Digital Rhetoric in Media: Conceptual Metaphors in Chinese Editorial Stories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2024.0030Keywords:
Conceptual Metaphors, Orientational, Ontological, Structural, Chinese EditorialsAbstract
This study examines the use and impact of conceptual metaphors in Chinese digital editorial narratives. It aims to
identify predominant metaphor types and their role in enhancing the persuasive power of editorials. The study
analyzes 50 stories from China Daily using content analysis to explore metaphorical language in context. Findings
indicate a prevalent use of orientational, ontological, and structural metaphors. Orientational metaphors simplify
complex ideas, while ontological metaphors, like object and personification, make abstract concepts tangible,
boosting emotional appeal. Structural metaphors, particularly war and building metaphors, dramatize political
narratives, intensifying the impact of the editorials. The study concludes that these metaphors significantly improve
comprehension and emotional engagement, influencing reader perceptions and opinions. It highlights the importance
of metaphor analysis in media discourse, suggesting its inclusion in journalism education and advocating for
comparative metaphor studies in different cultural contexts.
Downloads
References
Abdel-Raheem, A. (2023). Where Covid metaphors come from: Reconsidering context and modality in
metaphor. Social Semiotics, 33(5), 971-1010. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2021.1971493
Amin, T. G. (2018). Conceptual metaphor and the study of conceptual change: Research synthesis and future
directions. Conceptual Metaphor and Embodied Cognition in Science Learning, 234-260.
Arcimaviciene, L., & Baglama, S.H. (2018). Migration, metaphor and myth in media representations: The ideological
dichotomy of “them” and “us”. Sage Open, 8(2), 2158244018768657.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018768657
Artemas, K., Vos, T. P., & Duffy, M. (2018). Journalism hits a wall: Rhetorical construction of newspapers’ editorial
and advertising relationship. Journalism Studies, 19(7), 1004-1020.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1249006
Brugman, B.C., Burgers, C., & Vis, B. (2019). Metaphorical framing in political discourse through words vs.
concepts: A meta-analysis. Language and Cognition, 11(1), 41-65. doi:10.1017/langcog.2019.5
Charteris-Black, J. (2018). Analysing political speeches: Rhetoric, discourse and metaphor. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chen, B. (2018). Metaphors in English news headlines. In 2018 International Symposium on Humanities and Social
Sciences, Management and Education Engineering (HSSMEE 2018) (pp. 327-330). Atlantis Press.
https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/hssmee-18/25905322
Close, H.G., & Scherr, R.E. (2018). Enacting conceptual metaphor through blending: Learning activities embodying
the substance metaphor for energy. Conceptual Metaphor and Embodied Cognition in Science Learning, 107
134. Routledge.
Craig, C.J. (2018). Metaphors of knowing, doing and being: Capturing experience in teaching and teacher
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 69, 300-311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.09.011
Dezhkameh, A., Layegh, N., & Hadidi, Y. (2021). A critical discourse analysis of Covid-19 in Iranian and American
Newspapers. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 21(3). http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2021-2103-13
El Refaie, E. (2019). Visual metaphor and embodiment in graphic illness narratives. Oxford University Press.
Farrokhi, F., Ansarin, A.A., & Ashrafi, S. (2019). The conceptual metaphors of building and construction in
newspaper and research article. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 2(4),
290328. https://core.ac.uk/download/287360520.pdf
Fitri, T. K. (2022). Metaphor used in politics articles in the Jakarta Post online newspapers. (Doctoral dissertation,
Universitas Islam Riau). https://repository.uir.ac.id/16295/
Flusberg, S. J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P. H. (2018). War metaphors in public discourse. Metaphor and
Symbol, 33(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992
Ge, M., Mao, R., & Cambria, E. (2022). Explainable metaphor identification inspired by conceptual metaphor theory.
Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 36(10), 10681-10689.
https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v36i10.21313
Hendricks, R. K., Demjén, Z., Semino, E., & Boroditsky, L. (2018). Emotional implications of metaphor:
Consequences of metaphor framing for mindset about cancer. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(4), 267-279.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1549835
Holyoak, K. J., & Stamenković, D. (2018). Metaphor comprehension: A critical review of theories and
evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 144(6), 641. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/bul0000145
Huang, Y., & Ren, W. (2020). A novel multidimensional analysis of writing styles of editorials from China Daily and
The New York Times. Lingua, 235, 102781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2019.102781
Huang, Z. A., & Wang, R. (2019). Building a network to “tell China stories well”: Chinese diplomatic communication
strategies on Twitter. International Journal of Communication, 13, 2984-3007. https://shs.hal.science/halshs
02169217/
Kennerly, M. (2018). Editorial bodies: Perfection and rejection in ancient rhetoric and poetics. University of South
Carolina Press.
