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: Kumaran Rajandran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/1/40070-135066-1-PB.pdf
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author Kumaran Rajandran,
author_facet Kumaran Rajandran,
author_sort Kumaran Rajandran,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description 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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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:157322020-11-19T01:30:27Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/ A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19 Kumaran Rajandran, 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. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020-08 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/1/40070-135066-1-PB.pdf Kumaran Rajandran, (2020) A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19. GEMA ; Online Journal of Language Studies, 20 (3). pp. 261-267. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournals.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1304
spellingShingle Kumaran Rajandran,
A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title_full A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title_fullStr A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title_short A long battle ahead: Malaysian and Singaporean Prime Ministers employ war metaphors for COVID-19
title_sort long battle ahead: malaysian and singaporean prime ministers employ war metaphors for covid-19
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15732/1/40070-135066-1-PB.pdf