Product description

This book brings together methods from discourse analysis and corpus linguistics in a cutting-edge study of figurative language in spoken and written discourse.

Figurative Language, Genre and Register brings together discourse analysis and corpus linguistics in a cutting-edge study of figurative language in spoken and written discourse. The authors explore a diverse range of communities from chronic pain sufferers to nursery staff to present a detailed framework for the analysis of figurative language. The reader is shown how figurative language is used between members of these communities to construct their own 'world view', and how this can change with a shift in perspective. Figurative language is shown to be pervasive and inescapable, but it is also suggested that it varies significantly across genres.

Key features

• Examines variation in the forms, frequency and functions of figurative language in use.
• Provides evidence for the importance of metaphor and metonymy for discourse communities, and how this can exclude and confuse outsiders.
• Draws on written and spoken data from diverse contexts, such as popular science writing, spoken academic discourse and football reporting.