Exploring Sinophobic discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic: A corpus-assisted study of metaphor scenarios in editorials and reader comments

Abstract

This study investigates the role of metaphors in COVID-19-related Sinophobic discourses, focusing on their functions in editorials and reader comments. While previous studies have highlighted the recurrence of specific frames (e.g. WAR, CRIME, etc.) when representing China (see Kim et al., 2022), little attention has been paid in the literature to the functions that metaphors perform in COVID-19-related Sinophobic discourses. This study addresses this gap by analysing the metaphorical representations of China in editorials and reader comments in one of Australia's most-read newspapers, the Daily Telegraph. Metaphors are analysed referring to Musolff's (2006) concept of scenarios. The results highlight that China is portrayed in both editorials and reader comments as an aggressive predator threatening Australia, as well as morally questionable and allegedly violating laws. Additionally, it is associated with ideological influence through communism, metaphorically compared to a contagious disease. Metaphors, especially in reader comments, seem to reflect perceptions of cultural superiority in Western societies by evaluating the out-group's behaviour as inappropriate (see Li & Nicholson, 2021). While metaphorical frames are shared between the corpora, reader comments exhibit greater diversity in their linguistic realisations. The findings suggest that metaphors play a crucial role in reinforcing Sinophobic narratives.