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In:New Vistas in Research on Metaphor and Metonymy: Their contexts and interaction across discourse types and modalities
Edited by Robert Kiełtyka, Mario Brdar, Marcin Kudła and Goran Milić
[Human Cognitive Processing 82] 2027
► pp. 267–297

Chapter 10
The deep, deep irony of winning the battle over Coronavirus

How metaphor, metonymy and conceptual blending can help produce irony

 | Universitat Politècnica de València
 | ELTE, Budapest
 | University of Osijek
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The coronavirus has been portrayed figuratively by means of metaphors and metonymies, often combined with hyperbole and/or irony, giving rise to complex combinations of these figures of thought. The present article focuses on the combinations involved in a highly recurrent image used to address COVID-related issues: the lifting of the American flag by marines on Iwo Jima. Through visual intertextuality links are created to topics ranging from the morale-boosting representation of professionals holding the healthcare system together to the criticism of Trump’s misuse of the pandemic to avert impeachment. In ironic uses of this image, the target and source domains of the visual metaphor are built through the integration of conceptual structure, and the metaphor provides the epistemic and attested scenarios.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The theoretical pre-requisites
    • 2.1Cognitive operations
      • 2.1.1Content operations related to metaphor
      • 2.1.2Content operations related to metonymy
      • 2.1.3Content operations related to hyperbole
      • 2.1.4Content operations related to irony
    • 2.2Conceptual complexity, frames, and image schemas
  • 3.The Iwo Jima photograph in the figurative conceptualization of COVID-19
    • 3.1Metaphor and metonymy
    • 3.2Irony and hyperbole
    • 3.3Conceptual integration
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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