Corpus-assisted metaphor analysis of pregnancy discourse

在围绕怀孕的公共话语中，实际经历过怀孕的人的声音并不占主导地位。这加剧了怀孕个人面临的歧视，因为他们的声音在主流话语和政策制定中是看不见的。本研究的目的是比较公共怀孕话语和有生活经验的人的话语，从而找出歧视的来源。本研究通过分析隐喻作为一种语言手段来理解和概念化一个概念作为另一个概念。隐喻为研究者提供了直接了解人们思维方式的途径。具体式隐喻分析尤其探讨了隐喻映射是如何通过人们感知自己身体的方式以及他们的身体如何与环境相互作用而形成的(见Littlemore 2019)。在怀孕期间，当一个人对自己身体的看法因新生命的发展以及一个人和两个人之间的界限空间内的冲突而发生变化时，考虑这一点尤其重要。在健康传播领域，研究发现隐喻和转喻有助于传达其他人可能难以概念化和理解的生活经历(特别是那些涉及情感和痛苦的经历)，也可以作为一种在改变生活的疾病后管理新自我的方式(Demjen和Semino等人，2017；Gibbs和Franks，2002)。Littlemore和Turner(2019)发现，那些在出生前死亡项目中经历过妊娠丢失的人使用的隐喻也是如此，该项目调查了那些经历过妊娠丢失的人的经历。本项目旨在加强这部文献的工作，特别是Littlemore和她的团队的工作，重点是怀孕而不是失去，这涵盖了一个庞大但往往是看不见的社会群体。如前所述，怀孕的声音通常不出现在公共话语中，但在育儿论坛等社区的话语中占据主导地位，这些论坛为父母和准父母提供了一个强大的在线社区(参见Pedersen and Smithson，2013；Pedersen，2016；Mackenzie，2018)。对比隐喻分析可以揭示基于受众、体裁和作者经验使用的源语概念的差异(见Deignan等人，2013年；Semino等人，2013年)。通过对比不同怀孕经历的作者以及论坛和公共话语中的隐喻使用情况，将会是一个富有成效的分析。语料库分析揭示了语言中的模式和最突出的部分。我已经从怀孕论坛Mumsnet、怀孕杂志和英国报纸上创建了三个怀孕话语语料库。语料库软件将被用来寻找用于描述怀孕以及与之相关的情感和身体感受的隐喻。隐喻将通过关键词和关键语义分析来识别。研究问题：1.在每个语料库中发现了哪些显著的隐喻，它们在语料库中是如何比较的？2.这些隐喻说明了不同群体和媒体类型对怀孕的看法？

The voices of people who have actually experienced pregnancy are not dominant in public discourses around pregnancy. This contributes to the discrimination faced by pregnant individuals as their voices are invisible in mainstream discourse and policymaking. The aim of this research is to compare those public pregnancy discourses with the discourses of those with lived experience, and thus to highlight sources of discrimination.My research approaches this comparison through the analysis of metaphor as a linguistic device for understanding and conceptualising one concept as another. Metaphor affords the researcher direct access to the way people think. Embodied metaphor analysis, in particular, explores how metaphorical mappings are formed by the ways in which people perceive their bodies and how their bodies interact with their environment (see Littlemore 2019). This is especially important to consider during pregnancy when there is a change in how a person may view their body caused by the new life developing and a conflict within the liminal space between one body and two.In the field of health communication, research has identified metaphor, and metonymy (Semino 2010), to be useful for conveying lived experiences (especially those involving emotions and feelings of pain) that might be otherwise difficult for others to conceptualise and understand, and also as a way to manage a new sense of self after a life-changing illness (Demjen and Semino 2017; Semino et al., 2017; Gibbs and Franks, 2002). Littlemore and Turner (2019) found the same to be true of metaphors used by those who have experienced pregnancy loss during the Death Before Birth project that examined the experiences of those who had faced pregnancy loss. This present project aims to build upon the work of this literature, particularly the work of Littlemore and her team, with a focus on pregnancy rather than its loss, which encompasses a large but often invisible group in society. As previously mentioned, pregnant voices are often absent in public discourses but dominant in the discourses of communities like parenting forums, which serve as a powerful online community for parents and expecting parents (see Pedersen and Smithson, 2013; Pedersen, 2016; Mackenzie, 2018). A comparative metaphor analysis can reveal differences in the source concepts used based on audience, genre, and author experience (see Deignan et al., 2013; Semino et al., 2013). The comparison of metaphor use between authors of differing pregnancy experiences and forum and public discourse will serve as a fruitful analysis.Corpus analysis shows patterns in language and what is most salient. I have already created three corpora of pregnancy discourse from pregnancy forum Mumsnet, pregnancy magazines, and British newspapers. Corpus software will be used to find metaphors used to describe pregnancy and the emotional and physical feelings associated with it. Metaphors will be identified through keyword and key semantic analysis.Research questions:1. What are the salient metaphors found in each corpus and how do they compare across corpora?2. What do these metaphors say about the ways in which different groups and media types think aboutpregnancy?