Proximization strategies used in Covid-19 prevention discourse: An STA based analysis of official guidelines issued in Pakistan

Abstract

This study is an attempt to highlight the proximization strategies used in the Covid-19 preventive guidelines issued by the government of Pakistan. The theory of proximization (Cap 2017) has been taken as a theoretical framework for the present study and the analysis of the selected texts is guided by the spatial-temporal-axiological (STA) model (Cap 2013b). The guidelines issued by the government of Pakistan between March 25 and May 6, 2020, for the prevention of the disease have been selected as a sample for this study as they are expected to carry governmental plans for fighting the disease and the coercive strategies that have been used in order to make people act accordingly. Just like war, the situation of the pandemic spread calls for quick proposal of coercive strategies and their presentation in a way that can get the people on board with the institutional plans. With this in mind, the sample has been descriptively analyzed for the linguistic choices that indicate the spatial, temporal, and axiological proximization of the threat (Covid-19) in the light of proximization theory (Cap 2017). The results show that there are a significant number of linguistic markers that link the disease prevention discourse with the political intervention discourse, justifying the application of proximization theory (Cap 2017) to both of them. The evidence collected during the analysis establishes that the authorities use proximization strategies in disease prevention discourse in order to add to the fear appeal which helps in soliciting unconditional and quick legitimization of the proposed plan of action against the spreading disease.