Background
Infectious diseases have existed throughout history and have intensified over time. In recent times, even new infectious diseases have appeared, the speed of which the speed of their progress is increasing in the world, and they have created a significant impact on global health [
1]. Corona Virus is a new infectious disease that is transmitted through respiratory droplets and contact [
2]. This disease was one of the main causes of death, disability, and social and economic problems for millions of people [
3] creating a very difficult situation for people all over the world [
4].
Preventive measures in the healthcare sector, especially now, are extremely important [
5,
6]. Organizations in charge of health in different countries have always sought the goal that all people have the possibility of a healthy and quality life and to reduce the gap between the quality of services through health service training and preventive measures [
7]. Empowering people to increase control over their own health and continuously improving the health of the society they live in will promote health [
8]. Health promotion includes behaviors and actions through which people will have more control over decisions and actions that affect their health and that of their community [
9]. Increasing people’s awareness of the causes and consequences of diseases has a significant contribution in promoting preventive behaviors. Advertising is one of the most convenient, cost-effective and effective strategies that health centers and medical services around the world use to try to influence public opinion to create a positive attitude towards preventive measures and vaccination.
So far, researchers have conducted research in various fields regarding the ways to prevent and control the Corona Virus. These researches include topics such as epidemiological research [
10,
11], Disease Prevention [
12‐
15], diagnostic methods [
16‐
18], clinical characteristics of the disease [
19,
20], characteristics of disease transmission [
21,
22], development of candidate therapies [
23‐
25]. In recent decades, researchers have become increasingly interested in research that investigates the role of language in creating surrounding realities. The set of social and cultural conditions creates the context for the occurrence of text or writing, speech and non-verbal communication in a general proposition [
26]. Therefore, language is a repository of human knowledge about the outside world and a systematic set of meaningful categories that help humans face new experiences and store information about previous experiences [
27]. Few research has been done in the field of linguistic analysis on the topic of Corona epidemic. These research include topics such as Linguistic and meta-linguistic meanings of words related to the corona virus [
28], the effects of the corona virus and the social crisis caused by it, as well as neologisms on language changes [
29], linguistic analysis of fear-factor lexemes on Coronavirus Pandemic [
30], reflection on the social and psychological consequences of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the new vocabulary of medical discourse [
31], content analysis of communication strategies and their effects on public engagement on social media [
32] and hesitancy from Covid-19 Vaccination [
33].
In a society where people witnessed the explosion of information on the Internet and other media, the existence of various information about Corona (prevention and general vaccination) caused confusion or even created false and incorrect thoughts in the society [
34‐
36]. For this reason, people’s attention was mainly drawn to official government announcements around the world, as well as official opinions of the medical community, so that they could receive reliable information [
37]. Infographics and billboards were among the most important tools that all health networks and medical services around the world used during the Corona epidemic to increase the level of public awareness so that they could manage the existing crisis.
Although many studies have been conducted on various aspects of the epidemic and its impact on people’s lives, but still, the linguistic dimensions and the analysis of the discourse structures around the corona as a main element in expressing and inducing the concepts related to this crisis at the level of the society have not been discussed and investigated seriously. Also, humans have special procedures to give meaning to their daily life. In this regard, language is considered as a relationship or mediator of the social world, a very important element. It is necessary and useful to pay scientific and careful attention to the issue of communication with people in the society using different forms of language at micro and macro levels in order to analyze and explain some issues related to medical science. Every person uses certain types of language in different situations of discourse and according to the type of culture, language, social norms, gender, age, job, etc. Discourse situations form specific discourse processes. Conversation in institutional or organizational settings, including therapeutic and disease prevention situations, requires rules not typically found in personal situations. The role that linguistic agents and discourses play in these specific situations will influence the possible topics discussed as well as the interpretation provided about people’s social actions. This is also extremely important in medical researches. Therefore, the current research aims to investigate the discourse related to the Corona pandemic from a different angle with an interdisciplinary perspective that is a combination of medical science and linguistics. Providing information in the form of billboards and infographics (multimedia contents) reduces the time it takes for the audience to receive information, and it is much more effective and usable than just written-verbal messages. Considering that the presentation of multimedia contents in informing people is more general, therefore, when producing such contents by medical service centers, it is very important to consider the basic culture of each society. Considering the mentioned points and that the target population in Iran is all strata of the society; therefore, the results of the current research, in addition to promoting preventive behaviors and vaccination of the corona pandemic, are used as a more general model to promote the improvement of the health culture of the society. Among the other achievements of the results of this research is the presentation of a final model of multimedia content based on Iranian culture with maximum effectiveness on the general population of Iran which can be used to train the health personnel in similar possible crises as well as the professional and planned control and management of such crises.
