COVID-19 target Sphere in English-language media text (based on The Economist magazine)

Abdullabekova Umsalimat Bagautdinovna PhD in Philology Docent, Dagestan State University of National Economy 367008, Russia, Republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala, Jamaludin Atayev str., 5 irma-uma@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Let's try to consider language from the point of view of a cognitive paradigm that focuses on human cognitive activity: the processes of obtaining and storing knowledge, processing information by the human brain, perception and understanding of knowledge, their interpretation.

Conceptualization of reality in the process of cognition finds verbal expression in language. In cognitive linguistics, language is considered as one of the types of human cognitive activity, a cognitive tool with which a person encodes and decodes information contained in linguistic units.

The central representatives of cognitive linguistics are J. Lakoff, R. Langaker, J. Fauconnier, L. Tully, et al. The methodological principle of cognitive linguistics was the remark of Noam Chomsky: "Language can serve as a source about thinking." ^{[1, p. 45]}. Cognitive scientist J. Fauconnier notes that language has received the status of a "window" into human consciousness ^{[2, p. 96]}. Language structures have become the material for reasoning about mental representations.

Briefly noting the theoretical basis of cognitive linguistics, the following principles are highlighted: a holistic approach to the interpretation of language ability, language ability as a manifestation of common cognitive mechanisms, the organic connection of language knowledge with the mental organization of a person, anthropocentricity, the central role of the physical experience of human interaction with the outside world in the organization of its conceptual system, subjectivization of linguistic research, functionalism, the study of linguistic values, explanatarity, etc.

Metaphor in cognitive linguistics is understood not just as a trope, but as a universal way of human thinking, which is based on the application of existing knowledge and ideas in the field of the still incomprehensible, unknown. This method makes it possible to compare phenomena and facts in order to identify their common and distinctive features.

The unity of thinking, language and communication is the basis of cognitive science. And regarding metaphor in cognitive linguistics, it is advisable to use the term "conceptual or cognitive metaphor".

The appeal of cognitive linguistics lies in its creativity. Revealing the metaphoricity of any communication, J. Trier confirms the guesses that "the metaphorical process is deeply rooted in the very essence of language" ^{[3, p. 24]}.

The theory of conceptual metaphor was proposed by George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson in the work "Metaphors by which we Live" ^[4]. For J. According to Lakoff and M. Johnson, a metaphor is a metaphorical concept, or a conceptual metaphor. It is not only and so much a figurative means of language as a phenomenon of thinking and culture. Metaphors as language expressions are possible precisely because, the authors claim, they are embedded in the conceptual system of a person. First of all, thinking is metaphorical, and language metaphors are nothing more than an external manifestation of this phenomenon.

The analysis of conceptual metaphors is built in accordance with the general principle of cognitive linguistics: to draw conclusions about the structures of consciousness from the facts of language. Metaphorical expressions are recognized as an important tool for the study of the conceptual sphere of man. The regularity of the use of certain images in relation to the description of a phenomenon, from the point of view of J. Lakoff and M. Johnson, allows us to conclude that there is a corresponding conceptual metaphor in the minds of native speakers, cf.: "Since metaphorical expressions in language are systemically correlated with system concepts, we can use metaphorical expressions to study the nature of metaphorical concepts and to understand the metaphorical nature of human activity ^{[4, p. 28]}. To illustrate, let us turn to the consideration of language expressions concerning the coronavirus infection that is relevant today. Examples are taken from the English-language magazine The Economist.

As COVID-19 has spread around the world,... "Since COVID-19 has spread around the world,... "^[5].

In March 2020 America’s east coast was hit hard by the pandemic. "In March 2020, the east coast of America was severely affected by the pandemic" ^[5].

While covid-19 was devastating New York in March 2020... "While covid-19 destroyed New York in March 2020"^[5].

The virus has continued to circulate throughout the continent since then "Since then, the virus has continued to circulate throughout the continent"^[5].

A new virus has known unknown "A new virus has learned the unknown" ^[6].

