33.503, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Author: Jane Dilkes: '' The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus linguistic investigation''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-503. Wed Feb 09 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.503, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Author: Jane Dilkes: '' The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus linguistic investigation''

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Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:47:58
From: Jane Dilkes [jdilkes at pm.me]
Subject: The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus linguistic investigation

 
Institution: University of Birmingham 
Program: PhD Applied Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2021 

Author: Jane Dilkes

Dissertation Title: The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus
linguistic investigation 

Dissertation URL:  https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/12221/

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories


Dissertation Director(s):
Jeannette Littlemore

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis investigates the triangular relationship between metaphor use,
community, and state of mind, to ask the question: what social and
psychological work does metaphor do, in the computer-mediated discourse
setting of an online forum. The thesis goes beyond the finding and grouping of
metaphors for analysis to consider the pattern of metaphor use over time in
terms of (i) surrounding language style; (ii) density of use; and (iii) use by
different participant groups. In achieving its aim the thesis provides
insights into (i) the effect of metaphor use in terms of state of mind; (ii)
the role of metaphor in the characterisation of a community; and (iii) methods
for considering linguistic metaphor in naturally occurring discourse in terms
of its psychological effect, which also creates insights into metaphor theory.

The primary novel contribution of the thesis is to combine an analysis of
metaphor use with an analysis of the language style that surrounds it, using
established research relating language style to state of mind to consider the
social and psychological work that metaphor does. The primary prediction of
the investigation is that where metaphor is used to characterise a concept,
the surrounding language will be of a style that has been found to be
associated with better mental health. This is related to and supported by the
second novel contribution of the thesis, which is to consider the role of
metaphor in the formation and evolution of a community over time, by
considering change in density of metaphor and other key variables in the data
as a whole, and for comparative participant groups. The third novel
contribution of the thesis is that, alongside more established corpus
linguistic techniques, new techniques from the fast-evolving areas of data
science and natural language processing are explored and evaluated in terms of
(i) finding metaphors in the corpora; (ii) analysing language style; and (iii)
diachronic analysis.

It is shown that use of the identified dominant metaphor themes in each
community co-occurs with specific language styles associated with mental
health, and that this work of metaphor evolves over time as a consensus which
becomes normative within the group for a period, such that it shapes community
members as well as being shaped by them, while the flexibility of metaphor
still leaves that work open to further evolution. The adaptation and
prominence of particular metaphor themes over time to do particular work in
each forum also underpins the characterisation of it as a particular
community.




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