Understanding Cancer Metaphor within the LCCM Theory
Abstract
Cancer is a complicated disease that is usually difficult to talk about. While studies on cancer metaphors have shown that different metaphors have been used at different frequency of usage in narrating cancer, there have been few attempts to examine the metaphors used by cancer patients in relation to their cognition. This is because metaphors are also connected to the nature of mental process, reflecting the cognition that could provide insights to the patients’ beliefs on cancer instead of being only as a rhetorical device. This study examined the data collected from 31 cancer patients from Kuching, Sarawak through semi-structured interview in light of the connection mentioned using the Metaphorical Identification Procedure (MIP) and LCCM theory through unified framework of analysis,. The results show that the patients turned to “journey”, “conspiratorial” and “structural” metaphors more to describe their cancer conditions. Besides, the results also show that the cancer metaphors used by these patients shed further insights into patients’ cognition about cancer and the connection with their sociocultural background (e.g., social network, occupations, life experiences). Thus, it was concluded that such insights may help to address some of the current debate regarding metaphors used in oncology especially on the connection to the nature of the mental process.
References
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Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337915709_
Proceeding_Kual a_Lumpur_International_Multidisciplinary_Academic_
Conference_KLIMAC_2019_eISBN_978-967- 1685 9-5-2_Hotel_Istana_Kuala_
Lumpur_Malaysia_CANCER_METAPHOR_AND_ITS_ASSOCATION_
WITH_CANCER-RELATE.
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20924/7/CP%20110718%20NEW%202%20 (24pgs).pdf#page=8.
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UK: Cambridge University Press.
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(2017). The online use of violence and journey metaphors by patients with
cancer, as compared with health professionals: A mixed methods study. BMJ
Supportive & Palliative Care, 7, 60-66.
Stamenkovic, D., Ichien, N., & Holyoak, K. J. (2019). Metaphor comprehension: An
individual-differences approach. Journal of Memory and Language, 105, 108-
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Journal of Universitat Juame I, 5, 9-15. Retrieved from http://www.e-
revistes.uji.es/index.php/clr.
Tajer, C. D. (2012). Thinking medicine metaphorically. Argentina Journal of
Cardiology, 80(6), 485- 493.
Tetteh, D. A. & Faulkner, S. L. (2016). Sociocultural factors and breast cancer in sub-
Saharan Africa: Implications for diagnosis and management. Womens Health,
12(1), 147-156.
Tindle, D. (2015). Creating meaning: The cancer survivorship experiences of young adults in Australia, England and the United States. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Kelvin Grove, AU.
Ting, S. H., Ho, J. Y., & Podin, Y. (2019). Receptivity towards breast cancer
awareness materials. Journal of Humanities and Education Development
(JHED), 1(1), 46-54. Retrieved from https://theshillonga.com/index.php/jhed/
article/view/11.
Woodgate, R. L. & Busolo, D. S. (2017). Healthy Canadian adolescents’ perspectives
of cancer using metaphors: A qualitative study. BMJ Open, 7(1), :e013958. doi:
10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013958
care-takers. (Unpublished master’s thesis). West Texas A&M University,
Canyon, TX.
Augustyn, R. (2017). Deciphering novel expressions: A proposal for an integrated
cognitive meaning construction analysis. Anaales Universitatis Mariae Curie-
Sklodowska Lublin, XXXV(2), 193-204.
Barber, A. (2005). Language and thought. Bath, UK: The Bath Press.
Beaty, R. E. & Silvia, P. J. (2013). Metaphorically speaking: Cognitive abilities and the
production of figurative language. Memory and Cognition, 41(2), 255-267.
Bey, B. (2017). Cancer as metaphor: The metaphorical implications of romanticised
illness in young adult fiction. (Unpublished undergraduate’s thesis). Trinity
University, San Antonio, TX.
Burke, K. (1969). A grammar of motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Camp, E. (2006). Metaphor in the mind: The cognition of metaphor. Philosophy
Compass, 1(2), 154-170.
Camus, J. T. W. (2009). Variation of cancer metaphors in scientific texts and press
popularisations. Proceedings of the corpus linguistics conference (CL2009),
Liverpool, UK.
Chapman, R. (2001). “Am I doing it right?”: A discursive analysis of cancer
narratives. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Loughborough University,
Leicestershire, UK.
Croft, W. (1993). The role of domains in the interpretation of metaphor and
metonymies. Cognitive Linguistics, 4, 335- 370.
Croft, W. (2001). Radical construction grammar: Syntactic theory in typological
perspective. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Evans, V. (2009). How words mean: Lexical concepts, cognitive models and meaning
construction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Evans, V. (2010). Figurative language understanding in LCCM theory. Cognitive
Linguistics, 21(4), 601- 662.
Gibbs Jr, R.W. & Franks, H. (2002). Embodied metaphor in women’s narratives
about their experiences with cancer. Health Communication, 14(2), 139-165.
Goldberg, A. E. (1995). Constructions: A construction grammar approach to
argument structure. Chicago, US: The University of Chicago Press.
Hauser, D. J., & Schwarz, N. (In press). The war on prevention II: Battle metaphors
undermine cancer treatment and prevention and do no increase vigilance.
Health Communication. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2019.1663465.
Hendricks, R. K., Demjen, Z., Semino, E., & Boroditsky, L. (2018). Emotional
implications of metaphor: Consequences of metaphor framing for mindset
about cancer. Metaphor and symbol, 33(4), 267-279.
