Conceptual Mappings in Metaphors of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lukabaras

Abstract

Metaphors have been utilized in framing the COVID-19 pandemic, a respiratory disease caused by the corona virus. However, understanding the cultural conceptualization of this novel pandemic becomes necessary when varied metaphorical frames have implications on the interventions to prevent the outbreak. The emergence of the pandemic in late 2019 not only provided a chance to investigate the metaphorical framing of this disease but also the experiential differences about the disease in varied sociocultural contexts and discourses. Thus, this article described the conceptual mappings in the metaphors of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lukabaras, a Bantu language spoken in Western Kenya. The study used a descriptive design and data was identified using Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP). The conceptual mappings in the data that was collected through key informant interviews, was analysed within the tenets and framework of the Conceptual Integrated Theory (CIT) by Fauconnier and Turner (2002). The findings revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic in Lukabaras was conceptualized through source domains such as people, animals, objects, events, actions, natural phenomena and states and conditions. It was established that the conceptual mappings in the metaphors utilized to talk about COVID-19 reflected the perception and attitude of the people towards the pandemic. Consequently, there was misinformation regarding the seriousness of the outbreak and this affected the measures put in place to prevent and contain the rampant spread of the pandemic.