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1 results

  • 9 - Representing the Experience of Illness

  • Elena Semino, Lancaster University, Paul Baker, Lancaster University, Gavin Brookes, Lancaster University, Luke Collins, Lancaster University, Tony McEnery, Lancaster University
  • Book:
    Applying Corpus Linguistics to Illness and Healthcare
    Published online:
    05 September 2025
    Print publication:
    25 September 2025, pp 134-152
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  • Summary

    Chapter 9 considers how the experience of illness is represented linguistically, focussing on two contexts. In the first case study, collocational patterns were examined in order to show how people represented the word anxiety. Different patterns around anxiety were grouped together in order to identify oppositional pairs of representation (e.g., medicalising/normalising). The second case study involved an examination of the ways in which cancer was constructed in a corpus of interviews with and online forum posts by people with cancer, family carers, and healthcare professionals. Using a combination of manual analysis and corpus searches, we considered how metaphors were used to convey a sense of empowerment or disempowerment in the experience of cancer. More specifically, the analysis of metaphors around cancer revealed insights into people’s identity construction and the relationships between doctors and patients.