Discourse Analysis as a Tool for Uncovering the Lived Experience of Dementia: Metaphor Framing and Well-being in Early-onset Dementia Narratives

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore how metaphor is mobilized to frame and describe the lived experience of dementia in a corpus of illness narratives compiled from 10 blogs initiated and maintained by individuals diagnosed with early-onset dementia. The article is set against the background of contemporary healthcare practices and discourse around chronic illness and focuses on the metaphors that patients use to communicate about their dementia experience in relation to three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness, which are essential for human well-being and are heavily challenged in complex medical situations. Results are discussed in terms of the framing metaphors provide of the emotional, psychological impact of dementia and their implications for patient-centered care. This study expands prior work by researching metaphors used for a condition that has been scarcely explored from this point of view and by focusing on the patient's perspective exclusively. Keywords Blog narratives, communication, conceptual metaphor, dementia, illness discourse, self- determination theor

Metáfora y estructura conceptual

La lingüística cognitiva siempre ha argumentado que la metáfora no pertenece exclusivamente al lenguaje, sino que es una competencia que se basa en la habilidad humana de concebir un dominio de experiencia en términos de otro. Entendida así, la metáfora no puede ser otra cosa que un fenómeno conceptual. No obstante, pocos adeptos de la lingüística cognitiva han concentrados sus esfuerzos en catalogar manifestaciones metafóricas en ámbitos no lingüísticos. En este trabajo, sugerimos que es factible encontrar pruebas de que la metáfora es un proceso conceptual y, como tal, se manifiesta en esferas que no son estrictamente lingüísticas. Para ello, aportamos un seguido de evidencias muy diversas, como por ejemplo su papel en el razonamiento lógico-matemático de los niños en la fase preoperacional del desarrollo cognitivo, la programación de interfaces para aplicaciones informáticas y los resultados de tres estudios empíricos realizados recientemente en el campo de la psicología cognitiva que analizan los efectos whorfianos en la conceptualización del tiempo y los efectos del espacio en la memoria emocional

Metonymies and metaphors of sadness in the Old English vocabulary

The aim of this paper is to explore the predominant metonymic and metaphoric conceptualizations of sadness in the Old English period. To this end, the Old English expressions for emotional distress recorded in The Old English Thesaurus and dictionary have been analyzed. Taking as a starting point the experiential grounding of emotion conceptualization, we first present experimental evidence in support of the role of somato-behavioral reactions in emotion recognition, affective state induction and emotional information processing and interpretation, and review the most common metonymic and metaphoric expressions for sadness in Modern English. Next, we analyze the Old English vocabulary for sadness and the interplay between embodiment and culture in the conceptualization and linguistic description of emotional distress. Such analysis makes it clear that in ancient times, as in present day English, sadness and psychological distress were also conceptualized in terms of unpleasant physical conditions such as illness, cold, darkness or heaviness. Consequently, a long-term diachronic trend in the conceptualization of sadness can be traced even though its linguistic realization and motivation have varied throughout time

The Metaphorical Conceptualization of Sadness in the Anglo-Saxon Elegies

The aim of this paper is to explore the predominant metaphorical conceptualization of sadness in three Old English elegiac monologues whose main themes are the pain and solitude of exile and separation. Taking as a starting point the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor and briefly reviewing the experimental evidence that supports the experiential grounding of our concep- tualization of sadness, as well as our own previous research on the Old English expressions for emotional distress, we analyze the use of sadness metaphors in the elegies The Wanderer, The Seafarer and The Wife's Lament. This analysis clearly shows that in the Old English period, as in present day English, sadness was largely expressed in metaphorical terms. Cold, darkness and physical dis- comfort were recurrent source domains in its depiction, which suggests a long- term trend in the metaphorical conceptualization of sadness, whose cognitive reality is empirically supported by experimental research. Keywords: conceptual metaphor, elegiac poetry, sadness expressions, Old Englis

Mental Simulation in the Processing of Literal and Metaphorical Motion Language: An Eye Movement Study

An eye-tracking while listening study based on the blank screen paradigm was conducted to investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical verbs of motion. The study was based on two assumptions from the litera- ture: that language comprehension by default engages mental simulation, and that looking behavior (measured through patterns of eye movements) can provide a window into ongoing cognitive processes. This study specifi- cally compared the comprehension of sentences that depicted actual physi- cal motion (the curtain is rising) and sentences that described changes in quantity or emotional states in terms of vertical motion (prices are rising). Results showed that eye movements were selectively biased upward or downward in accordance with the direction implied by the verb, regardless of the context (literal or metaphorical) in which they appeared, and in the absence of any visual stimuli or explicit task. Thus, these findings suggest that literal and metaphorical language drive spontaneous, direction-specific mental simulations captured by eye movements and that at least in the case of verbs presented in the present progressive, which emphasizes the ongoing nature of actions, visual biases along the vertical axis may start during the verb itself

