Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Artist Statement
For English speaking members of the queer community in the United States, there is a group of animal terms used to categorize different “tribes” of community members. For example, the term bear generally refers to an individual who is large, hairy, and older. Samardžić (2015) proposes these animal terms as the conceptual metaphor: GAYS ARE ANIMALS. In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor refers to the understanding of an abstract concept in terms of a concrete source. In other words, the different “tribes” of queer community members are conceptually understood in terms of animals.
Departing from Samardžić (2015), the present author proposes that the conceptual metaphor, GAYS ARE ANIMALS, is a complex metaphor, meaning it consists of more than one type of metaphor. For example, while terms such as bear and otter primarily refer to one’s physical appearance, other terms such as pig and pup refer to one’s kinks and sexual desires. This would be a simple metaphor if all the animal terms described the same features (e.g. physical appearance). The author analyzes these animal metaphors within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2010) using data collected from online media sources.
Very little academic literature exists on the topic of animal metaphors in queer speech, and this project aims to shed light on the complexity of these metaphors. Animal metaphors encode a conceptual understanding of the human experience through the lens of the queer community. By analyzing these metaphors, this project not only contributes to the study of conceptual metaphors, but also contributes to the documentation and study of queer culture and language.
On the Complexity of Conceptual Animal Metaphors in Queer Speech
UC 327
For English speaking members of the queer community in the United States, there is a group of animal terms used to categorize different “tribes” of community members. For example, the term bear generally refers to an individual who is large, hairy, and older. Samardžić (2015) proposes these animal terms as the conceptual metaphor: GAYS ARE ANIMALS. In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor refers to the understanding of an abstract concept in terms of a concrete source. In other words, the different “tribes” of queer community members are conceptually understood in terms of animals.
Departing from Samardžić (2015), the present author proposes that the conceptual metaphor, GAYS ARE ANIMALS, is a complex metaphor, meaning it consists of more than one type of metaphor. For example, while terms such as bear and otter primarily refer to one’s physical appearance, other terms such as pig and pup refer to one’s kinks and sexual desires. This would be a simple metaphor if all the animal terms described the same features (e.g. physical appearance). The author analyzes these animal metaphors within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2010) using data collected from online media sources.
Very little academic literature exists on the topic of animal metaphors in queer speech, and this project aims to shed light on the complexity of these metaphors. Animal metaphors encode a conceptual understanding of the human experience through the lens of the queer community. By analyzing these metaphors, this project not only contributes to the study of conceptual metaphors, but also contributes to the documentation and study of queer culture and language.