1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Metaphor and the Social World
  4. Volume 13, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 13, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2210-4070
  • E-ISSN: 2210-4097
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Metaphor has long been considered a ‘way in’ to people’s experiences, with metaphor analysis being used to gain insights into a range of psychological and physiological phenomena. However, a number of challenges arise when analysing metaphor in such contexts. We reflect on the challenges we have encountered in our research into intensely emotional and/or personal experiences related to bereavement and religious belief. Both areas showcase metaphor operating in the ‘liminal spaces’ of human experience. The spaces between life and death, personhood and non-personhood, and belief and non-belief prove rich ground for metaphor, but the qualities of these metaphors are as complex and elusive as the concepts they are being used to describe.

We explore how metaphoricity in general, and creative use of metaphor in particular, in these contexts are flexible phenomena, opening up new questions as to what ‘counts’ as a (creative) metaphor. We propose three levels at which people use or experience metaphor, show how these interact, and propose a number of methodological factors to be taken into consideration when conducting metaphor research in such complex areas of human experience.

© 2023 John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
2023-07-07
2024-12-04

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barnden, J. A.
    (2010) Metaphor and metonymy: Making their connections more slippery. Cognitive Linguistics, 21(1), 1–34. 10.1515/cogl.2010.001
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2010.001 [Google Scholar]
  2. Barron, F.
    (1969) Creative Person and Creative Process. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bell, C. M.
    (1997) Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Cameron, L.
    (2003) Metaphor in Educational Discourse. Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Cameron, L., & Maslen, R.
    (2010) Metaphor Analysis. Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Cameron, L., Maslen, R., Todd, Z., Maule, J., Stratton, P., & Stanley, N.
    (2009) The discourse dynamics approach to metaphor and metaphor-led discourse analysis. Metaphor and Symbol, 24(2), 63–89. 10.1080/10926480902830821
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480902830821 [Google Scholar]
  7. Camp, E.
    (2008) Showing, telling, and seeing: metaphor and ‘poetic’ language. Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication, 31, 1–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Charteris-Black, J.
    (2012) Shattering the bell jar: metaphor, gender and depression. Metaphor and Symbol, 27(3), 199–216. 10.1080/10926488.2012.665796
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2012.665796 [Google Scholar]
  9. Clarke, M., Littlemore, J., Debelle, G. & Taylor, J.
    (2022) Exploring child abuse linked to faith or belief (CALFB): diversity and debate. Nursing Children and Young People. 10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1444
     https://doi.org/10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1444 [Google Scholar]
  10. Colston, H. L., & Gibbs, R. W.
    (2021) Figurative language communicates directly because it precisely demonstrates what we mean. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 75(2), 228–233. 10.1037/cep0000254
     https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000254 [Google Scholar]
  11. Cook, G.
    (2000) Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Devylder, S., & Zlatev, J.
    (2020) Cutting and breaking metaphors of the self and the Motivation & Sedimentation Model. InA. Baicchi & G. Radden (eds.), Figurative Meaning Construction in Thought and Language (pp. 253–282). John Benjamins. 10.1075/ftl.9.11dev
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.9.11dev [Google Scholar]
  13. Fainsilber, L., & Ortony, A.
    (1987) Metaphorical uses of language in the expression of emotions. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 2(4), 239–250. 10.1207/s15327868ms0204_2
     https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms0204_2 [Google Scholar]
  14. Forceville, C., & Urios-Aparisi, E.
    (Eds.) (2009) Multimodal Metaphor. Walter de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110215366
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110215366 [Google Scholar]
  15. Fuoli, M., Littlemore, J., & Turner, S.
    (2022) Sunken ships and screaming banshees: Metaphor and evaluation in film reviews. English Language & Linguistics, 26(1), 75–103. 10.1017/S1360674321000046
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674321000046 [Google Scholar]
  16. Gibbs, R. W.
    (2019) Metaphor as dynamical–ecological performance. Metaphor and Symbol, 34(1), 33–44. 10.1080/10926488.2019.1591713
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2019.1591713 [Google Scholar]
  17. (2020) Finding metaphor in the natural world. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference of Figurative Thought and Language, Sofia, Bulgaria.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. (2022) What’s figurative about figurative language?Paper presented at the 6th International Conference of Figurative Thought and Language, Poznan, Poland.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Gibbs, R. W., & Franks, H.
    (2002) Embodied metaphor in women’s narratives about their experiences with cancer. Health Communication, 141, 139–165. 10.1207/S15327027HC1402_1
     https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327027HC1402_1 [Google Scholar]
  20. Johansson Falck, M. and L. Okonski
    (2022) Procedure for Identifying Metaphorical Scenes (PIMS): A Cognitive Linguistics Approach to Bridge Theory and Practice. Cognitive Semantics, 8(2), 294–322. 10.1163/23526416‑bja10031
     https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10031 [Google Scholar]
  21. Julich-Warpakowski, N.
    (2020) “Motion Expressions in Music Criticism–An Investigation of their Conceptual Motivation and their Metaphoricity” (Doctoral dissertation, Universität Leipzig). 10.24989/fs.v42i1‑2.1828
     https://doi.org/10.24989/fs.v42i1-2.1828
  22. Klass, D., & Steffen, E. M.
    (Eds.) (2017) Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315202396
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315202396 [Google Scholar]
  23. Littlemore, J., & Turner, S.
