Fire, water, gaia and zephyrus: a cognitive, corpus-based analysis of elemental metaphors of social unrest

The Cognitive Linguistic approach is an essential development in Critical Discourse Analysis in that it provides a conceptual framework for analysing discourse representation at both the levels of text and embodiment. In alignment with this belief, this research aims to merge Cognitive Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Critical Discourse Analysis, with a case study of critically analysing the ELEMENTAL metaphorical markers in discourses of social unrest constructed by six US-based, English-language online news media outlets, namely Fox News, CNN, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and USA Today. In particular, it employs a corpus-assisted discourse analysis focussing on lexical choice, frequency and grammatical patterns to investigate discourses of social unrest. We argue that Critical Discourse Analysis can benefit tremendously from Corpus Linguistics research design to ward off the subjective (under/over) and cherry-picking interpretation nature of discourse texts. Thus, the suggested research design may shed light on the metaphorical framing operations of ELEMENTAL metaphorical markers in social unrest. The findings demonstrate how the use of metaphors varies amongst media sources, reflecting ideological disparities. Whilst police are deputised as stabilising forces using fire and wind metaphors, right-leaning media outlets such as Fox News and USA Today use water and earth metaphors to portray protests as chaotic threats. This contrast shows how liberal media outlets promote protests as a response to systemic injustice, whilst conservative media delegitimises them by focussing on societal disorder.