Framing with metaphors: How metaphorical frames depict climate change in Dutch opinion articles.

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2020-04-21
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en
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Climate change is posing an increasing threat towards humanity and the environment and a general understanding of the issue amongst the non-specialist public could help to solve the issue. Given their simplifying nature, metaphorical frames could enhance such an understanding of climate change. Using opinion articles in two Dutch newspapers, the present study aimed to reconstruct the most frequent metaphorical frames for climate change and gain insights in the valence of these frames. Analysis based on the Metaphor Identification Procedure and Framing theory illustrated that climate change was depicted via the metaphorical frames of TRANSPORTATION, WAR and in a lesser degree, ILLNESS. The positive and negative metaphors present in the TRANSPORTATION and WAR frames frequently shifted their valence due to their surrounding context, resulting in contrasting arguments while using the same metaphor and metaphorical frame. Hence, no fixed valence could be assigned to the metaphorical frames. The results presented a critical note on framing theory, as (1) a metaphorical frame does not provide a fixed perspective on an issue as it can include various aspects of an issue and (2) these overarching metaphorical frames do not have a fixed valence themselves. Therefore, the study suggested that (1) metaphorical frames for broad issues should be reconstructed per aspect rather than the issue as a whole and (2) metaphor valence should be added as a factor when reconstructing metaphorical frames. Suggestions for future studies centered around expanding materials in order to identify patterns of metaphorical frames across issues, genres and countries or cultures.
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Faculteit der Letteren