Taboo metaphtonymy, gender, and impoliteness: how male and female Arab cartoonists think and draw

Abstract

The debate about whether the sexes communicate and behave differently continues. The stereotype that women are not funny or that their language or behavior is more “ladylike” is very widespread and has been current for decades, if not centuries. Gender differences in politeness and humor were also frequently reported by early anthropologists, sociolinguists, and cognitivists, but many modern linguists are far from convinced by such findings. Examining multimodal communication, a development phase within many fields, may help us find evidence to support or undermine a sociocognitive hypothesis such as women are more polite or are naturally less funny than men. Using a corpus of political cartoons, this study identifies whether there are gender differences in the use of taboo language and humor, putting special emphasis on impolite metaphor and metonymy. The results of this research show no differences between male and female cartoonists in the use of taboo or impolite metaphors and metonymies. Rather, individual variations are reported. This analysis, then, offers a new window on an age-old question about how men and women think, communicate, and behave.

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