Conceptual Metaphors for COVID-19 in Tunisian Media Discourse

A Cognitive Semantic Analysis

Abstract

With the spread of COVID-19, there has been a growing interest in the study of metaphor use during the pandemic (Sirait et al. 2020; Fernandez-Pedemonte et al. 2020; Isaacs/Priesz 2021; Kozlova 2021; Semino 2021; Alousque 2021; Marron et al. 2020; Prokhorova et al. 2021; Yu et al. 2021). However, to the best of our knowledge, no single study has provided a systematic analysis of the conceptual metaphors utilized by the Tunisian linguistic community to talk about the pandemic. On the basis of language data, this paper will pinpoint the conceptual metaphors used by the Tunisian media to depict the pandemic. The data is taken from three Tunisian online newspapers: Assabah, Aljarida, and Alchourouk. The study is conducted within the CMT framework. The following five conceptual metaphors have been identified: COVID- 19 IS WAR, PANDEMIC VICTIMS ARE WAR VICTIMS, PREVENTION IS AN ACTION, COVID-19 IS A NATURAL ATTACK, and COVID-19 IS A PERSON. This study has shown that several COVID-19 metaphors are shared by different linguistic communities. These similarities might be attributed to the fact that the global pandemic has generated ‘common’ and ‘universal’ feelings of anxiety and panic among different cultures. It has been argued that this study provides evidence from a language other than English for the CMT claim that humans tend to use a familiar concept to understand a new or difficult concept.