Discourse Communities and the Language of Pain
30 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2009
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Discourse Communities and the Language of Pain
Discourse Communities and the Language of Pain
Date Written: November 25, 2009
Abstract
Pain is a private and subjective experience that when communicated, is limited by a language that requires the speaker to transform the internal into the external through the use of modifiers, metaphors, and metonymies. This language of pain is then implemented in many discussions between doctor and patient, friends and family members, and many other discourse communities with varied motivations. In the present article, I will be discussing at some length, the differences between these communities, their motivations, and the ways they discuss and describe the sensation we as English speakers refer to as pain.
Keywords: speech community, socio-rhetorical discourse community, modifier, qualia, spatiotemporal, somatosensory, BDSM
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