Olaf Scholz der "neue Merkel". Metaphorical Uses of Personal Names and the Role of Gender

Presentation by Mirjam Schmuck.

Abstract

As purely referential linguistic units, prototypical names are semantically empty. However, when used in metaphors, names regain semantics based on salient properties of the name bearer. Angela Merkel, for example, is known for her perseverance, a quality also attributed to Olaf Scholz. The name bearer must therefore be familiar to the public for the metaphor to make sense and, what is more, abstractions from semantic properties closely linked to the name bearer (e.g., professional domain) proceed only gradually. Strikingly, even in highly conventionalized metaphors, natural gender remains an obstacle for metaphorical uses, particularly with male names used for women. Based on corpus data (German Reference Corpus, COW-Corpus), it is argued that the impact of gender is twofold: First, a male gender bias of names used in metaphors can be observed – both as a target and as a source for metaphorical comparison. Second, also highly conventionalized metaphors (Mozart, Napoleon) are used almost exclusively for men.

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