ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the main metaphorical domains identified in the analysis. Altogether, more than 74,000 metaphorical expressions could be identified, which could further be organised into nine major cognitive metaphors or domains. These domains are: season, plants and fruit; birth, pregnancy and family; natural forces and disasters; contagious diseases or healthy and unhealthy bodies; buildings and foundations; journeys; possessions, products and goods; bounded spaces and (hot) substances in containers as well as morality and immorality. The chapter focuses on explaining how the different metaphors were used in the data to talk about the Arab revolutions and what the major entailments of the different metaphors are. For instance, the birth metaphor is a popular conceptualisation to understand complex developments, processes and events such as the Arab Spring, because it represents a concept to which every human can relate. From the joy of new life to the sad reality of stillbirth and abortion, all aspects of birth and pregnancy can be found in the corpus. How the metaphor is deployed depends on the perspective of the speaker. Pro-revolution voices talk about the protests as new-born children, while attempts at ending the revolution are equated with abortion. The different applications of all major metaphors are explored within their political contexts in this chapter, as are their implications for our understanding of the events.