Methods
The method used in this research is qualitative content analysis. For content analysis, Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis theory [
38] has been used. Compared to other theories, this theory is one of the most documented theories for research in the field of communication, culture and society. Because compared to similar theories such as Iedema’s theory [
38], Jewitt et al.’s theory [
39] and Hull’s theory [
40], it is much more comprehensive and has placed textual components, social components and discourse components in the center of analysis [
37]. In Fairclough’s model, the four components of language such as “word”, “syntax”, “coherence” and “text structure” are investigated. Based on this model, in each of the mentioned parts, a number of questions are asked, and the answers to these questions lead to achieving a desired result and finally providing a model related to the topic under investigation. In Table
1, explanations related to Fairclough’s theory are given.
Table 1
Fairclough’s discourse theory [
38]
Word | Question 1: What is the empirical value of words? |
Question 2: What communication value do words have? |
Question 3: What does the expressive value of the words in the sentence refer to in the real world? |
Question 4: What metaphors or virtual meanings are used in the sentence? |
Syntax | Question 1: What are the empirical values of the grammar used in the text? |
Question 2: What are the communicative values of the grammar used? |
Question 3: What expressive value can be seen in the grammatical characteristics of the sentence? |
Coherence | Question 1: How are simple sentences combined with each other? |
Text Structure | Question 1: What methods have been used for interaction? |
Question 2: Which part of the text has more emphasis and which part contains the message? |
Data collection
Data collection has been done through searching the sites and websites of health networks and medical education centers in Iran, taking pictures of infographics and billboards in public places, and also receiving archive files of pictures from the public relations of health networks and medical services. The data was collected from February 19, 2020 to December 30, 2022 (the time frame of the pandemic and public vaccination program in Iran). The samples have been purposefully selected. The way of selection and criteria for entering and exiting billboards and infographics in the research is as follows: Billboards and infographics according to the written text of advertisements, color, arrangement of elements, two- or three-dimensionality of images, size of writings, shapes, their locations in the city and factors that affect the audience’s attention. Also, the samples were selected by considering the characteristic of having at least one linguistic factor along with advertising and persuasive slogans to analyze the textual, argumentative and social dimensions. The criterion for choosing the sites from which the billboards and infographics were taken were to be popular and have enough credibility to gain the trust of the audience. For this reason, reliable news sites and public relations sites of scientific centers affiliated to the Ministry of Health, Medicine and Medical Education of Iran were selected as target sites. The method of selection and the entry and exit criteria of the participants, according to the type of subject, tried to select them from different strata of the society and from the group at risk of corona virus as far as possible. In order to achieve this goal, the study field included citizens living in all parts of Iran. The criteria for entering people into this research are: Monolingual, the ability to speak Persian, the ability to read and write, not having jobs and disciplines such as literature, writing and teaching, in which case people are considered professional users of speech and language. Exclusion criteria include unwillingness to voluntarily participate in the survey, lack of honest cooperation of participants, bilingualism or multilingualism, professional language user, inability to read and write. The sample size was the number required to reach theoretical saturation and a new pattern can be extracted from it. In this research, 33 advertising billboards and infographics were selected. Since the current research is qualitative, efforts will be made to cover the maximum variety of samples. After data selection and text analysis, a survey form containing preventive advertising and vaccination texts was designed in SurveyMonkey in order to collect field data and more detailed investigations of the impact of the messages on the audience. Then, the link of the questionnaire was provided to the audience through virtual networks and platforms to investigate and analyze the opinion of the audience about the texts. The statistical population includes all strata of society and from the group at risk of Corona Virus in Iran in the corona and post-corona years. Considering that the number of participants should be representative of the entire community under investigation, therefore, based on Cochran’s formula [
39], the sample size was equal to 350 people. The age group of people was selected from 18 to 70 years. After collecting the field data, the texts in the questionnaire were classified and coded based on the linguistic components of Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis theory. Then, the opinions of the participants in the survey investigated and based on descriptive statistic, the frequency of each linguistic component calculated. Finally, the discourse model designed based on the highest frequency of data. The assessment of validity involved experts in infection control and linguistics. The reliability of the measurement, determined through the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient, yielded a coefficient of 0.968.
