I’m interested in health discourses from a linguistics perspective and have written my PhD thesis about metaphors in discourses of menopause. I apply critical metaphor analysis to describe representations of menopause in the form of metaphor scenarios.
In my thesis, I have specified an operational aproach to metaphor scenarios, drawing on analyses of metaphor, agency and appraisal. This has allowed an in depth qualitative analysis of metaphor scenarios and their representation of menopause in Denmark and the US. I interpreted the results from the perspective of Critical Discourse Studies and Cognitive Linguistics. This contributes to the knowledge of how metaphor is used in public health communication in general and specifically about menopause.
During my PhD work, I also supported the data sharing initiative #ReframeCovid as I am interested in metaphors in relation to health in general. Through MetNet, I am connected to metaphor enthusiasts in the Nordic countries. Read my blogpost here: https://www.metnetscandinavia.com/post/nature-sports-and-travelling-danish-metaphors-for-covid-19
My MA dissertation investigates how the relationship between the doctor and patient is represented in patient information leaflet for medicines in England in 2018. The corpus consists of selected package leaflets for pharmaceutical prescription drugs.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pernillej/