The Embodied Basis of Discourse Coherence

Los especialistas en el análisis del discurso han sugerido siempre la necesidad de estudiar el papel que la cognición tiene en la organización del discurso y en la representación mental que construimos de él. Esto significa entender cómo el hablante-escritor construye el andamiaje conceptual que subyace a la organización del texto y cómo el oyente-lector es guiado en el acceso a dicha estructura conceptual (Barcelona 2000). The Embodied Basis of Discourse Coherence trata de dar respuesta a estas cuestiones estudiando la posible influencia que la metáfora conceptual, entendida como un proceso cognitivo, puede ejercer en la producción y comprensión del discurso, en particular en el modo en que las relaciones de coherencia global y local emergen y se sustentan

Using metaphor to explore the organizational patterns of expository writing

Writing is a complex and multifaceted task that presents many challenges, especially when writing in a foreign language. Recent studies have shown that writers and readers benefit from explicit knowledge of text genres and their organization, since the sense of unity that is sought in a text is largely connected to its overall structure. Awareness of text structure informs about conventions of structure that control the flow of information and determine the kinds of cues available to readers. In the present article, we use conceptual metaphor theory to provide a new way of exploring the activity of writing in the academic context and tap into the conceptual frame that writers and readers of expository texts may employ to organize information. In this sense, we illustrate how the texts are journeys metaphor can be used to elucidate the rationale behind the macro- structural organization of expository texts written by non-expert EFL writers

Immigration metaphors in a corpus of legal English : an exploratory study of EAL learners? metaphorical production and awareness

La metàfora és un element central de la comunicació i la comprensió humana. Abunda en el llenguatge quotidià i també en el d'especialització, no sent una excepció el discurs legal. Aquest fet és rellevant ja que les metàfores ens permeten emmarcar la realitat des de diverses perspectives que condicionen la nostra percepció del món. Amb l'objectiu d'explorar l'ús que els estudiants de Dret amb anglès com a llengua addicional (EAL) fan de les metàfores i de determinar si són conscients de les seues connotacions, es va compilar i va analitzar qualitativament un corpus d'aprenents. Els resultats han demostrat que els aprenents igual que els parlants natius utilitzen metàfores conceptuals tals com LA IMMIGRACIÓ ÉS UNA FORÇA NATURAL, ELS ESTATS SÓN CONTENIDOS o ELS IMMIGRANTS SÓN UNA AMENAÇA per a descriure el fenomen de la immigració. Aquest estudi exploratori també va subratllar la importància que els aprenents siguen conscients de la càrrega negativa d'algunes metàfores per a promoure el pensament crític

METAPHOR AND CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE

La lingüística cognitiva siempre ha argumentado que la metáfora no pertenece exclusivamente al lenguaje, sino que es una competencia que se basa en la habilidad humana de concebir un dominio de experiencia en términos de otro. Entendida así, la metáfora no puede ser otra cosa que un fenómeno conceptual. No obstante, pocos adeptos de la lingüística cognitiva han concentrados sus esfuerzos en catalogar manifestaciones metafóricas en ámbitos no lingüísticos. En este trabajo, sugerimos que es factible encontrar pruebas de que la metáfora es un proceso conceptual y, como tal, se manifiesta en esferas que no son estrictamente lingüísticas. Para ello, aportamos un seguido de evidencias muy diversas, como por ejemplo su papel en el razonamiento lógico-matemático de los niños en la fase preoperacional del desarrollo cognitivo, la programación de interfaces para aplicaciones informáticas y los resultados de tres estudios empíricos realizados recientemente en el campo  de la psicología cognitiva que analizan los efectos whorfianos en la conceptualización del tiempo y los efectos del espacio en la memoria emocional.Cognitive linguistics has long argued that metaphor does not belong exclusively to language, but rather that it is a competence that is based on the human ability to conceive one domain of experience in terms of another. Thus understood, metaphor cannot be anything but a conceptual phenomenon. Nevertheless, few cognitive linguists have taken any pains to catalogue metaphorical manifestations in nonlinguistic domains. In this paper, we suggest that it is indeed possible to find support that metaphor is a conceptual process in spheres of cognition that are not strictly linguistic in nature. To do so, we discuss various types of evidence, ranging from its role in logical-mathematical reasoning in children in the preoperational phase of development, the cognitive ergonomics of graphical user interfaces in computer programming, and some of the latest results from the field of cognitive psychology concerning whorfian effects in the conceptualization of time as well as the effects of space in emotional memor

Metáfora y estructura conceptual

La lingüística cognitiva siempre ha argumentado que la metáfora no pertenece exclusivamente al lenguaje, sino que es una competencia que se basa en la habilidad humana de concebir un dominio de experiencia en términos de otro. Entendida así, la metáfora no puede ser otra cosa que un fenómeno conceptual. No obstante, pocos adeptos de la lingüística cognitiva han concentrados sus esfuerzos en catalogar manifestaciones metafóricas en ámbitos no lingüísticos. En este trabajo, sugerimos que es factible encontrar pruebas de que la metáfora es un proceso conceptual y, como tal, se manifiesta en esferas que no son estrictamente lingüísticas. Para ello, aportamos un seguido de evidencias muy diversas, como por ejemplo su papel en el razonamiento lógico-matemático de los niños en la fase preoperacional del desarrollo cognitivo, la programación de interfaces para aplicaciones informáticas y los resultados de tres estudios empíricos realizados recientemente en el campo  de la psicología cognitiva que analizan los efectos whorfianos en la conceptualización del tiempo y los efectos del espacio en la memoria emocional.</p