Results
The texts were analyzed using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. Then, advertising texts were distributed in the form of an online questionnaire among the audience in the age group of 18 to 70 years to check the impact of these texts on the audience. Table
2 shows the linguistic data taken from the billboards and infographics of this research.
Table 2
Linguistic data of billboards and infographics
Statistical analysis
In this section, people’s attitude towards linguistic components is investigated using a survey that was distributed an online questionnaire, so that based on the highest frequency, the discourse pattern of medical advertisements can be discovered and compiled. This study was conducted with the participation of 350 Iranian adults. The average age of the participants was41.94%. 199 of the participants (56.86%) were female and 151 (43.14%) were male. 224 (64%) were married, 95 people (27.14%) were single, 12 people (3.43%) were divorced and 19 people (5.43%) were widows. 48 people (13.71%) have free jobs, 59 people (16.86%) have government jobs, 15 people (4.29%) workers, 117 people (33.43%) were students, 24 people (6.86%) are housewives, 54 people (15.43%) are retired, 14 people (4%) were unemployed and 19 people (5.42%) had other jobs. Also, the number of 12 people (3.43%) low education, 40 people (11.43%) diploma, 114 people (32.57%) were bachelor’s degree, 83 people (23.71%) were master’s degree, 63 people (18%) were PhD and 38 people (10.86%) were postdoctoral.
Table
3 shows the results of the descriptive statistics analysis of the audience’s attitude towards linguistic components. The analysis of the data in Table
3 shows that the opinion of the audience regarding the types of words is as follows: in the case of simple words, 59.43% of people chose the medium option and 4% of people chose the very low option; regarding compound words, 46.86% chose much option and 4.29% chose very much option; In relation to derivative words, 56.57% of option are very much and 2.29% are very low option, and in relation to derivative-compound words, 30.57% chose the medium option and 6.86% chose the very low option, all of which included the highest and lowest amount, respectively. In relation to the words that are used with a special ideology, the analysis also shows that 36.86% of people chose the high option and 5.14% of the people chose the very low option, which is the highest and lowest average, respectively. Regarding the synonym words, 79.71% of the option were very much and 0/86%were very low option; in relation to opposite words, 73.14% of option were much and 2.86% were very few option, in relation to official words, 64.86% were many option and 2.86% were very low option; informal vocabulary, 42% low choice and 0/57% very low choice; and in relation to the vocabulary conceptual signification, 40.29% chose the much option and 4.86% chose the very low option, which were the highest and lowest respectively. Also, the survey about living metaphors shows that 68.57% of people choose very much option and 0/86% have chosen very low option. Regarding dead metaphors, 54.57% of the option are very much and 2.29% were very low and regarding allusion, 51.43% have chosen very much option and 0/29% have chosen very low option, which include the highest and lowest number, respectively. The survey about the scrambling distance short shows that 39.14% of people chose the option very much and 2.29% chose the option very low; regarding the scrambling distance long, 38.29% of option were very much and 4% were very low; in relation to semantic ellipsis, 50.29% of option were very much, 0/86% were very low option; in the case of verbal ellipsis, 44.28% have