Adapting the Language of Paleontology in Online News to Popularize Specialist Knowledge: A Contrastive Analysis of Metaphor Use in the BBC And The Guardian S. The CNN and Usa Today

Paleontology is a popular mediatic domain thanks to the widespread fascination with dinosaurs (Clack & Britain, 2007). News articles on dinosaurs showcase discourse features that simplify the domain-specific language of paleontology in order to make specialist contents accessible to the lay audience. The study investigates the popularization strategies employed by quality online news outlets with specific attention paid to the use of metaphors. By means of Lakoff & Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory, a sample of dinosaurrelated online news is analyzed. The study conducts a contrastive investigation to explore possible intra-cultural differences on news from the websites of the BBC and The Guardian for the United Kingdom, and the CNN and USA Today for the USA.