SEX-FOR-GENDER metonymy?
A consideration of three expressions from Akan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v10i2.19393Keywords:
gender, sex, metonymy, social constructionismAbstract
Social constructionists consider gender as socially constructed, fluid and context-specific. An individual can thus behave in ways considered as either masculine or feminine in various contexts, irrespective of their sex. However, speakers of Akan (in Ghana) sometimes talk about people who behave in ways considered as contradictory to sociocultural expectations about gendered behaviour for ‘their sex’ as metonymically having two sexes. In this paper, I discuss three Akan metonymic expressions that exemplify this: Kojo besia (Monday-born male who is also female), ?baa barima (woman-man) and ?baa akok?nini (female-rooster). I argue that such expressions derive from a conceptual metonymy ‘SEX-FOR-GENDER’, and discuss how the analysis of such expressions contributes to theoretical perspectives on gender and language and to our understanding of metonymy. Although the understanding and interpretation of these metonymies appear quite essentialist, I argue that it may also be read as lending some support to the argument by some social constructionists that sex, like gender, is a social construction.
References
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Kövecses, Z. (2006) Language, Mind and Culture: A Practical Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. and Radden, G. (1998) Metonymy: developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics 9(1): 37–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cogl.1998.9.1.37
Lakoff, G. and Turner, M. (1989) More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
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Lazar, M. M. (2005) Politicizing gender in discourse: feminist critical discourse analysis as political perspective and praxis. In M. M. Lazar (ed.) Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse 1–28. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230599901_1
Mills, S. (2008) Language and Sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755033
Milroy, L. (1980) Language and Social Networks. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Nilsen, A. P. (1996) Of ladybugs and billygoats: what animal species names tell about human perceptions of gender. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 11(4): 257–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms1104_2
Semino, E. and Koller, V. (2009) Metaphor, politics and gender: a case study from Italy. In K. Ahrens (ed.) Politics, Gender and Conceptual Metaphors 36–61. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230245235_3
Smith-Spark, L. (2006) Are rites of passage out of step? BBC News (2 July). Retrieved on 4 June 2016 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5132576.stm.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Parenthood discourses: the construction of fatherhood and motherhood in parentcraft literature. Discourse and Society 11(2): 249–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006
Sunderland, J. (2002) Baby entertainer, bumbling assistant and line manager: discourses of paternal identity in parentcraft texts. In J. Sunderland and L. Litosseliti (eds) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis 293–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.18sun
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Talbot, M. (1998) Language and Gender: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tannen, D. (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. London: Virago.
Wetherell, M., and Edley, N. (1999) Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Psychology 9(3): 335–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353599009003012
Baxter, J. (2003) Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230501263
Baxter, J. (2008) Is it all tough talking at the top? A post-structuralist analysis of the construction of gendered speaker identities of British business leaders within interview narratives. Gender and Language 2(2): 197–222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/genl.v2i2.197
Benwell, B. (2002) Is there anything new about these lads? The textual and visual construction of masculinity in men’s magazines. In L. Litosseliti and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis 149–77. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.09ben
Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books.
Bucholtz, M. (1999) Why be normal? Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls. Language in Society 28(2): 203–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047404599002043
Bucholtz, M. (2007) Variation in transcription. Discourse Studies 9(6): 784–808. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461445607082580
Burr, V. (2003) Social Constructionism (2nd edn). Hove: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (2006) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (2nd edn). New York: Routledge.
Cameron, D. (2005) Language, gender, and sexuality: current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics 26(4): 482–502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami027
Diabah, G. (2011) ‘My lioness wife’: constructions of gender identities in the discourse(s) of Ghanaian couples in the UK Diaspora. PhD thesis, Lancaster University, UK.
Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (2003) Gender and Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791147
Edley, N. (2001) Analysing masculinity: interpretive repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, and S. Yates (eds) Discourses as Data: A Guide for Analysis 189–228. London: Sage.
