The relation between metaphor and impoliteness in the context of interpersonal media gossip

Abstract

The present study aims at examining the possible relation between metaphor and impoliteness in the context of interpersonal media gossip. To this end, we collected data related to 20 celebrities (10 actors and 10 actresses) regarding 60 linguistic situations that occurred from August 2018 to April 2020. Words under examination were 51449. According to the findings of the study, human conceptualization based on source domains such as shit/ animal waste matter, useless things, cartoon/ fictional characters, useless money, dirty substance, imaginary/ metaphysical beings, mushroom, bread, weekdays, fat, and disease/blight were accompanied by impoliteness. These findings justify the role of impoliteness in confirming the direct relation between metaphor and impoliteness to the extent that human is considered as one of the above domains. Interpersonal media gossip prepares the grounds for the use of 345 metaphors along with impoliteness which has its roots in special features of this type of gossip. Among all source domains, concepts such as shit/ animal waste matter are of the highest frequencies. Among impoliteness strategies related to naming, one must point to the negative impoliteness sub-strategy. Language users attempt to hurt the positive face of people from themselves by using positive impoliteness.

Keywords

• metaphor
• impoliteness
• source domain
• interpersonal media gossip
• naming