The interaction of age and gender in illness narratives

Recognition of the greater capacity of older women to draw on supportive social networks has now supplemented an earlier focus of research into gender and ageing which portrayed older men as a 'privileged gerontocracy' because of their greater access to financial resources and spousal care. This study of the experiences of cancer among people of three different age groups conducted a comparative keyword analysis of their narratives to consider the gender differentiation of a third resource: access to medical information and personnel. The analysed narratives were sampled from a large archive of research interviews. It was found that older men with cancer demonstrated a greater involvement with medicine as an expert system than younger men or women or older women. This stemmed from their social confidence when interacting with doctors and their interest in treating their illness as a 'problem' to be fixed with medico-scientific solutions. Compared with younger men and women of all ages, older men were less likely to draw on informal social and family networks for support, or to discuss in a direct style the emotional dimension of illness experience. Our findings contrast with other studies that have reported linguistic disadvantage in older people in elderly care settings, which underlines the importance of context for linguistic studies. © 2008 Cambridge University Press

The interaction of class and gender in illness narratives

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 BSA Publications Ltd.Perspectives on gender and identity that emphasize variability of performance, local context and individual agency have displaced earlier paradigms.These are now perceived to have supported gender stereotypes and language ideologies by emphasizing gender difference and homogeneity within genders. In a secondary analysis of health and illness narratives we explore the interaction of class and gender in individuals' constructions of gendered identity. High social class men perform gender in particularly varied ways and we speculate that this variable repertoire, including the use of what was once termed `women's language', is linked to a capacity to maintain social distinction and authority. Men's performance of conventional masculinity is often threatened by both the experience of illness and being interviewed about personal experience. Lower social class women in particular demonstrate an intensification of a pre-existing informal family and support group culture, marking successful members by awarding them the accolade of being `lovely'.ESR

Second Language Figurative Proficiency: A Comparative Study of Malay and English

This paper explores the potential of cognitive linguistic notions such as conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonym for comparing the figurative phraseologies of English and Malay and anticipating second language learner difficulty. A comparative analysis is undertaken that identifies six types of relationship between figurative expressions in the two languages. It is suggested that identification of linguistic and conceptual similarities and differences in figurative expressions enable us to anticipate the types of problems that may be encountered by Malay-speaking learners of English in the acquisition of English figurative language. A comparative analysis is used to develop a set of production and comprehension tasks that aim to measure figurative proficiency. This is tested with a group of 36 Malay-speaking tertiary learners of English. It is found that figurative expressions with an equivalent conceptual basis and linguistic form are the easiest. The most difficult are those with (1) a different conceptual basis and an equivalent linguistic form and (2) culture-specific expressions that have a different conceptual basis and a different linguistic form. There is some evidence that learners may resort to the L1 conceptual basis when processing unfamiliar L2 figurative language. There is also evidence of intralingual confusion between higher and lower frequency L2 figurative expressions. It is more advantageous to draw learners' attention to the conceptual bases of L2 figurative expressions in circumstances where they differ from those of the LI than when the conceptual bases are similar (especially where learners' LI is unrelated to their L2)

Analysing political speeches: Rhetoric, discourse and metaphor

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All-consuming passions: Fire metaphors in fiction

This paper discusses the role of metaphor in describing intense romantic feelings relating to love, lust and desire in American fiction. I propose that ‘passion’ integrates notions of romantic love with the related ideas of ‘lust’ and ‘desire’. Using the fiction section of the Corpus of Contemporary American English I offer empirical evidence that fictional accounts of intense romantic feelings are characterised by two related types of metaphor: those based on the experience of heat and fire, and those based on the experience of physical or natural forces. These can be represented as LOVE/ LUST/ DESIRE IS FIRE and EMOTIONS ARE NATURAL FORCES. These metaphors are employed to understand various aspects of romance feelings including their cause, their effect and the level of intensity with which they are experienced by fictional characters. I explain how fire and heat are related through metonymy and how these are both related to fire through the force dynamic model (originally proposed by Talmy 1988 and developed in Kövecses 2000) to account for fictional representations of the passions, especially as regards variations in their intensity. I also discuss the question of how far empathy and sensual arousal on the part of a reader of romantic fiction may be triggered in the brain by descriptive accounts of people engaging in romantic, affective and, or, sexual activities. Finally I offer two new metaphors specifically for seduction: SEDUCTION IS PLAYING A GAME and SEDUCTION IS FISHING and I suggest possible pyschological reasons for their appeal to authors and readers of fiction

Forensic deliberations on ‘purposeful metaphor’

The concept of ‘purposeful metaphor’ is proposed as an alternative to ‘deliberate metaphor’ (Steen, 2008) in providing a theory of metaphor in discourse and communication. The case for ‘purposeful metaphor’ is framed within a discussion of intentionality in a murder trial. It is argued that ‘deliberateness’ originates in epistemologies based in language use, but is not valid for epistemologies that distinguish between conscious and unconscious thought process; in literary studies it is known as the ‘intentional fallacy’. However, considerations of intention are relevant in critical metaphor analysis that seeks insight into the social and political motivation of metaphor. Insights from Speech Act Theory and rhetorical theory suggest that ‘deliberate metaphor’ could be modified to ‘purposeful metaphor’ because we conceptualise ‘purpose’ in terms of a SOURCE (or idea), a PATH (or rhetorical plan) to realise a GOAL (or rhetorical outcome). ‘Purposeful metaphor’ therefore integrates the source (or idea behind) path, (or rhetorical plan), and goal, (or rhetorical outcome) of metaphor, while ‘deliberate metaphor’ only profiles its inception. Illustrations are given of how ‘purposeful metaphor’ contributes to an explanation of metaphor use in political and legal discourse, and other persuasive genres. Linguistic evidence for purposefulness is in the interaction between textually complex use of metaphor and contextual features such as political purpose or describing medical conditions. © 2012 John Benjamins Publishing Company

Analysing Political Speeches: Rhetoric, Discourse and Metaphor (2nd edition)

Exploring speeches by public figures such as Emma Watson, Tony Blair, Donald Trump, Julia Gillard and Lady Gaga, this engaging textbook explains the ways in which political speeches can be analysed. It examines the role of language in speeches and how it can be used to challenge or reinforce prevailing social, cultural and political attitudes. Each chapter introduces a particular discourse approach and then applies this in a model analysis of a passage of text. The chosen texts concern issues of social, cultural and political importance that address topics of significant importance to the audience to which they were delivered. Students are encouraged to engage with the text and consider how approaches to text analysis, such as cohesion, context analysis and metaphor analysis, may be adapted to provide a more critical perspective