Sex in Language: Euphemistic and Dysphemistic Metaphors in Internet forums

by Eliecer Crespo-Fernández

Overview

Metaphor has long provided a rich way to speak about the unspeakable, to refer to delicate issues. Sex is one such area. This book follows a cognitive-linguistic and relevance-theoretic approach to the language of sex, considering metaphor as a bridge that brings together mind and language. It does this through the analysis of the antithetical mechanisms of verbal mitigation and offence. These two mechanisms are (more commonly know as) euphemism and (its lesser known companion term) dysphemism.

The volume reflects on the social and communicative functions that sexual metaphors perform in a sample of almost two hundred postings taken from internet forums. How do people think about sex? How do people avoid talking about sex? How do people paraphrase sexual topics? It offers an account of how real language users understand sexual taboo in present-day English and also a great grounding in manual corpus work on a qualitative level.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472596543
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	08/27/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	664 KB

About the Author

Eliecer Crespo-Fernandez is Lecturer at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Castile-La Mancha, Spain.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Keith Allan, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Monash University, Australia
Preface
Acknowledgements
Conventions in the Text
Introduction
Part I: Metaphor, Euphemism and Dysphemism
1. Euphemism and Dysphemism along Cognitive Lines
2. The Cognitive Dimension of Euphemism and Dysphemism
Part II: Sex-Related Metaphors in Internet Forums
3. Euphemistic Metaphors
4. Dysphemistic Metaphors
5. Conclusions and Final Remarks
Appendix I: Euphemistic Metaphors Classified by Source Domain
Appendix II: Dysphemistic Metaphors Classified by Source Domain
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Crespo-Fernández's book is an interesting contribution to the field of linguistic taboo and conceptual metaphor and has insightful reflections at the semantic, pragmatic and cultural levels. ... [His] analyses provide critical insights into heteronormative discourses present in metaphorical expressions. ... These results could contribute to understanding gender conflicts, which makes Sex in Language a recommendable read both inside and outside of the academic community.
ATLANTIS: Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies

I strongly believe that [Crespo-Fernández's] analysis of the 283 euphemistic and dysphemistic metaphorical items offers significant and valid results regarding the way sexual topics are conceptualized in English and American cultures. ... Sex in Language makes a useful contribution to current research in language, cognition and sexuality. It is well-structured, the author uses up-to-date literature and, as Keith Allan recognizes in the foreword, it is 'entertaining to read'. ... This book will be of interest to readers working in diverse areas of English linguistics.
Australian Journal of Linguistics

Sex in Language is an impressive volume ... The great number of examples and illustrations which the author provides makes the manuscript extremely attractive. ... Written in an accessible style, this is a book that allows the reader to get familiar with the theoretical background affecting metaphors, X-phemisms and cognitive linguistics in general, in which the author goes a step further than traditional lexical approaches applied to this type of study.
Folia Linguistica

From the Publisher