Recent research on the use of metaphors in internet discourse around social events both domestically and abroad has seen significant development, drawing upon conceptual metaphor theory, conceptual blending theory, frame theory, critical metaphor analysis, and corpus-based approaches. While many studies have focused on media discourse from official sources, particularly in relation to political topics, Oliinyk and Naumenko’s survey of 232 newspaper articles with metaphoric collocations related to the concept of “crime” found that orientation metaphors were most prevalent in U.S. media discourse. Meanwhile, Linkevičiūtė examined three randomly selected speeches delivered by Donald Trump in the first quarter of 2018 from official government and media internet sites. The research revealed that his usage of conceptual metaphor reinforced his concern for citizens while also portraying his opponents as having negative qualities.
