Image Schema in the Coverage of the Iranian Nuclear Agreements in English and Arabic Newspapers (2006-2016)

Abstract

Newspapers play a very important role in shaping the readers’ awareness towards different issues. Among the most important topics that concern the world are the nuclear agreements signed between Iran and the West. The coverage of these agreements differs from one newspaper to another. This study applies the Image Schema Theory (Lakoff, 1987) and (Johnson, 1987) on sixty American, English, Egyptian and Saudi newspaper articles. It applies Krzeszowki’s (1993) parameter to test the connotation of each Image Schema. This study presents the results of the analysis within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis to show how the Self and the Other are represented. The results of the analysis show that the most frequently used types of Image Schema are the FORCE, LOCOMOTION, BALANCE, SCALE, CONTAINMENT, SPACE, EXISTENCE and UNITY/MULTIPLICITY Image Schemas in the four sets of articles. The results of the analysis match van Dijk’s (2000) ideological classification of positive Self presentation and negative Other presentation as well as Attia’s (2002) modification of van Dijk’s model in which she adds a negative Self presentation and a positive Other presentation.