The Metaphorical Conception of War in Arab Sports Commentary on Football Matches: A Cognitive-Semantic Approach

Abstract

Cognitive sciences have transformed our view of human thought and behavior by placing utmost importance on perceptions in research and by considering the resulting linguistic and non-linguistic activities as mere manifestations that reflect the peculiarities of human cognition and signal one’s experience with others and objects. According to this approach, metaphor is seen as an experience in the world and a form of action within it as well as a mode of emotional engagement. This perspective prompts us to revise the traditional view of metaphor as merely a linguistic device used for decorating and embellishing speech.

In this article, we seek to explore the metaphorical conception of war in the realm of Arab sports commentary on football matches, explaining how the structure of war is evoked within such commentary. The article leverages the value-based referential framework inherent in Arab culture, which shapes both the conceptualization of play and that of war for the sports commentator and the audience alike (violence, power, conflict). We find that these values are both guiding and influential in determining the nature of the perspective that the Arab individual adopts toward play in general—and football in particular. Through the analysis of multiple examples, the article demonstrates that the metaphor (play–war) is founded on multiple interconnections at the level of representations; for instance, in the interrelation between what is spatial and what is warlike, and between what is ethical and what is warlike. Thus, the cognitive approach to metaphor helps us understand that when we play, comment on play, or receive such commentary, we are, in effect, engaging in a “warlike activity,” since our perceptions of play are constructed through the conceptualization of “war.” The lexicon employed in this context renders it as “the reality of war” with its means, strategies, and objectives, as reflected in the studied examples.