COVID-19 Vaccine Metaphor in English News Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36317/kja/2026/v1.i69.19539Keywords:
cognitive linguistics, metaphorical mapping, source domain, target domain, COVID-19, VaccineAbstract
This research analyzes the metaphoric mappings of coronavirus vaccine concepts and assesses metaphorical language related to vaccines, public perception, and societal attitudes. It examines e-source corpora of English COVID-19 vaccination news articles from 2020 to 2021. Metaphors are extracted from articles in The New York Times, The Guardian, News Weekly, Daily Mail, Modern Healthcare News, Nature, and The New Republic, relying on conceptual metaphor theory.
The analysis shows the target domain coronavirus vaccine is understood through mapping with various source domains: journey, race, hope, gift, game, war, life, device, and teacher. These domains address different aspects of vaccine development. Investigating them reveals meaning representation and conceptual linkage in language. Metaphorical mapping highlights the importance of language in understanding the vaccine and the pandemic.
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