A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation.
BACKGROUND: All languages use metaphoric expressions; some deliberately chosen, some (for example, 'digesting information') not usually perceived as metaphoric. Increasingly, it is suggested metaphoric expressions constrain the way we conceptualise the world, as well as being a means of a...
| Autors principals: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Idioma: | English |
| Publicat: |
2002
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| _version_ | 1826258853076926464 |
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| author | Skelton, JR Wearn, A Hobbs, F |
| author_facet | Skelton, JR Wearn, A Hobbs, F |
| author_sort | Skelton, JR |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | BACKGROUND: All languages use metaphoric expressions; some deliberately chosen, some (for example, 'digesting information') not usually perceived as metaphoric. Increasingly, it is suggested metaphoric expressions constrain the way we conceptualise the world, as well as being a means of achieving stylistic effect. AIM: To study metaphoric expressions used by doctors and patients in general practice. DESIGN OF STUDY: Concordance-based language analysis of spoken data. METHOD: A database containing transcriptions of 373 consultations with 40 doctors in a UK general practice setting was scrutinised for metaphoric expressions, using 'concordancing' software. Concordancing enables identification of strings of text with similar lexical properties. Comparators (for example, 'like'), selected verb-types (for example, of feeling), and the verb 'to be' were used as starting points for systematically exploring the data. Quantitative and qualitative thematic methods were used in analysis. RESULTS: Doctors and patients use different metaphors. Doctors use mechanical metaphors to explain disease and speak of themselves as problem-solvers' and 'controllers of disease'. Patients employ a range of vivid metaphors, but fewer metaphors of machines and problem/solution. Patients use metaphors to describe symptoms and are more likely to use metaphoric language at the interface of physical and psychological symptoms ('tension, 'stress'). CONCLUSION: The different patterns of metaphoric expression suggest that doctors make limited attempts to enter the patients' conceptual world. This may not be a bad thing. One function of the consultation may be to reinterpret vivid and unique descriptions as accounts of the familiar and systemically comprehensible. Doctors may use different conceptual metaphors as a reassuring signal of expertise. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:40:33Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0cba22cc-54d6-4f32-b4a5-3ef0b26781cc |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:40:33Z |
| publishDate | 2002 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0cba22cc-54d6-4f32-b4a5-3ef0b26781cc2022-03-26T09:36:32ZA concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0cba22cc-54d6-4f32-b4a5-3ef0b26781ccEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2002Skelton, JRWearn, AHobbs, F BACKGROUND: All languages use metaphoric expressions; some deliberately chosen, some (for example, 'digesting information') not usually perceived as metaphoric. Increasingly, it is suggested metaphoric expressions constrain the way we conceptualise the world, as well as being a means of achieving stylistic effect. AIM: To study metaphoric expressions used by doctors and patients in general practice. DESIGN OF STUDY: Concordance-based language analysis of spoken data. METHOD: A database containing transcriptions of 373 consultations with 40 doctors in a UK general practice setting was scrutinised for metaphoric expressions, using 'concordancing' software. Concordancing enables identification of strings of text with similar lexical properties. Comparators (for example, 'like'), selected verb-types (for example, of feeling), and the verb 'to be' were used as starting points for systematically exploring the data. Quantitative and qualitative thematic methods were used in analysis. RESULTS: Doctors and patients use different metaphors. Doctors use mechanical metaphors to explain disease and speak of themselves as problem-solvers' and 'controllers of disease'. Patients employ a range of vivid metaphors, but fewer metaphors of machines and problem/solution. Patients use metaphors to describe symptoms and are more likely to use metaphoric language at the interface of physical and psychological symptoms ('tension, 'stress'). CONCLUSION: The different patterns of metaphoric expression suggest that doctors make limited attempts to enter the patients' conceptual world. This may not be a bad thing. One function of the consultation may be to reinterpret vivid and unique descriptions as accounts of the familiar and systemically comprehensible. Doctors may use different conceptual metaphors as a reassuring signal of expertise. |
| spellingShingle | Skelton, JR Wearn, A Hobbs, F A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title | A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title_full | A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title_fullStr | A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title_short | A concordance-based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation. |
| title_sort | concordance based study of metaphoric expressions used by general practitioners and patients in consultation |
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