Good grief: A corpus-driven analysis of conceptual grief metaphors in online discourse
Abstract
This thesis examines grief metaphors in online discourse over time to investigate how grievers perceive the grief experience, and to explore the extent to which time influences variation in usage. Grief metaphors have enjoyed little attention in related literature, and prior research on conceptual metaphors has not attended the possibility that time may trigger variation in metaphor usage. This thesis addresses this theoretical gap by investigating the influence time may or may not have on grief conceptual metaphors by asking the following questions: How do early grievers use grief metaphors versus late grievers? How does an individual's metaphor use change when recounting their early grief versus their late grief? How does individual metaphor usage change with the passage of time? Drawing from conceptual metaphor theory, blending theory, and corpus linguistics, this thesis examined narratives written by grievers in an online support group. Using a corpus-driven approach, this thesis examines the metaphors used by the bereaved when writing about their grief experiences, paying particular attention to the extent that time influences variation in usage. The findings suggest that early grievers perceive their grief as removing their agency, whereas late grievers perceive grief as returning their agency. Similarly, grievers that discussed their early and late grief perceive agency as being returned over time. Finally, grievers who wrote about their grief at two different points in their grief experience similarly perceive early grief as stealing their agency and late grief as returning it. This thesis concludes that early grief is perceived differently from late grief in regards to agency, and that time does seem to trigger variation in metaphor usage.
Collections
- OSU Theses [15752]