Losing a WAR or Winning a GAME: Two Conceptualizations of Covid-19

Abstract

In this paper the authors discuss how COVID-19 is thought of or talked about in terms of two different source domains: WAR and SPORTS. More precisely, the study raises the question of whether there are any differences in the conceptualization of COVID-19 pandemic in two different contexts. In the first context people including those who work in the medical field are trying to understand the nature of a novel, unknown virus. In the second context covid-19 becomes somehow controllable after developing a vaccine. Respectively, the findings of the study reveal that there are two conceptualizations in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. The first relates to the source domain of WAR and the second draws on SPORTS domain. The WAR domain is conceptually used when speakers/writers feel that they are in a weaker position or that the virus is extremely lethal leading them to sickness, death and simply to the unknown. On the other side, the SPORTS domain is conceptually used when speakers/writers feel that they are in control of the virus whether through developing vaccines or through understanding its nature. Thus, the findings of the study help revealing the role of conceptual metaphors as a tool for reflecting how global health crises affect how people may alter the way they think/talk according to the social, health and cognitive changes that they may experience.