The Concepts of Competition and Gain in Arab Spring Metaphors

Abstract

This study investigates two conceptual domains in the metaphors of Arab Spring as reported by Al Jazeera’s online articles. The concept of competition is explored from the identified metaphor “Arab Spring is Game” and the concept of Gain is explored from the identified metaphor “Arab Spring is Business”. Mainly, two approaches in cognitive linguistics are used; conceptual metaphor and critical metaphor theory to identify metaphors of Game and Business and to interpret the conceptual mappings. The analysis showed how the concepts of Competition and Gain viewed Arab Spring as a pie or a gain to all parties competing to get. They played different types of games that involved gambits and manipulation such as dominos, cards and football. Moreover, they made transactions and offers to maintain existing power for the ex-ruling systems, gaining support for the revolutionaries, manipulating and using revolution to get power in the case of opposition groups.

Keywords: Arab Spring Metaphor, Competition, Game, Business, Gain