Parasites, Herbivores and Dried Fish: Dehumanising Metaphorical Blends in Japanese

Abstract

In the context of a vast body of research on the role and function of conceptual metaphor in linguistic representation of non-dominant or non-normative social groups, the present paper deals with metaphorical blending found in a number of expressions used to describe deliberately single people forming part of the Japanese society. Expressions such as parasaito shinguru ("parasite singles"), sōshoku-kei danshi ("herbivorous men"), and himono onna ("dried-fish women") are used as labels designating particular groups of people who do not conform to conventional societal roles because of, for example, failing to marry and establish a family in, what is considered, due time. The Japanese language often reflects very conservative, conformist, and ritual-abiding attitudes and mindsets of its speakers and hence, is rife with derogatory expressions which serve to denigrate non-conforming elements of a society. The expressions analysed here are culturally-determined and mirror, at least partially, the mindsets and opinions of some of the Japanese speakers. The present paper is maintained within the methodological framework of cognitive semantics. We conduct a conceptual blending analysis of selected metaphorical expressions found in the Japanese discourse. We find a strong trend towards employing conceptual blends based on dehumanising, often animalising, metaphors in order to linguistically denigrate groups non-conforming to expected societal norms.

The dehumanizing metaphors in the culture of Acehnese in Indonesia

“…To some degree, the findings also corroborate previous research findings on the dehumanizing metaphors (e.g., Barasa & Opande, 2017;Musolff, 2015;O'Brien, 2009;Prażmo, & Augustyn, 2020;Usman, 2017). All the abstract concepts used to describe the concretely perceivable concepts in metaphors are usually are close to the people's existence and surroundings.…”

“…On the contrary, in the Kenyan context, Barasa and Opande (2017) found that people used animals as the concepts to describe women in Bukusu and Gusii proverbs. A similar thing also happened in Japan context (Prażmo, & Augustyn, 2020), where people who do not conform to conventional societal roles are labeled with animals.…”

“…Several studies on the dehumanizing metaphorical language in many parts of the world have been carried out (e.g., Barasa & Opande, 2017;Musolff, 2015;O'Brien, 2009;Prażmo, & Augustyn, 2020;Usman, 2017). Musolff (2015), for instance, analyzed the dehumanizing metaphors used in British debates on immigrants.…”

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The Spread of Chinese Virus in the Internet Discourse: A Cognitive Semantic Analysis

“…This derogatory and stigmatising power of language has been extensively studied by, among others, metaphor scholars. Conceptual metaphor in general, and dehumanising metaphors in particular serve the purpose of denigrating and ostracising certain groups of people or individuals (Musolff, 2007(Musolff, , 2015Prażmo & Augustyn, 2020). Linguists are thus, indubitably, well aware of the potential deleterious effect that naming of the virus in an ethnically-loaded way may create.…”