Visual Metaphor and Embodiment in Graphic Illness Narratives

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth El Refaie
Keyword(s):  
Illness Narratives ◽  
Media Theory ◽  
Illness Narrative ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Sociocultural Practices ◽  
Metaphor Use

This study uses the analysis of visual metaphor in 35 graphic illness narratives—book-length stories about disease in the comics medium—in order to re-examine embodiment in traditional Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and propose the more nuanced notion of “dynamic embodiment.” Building on recent strands of research within CMT, and drawing on relevant concepts and findings from other disciplines, including psychology, phenomenology, social semiotics, and media theory, the book develops the argument that the experience of one’s own body is constantly adjusting to changes in one’s individual state of health, sociocultural practices, and the activities in which one is engaged at any given moment, including the modes and media that are being used to communicate. This leads to a more fluid and variable relationship between physicality and metaphor use than many CMT scholars assume. For example, representing the experience of cancer through the graphic illness narrative genre draws attention to the unfathomable processes going on beneath the body’s visible surface, particularly now that digital imaging technologies play such a central role in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. This may lead to a reversal of conventional conceptualizations of knowing and understanding in terms of seeing, so that vision itself becomes the target of metaphorical representations. A novel classification system of visual metaphor, based on a three-way distinction between pictorial, spatial, and stylistic metaphors, is also proposed.

Reanimating the Body in Conceptual Metaphor Theory

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-46
Author(s):  
Elisabeth El Refaie
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Body Shapes

This chapter critically reviews the traditional notion of embodiment in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), arguing that it is characterized by a somewhat inflexible view of the way the human body shapes one’s thinking. Probing more recent developments in CMT, including dynamic systems approaches and cross-cultural studies of metaphor, and confronting these with key theories from phenomenology, psychology, social semiotics, and media theory, the original notion of dynamic embodiment is developed. Accordingly, the degree to which people draw on their own bodies when producing and interpreting metaphors depends not only on the cultural practices and the specific actions in which they are engaged at any given moment, but also on the degree to which they are consciously aware of their physicality, as well as the affordances of the modes and media they are using to communicate.

Visual metaphor in extended conceptual metaphor theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
The Way

Abstract My goal in the paper is to examine a variety of visual experiences that appear to evoke visual metaphors. This is a range of experience types that extends from “sign-like” visual experiences to “non-sign-like” visual experiences. I propose that visual metaphors are evoked by paintings through winner’s podiums all the way to cityscapes and scenes in nature. The latter two (non-sign-like) cases, cityscapes and natural scenes, are not commonly subjected to serious examination from a CMT perspective. However, they provide us with new challenges in the study of visual metaphors, since they greatly extend the range of visual experience that might give rise to visual metaphors. I suggest, further, that the comprehension or interpretation of all of these visual experiences, including sign-like and non-sign-like alike, makes use of the same metaphorical processing mechanisms. The visual metaphors that are evoked by visual experiences can be based either on correlations or resemblance.

A deep semantic corpus-based approach to metaphor analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen K. Dodge
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Metaphor Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Computational Tools ◽  
Source Domain ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Metaphor Use

This paper demonstrates the fruitful application of the formalization of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, combined with metaphor constructions and computational tools to a large-scale, corpus-based approach to the study of metaphor expressions. As the case study of poverty metaphor expressions illustrates, the representation of individual metaphors and frames as parts of larger conceptual networks facilitates analyses that capture both local details and larger patterns of metaphor use. Significantly, the data suggest that the two most frequently used source domain networks in poverty metaphor expressions each support different types of inferences about poverty, its effects, and possible ways to reduce or end it.

Confrontation or complementarity?

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 107-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems Theory ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
On Line ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

Theoretical and methodological challenges presented by studying metaphor in its discourse environment are addressed. Complex dynamic systems theory provides a theoretical ‘discourse dynamics’ framework for describing metaphor in face-to-face conversation, and more generally, as a phenomenon that is at once linguistic, cognitive, affective and socio-cultural. Empirical data from post-conflict reconciliation conversations illustrate the procedures of metaphor-led discourse analysis, using metaphor to investigate patterns of talking and thinking. Identification of linguistic metaphors is followed by the extraction of patterns of metaphor use, which include metaphor clusters and ‘systematic metaphors’. Connections are made between metaphor in on-line talk, patterns of metaphor use in discourse events and metaphor in socio-cultural life. The final section of this article discusses whether the differences found between metaphor as hypothesised in conceptual metaphor theory and metaphor in real-world discourse reflect an essential incompatibility or can be used more positively in developing cognitive approaches to metaphor.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 184-190
Author(s):  
Elisabeth El Refaie
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Illness Narratives ◽  
Illness Experience ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Spatial Composition ◽  
The Many ◽  
Illness Metaphors

The conclusion outlines how the notion of “dynamic embodiment” developed throughout the book may challenge traditional notions of embodiment in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, by revealing the complex, shifting nature of individuals’ experiences of their bodies. The new tripartite taxonomy for analyzing visual metaphors draws attention to the many different aspects of visual meanings that are capable of conveying metaphorical meaning, including spatial composition and the stylistic features of both drawings and written words. Another aim of the book has been to raise awareness of the many creative metaphors that tend to occur in graphic illness narratives, which makes this genre particularly well suited to the task of highlighting aspects of the illness experience that may otherwise go unnoticed. These findings have the potential to change the attitudes and practices of both patients and healthcare professionals, encouraging a more thoughtful and imaginative use of illness metaphors.

