![Sample our Language & Literature journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5941/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Language-Literature.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This study explores how sexual orgasm is conceptualized in 27 languages and proposes an ideal cognitive model for sexual desire. Specifically, the study has identified that the conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies, and related concepts manifested in the terms and announcements for orgasm can be categorized into orgasm as a physiological response, orgasm as a psychological state, and orgasm as an ideal goal. We also observed that languages tend to conceptualize orgasm as a physiological response in the terms for orgasm; whereas more languages are inclined to conceptualize orgasm as an ideal goal in the announcements for orgasm. Depending on whether the focus is on the physiological, psychological, and ideal aspects during sex, native speakers of their various languages may conceptualize orgasm with the conceptual metaphors ORGASM IS A PEAK, ORGASM IS FIRE, ORGASM IS DEATH, ORGASM IS A DESTINATION, and ORGASM IS THE RELEASE OF FORCE/SUBSTANCE IN A CONTAINER; conceptual metonymies (i.e., EXCITEMENT FOR ORGASM, SWELLING FOR ORGASM, and HEAT FOR ORGASM); and related concepts (i.e., (FEELING OF) SATISFACTION and (FEELING OF) PLEASURE). In proposing the ideal cognitive model for sexual desire, the study also suggests that sexual desire is an emotion closely related to love and happiness. The intertwining relationship between the three emotions implies that the experience and satisfaction of sexual desire may be important for maintaining the physiological and psychological wellbeing of an individual as well as the development of healthy and loving sexual/romantic relationships.
Acknowledgments
This research would not be possible without the participation of the interviewees. We thank them and our research team, the Wellbeing Lab at National Taiwan University (NTU), for their support and assistance during the data collection period. We appreciate the helpful comments and feedback given by the participants at the 17th Annual Conference of the Pragmatics Society of Japan (PSJ 2014), at which an earlier version of this article was presented. We are also immensely grateful for the editor’s insightful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the article. The views expressed and any remaining errors are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Notes
1 The native speakers approached in the study is approximately around the number of 55. However, due to the nature of the topic being a more sensitive one, some participants were unwilling to continue with the interview after the subject and the goal of the study had been further introduced in the instruction. As a result, only 41 native speakers went through the entire interview and gave us consent for using the content of the interview in the current study for academic purposes.
2 The two native speakers of two aboriginal languages in Taiwan (i.e., Atayal and Seediq) are comparatively older. Due to the decaying status of these languages, the younger generation nowadays no longer speaks these languages as their first language. Thus, the Atayal interviewee is 55 years old and the Seediq interviewee is 61 years old.
3 Holo is also known as Tai-yu, Taiwanese, Taiwanese Min, and Taiwanese Hokkien. It is a variant of a group of Southern Min dialects. According to the statistics announced by the Executive Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2015, Holo is spoken by approximately 70% of the people in Taiwan.
4 Based on the statistics published in Ethnologue (Paul, Simons, & Fennig, Citation2015).
5 In order for the data to be further analyzed and discussed in the study, all linguistic expressions were translated into English with the help of the interviewees. The basic meanings and further contextual meanings of the expressions were also confirmed by native speakers and/or dictionaries.
8 In the current study, the native Atayal and Seediq speakers were unable to come up with an expression for the term “orgasm” in their mother tongue. Considering the decaying status of these languages, it is very likely that the traditional way to refer to this concept is lost among the younger generation. As a result, it should not be assumed that these language do not have an equivalent term for “orgasm.”