chosen the very much option and 2% have chosen the very low option, all of which include the highest and lowest averages, respectively. Regarding the types of semantic roles, the highest and lowest averages were as follows: agent: 35.14% much option and 2.29% very low option; experiencer: 37.43% much option and 5.14% very low option; stimulus: 40.57% medium option and 6.57% very low option; theme: 36% medium option and 11.14% very low option; patient: 53.14% much option and 2.29% very low option; instrument: 43.14% very much option and 3.15% very low option; location: 68.29% much option and 0/29% very low option; direction or goal: 44.57% much option and 6% very low option; recipient: 51.14% medium option and 10% very low option; source or origin: 36.86% much option and 3.15% very low option; tense: 63.14% many option and 2% very few option; beneficiary: 70.57% much option and 1.14% very low option; manner: 52.57% medium option and 5.43% very low option; purpose: 36.86% medium option and 4% very low option; regarding the cause: 30.29% of people chose the medium option and 6.57% chose the very low option. In the survey of active verb, 77.14% of the audience chose the very much option and 0/29% chose the very low option and in relation to topicalization, 69.14% chose very much option and 0/29% chose very low option, which were the highest and lowest average respectively. Regarding the types of mood, the highest and lowest averages were as follows: subjunctive: 46.86% high option and 6% very low option; imperative: 54% medium option and 4.86% very high option; indicative: 59.14% chose the high option and 2% chose the very low option. In relation to the types of important characteristics of the relation method, the highest and lowest averages were as follows: maxim of quantity: 79.71% very much option and 0/29% very low option; maxim of quality: 75.43% very much option and 0/29% very low option; maxim of relation: 83.14% very much option and 0/29% very low option; maxim of manner: 78.86% chose the very much option and 0/57% chose the very low option. Also, surveys about the pronoun “we” show that 86.29% of people chose the very much option and 0/29% of the people chose the very low option. and regarding the pronoun “you”, 84.57% chose the medium option and 0/86% chose the very much option. Also, in relation to expressive value, 42.29% chose the much option and 4.29% chose the very low option, which were the highest and lowest averages, respectively. The highest and lowest averages from the audience’s point of view regarding the types of coherence were as follows: reference: 50.86% very much option, 0/57% very low option; substitution: 35.43% very much option and 7.43% very low option; conjunction: 40.29% of much option and 6.86% of very low option; reiteration: 48.29% much option and 2.57% very low option; collocation: 50.86% very much option and 1.71% very low option. Regarding the types of text structures, the highest and lowest averages were as follows: marked emphasis: 44.86% very much option and 3.43% very low option; unmarked emphasis: 51.14% low option and 2.29% very much option; attitude markers: 62% very much option and 0/57% very low option; engagement markers: 54.57% chose much option and 1.43% chose the very low option.
Table 3
The frequency of people’s attitude towards linguistic components
Words | Experimental Value | Lexical Class of Words | Simple Words | 34 | 9.71 | 72 | 20.57 | 208 | 59.43 | 22 | 6.29 | 14 | 4 |
Compound Words | 15 | 4.29 | 164 | 46.86 | 98 | 28 | 41 | 11.71 | 32 | 9.15 |
Derivational Words | 93 | 26.57 | 198 | 56.57 | 32 | 9.15 | 19 | 5.43 | 8 | 2.29 |
Derivative-Compound Words | 72 | 20.57 | 86 | 24.57 | 107 | 30.57 | 61 | 17.43 | 24 | 6.86 |
