Zero-sum or Win-win Game?
Comparative studies on sports/game metaphors and ideological framing in economic news on Sino, EU and US trade disputes
Metaphors can express ideological and evaluative positions. However, comparative studies on the framing implications of sports/game metaphors in Western and Chinese contexts remain underexplored. This study examines how journalists in China, the UK, and the US use sports/game metaphors to frame trade disputes in comparable English-language economic news based on a context-sensitive and hierarchical analytical framework. Results reveal the prevalence of sports/game metaphors in both Chinese and Western texts. Additionally, the results demonstrate that the UK and US texts exhibit socio-cultural preferences for associating specific sports/game scenarios that are salient in Western cultures, e.g., rugby, with trade disputes, and favor a competition narrative. However, the Chinese texts favor a coopetition narrative, suggesting both competition and win-win cooperation. This study adds new insights into cultural variations in the use and framing implications of sports/game metaphors in Western and Chinese economic discourse to express ideological standpoints towards similar economic issues.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Metaphor, framing and sports/game
- 2.1Metaphor and framing
- 2.2Sports/game metaphors in economic discourse
- 3.Methods and materials
- 3.1The data
- 3.2Wmatrix as a filter for finding metaphor candidates
- 3.3Metaphor patterns identification: Mixing and extension
- 3.4An analytical model of metaphorical framing
- 4.Results and discussion
- 4.1Frequency of linguistic sports/game metaphors
- 4.2Mini-narratives analysis within sports/game scenarios
- 4.3Framing implications of narratives within sports/game scenarios
- 5.Conclusion
- Conflict of interest
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
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References