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Corpus linguistics and clinical psychology: Investigating personification in first-person accounts of voice-hearing

Collins, Luke; Brezina, Vaclav; Demjén, Zsófia; Semino, Elena; Woods, Angela

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Authors

Luke Collins

Vaclav Brezina

Zsófia Demjén

Elena Semino



Abstract

Triangulating corpus linguistic approaches with other (linguistic and non-linguistic) approaches enhances “both the rigour of corpus linguistics and its incorporation into all kinds of research” ( McEnery & Hardie, 2012 : 227). Our study investigates an important area of mental health research: the experiences of those who hear voices that others cannot hear, and particularly the ways in which those voices are described as person-like. We apply corpus methods to augment the findings of a qualitative approach to 40 interviews with voice-hearers, whereby each interview was coded as involving ‘minimal’ or ‘complex’ personification of voices. Our analysis provides linguistic evidence in support of the qualitative coding of the interviews, but also goes beyond a binary approach by revealing different types and degrees of personification of voices, based on how they are referred to and described by voice-hearers. We relate these findings to concepts that inform therapeutic interventions in clinical psychology.

Citation

Collins, L., Brezina, V., Demjén, Z., Semino, E., & Woods, A. (2023). Corpus linguistics and clinical psychology: Investigating personification in first-person accounts of voice-hearing. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 28(1), 28-59. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.21019.col

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 24, 2021
Online Publication Date Apr 29, 2022
Publication Date 2023-01
Deposit Date Jul 6, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 14, 2023
Journal International Journal of Corpus Linguistics
Print ISSN 1384-6655
Electronic ISSN 1569-9811
Publisher John Benjamins Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 28
Issue 1
Pages 28-59
DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.21019.col

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