Diachronic Changes in the Framing of Metaphors: A Corpus-Based Study of IMF Economic Discourse

Abstract

This study examines how conceptual metaphors in IMF magazine reports have evolved from 2018 to 2023, spanning the pre-pandemic period, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent recovery. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Critical Metaphor Analysis, and a corpus-based qualitative method supported by MIPVU, the research tracks changes in dominant metaphorical domains across six selected IMF reports. The results reveal a clear three-phase progression in how metaphors frame economic discourse. Before the pandemic, the economy was primarily depicted through mechanical and structural metaphors, such as an engineered system driven by “engines,” with “foundations,” and adjustable via policy “levers.” During the pandemic, biological and warfare metaphors became more prominent, portraying the economy as a vulnerable body that experiences “scarring,” needs “healing,” and is “fighting” the crisis. In the recovery stage, metaphors shift to domains such as navigation, ecology, and technology—portraying the economy navigating “storms,” producing “green shoots,” and being powered by technological “engines” like artificial intelligence. The research shows that economic discourse does more than describe events; it redefines the economy’s ontology—from a machine to a body, and then to an adaptive system—thereby reconstructing economic understanding. By emphasizing short-term diachronic shifts in metaphor usage, this study enhances our understanding of how global economic institutions strategically modify their communication during systemic disruptions.