Metaphors of cancer in the Arabic language: An analysis of the use of metaphors in the online narratives of breast cancer patients

Abstract

This study explores the use of metaphors in the narratives of breast cancer patients in online magazine websites in the Arabic language. It aims to find similarities and/or differences between English and Arabic in respect of the metaphorical constructions of cancer experiences. The corpus of the study consists of 13,705 words in 19 narratives in Arabic. We used the metaphor identification procedure of Pragglejaz Group (2007) to detect the metaphors in the corpus. We focused on the role of metaphor in constructing our experience of cancer, and examined which metaphors are more frequent in the construction of the cancer experience. The results of the study revealed that there is a great similarity between Arabic and English in respect of the metaphors used to construct the cancer experience; the patients have framed their cancer situation via WAR and/or JOURNEY metaphors, with War metaphors more frequently used than Journey Metaphors. The findings also indicate that the Arabic narratives tended to include a stronger religious framework, constructing cancer as a kind of Trial by Ordeal in which one proves one’s firm faith through patience and acceptance of fate.

Keywords

• metaphor
• arabic language
• breast cancer