Metaphors of Coronavirus

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Moral Frames and Coronavirus

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 1-29

3. Metaphors of the Pandemic: War

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 31-59

4. Metaphors of the Pandemic: Fire and Force of Nature

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 61-91

5. The Pandemic as Zombie Apocalypse

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 93-122

6. Epidemiology: Science, and Metaphor

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 123-154

7. Disease, Confinement and Language

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 155-182

8. ‘Bubbles’, ‘Cocoons’, the ‘Protective Ring’ and the ‘Petri Dish’: The Containment Frame and the Pandemic

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 183-217

9. Metonyms of the Pandemic

   • Jonathan Charteris-Black

   Pages 219-248

10. Magic, Miracle Cures and Metaphoric Thought in the Anti-Vaccine Movement

    • Jonathan Charteris-Black

    Pages 249-280

11. Honesty and Dishonesty in Pandemic Language

    • Jonathan Charteris-Black

    Pages 281-289

12. Back Matter

    Pages 291-301

    PDF

This book explores the metaphors used in public and media communication to ask how language shapes our moral reasoning about the global coronavirus crisis. The author offers insights into the metaphors, metonyms, allegories and symbols of the global crisis and examines how they have contributed to policy formation and communication. Combining metaphor theory with moral foundations theory, he places metaphors in their historical contexts, and then critically questions why certain tropes might be used in particular situations to persuade and convince an audience. The book takes an integrated approach, involving ideas from cognitive linguistics, history, social psychology and literature to produce a multi-layered and thematically rich interpretation of the language of the pandemic and its social and political consequences. It will be relevant to readers with a background in these areas, as well as anyone with a general interest in the language used to make sense of this global event.

• moral foundations theory
• metaphor frames
• science fiction
• metonyms
• propaganda
• decision making
• public health communication
• COVID-19
• social media
• allegory
• xenophobia

“This book has many strengths and is an important and valuable contribution to cognitive linguistics and political communication fields, which obviously benefits from contemporary relevance to the ongoing crisis. Metaphors of Coronavirus is well worth reading by anyone – academic or lay person – with an interest in understanding the linguistic and communicative dynamics of the Coronavirus pandemic. … The takeaway message of this book is, for me, that metaphor is simply a linguistic tool and is not inherently dishonest.” (Emily Faux, Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 21 (6), 2022) "In this timely, wide-ranging and inspiring book, Jonathan Charteris-Black provides detailed and critical insights into the key roles played by metaphor and metonymy in framing the debate around the Covid-19 pandemic. He shows how, through their strong appeal to emotion, metaphors and metonyms form part of an ‘overt moral coercion’ which reduces the agency of those living through the pandemic. This book deepens our understanding of the ways in which the use of metaphor and metonymy can be used to shape behaviour, providing important insights into the collective experience of the pandemic. The chapter on metonymy is particularly illuminating as it highlights the different ways in which thought and behaviour during the Pandemic have been influenced by this highly subtle and nuanced form of communication which has been employed both in verbal format and through the use of images."

-Jeannette Littlemore, Professor of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK


"This is a highly engaging, personal and lucid analysis of the figurative language used in the COVID-19 pandemic to 'make sense' of its threat to society and of the chances to counter it. Using both corpus-based and experimental survey methods, Charteris-Black expertly analyses key metaphors, metonymies and allegories about the virus, its worldwide spread and its medical management and relates them to fundamental parameters of moral judgement, leading to fascinating new insights."


-Andreas Musolff, Professor of Intercultural Communication, University of East Anglia, UK

• Arts, Creative Industries, and Education, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

  Jonathan Charteris-Black

Jonathan Charteris-Black is Professor of Linguistics at the University of the West of England, UK. His research interests include metaphor, rhetoric and political discourse. 

Policies and ethics