Vocabulary Ideology | 106 | 30.29 | 129 | 36.86 | 66 | 18.86 | 31 | 8.86 | 18 | 5.14 |
Synonym | 21 | 6 | 279 | 79.71 | 41 | 11.71 | 6 | 1.71 | 3 | 0.86 |
Opposite | 32 | 9.14 | 256 | 73.14 | 37 | 10.57 | 17 | 4.86 | 8 | 2.29 |
Relational Value | Formal Words | 52 | 14.86 | 227 | 64.86 | 45 | 12.86 | 16 | 4.57 | 10 | 2.86 |
Informal Words | 2 | 0.57 | 68 | 19.43 | 92 | 26.29 | 147 | 42 | 41 | 11.71 |
Expressive Value | Vocabulary Conceptual Signification | 74 | 21.14 | 141 | 40.29 | 92 | 26.29 | 26 | 7.43 | 17 | 4.86 |
Metaphor | Live Metaphor | 240 | 68.57 | 75 | 21.43 | 28 | 8 | 4 | 1.14 | 3 | 0.86 |
Dead Metaphor | 191 | 54.57 | 99 | 28.29 | 39 | 11.14 | 13 | 3.71 | 8 | 2.29 |
Allusion | 180 | 51.43 | 165 | 47.14 | 3 | 0.86 | 1 | 0.29 | 1 | 0.29 |
Syntax | Experimental Value | Syntax Processes | Scrambling | Distance Short | 137 | 39.14 | 127 | 36.29 | 46 | 13.14 | 32 | 9.14 | 8 | 2.29 |
Distance Long | 134 | 38.29 | 113 | 32.29 | 64 | 18.28 | 25 | 7.14 | 14 | 4 |
Structural Deletion | Semantic Ellipsis | 176 | 50.29 | 131 | 37.43 | 33 | 9.43 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 0.86 |
Verbal Ellipsis | 155 | 44.28 | 127 | 36.29 | 47 | 13.43 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
Semantic Roles | Agent | 118 | 33.71 | 123 | 35.14 | 74 | 21.14 | 27 | 7.72 | 8 | 2.29 |
Experiencer | 68 | 19.43 | 131 | 37.43 | 94 | 26.86 | 39 | 11.14 | 18 | 5.14 |
Stimulus | 52 | 14.86 | 87 | 24.86 | 142 | 40.57 | 46 | 13.14 | 23 | 6.57 |
Theme | 49 | 14 | 74 | 21.14 | 126 | 36 | 62 | 17.72 | 39 | 11.14 |
Patient | 99 | 28.29 | 186 | 53.14 | 42 | 12 | 15 | 4.29 | 8 | 2.29 |
Instrument | 151 | 43.14 | 132 | 37.71 | 37 | 10.57 | 19 | 5.43 | 11 | 3.15 |
Location | 58 | 16.57 | 239 | 68.29 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 0.86 | 1 | 0.29 |
Direction or Goal | 47 | 13.43 | 156 | 44.57 | 84 | 24 | 42 | 12 | 21 | 6 |
Recipient | 46 | 13.14 | 49 | 14 | 179 | 51.14 | 41 | 11.71 | 35 | 10 |
Source or Origin | 71 | 20.29 | 129 | 36.86 | 103 | 29.43 | 36 | 10.29 | 11 | 3.15 |
Tense | 67 | 19.14 | 221 | 63.14 | 38 | 10.86 | 17 | 4.86 | 7 | 2 |
Beneficiary | 53 | 15.14 | 247 | 70.57 | 39 | 11.14 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1.14 |
Manner | 48 | 13.71 | 65 | 18.57 | 184 | 52.57 | 34 | 9.72 | 19 | 5.43 |
Purpose | 64 | 18.28 | 102 | 29.14 | 129 | 36.86 | 41 | 11.71 | 14 | 4 |
Cause | 74 | 21.14 | 96 | 27.43 | 106 | 30.29 | 51 | 14.57 | 23 | 6.57 |
Topicalization | 242 | 69.14 | 83 | 23.71 | 23 | 6.57 | 1 | 0.29 | 1 | 0.29 |
Active Verb | 270 | 77.14 | 53 | 15.14 | 24 | 6.86 | 2 | 0.57 | 1 | 0.29 |
Relational Value | Mood | Subjunctive | 43 | 12.29 | 164 | 46.86 | 94 | 26.86 | 28 | 8 | 21 | 6 |
Imperative | 17 | 4.86 | 47 | 13.43 | 189 | 54 | 74 | 21.14 | 23 | 6.57 |
Indicative | 74 | 21.14 | 207 | 59.14 | 44 | 12.57 | 18 | 5.14 | 7 | 2 |
Important Characteristics of the Relation Method | Maxim of Quantity | 279 | 79.71 | 49 | 14 | 19 | 5.43 | 2 | 0.57 | 1 | 0.29 |
Maxim of Quality | 264 | 75.43 | 67 | 19.14 | 15 | 4.29 | 3 | 0.86 | 1 | 0.29 |
Maxim of Relation | 291 | 83.14 | 39 | 11.14 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 1.14 | 2 | 0.57 |
Maxim of Manner | 276 | 78.86 | 47 | 13.43 | 18 | 5.14 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0.57 |
“we” Pronoun | 302 | 86.29 | 29 | 8.29 | 17 | 4.86 | 1 | 0.20 | 1 | 0.29 |
“you” Pronoun | 3 | 0.86 | 37 | 10.57 | 296 | 84.57 | 9 | 2.57 | 5 | 1.43 |
Expressive Value | Indicator Characteristics of Expressive Methods | 86 | 24.57 | 148 | 42.29 | 69 | 19.71 | 32 | 9.14 | 15 | 4.29 |
Coherence | Reference | 178 | 50.86 | 132 | 37.71 | 34 | 9.71 | 4 | 1.14 | 2 | 0.57 |
Substitution | 67 | 19.14 | 124 | 35.43 | 95 | 27.14 | 38 | 10.86 | 26 | 7.43 |