    (2019) What can metaphor tell us about experiences of pregnancy loss and how are these experiences reflected in midwife practice?Frontiers in Communication, 421. 10.3389/fcomm.2019.00042
     https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00042 [Google Scholar]
  24. (2020) Metaphors in communication about pregnancy loss. Metaphor and the Social World, 10(1), 45–75. 10.1075/msw.18030.lit
     https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.18030.lit [Google Scholar]
  25. MacArthur, F., Krennmayr, T., & Littlemore, J.
    (2015) How basic is “understanding is seeing” when reasoning about knowledge? Asymmetric uses of sight metaphors in office hours consultations in English as academic lingua franca. Metaphor and Symbol, 30(3), 184–217. 10.1080/10926488.2015.1049507
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2015.1049507 [Google Scholar]
  26. Musolff, A.
    (2016) Political Metaphor Analysis: Discourse and Scenarios. Bloomsbury Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Oakley, L., Kinmond, K., Humphreys, J., & Dioum, M.
    (2017) Practitioner and communities’ awareness of CALFB: Child abuse linked to faith or belief. Child Abuse and Neglect, 721, 276–282. 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.08.024
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.08.024 [Google Scholar]
  28. Pérez-Sobrino, P., & Julich, N.
    (2014) Let’s talk music: A corpus-based account of musical motion. Metaphor and Symbol, 29(4), 298–315. 10.1080/10926488.2014.948800
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2014.948800 [Google Scholar]
  29. Pérez-Sobrino, P., Semino, E., Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., Koller, V., & Olza, I.
    (2022) Acting like a hedgehog in times of pandemic: Metaphorical creativity in the# ReframeCovid collection. Metaphor and Symbol, 37(2), 127–139. 10.1080/10926488.2021.1949599
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2021.1949599 [Google Scholar]
  30. PRAGGLEJAZ Group
    PRAGGLEJAZ Group (2007) MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39. 10.1080/10926480709336752
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480709336752 [Google Scholar]
  31. Richards, R. E.
    (2007) Everyday Creativity and New Views of Human Nature: Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Perspectives. American Psychological Association. 10.1037/11595‑000
     https://doi.org/10.1037/11595-000 [Google Scholar]
  32. Semino, E., Demjén, Z., Demmen, J., Koller, V., Payne, S., Hardie, A., & Rayson, P.
    (2017) The online use of Violence and Journey metaphors by patients with cancer, as compared with health professionals: a mixed methods study. BMJ Support. Palliat. Care, 71, 60–66. 10.1136/bmjspcare‑2014‑000785
     https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2014-000785 [Google Scholar]
  33. Semino, E., Demjen, Z., Hardie, A., Payne, S., & Rayson, P.
    (2018) Metaphor, Cancer and the End of Life. Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Shinebourne, P., & Smith, J. A.
    (2010) The communicative power of metaphors: An analysis and interpretation of metaphors in accounts of the experience of addiction. Psychol. Psychotherapy, Theory, Research and Practice, 831, 59–73. 10.1348/147608309X468077
     https://doi.org/10.1348/147608309X468077 [Google Scholar]
  35. Steen, G. J., Dorst, A. G., Herrmann, J. B., Kaal, A. A., Krennmayr, T., & Pasma, T.
    (2010) A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/celcr.14
     https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.14 [Google Scholar]
  36. Stobart, E.
    (2006) Child abuse linked to accusations about ‘possession’ and ‘witchcraft’. Research Report no 750. UK Department for Education and Skills.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Tedam, P. & Adjoa, A.
    (2017) The W Word: Witchcraft Labelling and Child Safeguarding in Social Work Practice. Critical Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Turner, S.
    (2021) Multimodality. InS. Pihlajha (Ed.), Analysing Religious Discourse (pp. 70–90). Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108863957.005
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108863957.005 [Google Scholar]
  39. Turner, S., Littlemore, J., Fuller, D., Kuberska, K., & McGuinness, S.
    (2020) The production of time-related metaphors by people who have experienced pregnancy loss. InA. Gargett & J. Barnden (Eds.), Producing Figurative Expression (pp. 389–418). John Benjamins. 10.1075/ftl.10.14tur
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.10.14tur [Google Scholar]
  40. Turner, S., Littlemore, J., Taylor, J., Parr, E., & Topping, A.
    (2022a) Metaphors that shape parents’ perceptions of effective communication with healthcare practitioners following child death: a qualitative UK study. BMJ Open, 12(1). 10.1136/bmjopen‑2021‑054991
     https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054991 [Google Scholar]
  41. Turner, S., Littlemore, J., Parr, E., Taylor, J., & Topping, A.
    (2022b) ‘Lights in the darkness’, part 1: characterising effective communication with healthcare practitioners following the death of a child. Mortality, 1–18. 10.1080/13576275.2022.2081495
     https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2022.2081495 [Google Scholar]
  42. (2022c) ‘Lights in the darkness’, part 2: characterising effective communication with professional groups following the death of a child. Mortality, 1–16. 10.1080/13576275.2022.2081496
     https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2022.2081496 [Google Scholar]
  43. Williams-Whitney, D., Mio, J. S., & Whitney, P.
    (1992) Metaphor production in creative writing. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 21(6), 497–509. 10.1007/BF01067527
     https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067527 [Google Scholar]
  44. Wilson, J. P., and Lindy, J. D.
    (2013) Trauma, Culture, and Metaphor: Pathways of Transformation and Integration. Routledge. 10.4324/9780203893579
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203893579 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
Loading
Literal or metaphorical? Conventional or creative?
Metaphor and the Social World 13, 37 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
/content/journals/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
/content/journals/10.1075/msw.00028.tur
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): emotion; metaphor; metaphor identification; metaphoricity

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error