作者 ｜
魏美瑤(東吳大學英文系)
摘要 ｜
本文試圖將政治論述中性別的差異作一解析。主要是針對1996年台灣總統、副總統競選口號中隱喻的使用(metaphorical usage)，並藉由文化及社會情境分析，來探討不同隱喻使用之來源、功能及意義。本文分析引述George Lakoff (1980, 1996) 之論點，認為隱喻使用為一極普遍之語言現象，並非只有點綴修、飾語言的功能。 競選口號中的隱喻使用，一如日常生活中的隱喻使用，除了幫助我們認知週遭事物、尋出脈絡外，也幫助我們形容、框架(prescribe)和評估候選人。日常論述(discourse)，報刊報導和評論都會反映出此種種隱喻的情形。候選人當然可以利用媒體和文化論述中常見的隱喻，來提醒或加深選民對自己的印象，以利當選。但吊詭的是，常見的隱喻，尤其是與女性相關的使用如：母親、女兒、模範生、正義女神；強調的是女性服務、包容、服從或超高道德的標準。對於各方能力、經驗不亞於其他男性候選人的女性候選人而言，其他方面的特質和能力如：行政魄力、領導能力、或激勵忠誠極熱情的才能(charisma) 就相對的被忽略了。因此，與性別相關的刻板印象隱喻使用，就如一把兩刃的刀：一方面提醒、加深了選民對特定女性特質的印象，另一方面，也限制了女性候選人在政治舞台發展的空間。
關鍵字 ｜
性別、隱喻、競選文宣、社會語言學
Title ｜
Gender Differentiation in Political Discourse: a case study of the 1996 Taiwan Presidential and Vice-presidential Election.
Author ｜
Jennifer M. Wei(English Department Soochow University)
Abstract ｜
This research attempts to account for gender differentiation in political discourse. The metaphorical usage constructed during the 1996 Taiwan presidential and vice-presidential election campaign will be analyzed for its social and cultural content. Metaphors not only help people make sense of complex situations, but also describe, prescribe, and evaluate behavior. Evaluative connotations are inherent in all social interactions, and can be analyzed in documents, newspaper articles and commentaries. Such social interaction allows female candidates to meet the expectations of potential female and male voters regarding characteristic gender roles. However, other valuable characteristics of the candidates are often ignored or disregarded since many of the shared assumptions are unconsciously taken for granted by the public.
Metaphors of role are culturally significant; they both limit and prescribe criteria for interpreting behavior. Our expectations and interpretations of female politicians would be drastically different if we were to apply to them the metaphorical connotations encoded in hunter, warrior, and god, rather than mother, daughter and goddess. By revealing the conventional assumptions underlying the metaphorical entailments, we hope to increase the level of linguistic awareness of sexism in political discourse. The data on metaphorical usage employed for male and female presidential and vice-presidential candidates analyzed here was collected from the newspaper coverage and commentaries during the campaign period in Taiwan, from January to March 1996.
Keywords ｜
gender, metaphor, election rhetoric, sociolinguistics, sexism