Conjunction | 65 | 18.57 | 141 | 40.29 | 74 | 21.14 | 46 | 13.14 | 24 | 6.86 |
Lexical Cohesion | Reiteration | 106 | 30.29 | 169 | 48.29 | 51 | 14.57 | 15 | 4.29 | 9 | 2.57 |
Collocation | 178 | 50.86 | 117 | 33.43 | 32 | 9.14 | 17 | 4.86 | 6 | 1.71 |
Text Structure | Emphasis | Marked Emphasis | 157 | 44.86 | 128 | 36.57 | 34 | 9.71 | 19 | 5.43 | 12 | 3.43 |
Unmarked Emphasis | 8 | 2.29 | 13 | 3.71 | 93 | 26.57 | 179 | 51.14 | 57 | 16.29 |
Interaction Solutions | Attitude Markers | 217 | 62 | 104 | 29.71 | 19 | 5.43 | 8 | 2.29 | 2 | 0.57 |
Engagement Markers | 79 | 22.57 | 191 | 54.57 | 61 | 17.43 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 1.43 |
Based on qualitative data analysis as well as statistical analysis of people’s attitudes in Table
3, the core and main layers of the discourse pattern of medical advertisements related to the promotion of preventive behaviors and vaccination of the corona pandemic were identified and classified based on the intensity of impact on the audience and the level of attraction of people. Then, the classes that needed further development were corrected and finally, the researchers created the final framework of the paradigmatic model in the field of medical discourse advertising. In Table
4, the final and organized model is presented.
Table 4
The final and organized model
Live Metaphor Dead Metaphor Allusion Synonym Opposite Formal Words Derivational Words Compound Words Vocabulary Ideology | “We” Pronoun Maxim of Relation Maxim of Quantity Maxim of Manner Active Verb Maxim of Quality Topicalization Instrument Beneficiary Tense Indicative Patient Subjunctive Direction or Goal Indicator Characteristics of Expressive Methods Experiencer Source or Origin Agent | Collocation / Reference Reiteration Conjunction Substitution | Attitude Markers Marked Emphasis Engagement Markers |
Discussion
The purpose of this research was to analyze the discourse structures of infographics and advertising billboards related to promoting preventive behaviors and taking measures to vaccinate the corona pandemic in the general adult population of Iran. Based on this, the components related to each linguistic title in the order of priority and frequency are as follows: ideal elements related to the lexical pattern include “Live Metaphor, Dead Metaphor, Allusion, Synonym, Opposite, Formal Words, Derivational Words, Compound Words, Vocabulary Ideology”, ideal elements related to the syntax pattern include ““We” Pronoun, Maxim of Relation, Maxim of Quantity, Maxim of Manner, Active Verb, Maxim of Quality, Topicalization, Instrument, Beneficiary, Tense, Indicative, Patient, Subjunctive, Direction or Goal, Indicator Characteristics of Expressive Methods, Experiencer, Source or Origin, Agent”, ideal elements related to the coherence pattern include “Collocation / Reference, Reiteration, Conjunction, Substitution”, ideal elements related to the text structure pattern include “Attitude Markers, Marked Emphasis, Engagement Markers”. Among these, the most key, ideal and basic language pattern is this pattern: [Words Pattern: Live Metaphor/ Syntax Pattern: “We” Pronoun/ Coherence Pattern: Collocation & Reference/ Text Structure Pattern: Attitude Markers]. Thus, the results of this study, in line with previous studies, showed that the language of health education and effective health communication, especially during an epidemic such as Corona, the more it is consistent with the way of thinking and expression pattern of ordinary people, the better, faster and more effective it will be possible to transmit messages [
28‐
31]. What is important in this context is to identify these effective lexical and linguistic patterns in order to use them as best as possible.
