A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
The short article reports a preliminary exploration about how the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore frame COVID-19 through metaphors. The framing can shape our understanding of the virus. The Prime Ministers gave public broadcasts on or to the media in March, April and May 2020. The analy...
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Main Author: | |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/1/40070-135066-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/ http://ejournals.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1304 |
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Summary: | The short article reports a preliminary exploration about how the Prime Ministers of Malaysia
and Singapore frame COVID-19 through metaphors. The framing can shape our understanding
of the virus. The Prime Ministers gave public broadcasts on or to the media in March, April
and May 2020. The analysis of the broadcasts is comprised of metaphor identification using
the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP), and metaphor interpretation. COVID-19 in the
Prime Ministers’ broadcasts is conceptualized by a few metaphors. The Prime Ministers utilize
similar metaphors about the virus because metaphors of direction, journey, liquid and war are
noted. COVID-19 IS WAR is selected because war metaphors have been recognized for other
diseases and they have been commonly deployed during this pandemic. War metaphors frame
several aspects of the virus, which cover its description, impact on multiple areas, the actors
involved and their reactions. The war scenario can evoke a sense of alarm regarding the threat
and severity of COVID-19. |
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