Metaphors in communication about pregnancy loss

Jeannette Littlemore, Sarah Turner

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    27 Citations (Scopus)
    144 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Pregnancy loss, encompassing miscarriage, stillbirth and termination for foetal abnormality, can be considered a particularly intense and unique form of bereavement, which engenders difficult or painful emotions. When people are talking about such emotions, they have been found to make extensive use of metaphor (Semino, 2011). In this paper, we use metaphor analysis of a small corpus of interviews with individuals in England who have suffered such losses, and people who support them, to explore the nature of the bereavement. In particular, we focus on the ways in which metaphor is used to describe the experience of the loss, the effects that this loss has on people's conceptions of themselves and their bodies, and the implications this has for recovery. We identify a number of characteristics that can lead the bereaved to conceptualise their realities in different ways, which have implications for the grieving process, the ways in which people respond to their grief, and ultimately their recovery.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)45-75
    Number of pages31
    JournalMetaphor and the Social World
    Volume10
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2020

    Keywords

    • Bereavement
    • Emotion
    • Metaphor
    • Pregnancy loss
    • The body

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Language and Linguistics
    • Linguistics and Language

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Metaphors in communication about pregnancy loss'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this