Metaphoric cognition as social activity

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond W. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Social Activity ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Metaphoric Language ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
Communicative Actions ◽  
Social Communicative

Metaphoric thought is often viewed as a property of individual minds that is quite separate from people’s social, communicative actions with metaphoric language and gesture. My goal in this article is to argue that metaphoric cognition is fundamentally linked to human social activities. I defend this idea by focusing not only on metaphor use in overt communicative situations, but by suggesting ways that individual metaphoric cognition is implicitly social. Many of the experimental tasks used in psychology to demonstrate the psychological reality of conceptual metaphors reflect intricate couplings between cognitive and social processes. This argument demands a reorientation in how metaphor scholars interpret empirical findings related to conceptual metaphor theory, and more broadly aims to dissolve the long-standing theoretical divide between metaphoric cognition and metaphoric communication.

scholarly journals An investigation into metaphor use in learner language: the interaction of word class and L1

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Yaser Hadidi ◽  
Nastaran Behshad
Keyword(s):  
Word Class ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Novice Writers ◽  
Learner Language

This study aims at investigating the use of metaphor in learner language with a focus on interaction of word class and L1. The findings of previous studies on metaphor use in learner language point to the fact that metaphor is found in all word classes in learners’ written production, but that some word classes clearly favor metaphorical usage more than others. In similar fashion, the present investigation looked into the interaction between metaphor, word class, and L1, although within a single register and text type, i.e. argumentative essays produced by 20 novice writers. The model underlying the current study was Conceptual Metaphor Theory by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). Identification of metaphors was carried out based on MIP (Metaphor Identification Procedure) (Pragglejaz Group, 2007), a reliable and explicit tool for marking and identifying metaphorically used words. The hypothesis, based on previous research establishing this finding, was that prepositions top the list in this regard, being by far the most metaphorical word class. The cognitive predispositions made available by the student’s L1 are also of importance in this equation. Similar research would advance our understanding of the role of metaphor teaching, and in what form and to what degree it should be explicitly carried out.

Bodily experience as both source and target of meaning making

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Tay
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Image Schemas ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Metaphor Use ◽  
Programmatic Statement

Bodily experiences (BE) are often theorized by cognitive linguists as sources of meaning making, encoded and projected at the levels of grammar, semantics, and discourse. For example, Conceptual Metaphor Theory regards embodied image schemas (Johnson 1987) and, more recently, live simulations of embodied experiences (Gibbs 2013) as vital to the emergence and understanding of conceptual metaphors. Interestingly however, BE also feature as targets or topics in certain discourse contexts, which leads to underexplored scenarios where BE is simultaneously a source and a target of meaning making. This paper presents examples of metaphors in psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a case in point. In psychotherapy, experientially concrete sources are often used to conceptualize abstract issues such as emotions and subjective experiences. In the case of PTSD, however, bodily experiences turn out to be both potential source concepts as well as target topics of therapeutic discussion, a phenomenon seldom discussed in cognitive linguistics. I examine psychotherapy transcripts involving victims of the 2010–12 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, discuss how this source-target simultaneity of BE is exploited for therapeutic ends, and highlight three strands of implications pertaining to cognitive, discursive, and strategic aspects of metaphor use in psychotherapy. I conclude with a more programmatic statement about psychotherapeutic discourse as a productive site of inquiry for applied cognitive linguistics and applied metaphor research.

Dispositional Properties of Metaphor

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Fetterman ◽  
Brian P. Meier ◽  
Michael D. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Taste Preferences ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Prosocial Motivation ◽  
Sweet Food ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Sweet Foods ◽  
Dispositional Properties

Abstract. Metaphors often characterize prosocial actions and people as sweet. Three studies sought to explore whether conceptual metaphors of this type can provide insights into the prosocial trait of agreeableness and into daily life prosociality. Study 1 (n = 698) examined relationships between agreeableness and food taste preferences. Studies 2 (n = 66) and 3 (n = 132) utilized daily diary protocols. In Study 1, more agreeable people liked sweet foods to a greater extent. In Study 2, greater sweet food preferences predicted a stronger positive relationship between daily prosocial behaviors and positive affect, a pattern consistent with prosocial motivation. Finally, Study 3 found that daily prosocial feelings and behaviors varied positively with sweet food consumption in a manner that could not be ascribed to positive affect or self-control. Altogether, the findings encourage further efforts to extend conceptual metaphor theory to the domain of personality processes, in part by building on balance-related ideas.

Metaphor of BPJS Kesehatan as a Sick Patient in Indonesian Media Headlines

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Muhammad Adam
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Medical Supplies ◽  
Medical Terms ◽  
Sick Patient ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Media Outlet ◽  
The Government ◽  
Financial Subsidy

Indonesian health insurance (BPJS Kesehatan) has been facing financial deficit and during the coverage of its deficit, media frequently use many medical terms metaphor to describe the financial condition of BPJS Kesehatan. This study aims to examine the medical terms metaphor used to describe the financial deficit of BPJS Kesehatan to further identify the entailments and to pin point what is the cause of sickness and what could cure the sickness. Qualitative method is used in this study with conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) as the conceptual framework. There 10 headlines from various online media outlet that are collected as the source of the data. The study examines the particular terms which described BPJS Kesehatan as a sick patient and further analysis is conducted to identify the closest entailments of metaphor, which are to identify who will be the doctor and what cause its sickness. The results shows that the particular conditions  as  metaphor used to describe the financial condition of BPJS Kesehatan is dying (sekarat), critical (kritis), swell (bengkak), and wound (luka).  From the analysis of entailments, the doctor is the government equipped with medical supplies and procedures to cure the patient which is the financial subsidy and the second entailment is the cause of the sickness which is the lack of awareness from the member to pay the premium regularly on time.

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