Kha, H. N. M., & Anh, N. H. T. (2022). Embodiment experience in some orientational metaphors in English and
Vietnamese newspapers. Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ-Đại học Đà Nẵng, 108-116. https://jst-ud.vn/jst
ud/article/view/7699
Koller, V., & Ryan, J. (2019). A nation divided: Metaphors and scenarios in the media coverage of the 2016 British
EU referendum. Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Text and Discourse: From Poetics to Politics, 131-156.
Kövecses, Z. (2018). Metaphor in media language and cognition: A perspective from conceptual metaphor
theory. Lege Artis, 3(1), 124-141.
Kövecses, Z. (2020). Extended conceptual metaphor theory. Cambridge University Press.
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage publications.
Krstić, A., Aiello, G., & Vladisavljević, N. (2020). Visual metaphor and authoritarianism in Serbian political
cartoons. Media, War & Conflict, 13(1), 27-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635219856549
Lailla, M. (2018). Conceptual metaphor in the new york times political headlines. (Bachelor's thesis, Jakarta: Fakultas
Ekonomi dan Bisnis UIN Syarif Hidayatullah). http://repository.uinjkt.ac.id/dspace/handle/123456789/42233
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive
Science, 4(2), 195-208.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2020). Conceptual metaphor in everyday language. Shaping Entrepreneurship Research,
475-504. Routledge.
Lams, L. (2018). Examining strategic narratives in Chinese official discourse under Xi Jinping. Journal of Chinese
Political Science, 23(3), 387-411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-018-9529-8
Liu, F. (2018). Lexical metaphor as affiliative bond in newspaper editorials: A systemic functional linguistics
perspective. Functional Linguistics, 5(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-018-0054-z
Negro Alousque, I. (2020). The metaphorical representation of Brexit in digital political cartoons. Visual
Communication Quarterly, 27(1), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15551393.2019.1707084
Qin, B., Strömberg, D., & Wu, Y. (2018). Media bias in China. American Economic Review, 108(9), 2442-2476.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20170947
Richards, K. A. R., & Hemphill, M. A. (2018). A practical guide to collaborative qualitative data analysis. Journal of
Teaching in Physical education, 37(2), 225-231. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2017-0084
Robson, M. (2019). Metaphor and irony in the constitution of UK borders: An assessment of the ‘Mac’cartoons in the
Daily Mail newspaper. Political Geography, 71, 115-125.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629818301094
Siahaan, H. V. F. (2019). The using of metaphor in criminal column in the Jakarta Post newspaper. Jurnal Littera:
Fakultas Sastra Darma Agung, 1(1), 158-168.
http://jurnal.darmaagung.ac.id/index.php/littera/article/view/180
Silaški, N., & Đurović, T. (2019). The journey metaphor in Brexit-related political cartoons. Discourse, Context &
Media, 31, 100318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100318
Simon, F. M., & Camargo, C. Q. (2023). Autopsy of a metaphor: The origins, use and blind spots of the
‘infodemic’. Mew Media & Society, 25(8), 2219-2240. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211031908
Stojan, N., & Mijić, S. N. (2019). Conceptual metaphors in political discourse in Croatian, American and Italian
Newspapers. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 8(1), 69.
http://archive.sciendo.com/AJIS/ajis.2019.8.issue-1/ajis-2019-0007/ajis-2019-0007.pdf
Tameryan, T. Y., Zheltukhina, M. R., Slyshkin, G. G., Abakumova, O. B., Volskaya, N. N., & Nikolaeva, A. V.
(2018). Metaphor in political media discourse: Mental political leader portrait. Online Journal of
Communication and Media Technologies, 8(4), 377-384. https://doi.org/10.12973/ojcmt/3958
Thibodeau, P. H., Matlock, T., & Flusberg, S. J. (2019). The role of metaphor in communication and
thought. Language and Linguistics Compass, 13(5), e12327. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12327
Tipler, C. N., & Ruscher, J. B. (2019). Dehumanizing representations of women: the shaping of hostile sexist attitudes
through animalistic metaphors. Journal of Gender Studies, 28(1), 109-118.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1411790
Witherington, D.C., Overton, W.F., Lickliter, R., Marshall, P.J., & Narvaez, D. (2018). Metatheory and the primacy of
conceptual analysis in developmental science. Human Development, 61(3), 181-198.
https://doi.org/10.1159/000490160
Wyatt, S. (2021). Metaphors in critical Internet and digital media studies. New Media & Society, 23(2), 406-416.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
