Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of African Media Studies
  4. Volume 14, Issue 1
  5. Article
Media and the Coronavirus Pandemic in Africa (Part Three)
  • ISSN: 2040-199X
  • E-ISSN: 1751-7974

Abstract

Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020, it has become a source of worry across countries within the global space. It has posed not only a health challenge but also an economic and a linguistic burden. Linguistic burden because many efforts are being made by stakeholders to appropriately represent or codify the manifestations of the disease in unambiguous and understandable terms. Hence, one of the major platforms where COVID-19 has been variously represented is the social media. This study, therefore, focuses on a multimodal analysis of the representation of the COVID-19 pandemic on two social media platforms: Facebook and WhatsApp. The study adopts Kress’s social semiotic model as theoretical framework. This model explains the meaning affordances of verbal and non-verbal semiotic resources. It examines communicators’ intentions and makes meanings through multiple semiotic modes. This model is adopted because it offers a sociological perspective to the interpretation of visual texts. Twenty-five semiotic resources comprising memes and flash headlines, which were purposively sourced from Facebook and WhatsApp over a period of twelve weeks between April and July 2020, were analysed in the study. The data were subjected to both pictorial and simple descriptive linguistic analysis. The study reveals that COVID-19 memes extend economic and social concerns in Nigeria. The semiotic resources expose social problems such as poverty, insecurity and inequality in the Nigerian society which pose a threat to strict adherence to safety measures; and establish the manifestation of religion and gender issues in COVID-19 debates. Furthermore, it provides informative-cum-instructional functions in the fight against COVID-19. The study suggests that the deployment of appropriate linguistic and extralinguistic codes could guarantee effective and targeted public health enlightenment on COVID-19.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • African Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES)
  • Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Ministry of Education and Research
© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00062_1
2022-03-01
2024-09-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Adebomi, O.. ( 2020;), ‘ A multimodal analysis of memetic representation of individuals and institutions in Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari administration. ’, Language, Text, Society, 7:1, https://ltsj.online/2020-07-1-adebomi. Accessed 9 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Ademilokun, M., and Olateju, M.. ( 2016;), ‘ A multimodal discourse analysis of some visual images in the political rally discourse of 2011 electioneering campaigns in Southwestern Nigeria. ’, International Journal of Society, Language and Culture, 4:1, pp. 11–19.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Akanbi, S.. ( 2020;), ‘ A linguistics-stylistic analysis of newspaper headlines of Melete attack on Nigerian Army by Boko Haram insurgents. ’, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 10:2, pp. 880–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Albers, P.. ( 2007), Visual Discourse Analysis, Newark, DE:: International Reading Association;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bonyadi, A., and Samuel, M.. ( 2013;), ‘ Headlines in newspaper editorials: A contrastive study. ’, SAGE Open, April, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013494863. Accessed 9 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Dawkins, R.. ( 1976), The Selfish Gene, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. De Cook, J.. ( 2018;), ‘ Memes and symbolic violence: #proudboys and the use of memes for propaganda and the construction of collective identity. ’, Learning, Media and Technology, 43:4, pp. 485–504.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Develotte, C., and Rechniewski, E.. ( 2001;), ‘ Discourse analysis of newspaper headlines: A methodological framework for research into national representations. ’, in H. Malewska-Peyre,, F. Tanon, and C. Sabatier. (eds), Identite, Alterite, Acculturation. Perspective Francophone, Paris:: L’Harmattan;, pp. 1–17.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Durotoye, T.. ( 2020;), ‘ Intermediality and critical engagement in Nigerian twitter memes. ’, in A. M. G. Solo. (ed.), Handbook of Research on Politics in the Computer Age, Hershey, PA:: IGI Global;, pp. 291–314, https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/intermediality-and-critical-engagement-in-nigerian-twitter-memes/238229. Accessed 28 February 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Fleischman, S.. ( 2003;), ‘ Language and medicine. ’, in D. Tannen, and H. Hamilton. (eds), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Malden, MA:: Blackwell;, pp. 470–502.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Franz, B., and Murphy, J.. ( 2018;), ‘ Reconsidering the role of language in medicine. ’, Philosophy Ethics, and Humanities Medicine, 13:5, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-018-0058-z. Accessed 9 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Grundlingh, L.. ( 2018;), ‘ Memes as speech acts. ’, Journal of Social Semiotics, 28:2, pp. 147–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Heywood, A.. ( 2007), Political Ideologies: An Introduction, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Hodges, R., and Kress. G.. ( 1988), Social Semiotics, Cambridge, MA:: Polity;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Holmes, J., and Marra, M.. ( 2002;), ‘ Over the edge? Subversive humour between colleagues and friends. ’, Humour. International Journal of Humour Research, 15:1, pp. 65–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Kituyi, M.. ( 2020;), ‘ COVID-19 and the digital economy: Broadband Commission. ’, UNCTAD, 6 April, https://unctad.org/osgstatement/covid-19-and-digital-economy-broadband-commission. Accessed 11 August 2020.
  17. Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, B,. and Shalevska, E.. ( 2018;), ‘ Internet memes and their socio-linguistic features. ’, European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistic Studies, 2:4, pp. 158–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Kress, G.. ( 2010), Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication, London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Micic, S.. ( 2013;), ‘ Languages of medicine: Present and future. ’, JAHR, 4:7, pp. 217–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Mintz, D.. ( 1992;), ‘ What’s in a word: The distancing function of language in medicine. ’, Journal of Medical Humanities, 13, pp. 223–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Oleksiak, T.. ( 2012;), ‘ Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication by Gunther Kress. ’, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 42:3, pp. 297–99.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Shifman, L.. ( 2013;), ‘ Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. ’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18:3, pp. 362–77.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Tabe, C., and Fieze, N.. ( 2018;), ‘ A critical discourse analysis of newspaper headlines on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. ’, British Journal of English Linguistics, 6:3, pp. 64–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Taiwo, R.. ( 2007;), ‘ Language, ideology and power relations in Nigerian newspaper headlines. ’, Nebula, 4:1, pp. 218–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Tella, A.. ( 2018;), ‘ Humour generation and multimodal framing of political actors in the 2015 Nigerian presidential election campaign memes. ’, European Journal of Humour Research, 6:1, pp. 95–117.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Wulff, H.. ( 2004;), ‘ The language of medicine. ’, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97:4, pp. 187–88.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Yeku, J.. ( 2018;), ‘ The hashtag as archive: Internet memes and Nigeria’s social media election. ’, Art, Creativity and Politics in Africa and the Diaspora, 1, pp. 217–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Adebomi, Oluwayemisi Olusola. ( 2022;), ‘ Language in a pandemic: A multimodal analysis of social media representation of COVID-19. ’, Journal of African Media Studies, 14:1, pp. 7–28, https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00062_1
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00062_1
Loading
Language in a pandemic: A multimodal analysis of social media representation of COVID-19
Journal of African Media Studies 14, 7 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00062_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00062_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00062_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): COVID-19; linguistic representation; multimodal analysis; pandemic; social media

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error