Metaphorical Conceptualization and Translation of Gender Terminology in Human Rights Discourse: A Corpus-Based Socio-cognitive Study

Abstract

This study investigates the metaphorical conceptualization and translation of gender-related terminology in contemporary human rights discourse from a socio-cognitive perspective. While gender terminology has been widely discussed within feminist linguistics and terminology studies, limited research has explored how metaphorical models structure these terms cognitively and how such models influence their translation across languages. Drawing on cognitive linguistics, particularly Idealized Cognitive Models (ICMs) and frame semantics, the article examines how key gender concepts, such as gender equality, empowerment, and discrimination are metaphorically framed in English human rights texts. Using a corpus-based approach, the study analyzes collocational patterns and contextual realizations of selected gender terms in a reference corpus of international human rights reports. The findings demonstrate that gender terminology is not semantically neutral; rather, it is structured through dominant metaphorical mappings (e.g., gender equality as balance, discrimination as barrier, empowerment as force). These cognitive structures shape not only conceptual understanding but also translation strategies. A comparative analysis of English-Uzbek translation cases reveals that metaphorical frames are frequently reconfigured due to linguistic, cultural, and ideological factors. The study argues that translation of gender terminology requires frame-sensitive interpretation rather than formal equivalence. By integrating corpus linguistics, cognitive semantics, and socio-cognitive terminology theory, this research contributes to applied linguistics and translation studies, offering a model for analyzing contested social terminology in multilingual contexts.