Metaphor and gender: are words associatedwith source domains perceived in a genderedway?
Abstract
Conceptual metaphors are one of many linguistic devices that can potentially encode and reinforcegender stereotypes. However, little is known about how metaphors encode gender stereotypes, and in previousliterature the concept of “gendered metaphor” has been mostly assumed rather than attested. We take the firststep to tackle this issue by examining the gender typicality of specific metaphorical source domains. In the presentpaper, we conducted three rating experiments (Ntotal = 1,060 English-speaking participants) to determine thegenderedness of 50 keywords associated with five frequently used source domains (BUILDING, COMPETITION, JOURNEY,PLANT, and WAR). We found that keywords associated with three source domains (BUILDING, COMPETITION, and WAR) wereviewed as more masculine, while keywords associated with the source domains of JOURNEY and PLANT were viewedas more feminine. These data offer empirical verification for gendered perceptions of keywords associated withsome frequently used source domains. The result also provides the first evidence that metaphors could encodegender stereotypes by selection of source domains.
Link to publication in De Gruyter Mouton