Accordingly, according to the findings of this research, advertising texts that use “living metaphor” and “dead metaphor” have had the greatest impact on the audience. In this context, it can be argued that metaphors are concepts that refer to the understanding of an unknown conceptual domain based on another known conceptual domain. Because of this, it made it easy to understand the concept of Corona, which was very difficult for ordinary people at first. Among these, living metaphors are more attractive and have attracted more audiences because they are not yet in general use and have not been recorded in the vocabulary lists of language speakers. This argument, in addition to being in accordance with the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of the current research [
35], is in line with the research of Cliff and Anna [
28]. Also, the data analysis shows that the use of living metaphors indicates language changes. This problem is a natural thing and it occurs due to environmental changes and the needs of people in the society. This result is in line with the researches of Mweri [
29], Anyanwu and Udoh [
30] and Katermina and Lipiridi [
31]. Another dimension that was examined in this research was the synonym and opposite. Based on the findings of the present research, texts that use synonyms and opposite words attract more audiences. In this context, it can be argued that when words with similar and opposite meanings are placed in a text, they present the intended concept with more emphasis to the audience. This emphasis shows the importance of the desired topic and as a result, it encourages the audience to perform the requested activity. This argument is a confirmation of the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of the current research [
35]. Formal and informal words was another component that was investigated. The findings indicate that in this regard, texts that have used official words in their expression style have attracted more audiences. This issue is based on the induction of valuing, importance and respect to the audience, which is especially evident in Iranian culture, which is based on compliments, and in which there are many lexical distinctions to pay respect to the other person in different situations. As in the present study, this finding was also obtained. Another component that was investigated, is the vocabulary structure (including simple words, derivational, compound and compound-derivation). Among them, derivational words and compound words have attracted more audiences due to the simplicity in understanding the meaning and the marked of the word. This argument is in accordance with the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of the current research [
35]. Also, another dimension that was investigated is the vocabulary ideology. Based on the findings of the present research, the texts in which content highlighting is placed on the main word related to the strategy of prevention or coping with the disease have attracted more audiences. In most languages of the world and especially in Persian, the words that are highlighted usually have a specific ideology. Also, the words that the text producer wants to be the center of the audience’s attention and convey the information message in the best possible way, are usually placed at the beginning of the sentence. This issue is also aligned with the theoretical basis related to the ideology of words [
44].
Based on the findings of the present research, the analysis of the syntactic structure of the sentences shows that the use of the pronoun “we” in advertising texts has the greatest impact on the audience. In this regard, it is argued that the use of the pronoun “we” indicates that the producer of the text considers the audience as a part of herself/himself and in this way tries to establish a friendly and intimate relationship with the audience. Therefore, persuading people to perform preventive behaviors is not achieved only by providing medical information. Rather, it should be through the integration of preventive information along with the increase of motivational linguistic factors in order to be able to attract the audience more. In addition to being in line with the theoretical foundations of the present research, these results are also in line with the research of Fayyaz and Satti [
33]. Also, in order to investigate the syntactic structure more deeply, the important characteristics of the communication method were analyzed and investigated. The results showed that when communicating effectively, the four principles of “maxim of relation”, “maxim of quantity”, “maxim of manner” and “maxim of quality” should be observed so that more audiences are attracted to the message. In this context, it is argued that speaking clearly and fluently, avoiding ambiguity and providing correct information, will make the audience understand the message correctly. This result is consistent with Wardhaugh’s view [
26]. The investigation and analysis of "semantic roles" shows that the components of “instrument”, “beneficiary”, “tense”, “patient” and “goal” had a great impact on attracting the audience. Considering that in the semantic roles, noun phrases play a role based on the action or state described by the main verb, it can be argued that its use can be understood as a collaborative concept by the audience and thus attract more audiences to the message. In the examination of active verbs and passive verbs, it was also found that active verbs have been more successful in attracting the audience due to the fact that its subject is known. Examining the topicalization component shows that the texts in which topicalization is used have attracted more audiences. This issue can be argued in this way that because the subject position is the position where important, new and emphasized information is placed, therefore, the audience unconsciously considers the information that is placed in this position important and pays special attention to it. This argument is also in accordance with the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of the research [
