Metaphor in scientific language: a study on medical texts

Abstract

The object of this paper is to analyse the metaphors in specialised medical language in Spanish, in terms of the theory of metaphor developed by authors such as Lakoff and Johnson. Metaphors have been previously studied in non-specialized medical texts or in patients' explanations of their symptoms. This study focuses on written specialized medical texts aimed at doctors and students of medicine and it also revises some denominations for illnesses. Through these data it will be shown how medical language makes use of metaphorical systems. In a traditional view of metaphor, which associated it with subjectivity, scientific texts like those under analysis were not expected to contain metaphors. But the explanatory and descriptive power of metaphor makes its use relevant in these manuals whose main aim is to classify and explain concepts without room for misinterpretations.