“Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse
Abstract
The paper explores media representations of Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium that causes severe plant diseases, using data from online sources in English which reported on the developments in the bacterium spreading and treatment from 2015 to 2020. Two directions of analysis are pursued, the quantitative and qualitative one. Quantitative analysis reveals that the bacterium and its effects are described via the terms belonging to the lexical fields of fear, diseases, change, the supernatural, hostility, destruction, killing and war, with the latter three being the most dominant statistically speaking. Further, qualitative analysis attests that some of these terms are used metaphorically as instantiations of the war metaphor, which is generally effective in communicating the severity of the X. fastidiosa induced diseases and mobilising the necessary support. Based on the results, it may be argued that the language used in the media for describing X. fastidiosa fits into the prevalent “c...atastrophe discourse”, with the purpose of raising awareness of the gravity of the threat the bacterium poses, as well as justifying the severe measures undertaken to contain it.
Keywords:
Xylella fastidiosa / public discourse / media representations / conceptual metaphors / EnglishSource:
Corpus Pragmatics, 2022, 6, 4, 291-306Funding / projects:
- Project POnTE (Pest Organisms Threatening Europe; Grant Agreement No. 635646)
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Mašinski fakultetTY - JOUR AU - Vesić Pavlović, Tijana AU - Đorđević, Danijela PY - 2022 UR - https://machinery.mas.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4021 AB - The paper explores media representations of Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium that causes severe plant diseases, using data from online sources in English which reported on the developments in the bacterium spreading and treatment from 2015 to 2020. Two directions of analysis are pursued, the quantitative and qualitative one. Quantitative analysis reveals that the bacterium and its effects are described via the terms belonging to the lexical fields of fear, diseases, change, the supernatural, hostility, destruction, killing and war, with the latter three being the most dominant statistically speaking. Further, qualitative analysis attests that some of these terms are used metaphorically as instantiations of the war metaphor, which is generally effective in communicating the severity of the X. fastidiosa induced diseases and mobilising the necessary support. Based on the results, it may be argued that the language used in the media for describing X. fastidiosa fits into the prevalent “catastrophe discourse”, with the purpose of raising awareness of the gravity of the threat the bacterium poses, as well as justifying the severe measures undertaken to contain it. T2 - Corpus Pragmatics T1 - “Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse EP - 306 IS - 4 SP - 291 SP - 306 VL - 6 DO - 10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4 ER -
@article{ author = "Vesić Pavlović, Tijana and Đorđević, Danijela", year = "2022", abstract = "The paper explores media representations of Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium that causes severe plant diseases, using data from online sources in English which reported on the developments in the bacterium spreading and treatment from 2015 to 2020. Two directions of analysis are pursued, the quantitative and qualitative one. Quantitative analysis reveals that the bacterium and its effects are described via the terms belonging to the lexical fields of fear, diseases, change, the supernatural, hostility, destruction, killing and war, with the latter three being the most dominant statistically speaking. Further, qualitative analysis attests that some of these terms are used metaphorically as instantiations of the war metaphor, which is generally effective in communicating the severity of the X. fastidiosa induced diseases and mobilising the necessary support. Based on the results, it may be argued that the language used in the media for describing X. fastidiosa fits into the prevalent “catastrophe discourse”, with the purpose of raising awareness of the gravity of the threat the bacterium poses, as well as justifying the severe measures undertaken to contain it.", journal = "Corpus Pragmatics", title = "“Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse", pages = "306-291-306", number = "4", volume = "6", doi = "10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4" }
Vesić Pavlović, T.,& Đorđević, D.. (2022). “Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse. in Corpus Pragmatics, 6(4), 291-306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4
Vesić Pavlović T, Đorđević D. “Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse. in Corpus Pragmatics. 2022;6(4):291-306. doi:10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4 .
Vesić Pavlović, Tijana, Đorđević, Danijela, "“Xylella is the Enemy that Must be Fought”: Representations of the X. Fastidiosa Bacterium in the Media Discourse" in Corpus Pragmatics, 6, no. 4 (2022):291-306, https://doi.org/10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4 . .