North and South Perspectives: A Metaphorical Approach to the Role of Women in the Energy Sector.

Abstract

The present paper looks at the close relation which exists today between the role of women and the energy sector. The metaphorical rendering of this relation, as seen in advertising discourse, will be analyzed from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics. In this analysis, North and South differences will be also considered. For the purpose of clarity, two advertisements taken from The Economist and Newsweek, two leading magazines in the business sector, will be used in the analysis as examples of the South and North perspectives. This study of the advertising discourse will be mostly based on Forceville’s theory of pictorial metaphor, mainly centered on the non-verbal component, and the work by Kövecses claiming that the choice of the source domain in metaphors is usually conditioned by cultural connotations.