A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study of Conceptual Metaphors in Iraqi vs. International Press Editorials (2024–2025)

Abstract

This This study undertakes a corpus-based, contrastive analysis of conceptual metaphors in Iraqi Arabic press editorials and English-language international editorials published between January 2024 and September 2025. Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory with MIP/MIPVU identification, the study maps dominant source–target domains and evaluates their frequencies and framing functions across sociopolitical contexts. In the Iraqi Arabic subcorpus, salient realizations include POLITICS IS WAR (e.g., اﻟـﻤﻌﺮﻛـﺔ اﻻﻧـﺘﺨﺎﺑﯿﺔ ‘the electoral battle’), POLITICS IS PATHOLOGY (e.g., ﺟﺮﺛﻮﻣـﺔ اﻟـﻔﺴﺎد ‘the germ of corruption’; ﯾـﺤﺘﺎج ﻋــــﻼﺟــا ﺳـﯿﺎﺳﯿﺎ ‘requires political treatment’), POLITICS IS A JOURNEY (e.g.,نمشي ﺑﻄﺮﯾـﻖ ﻣﺴـﺪود ‘we are moving down a dead-end road’), NATION IS BODY (e.g., ﻧـــــﺒﺾ اﻟــﺸﺎرع ‘the pulse of the street’), and ECONOMY IS MACHINE (e.g., ﻣﺤـﺮك اﻻﻗـﺘﺼﺎد ﻣـﺘﻌﻄﻞ ‘the economy’s engine is stalled’). A replicable workflow is specified for corpus construction, annotation, inter-annotator reliability, and statistical comparison (keyness, collocational profiling, and regression modeling).

The research questions guiding this research paper are: (RQ1) How do the distributions of major conceptual mappings differ between Iraqi Arabic and international English editorials? (RQ2) How do these mappings function to frame actors, problems, and solutions within each context? (RQ3) Which linguistic and metadata factors (e.g., topic, outlet, time) predict metaphor choice and intensity? (RQ4) Do collocational profiles surrounding key metaphor vehicles systematically diverge across the two corpora?

The Findings provide an up-to-date, cross-cultural profile of metaphorical framing in editorial discourse and offer open, reusable protocols for reproducible research, newsroom practice, and pedagogy