Metáforas do amor na fala de mulheres vítimas diretas de violência doméstica

Abstract

In this dissertation, we propose to analyze the metaphors of love in the speech of women who are direct victims of domestic violence, based on the discourses collected in Focus Group recordings, the material gathered from Carneiro's thesis (2014), and the interview published in Damacena's thesis (2021). The work falls within the scope of Cognitive Linguistics and uses concepts from the Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory to demonstrate, more clearly, the cognitive contents involved/activated in the context of the discourse. It is important to clarify that, currently, we can apply a heterogeneous and multifaceted perspective to domestic violence, according to which, statistically, the most affected are women. We seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How do women who are direct victims of domestic violence conceptualize their feelings and ideas about love? (2) What is the role of context in the production of metaphors? (3) How do metaphors of love, transgressed by a context of violence, reveal details of the conceptualization of a universal feeling? To answer these questions, this dissertation aims to analyze how concepts of love are created and understood through metaphorical mechanisms in the context of domestic violence. Specific objectives include: (i) identifying metaphors of love in victims' speech; (ii) analyzing, through a multilevel approach, the specificity of metaphor in victims' discourse; and (iii) demonstrating the role of the context of domestic violence in the creation of metaphors of love. This qualitative, descriptive-exploratory research allowed us not only to investigate the metaphorical phenomenon more specifically but also to understand that the specific mapping of the data does not begin with simple variables, but rather with everyday contexts that reflect how victims perceive, conceive, judge, conceptualize, and qualify the events they experience. In this approach, we draw on the studies of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Lakoff (1987), Kövecses (2000, 2005, 2020), among others. Regarding the research stages, the analysis is divided into three moments: (i) qualitative investigation of the categories adopted in the investigation (domains, frames, image schemas, and aspects of emotions) in the victims' discourse; (ii) deepening the meanings produced from this organization and the cognitive categories also activated from it, creating analytical frameworks for the concepts traditionally arranged, according to the lexical approach and the prototype of love; and (iii) identification of the metaphors of love underlying the expressions and the role of the context of domestic violence in their creation. In this sense, we also identify the aspects of emotion, demonstrating that context plays an important role in the creation of metaphors and that these, transgressed by the context of domestic violence, constitute the specificity of the victims' cognitive model of love. Regarding the corpus, using the data obtained at the end of the methodological procedures, based on the multilevel approach proposed by Kövecses (2020), it was possible to develop a qualitative analysis of the victims' statements regarding the identified metaphors. The data revealed that aspects of love, such as control, harm, and exchange/investment, were relevant in the identified metaphors, contributing to the understanding of how power dynamics and emotional and/or financial codependency manifest in these relationships. We thus found that in both unions and abusive relationships, victims may have a distorted perception of love, often confusing possessiveness and control with care and affection. This understanding can foster the development of further research focusing on the qualitative analysis of metaphors expressed in the accounts of direct victims of domestic violence regarding their ideas and emotions regarding the aggression they suffered. It can also raise awareness of the problem of domestic violence against women through in-depth studies on the consequences of victims' social interactions and their idealizations of feelings.