COMPARISON OF SOURCE DOMAINS IN RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN ENGLISH MEDICAL DISCOURSES

COMPARISON OF SOURCE DOMAINS IN RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN ENGLISH MEDICAL DISCOURSES

Author:  E.M. Kleshchenko

Affiliation:  Chelyabinsk State University (Chelyabinsk, Russia)

Abstract:  There are almost no linguistic works about medical discourse because of doctor-patient confidentiality. However, there is another way to analyze it – medical TV serials. Medical discourse is spoken as a communicative event with such social actors as doctor and patient in a particular setting (usually a hospital).
The purpose of the study was to compare “source domains” (Lakoff) of conceptual metaphors in Russian (RMD) and American English (AEMD) medical discourses. The author analyzed RMD with the help of the Russian TV serials (“Doctor Tyrsa”, “Zemsky Doctor”, “Sklifosovsky”), and AEMD – in the American TV serial (“Doctor House”). The author singled out and analyzed conceptual metaphors according to their source domains in both AEMD and RMD.
There are no metaphors with the source domain “law” in RMD and no metaphors with the source domain «war» in AEMD. When doctors in AEMD look for the diagnosis, they resemble crime-investigators who try to find a murderer. There are many conceptual metaphors where a doctor is a crime investigator; a disease is like a criminal; symptoms – clues. There is not such resemblance in RMD. Nevertheless, Russian doctors use many conceptual metaphors from the source domain “war”. They may compare a doctor who left his workplace earlier than necessary with a runaway; a disease – with an enemy.

Keywords:  medical discourse, discourse, metaphor, source domain, target domain

References: 
Doktor Tyrsa. Videozapisi teleseriala. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXee-GOwaJFY&list=PLj_sOGhanyUc5IaQpuBi0hFc3SS klHu8L
Zemskiy doktor. Videozapisi teleseriala. URL: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_ sOGhanyUe_3jVj6qTvxJu0kQxSJS7m
Lakoff, Dzh. & Dzhonson, M. (2007). Metafory, kotorymi my zhivem. Moscow: LKI.
Olyanich, A.V. (2007). Prezentatsionnaya teoriya diskursa. Moscow: Gnozis.
Sklifosovskiy. Videozapisi teleseriala. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Y9c BEU1Jc&list=PLra4lnR8PXnIoylDFOHSqoD6TowTWqzTE
Dijk, T.A. van (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary approach (pp. 193-194). London: Sage Publications.
Doctor House. House Transcripts. URL: http://clinic-duty.livejournal.com/

Pages:  146-149