Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper

In April 2009, reports of a new strain of a deadly flu virus emerged in Mexico. The scarcity of information available on this new threat can be observed clearly in the language used in the news reports. This study investigates the use of conceptual metaphors of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in...

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Main Author: Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
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Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67639/1/FBMK%202016%2076%20IR.pdf
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spelling my-upm-ir.676392019-03-18T04:16:39Z Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper 2016-04 Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi In April 2009, reports of a new strain of a deadly flu virus emerged in Mexico. The scarcity of information available on this new threat can be observed clearly in the language used in the news reports. This study investigates the use of conceptual metaphors of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the newspaper and how these metaphors helped to construct the notion of a pandemic in the media. Metaphors of illness and disease are a prominent tool in the discourse of disease in the news. The conceptual metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson(1980) was utilized as a framework in this study to investigate the coverage of the pandemic in the newspaper. The data was extracted from a corpus of news reports from The New Straits Times Malaysia from April 2009 to August 31, 2009 when the disease was at its peak. The results of the study yielded various conceptualisation and construction of the pandemic at various stages in the news. Three dominant conceptual metaphors; DISEASE IS A WAR, DISEASE IS A CRIMINAL and DISEASE IS A POSSESSION and ten least dominant conceptual metaphors were found in the research. Metaphors of war; the most conventional construction were found to be prominent at the beginning of the outbreak. Furthermore, as the disease progressed in the country, shifts in the conceptualisation of the pandemic in the news as a CRIMINAL and a POSSESSION constructed a notion of pandemic from a foreign threat to a more internalized problem with the country and a shift in the culpability of controlling the disease. Metaphor - Malaysia Metaphor - Language 2016-04 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67639/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67639/1/FBMK%202016%2076%20IR.pdf text en public masters Universiti Putra Malaysia Metaphor - Malaysia Metaphor - Language
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection PSAS Institutional Repository
language English
topic Metaphor - Malaysia
Metaphor - Language

spellingShingle Metaphor - Malaysia
Metaphor - Language

Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi
Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
description In April 2009, reports of a new strain of a deadly flu virus emerged in Mexico. The scarcity of information available on this new threat can be observed clearly in the language used in the news reports. This study investigates the use of conceptual metaphors of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the newspaper and how these metaphors helped to construct the notion of a pandemic in the media. Metaphors of illness and disease are a prominent tool in the discourse of disease in the news. The conceptual metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson(1980) was utilized as a framework in this study to investigate the coverage of the pandemic in the newspaper. The data was extracted from a corpus of news reports from The New Straits Times Malaysia from April 2009 to August 31, 2009 when the disease was at its peak. The results of the study yielded various conceptualisation and construction of the pandemic at various stages in the news. Three dominant conceptual metaphors; DISEASE IS A WAR, DISEASE IS A CRIMINAL and DISEASE IS A POSSESSION and ten least dominant conceptual metaphors were found in the research. Metaphors of war; the most conventional construction were found to be prominent at the beginning of the outbreak. Furthermore, as the disease progressed in the country, shifts in the conceptualisation of the pandemic in the news as a CRIMINAL and a POSSESSION constructed a notion of pandemic from a foreign threat to a more internalized problem with the country and a shift in the culpability of controlling the disease.
format Thesis
qualification_level Master's degree
author Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi
author_facet Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi
author_sort Priyadarshni, R. Lakshmi
title Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
title_short Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
title_full Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
title_fullStr Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
title_full_unstemmed Metaphors of illness in news reports in a Malaysian newspaper
title_sort metaphors of illness in news reports in a malaysian newspaper
granting_institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
publishDate 2016
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67639/1/FBMK%202016%2076%20IR.pdf
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