Discursive instantiation of conceptual metaphors with the referent RADIATION in the documentary series "Chernobyl": An ecolinguistic approach

Abstract

This article considers discursive instantiations of conceptual metaphors in the multimodal dynamic environment of a movie. It analyses conceptual metaphors with the referent concept RADIATION realized in the audio (oral speech and music) and visual (dynamic image) modes in the documentary series "Chernobyl" (the English version). The work belongs to the sphere of ecolinguistics that analyses linguistic phenomena taking into account a broad range of factors that influence the process of sensemaking in discourse without prioritizing any of them, in particular, the anthropic one. Ecolinguistics studies how a person’s speech and his/her life as a whole are connected, how linguistic means and the environment of their use are related; how a person’s attitude to the environment is embodied in language and discourse, which linguistic forms provoke environmental destruction and which can inspire people to protect the environment. Perceiving multimodal instantiations of conceptual metaphors with the referent concept RADIATION, viewers of the "Chernobyl" documentary series have an opportunity to re-define for themselves the essence of the largest anthropogenic disaster in history, to reveal new aspects of the respective concept, which is so important for the collective survival of humankind. Because of the complexity of its content, the explanatory potential of simple conceptual metaphors is insufficient. Thus, they interact with conceptual metonymy and with one another, forming meta-metaphors that permeate the entire filmic text. Multimodal instantiation of the conceptual metaphors under study makes their cinematic realizations more vivid and expressive, as well as creates a single tonality of their perception by the viewer