This book explores the metaphors used in public and media communication to ask how language shapes our moral reasoning about the global coronavirus crisis. The author offers insights into the metaphors, metonyms, allegories and symbols of the global crisis and examines how they have contributed to policy formation and communication. Combining metaphor theory with moral foundations theory, he places metaphors in their historical contexts, and then critically questions why certain tropes might be used in particular situations to persuade and convince an audience. The book takes an integrated approach, involving ideas from cognitive linguistics, history, social psychology and literature to produce a multi-layered and thematically rich interpretation of the language of the pandemic and its social and political consequences. It will be relevant to readers with a background in these areas, as well as anyone with a general interest in the language used to make sense of this global event.
Author(s): Jonathan Charteris-Black
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 320
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Moral Frames and Coronavirus
Introduction
Moral Frames and the Pandemic
Care and Harm
Fairness and Cheating
Loyalty and Betrayal
Authority and Subversion
Sanctity and Degradation
Liberty and Oppression
A Challenge to Moral Foundations Theory: Honesty and Dishonesty
Outline of Chapters
2: Metaphors of the Pandemic: War
Introduction
The War Frame
Rejection of the War Metaphor
Empirical Research & Analysis
War Vignette
Literal Vignette
Mixed Metaphors
Mixed Metaphor Vignette
3: Metaphors of the Pandemic: Fire and Force of Nature
The Fire Frame
Empirical Research & Analysis
Fire Vignette
The Force of Nature Frame
Empirical Research & Analysis
Force of Nature Vignette
4: The Pandemic as Zombie Apocalypse
Introduction
The Zombie Apocalypse Frame
The “We Are the Virus” Meme
5: Epidemiology: Science, and Metaphor
Introduction
‘Following the Science’ and ‘Led by Science’
Herd Immunity
‘Flattening the Curve’, ‘Squashing the Sombrero’ and ‘Spikes’
Circuit Breaker
6: Disease, Confinement and Language
Introduction
The Cordon Sanitaire and the Pest House
Quarantine and Plague in the Seventeenth Century
The Iron Lung
Containment in Language
Summary
7: ‘Bubbles’, ‘Cocoons’, the ‘Protective Ring’ and the ‘Petri Dish’: The Containment Frame and the Pandemic
Introduction
The ‘Bubble’ Metaphor
The ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Shielding’ Metaphors
The ‘Protective Ring’ Metaphor
The ‘Petri Dish’ Metaphor
The ‘Bunker’ Metaphor
The ‘Pod’ and ‘Pocket’ Metaphors
8: Metonyms of the Pandemic
Introduction
Metonymy in the Naming of Disease
The Mask
The Hazmat Suit
The Hearse
The Rainbow
9: Magic, Miracle Cures and Metaphoric Thought in the Anti-Vaccine Movement
Introduction
Silver/Magic Bullets and Deceptively Simple Solutions
Miracle Cures for Covid-19
The ‘Race’ for a Vaccine
Metaphoric Thought in Pro- and Anti-Vaccine Discourse
10: Honesty and Dishonesty in Pandemic Language
References
Index
