Dehumanizing Politics through Object Metaphors: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Facebook Discourse in Malaysia

Authors

  • Norliza Jamaluddin

    Fakulti Bahasa dan Komunikasi, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim 35900, Malaysia
  • Samsudin Suhaili

    Fakulti Sains Kemanusiaan, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim 35900, Malaysia
  • Zuraini Ramli

    Fakulti Bahasa dan Komunikasi, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim 35900, Malaysia
  • Salihah Ab Patah

    Fakulti Sains Kemanusiaan, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim 35900, Malaysia
  • Rozita Ibrahim

    Pusat Pengajian Citra Universiti, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i11.11634
Received: 14 August 2025 | Revised: 5 September 2025 | Accepted: 10 September 2025 | Published Online: 27 October 2025

Abstract

This study investigates how metaphorical language in Malaysian Facebook comments constructs negative portrayals of political figures through object-based metaphors. Grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the Great Chain of Being Metaphor (GCBM), it identifies HUMAN IS OBJECT as a dominant conceptual schema that demotes political actors to inanimate or degraded matter. A 916,000-word Malay-language Facebook corpus was compiled from public pages of news outlets and political forums (2022–2024) and analyzed using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) and #LancsBox X. Five salient object metaphors were selected: kencing (urine), sampah (garbage), mangkuk (bowl), kayu  (wood), and tahi (feces), based on their frequency and cultural salience. Collocational analysis and semantic clustering revealed how these lexical items metaphorically signify deception, worthlessness, foolishness, stagnation, and moral decay. Findings demonstrate that these metaphors are not isolated insults but systematically embedded within cognitive, cultural, and metonymic structures. For instance, kencing collocates with habitual deception (kaki kencing), while sampah aligns with imagery of waste management (tong sampah, angkat), framing political actors as disposable. These mappings illustrate how object metaphors interact with GCBM and GENERIC FOR SPECIFIC metonymy to reinforce symbolic exclusion and ideological polarization. The study contributes theoretically by expanding the metaphor typology beyond war or animal metaphors, and by situating the analysis in a Southeast Asian context. Practically, it underscores the strategic role of metaphors in online political communication, where repetition and memetic uptake amplify ideological effects.

Keywords:

Conceptual Metaphor Theory; HUMAN IS OBJECT; Facebook Discourse; Corpus Linguistics; Political Metaphors; Metaphor Identification Procedure; Malaysian Politics; Dehumanization

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How to Cite

Jamaluddin, N., Suhaili, S., Ramli, Z., Ab Patah, S., & Ibrahim, R. (2025). Dehumanizing Politics through Object Metaphors: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Facebook Discourse in Malaysia. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(11), 1316–1334. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i11.11634

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 11 (November 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Norliza Jamaluddin, Samsudin Suhaili, Zuraini Ramli, Muhamad Fadzllah Zaini, Salihah Ab Patah, Rozita Ibrahim

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.