A corpus-based Analysis of Patriotic Metaphors of the Kingdom in Press Coverage of the 91st National Day

Abstract

This is a corpus-based study that explored the patriotic metaphors used to describe Saudi Arabia in the opinion articles celebrating the 91 st Saudi national day in Al-jazirah and Alwatan newspapers. It identified the patriotic metaphors that appeared in the articles that have positive emotional national content using the conceptual metaphor analysis (CMA) and the critical metaphor analysis (CMA) approaches. The study results showed that the corpus contained five main metaphoric themes related to the domains of perception, reverence, attributes, achievements, and emotional attachment. Under these five themes, there were 21 metaphors that encompass the concepts of entity, home, mother, beloved person, protector of Islam, precious object, land of the two holy mosques, land of glory, land of goodness, center of attraction, blessed land, pure land, sacred land, lofty country, immense country, ambitious country, strong country, young country, developed country, generous country, and secure country. Moreover, it showed that the national zeal and patriotism of the writers and their pride in their homeland, its past and future and their concern to develop it are evident in the diversity and richness of the patriotic metaphors found in the corpus of the study