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From Battling to Bridge Building: Metaphors around Covid-19 in German Politics

Wandsleb, Victoria LU (2021) KOGM20 20211
Cognitive Science
Abstract
The present study examines metaphor activity in German politics. It focuses on the question how metaphors contribute to a conceptualisation of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research question is answered with the help of a corpus-based analysis that qualitatively investigates debates in the German parliament between March and June 2020. The study combines frameworks from cognitive-linguistics and discourse studies with practice-oriented reflections.
The results show that metaphors are used to either make the emerging, new situation more accessible or the reactions to it. Metaphors describing the situation furnish Covid-19 with physical features such as speed, weight or force. Metaphors referring to political action highlight the feature of... (More)
The present study examines metaphor activity in German politics. It focuses on the question how metaphors contribute to a conceptualisation of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research question is answered with the help of a corpus-based analysis that qualitatively investigates debates in the German parliament between March and June 2020. The study combines frameworks from cognitive-linguistics and discourse studies with practice-oriented reflections.
The results show that metaphors are used to either make the emerging, new situation more accessible or the reactions to it. Metaphors describing the situation furnish Covid-19 with physical features such as speed, weight or force. Metaphors referring to political action highlight the feature of policies to follow a certain strategy and be performed collaboratively. In general, there are several metaphors that treat Covid-19 as an opponent or at least as a distinct entity. The fact that a virus needs a host to survive and spread is clashing with such a rhetorical emphasis on the dichotomy of “us vs. the other”.
This paper contributes to the critical reflection on metaphor use in connection with the decade-defining Covid-19 pandemic. How certain metaphors influence political decision making and public action is hereby open for further research. (Less)
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author
Wandsleb, Victoria LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOGM20 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Cognitive Linguistics, Covid-19, Metaphors, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Dynamic Discourse Studies, Critical Metaphor Analysis, Metaphor Identification Procedure, Explorative Corpus Analysis
language
English
id
9070516
date added to LUP
2022-02-03 15:12:24
date last changed
2022-02-03 15:12:32
@misc{9070516,
  abstract     = {{The present study examines metaphor activity in German politics. It focuses on the question how metaphors contribute to a conceptualisation of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research question is answered with the help of a corpus-based analysis that qualitatively investigates debates in the German parliament between March and June 2020. The study combines frameworks from cognitive-linguistics and discourse studies with practice-oriented reflections.
The results show that metaphors are used to either make the emerging, new situation more accessible or the reactions to it. Metaphors describing the situation furnish Covid-19 with physical features such as speed, weight or force. Metaphors referring to political action highlight the feature of policies to follow a certain strategy and be performed collaboratively. In general, there are several metaphors that treat Covid-19 as an opponent or at least as a distinct entity. The fact that a virus needs a host to survive and spread is clashing with such a rhetorical emphasis on the dichotomy of “us vs. the other”.
This paper contributes to the critical reflection on metaphor use in connection with the decade-defining Covid-19 pandemic. How certain metaphors influence political decision making and public action is hereby open for further research.}},
  author       = {{Wandsleb, Victoria}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{From Battling to Bridge Building: Metaphors around Covid-19 in German Politics}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}