Cancer as a Metaphor

Potts, Amanda; Semino, Elena

doi:10.1080/10926488.2019.1611723

Cited by 36 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…She revealed what any literary scholar could easily recognize: physicians explain complex concepts with the use of metaphor, and most frequently (at least in reference to her example of cancer) metaphors of war and battle. Cancer is itself a metaphor, used to describe nefarious infiltration of many kinds: the cancer of corruption, or the cancer of betrayal (Potts and Semino 2019). Infectious disease is no different.…”

Section: Fighting Words In the Antipodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting words in the antipodes

Lacey¹,

Kelly²,

Jutel³

2021

Preprint

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© 2020 by Johns Hopkins University Press. In this commentary, written in two bursts—the first completed in April 2020, and the second at the end of July—we explore how media metaphors of COVID-19 constitute the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. We argue that the media’s rhetorical strategies play an important role not only in describing the illness, but in influencing and shaping individual and collective responses to the pandemic, with significant consequences for mental health and well-being in the context of crisis. We align this commentary with the tenets of the sociology of diagnosis, which argue that even though there are material realities of disease, their social form and conse-quence cannot be separated from the tangible nature of illness and its management. We also lean on Derrida’s approach to metaphor, which underlines how even observable viral entities such as COVID-19 are simultaneously material, abstract, and in flux. We describe the metaphors used by local media to describe the pandemic—including combat, bush fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters—and we explore how and why these metaphors construct the pandemic locally and farther afield.

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Section: Fighting Words In the Antipodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting words in the antipodes

Lacey¹,

Kelly²,

Jutel³

2021

Preprint

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“…Through qualitative analyses of particular metaphors in medical discourse, she illustrates how metaphor adapts differently to genres of diverse social scope, mainly in terms of communicative and conceptual function (Semino, 2008;Semino, Heywood, & Short, 2004). Potts and Semino (2019) explore the use of cancer as a SD in metaphorical language in present day English. Their study reveals dominant views on those phenomena most often described as cancers, as well as how cancer is perceived and conceived of.…”

Section: Metaphors In Medical Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphorical Concepts and Their Cognitive Functions in Medical Discourse: Research Papers vs. Press Articles

Ferrando¹

2021

ESP Today

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The aim of this paper is to disclose linguistic evidence of the use and function of metaphors in medical discourse, by comparing their incidence in two genres, namely research papers and press articles. For that purpose, a sample of texts in both genres is analysed. Four types of conceptual metaphorical projections are identified according to Conceptual Metaphor Theory (i.e. structural, image, ontological, and orientational). Subsequently, the relation of these mappings with cognitive functions -categorization and conceptualization -is described. The purpose is to explore the role these functions play in knowledge construction and their implications for communicative aspects of metaphor usage. The results suggest a characterization of metaphorical concepts in the two medical genres. The conclusions show divergent tendencies in the use of metaphor and its cognitive and communicative functions in the genres analysed.

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Section: Fighting Words In the Antipodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting Words in the Antipodes

Lacey¹,

Kelly²,

Jutel³

2020

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this commentary, written in two bursts-the first completed in April 2020, and the second at the end of July-we explore how media metaphors of COVID-19 constitute the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. We argue that the media's rhetorical strategies play an important role not only in describing the illness, but in influencing and shaping individual and collective responses to the pandemic, with significant consequences for mental health and well-being in the context of crisis. We align this commentary with the tenets of the sociology of diagnosis, which argue that even though there are material realities of disease, their social form and consequence cannot be separated from the tangible nature of illness and its management. We also lean on Derrida's approach to metaphor, which underlines how even observable viral entities such as COVID-19 are simultaneously material, abstract, and in flux. We describe the metaphors used by local media to describe the pandemic-including combat, bush fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters-and we explore how and why these metaphors construct the pandemic locally and farther afield.

show abstract

Cancer as a Metaphor

Cited by 36 publications

References 22 publications

Fighting words in the antipodes

Fighting words in the antipodes

Metaphorical Concepts and Their Cognitive Functions in Medical Discourse: Research Papers vs. Press Articles

Fighting Words in the Antipodes

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