An Ecolinguistic Analysis of Metaphorical Representation of Tropical Storm Megi in Philippine News Discourse: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This study examines the range of metaphors employed by Philippine news channels to represent Tropical Storm Agaton in news discourse. It explores how these metaphors frame the storm as friendly, destructive, or neutral in relation to the ecology and ecosystems upon which life depends. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study draws data from two major Philippine news networks, GMA Network and ABS-CBN. News reports on Tropical Storm Agaton were collected from these channels, and a corpus of 40,786 words was compiled for analysis. The data were analysed using AntConc 3.5.9 (Anthony, 2020). The study is theoretically grounded in Stibbe’s (2015) Stories Framework and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The findings reveal that Tropical Storm Agaton is constructed through a variety of metaphors, including Agaton as a killer, a relentless destroyer, a rampaging beast, a burying force, a reluctant traveller, and a haphazard painter. These metaphorical representations personify the storm as a violent and antagonistic entity, foregrounding its destructive potential and capacity to cause death and damage. The study demonstrates that such metaphors largely promote a destructive environmental narrative, reinforcing the portrayal of nature as a hostile force while marginalising broader systemic factors, particularly climate change, that contribute to extreme weather events. The study concludes that the dominant use of these metaphors risks obscuring the underlying causes of natural disasters and highlights the need for alternative conceptualisations that encourage more sustainable and resilient responses to climate change.