Chinese Ecological View toward Nuclear Disaster: Investigation on Conceptual Metaphor in Mainstream Media

The growing prevalence of concerns regarding nuclear construction and contamination necessitates an understanding of how people perceive and interpret the world. Conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) provides a foundation for comprehending these cognitive processes. Drawing upon the principles of ecolinguistics and CMT, this study aims to analyze the conceptual metaphors employed within Chinese news discourses on nuclear issues. The objective is to unveil the underlying ecological orientations and perspectives while emphasizing the urgency of addressing the imminent nuclear crisis. The findings revealed a total of 330 conceptual metaphors, categorized into 10 distinct types. Notably, the metaphors related to the economy, substances, agriculture, war, and architecture accounted for approximately 81.72% of the sample. The presence of beneficial, ambivalent, and destructive metaphors within the discourse is primarily influenced by concerns for future environmental preservation, global economic competition, and specific countries’ political negligence and irresponsibility towards others. This study examines the applicability of CMT within the field of ecolinguistics, providing readers with insights into the underlying ecological ideologies that are concealed within these metaphors.

Keywords: Conceptual Metaphor, Ecolinguistics, Nuclear, Ecosophy, News Discourse.