-19. Scientific American. 2020 April 17 [cited 2021 January 30]. Available from: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/militarymetaphors-distort-the-reality-of-covid-19/