Edley, N. and Wetherell, M. (1995) Men in Perspective: Practice, Power and Identity. London: Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Evans, V. (2007) A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Evans, V. and Green, M. (2006) Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000) Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.
Gal, S. (1978) Peasant men can’t get wives: language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. Language in Society 7(1): 1–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500005303
Hagan, G. P. (2006) Gender: evolving roles and perceptions. In Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Proceedings 2004 Gender: Evolving Roles and Perceptions 47–62. Accra: Black Mask.
Hegstrom, J. L. and McCarl-Nielsen, J. (2002) Gender and metaphor: descriptions of familiar persons. Discourse Processes 33(3): 219–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15326950DP3303_2
Hines, C. (1999) Rebaking the pie: the WOMAN AS DESSERT metaphor. In M. Bucholtz, A. C. Liang and L. A. Sutton (eds) Reinventing Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse 145–62. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hiraga, M. (1991) Metaphors Japanese women live by. Working Papers on Language, Gender, and Sexism 1(1): 37–57.
Koller, V. (2002) ‘A shotgun wedding’: co-occurrence of war and marriage metaphors in mergers and acquisitions discourse. Metaphor and Symbol 17(3): 179–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327868MS1703_2
Koller, V. (2004a). Businesswomen and war metaphors: ‘possessive, jealous and pugnacious’? Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(1): 3–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00249.x
Koller, V. (2004b) Metaphor and Gender in Business Media Discourse: A Critical Cognitive Study. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230511286
Koller, V. (2008) CEOs and ‘working gals’: the textual representation and cognitive conceptualisation of businesswomen in different discourse communities. In K. Harrington, L. Litosseliti, H. Sauntson and J. Sunderland (eds) Gender and Language Research Methodology 211–26. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Koller, V. and Semino, E. (2009) Metaphor, politics and gender: a case study from Germany. In K. Ahrens (ed.) Politics, Gender and Conceptual Metaphors 9–35. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230245235_2
Kövecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2006) Language, Mind and Culture: A Practical Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. and Radden, G. (1998) Metonymy: developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics 9(1): 37–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cogl.1998.9.1.37
Lakoff, G. and Turner, M. (1989) More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
Lakoff, R. (1975) Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper & Row.
Lazar, M. M. (2005) Politicizing gender in discourse: feminist critical discourse analysis as political perspective and praxis. In M. M. Lazar (ed.) Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse 1–28. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230599901_1
Mills, S. (2008) Language and Sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511755033
Milroy, L. (1980) Language and Social Networks. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Nilsen, A. P. (1996) Of ladybugs and billygoats: what animal species names tell about human perceptions of gender. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 11(4): 257–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms1104_2
Semino, E. and Koller, V. (2009) Metaphor, politics and gender: a case study from Italy. In K. Ahrens (ed.) Politics, Gender and Conceptual Metaphors 36–61. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230245235_3
Smith-Spark, L. (2006) Are rites of passage out of step? BBC News (2 July). Retrieved on 4 June 2016 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5132576.stm.
Sunderland, J. (2000) Parenthood discourses: the construction of fatherhood and motherhood in parentcraft literature. Discourse and Society 11(2): 249–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011002006
Sunderland, J. (2002) Baby entertainer, bumbling assistant and line manager: discourses of paternal identity in parentcraft texts. In J. Sunderland and L. Litosseliti (eds) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis 293–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.18sun
Sunderland, J. (2004) Gendered Discourses. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230505582
Talbot, M. (1998) Language and Gender: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tannen, D. (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. London: Virago.
Wetherell, M., and Edley, N. (1999) Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Psychology 9(3): 335–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353599009003012
Published
2016-07-15
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Section
Articles
How to Cite
Diabah, G. (2016). SEX-FOR-GENDER metonymy? A consideration of three expressions from Akan. Gender and Language, 10(2), 170-190. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v10i2.19393