Jerome, C. & Liaw, M. K. P. (2019, November). Cancer metaphor and its association
with cancer-related attitudes and behaviours. Paper presented at Kuala
Lumpur International Multidisciplinary Academic Conference (KLIMAC 2019).
Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337915709_
Proceeding_Kual a_Lumpur_International_Multidisciplinary_Academic_
Conference_KLIMAC_2019_eISBN_978-967- 1685 9-5-2_Hotel_Istana_Kuala_
Lumpur_Malaysia_CANCER_METAPHOR_AND_ITS_ASSOCATION_
WITH_CANCER-RELATE.
Kenett, Y. N., Gold, R. & Faust, M. (2018). Metaphor comprehension in low and high
creative individuals. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:482. doi:
10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00482.
Kim, E. K., Bahk, Y. C., Oh, H. J., Lee, W. H., Lee, J. S., & Choi, K. H. (2018). Current
status of cognitive remediation for psychiatric disorders: A review. Frontiers in
Psychiatry, 9, 461. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00461. Retrieved from https://ww
w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6178894/pdf/fpsyt-09-00461.pdf.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, US: University of
Chicago Press.
Lanceley, A. & Clark, J. M. (2013). Cancer in other words? The role of metaphor in
emotion disclosure in cancer patients. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 29(2),
182-201.
Landau, M. J., Zhong, C. B., & Swanson, T. J. (2017). Conceptual metaphors shape
consumer psychology. Consumer Psychology Review, 1(1), 54-71.
Langacker, R. W. (1987). Foundations of cognitive grammar: Volume I theoretical
prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Lendik, L, S. (2016). Metaphors of health and illness in the oral discourses of the
Indigenous Semai Community in Perak. (Unpublished master’s thesis).
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia.
Low, S. (1996). Embodied metaphors: Nerves as lived experience. In T. Csordas
(Ed.), Embodiment and Experience (pp. 139-162). New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press.
Nicholas, G. (2013). Metaphors and malignancy: Making sense of cancer. Current
Oncology, 20(6), 608-609.
Podin, Y., Ting, S. H., Jerome, C., & Ahmad, S. S. W. (2018, July). Perceived
susceptibility and severity of diarrhoea, nasopharyngeal cancer and human
immunodeficiency virus infection. Paper presented at Innovation Technology
Expo (INTEX) 2018 Conference. Retrieved from ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/
20924/7/CP%20110718%20NEW%202%20 (24pgs).pdf#page=8.
Pragglejaz Group (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words
in discourse. Metaphor and symbol, 22(1), 1-39.
Rasnik, D. (2012). The chromosomal imbalance of cancer: The autocatalyzed
progression of aneuploidy is carcinogenesis. Oakland, CA: CRC Press.
Reisfield, G. M. & Wilson, G. R. (2004). Use of metaphor in discourse on cancer.
Journal of Clinical Oncology, 22(19), 4024-4027.
Saarelainen, S. M. (2017). Meaningful life with(out) cancer: Coping narratives of
emerging Finnish Adults. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of
Helsinki, Helsinki, FI.
Sairanen, I. (2015). Metaphors in health communication between nurse and
patient. (Unpublished Bachelor’s thesis). JAMK University of Applied Science,
Jyväskylä, FI.
Searle, J. R. (1983). Intentionality: An essay in the philosophy of mind. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Semino, E., Demjen, Z., Demmen, J., Koller, V., Payne, S., Hardie, A., & Rayson, P.
(2017). The online use of violence and journey metaphors by patients with
cancer, as compared with health professionals: A mixed methods study. BMJ
Supportive & Palliative Care, 7, 60-66.
Stamenkovic, D., Ichien, N., & Holyoak, K. J. (2019). Metaphor comprehension: An
individual-differences approach. Journal of Memory and Language, 105, 108-
118.
Steen, G. (2007). Culture, language and representation. Cultural Studies
Journal of Universitat Juame I, 5, 9-15. Retrieved from http://www.e-
revistes.uji.es/index.php/clr.
Tajer, C. D. (2012). Thinking medicine metaphorically. Argentina Journal of
Cardiology, 80(6), 485- 493.
Tetteh, D. A. & Faulkner, S. L. (2016). Sociocultural factors and breast cancer in sub-
Saharan Africa: Implications for diagnosis and management. Womens Health,
12(1), 147-156.
Tindle, D. (2015). Creating meaning: The cancer survivorship experiences of young adults in Australia, England and the United States. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Kelvin Grove, AU.
Ting, S. H., Ho, J. Y., & Podin, Y. (2019). Receptivity towards breast cancer
awareness materials. Journal of Humanities and Education Development
(JHED), 1(1), 46-54. Retrieved from https://theshillonga.com/index.php/jhed/
article/view/11.
Woodgate, R. L. & Busolo, D. S. (2017). Healthy Canadian adolescents’ perspectives
of cancer using metaphors: A qualitative study. BMJ Open, 7(1), :e013958. doi:
10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013958
Published
2020-03-31
How to Cite
PEI, Monica Liaw Kah; JEROME, Collin.
Understanding Cancer Metaphor within the LCCM Theory.
Asian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 1, p. 33-52, mar. 2020.
ISSN 2710-5865.
Available at: <https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ajbs/article/view/7674>. Date accessed: 13 sep. 2024.
Section
Articles
