A Study On The Similarities And Dissimilarities Of Metaphorical Expressions Between Chinese And American News Reports On COVID-19 And The Relevant Reasons

COVID-19 outbreaks worldwide at the beginning of 2020.In response to fighting against it,the trend of “Reframing COVID” triggers a surge of interest in studying metaphors in relevant news reports.Nevertheless,it has brought about a proliferation of studies that focus on the rationality of war metaphors within one language,and ignore the horizontal comparison of metaphors in media across different languages or countries.On the basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory(CMT)proposed by Lakoff and Johnson,the thesis constructs two corpora of news reports on COVID-19 from People’s Daily(55 articles)and The New York Times(55 articles),so as to explore the metaphorical expressions in Chinese and American media,by using Ant Conc3.5.8tool and MIP(Metaphor Identification Procedure).The study addresses the following questions: 1)What are the similarities and dissimilarities of metaphorical expressions between Sino-US news reports on COVID-19? What characteristics are demonstrated from the metaphorical expressions of Sino-US news reports on COVID-19? 2)What are the reasons that cause the similarities and dissimilarities of metaphorical expressions between Sino-US news reports on COVID-19?This study has identified that metaphorical expressions are prevalent in Sino-US news reports concerning COVID-19,with similarities and dissimilarities,which verifies the universality and cultural coherence of conceptual metaphor.In Chinese news reports,there are 11 kinds of conceptual metaphors,involving war metaphor,building metaphor,journey metaphor,human metaphor,circle metaphor,chess metaphor,test metaphor,food metaphor,family metaphor,competition metaphor,up/down metaphor.In American news reports,9 types of conceptual metaphors occur,including war metaphor,human metaphor,journey metaphor,plant metaphor,liquid metaphor,building metaphor,crime metaphor,religion metaphor and game metaphor.In respect to the similarities,there are 4 categories of the same conceptual metaphors frequently used in both corpora: war metaphor,journey metaphor,building metaphor and human metaphor.Furthermore,there are more dissimilarities in metaphorical expressions between two countries.Firstly,it has different highlighted dimensions in the same categories of conceptual metaphor.War metaphors in Chinese media highlight the battlefield as source domain,while war metaphors in American media specially highlight the weapon as source domain;journey metaphors in Chinese media frequently highlight the path as source domain,while American media tends to use the traveler as source domain.Secondly,the frequency with which metaphors appear in Sino-US media differs.In Chinese media,the ranking of occurrence frequency can be manifested as follows: war metaphor> building metaphor> journey metaphor> human metaphor> circle metaphor> chess metaphor>test metaphor> food metaphor> family metaphor> competition metaphor> up/down metaphor.In American media,the ranking of occurrence frequency is presented as below: war metaphor> human metaphor> journey metaphor> plant metaphor> liquid metaphor> building metaphor> crime metaphor> religion metaphor> game metaphor.Thirdly,the compelling dissimilarities are the employment of different categories of conceptual metaphors between two corpora.Chinese media especially uses circle metaphor,chess game metaphor,test metaphor,food metaphor,family metaphor,competition metaphor and up/down metaphor,while American media specifically adopts plant metaphor,liquid metaphor,building metaphor,crime metaphor,religious metaphor and game metaphor.Upon further research,the similarities can be attributed to the common bodily experiences shared by human beings,while the discrepancies in metaphorical expressions are generated by cultural reasons,inclusive of religion,ideology,custom and politics.The study provides a useful account of metaphorical expressions amid Sino-US epidemic reports,in quest of a scientific approach to study metaphors in public health emergencies,which broadens the discourse types of CMT research.In addition,the study may also evoke readers’ metaphorical thinking and critical awareness on COVID-19 by unveiling the similarities and dissimilarities of metaphors between Sino-US media.