52]. In the analysis of the mood, the indicative and the subjunctive have been able to instill a better expressive value to the audience in a way that has had a greater effect on the audience’s mind. In this regard, it can be explained that considering that the indicative expresses real events and honesty is one of the conditions for attracting the audience, the use of this component has been effective in attracting the audience. Also, the subjunctive has been used to express a request along with a please and wish, which is considered a form of politeness in Iranian culture, and the language reflects the culture of the people. Therefore, the audience is more encouraged to follow the prompts. This result is consistent with Wardhaugh’s view [
26]. In the examination of the coherence pattern and the text structure pattern, it was also found that the use of the components of “collocation”, “reiteration”, “attitude markers” and “engagement markers” have attracted the most audience. Considering that the use of these components provides information and health tips to the audience in an emphatic and prominent way, therefore the audience understands the importance of the issue more and is encouraged to perform the desired behavior. This argument is in accordance with the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of the research [
35].
Conclusions
The results of this research show that linguistic factors such as the choice of words, grammar, coherence and textual structure in discourses related to medical advertisements have had a great impact on arousing public opinion in order to create a positive attitude towards preventive measures and vaccination during the Corona pandemic. In general, based on the results of this research, it can be concluded that linguistic factors are very effective in attracting the audience in order to persuade them to implement health messages. Therefore, when teaching health and preventive principles, the most important point is the correct and effective use of linguistic and discourse principles for maximum effectiveness. So that if an effective communication and verbal pattern is used and is in line with the way of thinking and speaking of the audience based on scientific principles, the main message will be transmitted faster, easier and more effectively. This issue becomes more apparent, especially during the outbreak of an epidemic (such as during the Corona epidemic) when universal and public preventive measures gain special value and importance. As the results of the present study also showed its importance in this regard. What is important is that there have been epidemics throughout human history, and the coronavirus will not be the first or the last. Therefore, conducting scientific research during the outbreak of this virus can be an opportunity to solve the challenges in this field. In general, as the results of the present study also showed, billboards and infographics are one of the most important advertising tools in the field of health due to their availability to all members of society. In this regard, scientific principles based on research can be used to increase attractiveness, the speed of message transmission and increase the number of audiences. As the present study also aimed to achieve the same principles. Thus, the findings and results of this research can help all public health officials and medical education centers to manage and control the crisis in a fully professional and planned manner in case of possible similar crises and communicate better with people about public health.
Suggestions for future research
Using Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis model, this research has provided a new and systematic framework for the qualitative evaluation of the texts of billboards and infographics in the field of prevention of the coronavirus epidemic. Considering that this research is one of the first researches that tried to provide a practical model in the field of disease prevention advertisements, therefore, it is in the early stages and more investigations should be done based on the components presented in this field so that a global model in this field can be achieved based on it. Also, languages have principles and parameters. The principles exist in all languages and are universal, but the parameters are the linguistic differences that have caused a particular language to emerge and differ from one language to another. Languages reflect the culture of societies. Therefore, it is suggested that research in the field of disease prevention advertisements be conducted on the languages and cultures of different societies so that a comprehensive and complete model in this field can be obtained from the results of these studies. Also, in addition to the texts presented for the prevention of diseases, images are very important and effective element to attract the audience and encourage them to perform preventive behaviors, which if not designed and presented based on systematic principles, they could have the opposite result on the audience and cause irreparable damage in this field. Therefore, it is suggested that in future research, in addition to analyzing advertising texts in the field of medical science, especially in the field of disease prevention, researchers analyze the images related to advertising in this field in different languages and cultures.
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