Metaphorical representation of the WOMAN concept in the male worldview (based on Russian aphorisms of the 19th-21st centuries)

The research aims to identify the characteristics of the metaphorical representation of the WOMAN concept in the male worldview (as exemplified by Russian aphorisms of the 19th-21st centuries). The paper examines conceptual metaphors used to represent the WOMAN concept in the male worldview. Conceptual metaphors for representing the WOMAN concept are models that the authors have differentiated according to various target domain: “a woman as a trap”, “a woman as a detail of the landscape”, “a woman as a work of art”, “a woman as a goddess” and so on. The identified source domains include the sphere of artifacts and inanimate nature, the sphere of social relationships and roles, the sphere of professional activities, the local-spatial sphere, the sphere of nature. The study is novel in that it is the first to determine the metaphorical characteristics of the WOMAN concept representation in the male cognitive consciousness using aphorisms as research material. As a result, the research found that the male linguistic worldview, which is understood in the paper as a set of male perceptions presented as unified universal social norms and life models, has an androcentric character. The researchers identified metaphors that use the spheres of social relationships, artifacts and inanimate nature, and the sphere of religion as source domains. It was proved that concepts of power (TYRANT, QUEEN, TSARINA) or subordination (SLAVE); concepts from the sphere of inanimate objects; sacred concepts (ANGEL, GODDESS, PRIESTESS) correlate with the WOMAN concept.