This thesis investigates how cancer prevention and Covid-19 prevention are metaphorically framed in British newspapers. Guided by Cameron’s discourse dynamics framework, the analysis examines metaphor patterns through three complementary lenses: systematic metaphors, metaphoremes, and metaphor scenarios. My study develops two self-compiled and topic-specific corpora and critically evaluates issues of representativeness, balance, and comparability in corpus design, including the selection of query terms. To retrieve relevant texts, it adapts and combines established approaches to query-term identification and data collection. An adapted metaphor identification procedure is then applied to identify topic-related linguistic metaphors. Linguistic metaphors are grouped into semantic vehicle groups and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively using corpus-based methods.
Findings show that both domains are extensively discussed through metaphors. Four vehicle groups, War & Violence, Journey, Mechanics, and Performance are most frequent in both corpora. Across both domains, metaphor patterns can support both positive and negative framings. For instance, Mechanics metaphors present illness prevention as systematic procedures, while Clothing metaphors question the validity of prevention strategies by emphasising inflexibility and lack of tailoring. Covid-19 discourse additionally constructs topic-specific framings of performativity (e.g., hygiene theatre), whereas cancer prevention is frequently framed through uncertainty (e.g., Gambling metaphors). The analysis further shows that agency is constructed differently across domains, and that possible empowering or disempowering effects depend on metaphor construction and context.
The thesis contributes a transparent and replicable procedure for corpus-based metaphor analysis of illness prevention and demonstrates how metaphor patterns express ideological positioning in public communication.
