Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers

The current paper deals with metaphorical framing of the COVID-19 pandemic and public response to it in the public and media discourse. Being one of the most dramatic global challenges of the third Millennium, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred transformation in social order, economic/business r...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Inna Skrynnikova, Tatiana Astafurova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Volgograd State University 2022-05-01
Series:Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie
Online Access:https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2560
_version_ 1797795341694664704
author Inna Skrynnikova
Tatiana Astafurova
author_facet Inna Skrynnikova
Tatiana Astafurova
author_sort Inna Skrynnikova
collection DOAJ
description The current paper deals with metaphorical framing of the COVID-19 pandemic and public response to it in the public and media discourse. Being one of the most dramatic global challenges of the third Millennium, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred transformation in social order, economic/business relationships and dramatic growth in social anxiety and tensions, mistrust and discriminatory measures. It has inevitably found its reflection in language and related discursive practices, which rely heavily on discourse metaphors. When being systematically employed, they affect people's views of events, situations and decisions they subsequently make. The present paper focuses primarily on the COVID-induced discourse changes that create new metaphorical framings and re-shape the familiar ones. The repertoire of elicited discourse metaphors framing the coronavirus discourse communicates the changing combating strategies referred to by the authors as globalist, nationalist and discriminatory. By drawing on specially compiled subcorpus of public and media texts, the paper reveals the conceptual and inferential structure of the concept of the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses the possible implications of activating various pandemic-related frames. The study stresses that the discursive construction of the coronavirus pandemic mirrors the dynamic nature of the pandemic itself as well as the measures to combat the insidious virus taken by national governments, the spread of misinformation and fake news as well as the split in the society and discrimination of certain groups (vaccine deniers/anti-vaxxers). Acknowledging the prevalence of military metaphors in the pandemic-related discourse, the authors claim that metaphorical framing serves as a crucial conceptual tool to communicate the gradual transition from war on COVID-19 to war of vaccines and ultimately to war on out-groups (vaccine deniers, anti-vaxxers).
first_indexed 2024-03-13T03:16:27Z
format Article
id doaj.art-c8da78f0746c4bc1ba474e286df6c534
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1998-9911
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-13T03:16:27Z
publishDate 2022-05-01
publisher Volgograd State University
record_format Article
series Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie
spelling doaj.art-c8da78f0746c4bc1ba474e286df6c5342023-06-25T20:43:56ZengVolgograd State UniversityVestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie1998-99112022-05-01213614810.15688/jvolsu2.2022.2.11Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-VaxxersInna Skrynnikovahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2390-7866Tatiana Astafurovahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1299-8109 The current paper deals with metaphorical framing of the COVID-19 pandemic and public response to it in the public and media discourse. Being one of the most dramatic global challenges of the third Millennium, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred transformation in social order, economic/business relationships and dramatic growth in social anxiety and tensions, mistrust and discriminatory measures. It has inevitably found its reflection in language and related discursive practices, which rely heavily on discourse metaphors. When being systematically employed, they affect people's views of events, situations and decisions they subsequently make. The present paper focuses primarily on the COVID-induced discourse changes that create new metaphorical framings and re-shape the familiar ones. The repertoire of elicited discourse metaphors framing the coronavirus discourse communicates the changing combating strategies referred to by the authors as globalist, nationalist and discriminatory. By drawing on specially compiled subcorpus of public and media texts, the paper reveals the conceptual and inferential structure of the concept of the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses the possible implications of activating various pandemic-related frames. The study stresses that the discursive construction of the coronavirus pandemic mirrors the dynamic nature of the pandemic itself as well as the measures to combat the insidious virus taken by national governments, the spread of misinformation and fake news as well as the split in the society and discrimination of certain groups (vaccine deniers/anti-vaxxers). Acknowledging the prevalence of military metaphors in the pandemic-related discourse, the authors claim that metaphorical framing serves as a crucial conceptual tool to communicate the gradual transition from war on COVID-19 to war of vaccines and ultimately to war on out-groups (vaccine deniers, anti-vaxxers).https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2560
spellingShingle Inna Skrynnikova
Tatiana Astafurova
Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie
title Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
title_full Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
title_fullStr Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
title_full_unstemmed Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
title_short Figurative Framing Around Pandemic Discourse: From Metaphorical Wars on Coronavirus to Wars on Anti-Vaxxers
title_sort figurative framing around pandemic discourse from metaphorical wars on coronavirus to wars on anti vaxxers
url https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2560
work_keys_str_mv AT innaskrynnikova figurativeframingaroundpandemicdiscoursefrommetaphoricalwarsoncoronavirustowarsonantivaxxers
AT tatianaastafurova figurativeframingaroundpandemicdiscoursefrommetaphoricalwarsoncoronavirustowarsonantivaxxers