Browsing by Author "Mwangi Gachara"

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    Conceptual Structure of Metaphors in Christian Discourse: A Study of Charismatic Fellowships in Machakos County
    (JOPEA, 2025) Muthusi Kimwele; Mwangi Gachara; Khadi Gimode
    Religious metaphors are valuable for enriching communication and fostering a deep spiritual connection. Interpreting religious metaphors may, however, be difficult due to their cultural distinctions and context-dependent meanings. It is against this backdrop that this study employed the principle of conceptual mappings to analyze the religious metaphors commonly used by the clergy in charismatic fellowships in Machakos County. The research was anchored within descriptive research design. Primary data was collected through audio recordings of sermons in charismatic fellowships in Machakos County. The collected data were transcribed, translated, and then subjected to the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) in which four annotators were used to identify religious metaphors. Eight religious metaphors that are commonly used by the clergy to express their message in charismatic fellowships in Machakos County were identified through MIPVU. The religious metaphors were then subjected to the principle of conceptual mappings to reveal their meaning. The article reveals that most pastors in charismatic fellowships use religious metaphors to not only illustrate religious concepts and inspire faith, but also to connect scripture to everyday life experiences. Furthermore, use of religious metaphors enhance understanding and emotional engagement within congregations. The study concludes that religious metaphors are useful tools of communication and should be interpreted within the Cognitive Linguistics framework
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    Unmasking Metaphors of COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya’s Virtual Space: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach
    (IJRISS, 2024-12) Mwangi Gachara; Ituma, Joshua; Nzomo, Nancy Mwikali
    The outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019 led to the emergence of metaphorical framing. Life almost came to a standstill for more than two years. As a result, the entire world was engaged in combat with an elusive enemy widely seen as a warning sign. The study explored the metaphors employed in the fight against the virus in Kenya’s virtual space when it became a public health concern. Since this pandemic was the first in a century, people came up with new vocabulary and mental analogies to describe it. This study aimed to identify and describe the lexical items used in the Citizen TV Twitter handle, Kenya, to construct COVID-19 metaphors. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory by Lakoff and Johnson (1980/2003) was adopted in the study. The study utilized the descriptive qualitative research design. The data obtained from the Citizen TV Twitter handle, using Python code, was subjected to the Metaphor Identification Procedure developed by scholars at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (MIPVU). This criterion identifies the metaphorically used linguistic items. The identified metaphors were classified into their domain following source-target domain analysis. Based on the selected metaphors, the macro domains obtained were WAR, PATH, and ORGANISM. The study revealed that conceptual metaphor was extensively employed in Kenya. Metaphors were found to be widespread in discussions on COVID-19. People consistently associate certain aspects of reality with others, transferring the characteristics of one domain to another. They naturally and instinctively think in terms of metaphors. The abundance of metaphors in the discourse around COVID-19 may have been employed to motivate Kenyans to confront the challenges presented by the pandemic and show how COVID-19 was conceptualized in Kenya.