As SARS-COV-2 moves from novel threat to endemic disease, no one knows how it will continue to evolve "As SARS-COV-2 moves from a new threat to an endemic disease, no one knows how it will develop further"^[6].

The covid-19 pandemic has upended the lives of billions of people since it struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. "The covid-19 pandemic has upended the lives of billions of people since it hit the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019."^[6]

It seems natural for a person to interpret his experience in terms of physical objects and substances – to isolate its parts (as if they were discrete objects), group them, quantify them, etc. In the theory of J. Lakoff and M. Johnson describe these operations through so-called ontological metaphors.

Ontological metaphors are diverse. The most common is the metaphor of essence, which allows us to comprehend the abstract through the concrete: COVID IS AN ENTITY.In the above examples, covid is treated as an entity.

Generally speaking, a coronavirus infection is a disease, and a disease and an entity are different things. But as the above examples show, it is quite customary for the British to consider covid as an entity. So, this is exactly the idea of the British about the coronavirus.  Therefore, an English-speaking journalist uses the following terms in relation to SARS COV-2: has spread around the world "spread around the world", was hit by the pandemic "severely affected by the pandemic", covid-19 was devastating "covid-19 devastated", etc.

Consequently, in the minds of the British there is a metaphor COVID-19 IS A SUBSTANCE "COVID IS AN ENTITY". The essence of the metaphor COVID-19 IS A SUBSTANCE is to understand infection and disease as a kind of being that has the qualities of an animate entity that can spread, destroy, devastate.

In the examples under consideration, the ENTITY is the source sphere, and SARS COV-2 is the target sphere. The conceptual metaphor involves mapping the source sphere to the target sphere.

Another ontological metaphor of COVID IS AN ANIMAL "COVID IS AN ANIMAL". Here are some examples:

How many people have caught the virus "How many people have caught the virus" ^[7].

The taming of the coronavirus "Taming the coronavirus" ^[8].

The function of these metaphors is stylistic, namely, it is explained by the desire of the author of the article to show the complexity of the situation with the coronavirus in the world, turning it into a monster.

The interpretation of the coronavirus in terms of a separate physical entity allows you to refer to it, quantify it, see the cause of something in it, make decisions about further actions, etc. - in general, it makes the covid seem more tangible and, as a result, creates the impression that a person can understand this phenomenon and take it under control control.

It should also be noted that the same concept can be understood through different structural metaphors, i.e. several source spheres can correspond to one target sphere. So, consider the following expressions:

A wave of covid-19 is engulfing Indonesia "A wave of covid-19 is sweeping Indonesia" ^[9].

South-East Asia is swimming in covid-19 "Southeast Asia swims in covid-19" ^[9].

In these expressions, the manifestation of the COVID metaphor is the SEA (or OCEAN), as something infinite and boundless. We can refer this conceptual metaphor to the orientation type of conceptual metaphors.

These ways of conceptualizing covid form a coherent system of metaphorical concepts: CORONAVIRUS INFECTION during a pandemic in our society is a threat that is conceptualized through a target sphere An ANIMAL that needs to be caught (have caught the virus) and tamed (the taming of the coronavirus) taming of the coronavirus, and a target sphere the SEA in which swim (is swimming in covid-19) and having waves (a wave of covid-19).

Different metaphors highlight different sides of the same phenomenon, and the speaker/writer always chooses between them, guided by current communicative goals.

An important feature of structural metaphors is that they provide only partial structuring of the target sphere by means of the source sphere. Each metaphor inevitably emphasizes, or highlights, some aspects of a particular concept, and obscures others. Thus, the ontological metaphor of COVID is AN ENTITY that emphasizes the negative, deadly, threatening aspect of the disease, but ignores other points related to the spatial aspect. The orientational metaphor of COVID – THIS SEA emphasizes the spatial, spreading, endless nature of the infection, which has neither edge nor end. The ontological metaphor of COVID – THIS ANIMAL emphasizes the killing aspect of the disease. Coronavirus in the English-language media text is thought of as a kind of hostile creature. An abstract noun can have such lexical compatibility, as if it denoted a material object (which forms its material or material connotation).