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In:Multilingual Corpus Research: Advances and challenges
Edited by Noelia Ramón and María Pérez Blanco
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 126] 2026
► pp. 19–44

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Chapter 1
Representation of Syrian and Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers in the discourse of mainstream media

A contrastive corpus study

 | Universidad Complutense de Madrid
 | Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Published online: 20 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.126.01mar
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the use of strategies of representation of two distinct categories of refugees, Syrian and Ukrainian displaced persons, in a corpus of opinion columns compiled from two newspapers with left-wing leanings, The Guardian (UK) and El País (Spain), during 2015–2016 and 2022. The study develops a framework of subcategories for the analysis of referential, predicational, and evaluative strategies, and in addition, focuses on the conceptualisation of refugees through metaphor scenarios and image schemas. It is hypothesised that the notion of proximity-remoteness in both geographical and socio-cultural terms (Chilton, 2004) is key in the forms of representation and use of image schemas for each group.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Representation and metaphor in the discourse on refugees and asylum seekers
    • 2.1The context: The Syrian and the Ukrainian refugee crises
    • 2.2Representation, evaluation, and emotional coercion
    • 2.3Representation of refugees: Referential and predicational strategies
      • 2.3.1Referential strategies
      • 2.3.2Predicational strategies
      • 2.3.3Evaluative strategies
    • 2.4Critical Metaphor Analysis
      • 2.4.1Metaphor scenarios
      • 2.4.2Image schemas
    • 2.5Metaphor scenarios and force schemas
      • 2.5.1Container schema
      • 2.5.2Force schema
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Hypotheses
      • 3.1.1Representation
      • 3.1.2Metaphor scenarios and image schemas
    • 3.2Corpus
    • 3.3Research objectives and procedures
    • 3.4Analysis and annotation
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Results and discussion for representation: Referential, predicational, and evaluative strategies
    • 4.2Results and discussion for image schemas: FORCE and CONTAINER
      • 4.2.1FORCE schema
        • 4.2.1.1Syrian crisis
        • 4.2.1.2Ukrainian crisis
      • 4.2.2CONTAINER schema
        • 4.2.2.1Syrian crisis
        • 4.2.2.2Ukrainian crisis
      • 4.2.3Discussion of results
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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