Exploring the Use of Conceptual Metaphors in Online News about Coronavirus in Iran

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic around the world in late December 2019 has disrupted how human beings work, interact with each other, and engage in mundane activities on a global level. The Covid-19, initially detected in Wuhan (China), has spread around the planet in a relatively short period of time, causing unprecedented casualties in the 21st century. The pandemic has also received extensive media coverage around the world, reporting numerous deaths it causes every day. For example, Iranian media outlets, including online media, have covered Covid-19-related news from its outbreak. This article, utilizing George Lakoff and Mark Johnson Conceptual Metaphor Theory model, attempts to examine a selected number of published news in the Iranian online media about the Covid-19. It is tempting to suggest that Iranians, like many countries around the world, are involved in a “war” against the Covid-19 “enemy”. In this scenario, health care providers and medical staff, christened as “Iran’s health defenders” in a manner reminiscent of the eight years of Sacred Defense (1980-1988) and its martyrs, are sacrificing their lives at the frontline. Metaphors like “enemy”, “health defenders”, “war against Corona”, “martyrdom” have provided a better understanding of the critical situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.