‘WE ARE AT WAR!" : THE ROLE OF EMMANUEL MACRON’S SPEECHES IN BUILDING A MEANING FOR “COVID-19”

Abstract: Through discourse analysis, this thesis explores the way in which speeches delivered by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, during the health crisis of COVID-19 are creating a meaning for the floating signifier “COVID-19”. The methodological approach highlights how the discourse used is intrinsically gendered, both grammatically and conceptually, during the construction of meaning. The focus of this analysis is the extended metaphor of war and its relationship to the concept of Nation in the way they build a field of discursivity for “COVID-19”. These concepts are ambiguous when it comes to gender, questioning the way discourse and grammar build meaning.