Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Were you asked to draw a picture of your homeland, would you depict it as a feminine figure (mother, woman, girl or goddess), a masculine figure (father, warrior, man or ancestors), or something else (iconic geographical landmarks, historical memories, cultural rituals, monuments, native plants, birds, animals, symbols, etc.)?
Most probably, your depiction would be determined by how you perceive your homeland: motherland, fatherland, birthland, land of ancestors, or simply ‘homeland’.
More specifically, think about the traditional gendered metaphors ‘motherland’ vs. ‘fatherland’.
What comes to your mind? Are there universal regularities or patterns in employing such gendered metaphors? And how do cognitive linguistics explain that?
Conceptual metaphors
In their iconic book Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson argue that metaphors are not used to decorate linguistic styles; rather, they are cognitive constructs that map abstract things (termed target domains) onto concrete ones (termed source domains), and are central to our thought, experience and worldview.
Conceptual metaphors are core, underlying, unconscious concepts or ideas; they generate multiple linguistic metaphors or figurative expressions on that very core concepts.
For example, the expressions “he defends his claim’’, “he demolished the opponent’s argument” and “he won the argument” are linguistic metaphors of an underlying conceptual metaphor which is “Argument is War”.
“Time is Money” is another deeply-rooted conceptual metaphor; it embodies the utmost importance of time, and surfaces in many grammatical metaphors we use daily such as ‘ save time’, waste time, and ‘run out of time.’
Mother/Father metaphors: Metaphorical genders
Across cultures, ‘mother’ signifies extreme and contradicting perceptions ranging from the originator, an intensifier, the container, the caregiver, the early and best teacher, comfort, compassion, grace, family, honour, dignity, respect and growth, to vulnerability, fragility, disrespect, disregard, cursing and mocking; mother-related insults, across cultures, communicate the most abusive levels of cussing and disrespect.
Studies point out “mother of..” co-occurs with comprehensiveness, magnitudes, or places.
Saddam Hussein’s iconic phrase ‘the mother of all battles’ has triggered using similar phrases on a large scale in politics, media, pop culture and everyday speech, including ‘’mother of all storms”, “mother of all parties”, “mother of all deals”; the phrase becomes a catchphrase that semantically expands beyond the maternal associations to serve as a hyperbolic metaphor as well.
‘Father’, on the other hand, symbolises linage, initiation, protection, bravery, power, discipline, expertise and tyranny.
“Father of..”, studies demonstrate, habitually co-occurs with disciplines, inventions, or people (e.g. father of modern chemistry).
Personification of homeland
In cognitive linguistics, ‘fatherland’ and ‘motherland’ are not just stylistic ornaments; they are deeply-embedded conceptual metaphors to envisage nations/ states.
They map the concept of nation onto the impressive concept of family, and hence conceptually frame social roles, cultural stereotypes, rooted ideologies, and social expectations.
They also colour cultural morals and sentiments about origin, authority, magnitude, and belonging.
Hence, states are parents, and peoples are children. Nations are traditionally male-constructed entities. Women politicians and women influential figures across history are an extreme rarity; they are framed as teachers, while male politicians are framed as worriers.
Therefore, why are some nations named ‘motherlands’? Sometimes, that paradox can be attributed to the grammatical gender of a state’s name.
Feminine names of states mandate the use of ‘motherland’ to refer to a nation and vice versa.
Latin is a case in point. In Arabic, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan have masculine names, while Egypt, Misr, is not.
Egypt is portrayed as a mother feeding us, and a home to our ancestors and children, hopes and expectations, memories and aspirations.
In the Holy Qura’an, the Earth is assigned a female gender; it is our motherland, the home of God’s creatures, with their evil and good predispositions, and the theatre on which human barbarism and nobility unfold.
The paternal metaphor “fatherland” predates “motherland”, yet it is on the decline.
“Motherland” and “fatherland”, sometimes used simultaneously or interchangeably, mirror cultural, political, ideological preferences.
Such gendered metaphors are definitely mobilised in political and religious discourse during wartime and crises to ignite strong patriotic sentiments, inflame audience and easily sway the crowds’ minds.
Motherland, fatherland and other things
The majority (about 70 per cent) of peoples term their birthplace as “motherland” including the Russians, speakers of Romance languages, Phillipines, Mongolia, India, Japan and Great Britain.
Most Western European, Slavic and Baltic nations framed are ‘fatherlands’, largely motivated by ingrained paternal feudalism that frames the state as a protective, authoritative “father”.
“Fatherland” might also be inspired by Christianity’s creed of the Almighty Father. In Australia, “homeland “and with other indigenous symbols are used to frame the nation.
The same is true in Latin America and Africa: a blend of colonial and indigenous names.
The gender-neutral ‘’Homeland’’ is also widely used in the US. “Ancestral land” is the metaphor used to refer to New Zealand, Japan, and indigenous lands everywhere, accentuating the meanings of sacred land, ancestry, or divine attachment.
Gender-neutral naming
There is a growing tendency to eliminate the fatherland/motherland gendered metaphors, opting for the genderless ‘’homeland’’ or the direct use of the state’s name: Kenya, Britain, Canada, etc. ‘’Homeland’’ represents origin, unconditional love, peace, freedom, and rights.
The fluidity of gender naming and framing, and the thorny nature of gender affairs have steered debates on keeping or changing such gendered metaphors.
Feminist writers and activists have been lobbying for eliminating gender imbalance by targeting gendered titles and metaphors. Gendered expressions such as “Home of great sons”, and “in all thy sons command” in the national anthems of Austria and Canada have been replaced, respectively, by the gender-neutral ones “great sons and daughters” and “in all of us command” to boost, lobbyists argue, social inclusion and eliminate sexist language.
In Germany, an attempt to substitute ‘’fatherland’’ for ‘’homeland’’, and “brotherly’ for “courageously’’ in the national anthem has sparked strong opposition.
However, many nations follow suit. Sexist anthems are on the decline.
Finally, no matter how people personify their nations linguistically, or depict them visually, homelands always linger in hearts and minds.
The power of the birthplaces is exceptionally immense, and impact us beyond words. God Save our Homelands!
Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban, Professor of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Kafr el-sheikh University
Email: [email protected]
