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Des métaphores et de la morale dans les discours autour du Covid-19 en Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

This paper discusses metaphors and their moral implications in health discourses in Ivory Coast. Based on the assumption that health metaphors are axiologically loaded, the study analyses a rich corpus of oral data on the issue of COVID-19 and its management in Ivory Coast. The aim is to show how these metaphors are, on the one hand, used by Ivorians to conceptualize diseases and, on the other hand, their effects on the Ivorians’ attitudes. The study uses an empirical and qualitative methodological approach. The analyses are generally carried out through the lenses of the theory of conceptual metaphor. Yet, they remained open to other approaches which they have put into dialogue. The results show that although the metaphorical phenomena identified confirm previous studies on epi-/pandemic discourse, the representations related to the disease and the moral stigmatization of the patient that emerges cannot be attributed to linguistic metaphors but rather to our cognitive processes of conceptualizing the surrounding realities.