Metaphorical Representations of Pandemic-Related Phenomena in the ‘Denialist’ Discourses of COVID-19

Abstract

We focus on the discourse surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. We examine the metaphorical representations of phenomena associated with the pandemic that are present in the discourses that deny the existence of COVID-19. We will consider the characteristics of denialist rhetoric, analysing in particular the conceptual metaphors, including those that insist on the themes of struggle that have a long tradition in public health and political discourse. We will also examine the persuasive purpose of these figures of speech and the ways in which they are used. The corpus of the study includes comments, often dysphemic, collected between February 2020 and December 2022 on social networks in four Facebook groups, two Polish and two French, protesting against the health regime and addressing topics such as the pandemic, wearing masks, barrier gestures, treatments, antiviral vaccines and the medical sector.