Metaphor as a Mirror of Gender-based Ideology in an Algerian Context: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Gender-based ideologies seem to be firmly embedded in the way Algerian men and women are stereotyped through the process of metaphorisation which, in turn, tends to reinforce patriarchal traditional beliefs towards gender roles and identities. Hence, this paper sheds light on the most used metaphors manifesting in the spoken Algerian Dialectal Arabic variety in Tiaret city, West of Algeria. It seeks also to reveal the sociolinguistic implications associated with those metaphorical representations of men and women in the Algerian culture, and depict the real meanings that they denote in real life situations. To do this, the study employs a corpus-based analysis of a group of metaphors taken from the daily spoken discourse of people living in the speech community of Tiaret. The findings of qualitative analyses revealed that a good deal of metaphors tend to support gender ideologies and reinforce negative stereotypical representations concerning femininity, while they demonstrate positive connotations vis-à-vis masculinity.

کلیدواژه ها:

Metaphor ، Gender Ideologies ، Algerian Culture ، Stereotypes