Metaphorical Collocations from a Specialised Text-Typological Perspective

The chapter outlines the methodology and preliminary results of a pilot study designed to provide a structural and functional account of conceptual metaphors and their significance for the description and classification of specialised text types. The study focuses on the language of medicine, but the results can be applied to other specialized languages as well. The data presented in this chapter form part of a larger study that aims to uncover text type-specific uses of conceptual metaphors in specialised and scientific communication. The chapter starts with a brief introduction to the theoretical foundations of the study, which are rooted in both specialised text-type linguistics (German Textsortenlinguistik) and metaphor research. It then illustrates some of the results, before outlining possible directions for further esearch.