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In:COVID-19: Metaphor and metonymy across languages and cultures
Edited by Xu Wen, Wei-lun Lu, Joe Lennon and Zoltán Kövecses
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication 11] 2025
► pp. 40–62

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Chapter 2
Metaphors in Hausa newspapers about fighting COVID-19 in Nigeria

 | Yulin University | Southwest University
 | Southwest University
Published online: 6 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.11.02tsa
Abstract
This paper studies metaphorical expressions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Hausa language using conceptual metaphor theory (CMT). The data was collected from Premium Times Hausa, published in Nigeria from January to June 2020. The analysis shows that COVID-19 is metaphorically conceptualized in various ways; these include COVID-19 is boko haram, COVID-19 is a plant, COVID-19 is a load, COVID-19 is a traveller, COVID-19 is an ocean, COVID-19 is an uncontrolled object, COVID-19 is a container, and COVID-19 is a conqueror, among others. The analysis also reveals that in the fight against the pandemic, the Hausas’ perceptions are largely based on their socio-religious, political, and economic mindset and worldview.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphor in conceptual metaphor theory
  • 3.The Hausas and the Hausa Language
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Analysis and discussion
    • 5.1COVID-19 description
    • 5.2COVID-19 transmission
    • 5.3COVID-19 effects
    • 5.4COVID-19 fight
  • 6.Findings and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abbreviations used in the chapter
  • References
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