| Author: | Fu, Feifei |
| Title: | Metaphor patterns of the COVID-19 pandemic in news pictures in mainland China : a corpus-based critical metaphor analysis |
| Advisors: | Tay, Dennis (ENGL) |
| Degree: | DALS |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Subject: | COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- , in mass media Electronic newspapers -- China Photojournalism -- China Metaphor -- Social aspects -- China Mass media -- Social aspects -- China Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Humanities |
| Pages: | 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Metaphorical descriptions of the COVID-19 pandemic are pervasive in media coverage in China; however, patterns of metaphor use of the pandemic in news pictures are still under-explored. This study carries out a corpus-based critical analysis of COVID-19 metaphors used by the Chinese government in online news pictures in the time frame from January 21, 2020, to January 20, 2021, and conducts experimental studies to examine the impact of COVID-19 metaphors in Chinese society. The results from qualitative investigation on corpus data suggest that COVID-19 metaphors (45%) are less widely used in news pictures than presumed. Most metaphors (95%) in news pictures are rendered verbally. The most salient COVID-19 metaphors used by the Chinese government in news pictures are the UP/DOWN (spatial), WAR, FAMILY, and COMPETITION metaphors. Log-linear analyses of the association between source/target domains and pandemic stages reveal that target domains and source domains are highly associated with specific pandemic stages. The Chinese government employs particular source/target domains when faced with different issues in different pandemic stages. Drawing on Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA), this study interprets major COVID-19 metaphors in the Chinese political context and highlights that the Chinese government employs COVID-19 metaphors with persuasive and ideological functions. Utilizing questionnaire surveys, this study then examines how major COVID-19 metaphors that are used in the Chinese political context influence Chinese people’s risk perception and attitudes toward protective health behaviors. The study constructs a mediation model and examines the mediating role of risk perception in the relationship between metaphorical frames and protective health behaviors. The results reveal that perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, and negative affect are parallel mediators that mediate the effect of COVID-19 metaphors on protective health behaviors. This study also finds that metaphorical frames in news pictures allow Chinese people to perceive higher levels of severity and susceptibility of the pandemic, make people perceive more negative emotions and more willing to take protective behaviors and receive vaccines. Moreover, news pictures with high-depicted severity and susceptibility and generate more negative affect from people also make them more willing to take protective behaviors and receive vaccines. This study combines qualitative and quantitative research designs to examine COVID-19 metaphors used by the Chinese government. This study highlights the importance of metaphor as a powerful tool for communicating the pandemic in Chinese culture. The investigation of COVID-19 metaphors elucidates the underlying reasons and motivations behind the government’s utilization of metaphors across different stages of the pandemic, thereby facilitating readers’ comprehension of China’s current situation, social values, and ideological perspectives. Through investigation, this study has generated adverse spatial metaphor patterns from Lakoff and Johnson (1980), and addressed the WAR metaphor as an effective tool in Chinese political discourse to raise people’s vigilance and persuade them to take preventive actions against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The findings allows readers to rethink the appropriateness of COVID-19 metaphors in their cultural contexts. Limitations and suggestions are addressed in this study. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7135.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 6.09 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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