The Subjugation of Women through Lexical Innovation in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/fem.2021.38.02

Palabras clave:

Morfología, Neologismo, Neosema, Roles de género, Subyugación

Resumen

Dada la importancia de las formaciones novedosas en la ciencia ficción y en la ficción especulativa, el objetivo de este trabajo es analizar una selección de neologismos morfosemánticos y semánticos que aparecen en la distopía feminista The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), centrando el interés en aquellos elementos más estrechamente relacionados con la vida de las mujeres. Estos elementos se recopilan, clasifican y analizan recurriendo a las herramientas proporcionadas por la Morfología, la Semántica léxica, la Onomástica y los Estudios de la Mujer. Por lo tanto, el artículo explora cómo los nuevos nombres para individuos (Econowives, Offred), actividades (Particicution), artefactos (Birthmobile) y lugares (the Colonies) desempeñan un papel en la tarea lingüística de la subyugación femenina. Se muestra cómo en una república ficticia donde los roles de género y el totalitarismo religioso se llevan al extremo, las formas y significados de las palabras se manipulan para favorecer las relaciones de poder y la desigualdad de género, imponer un estado de ánimo ortodoxo (acatar el sistema) y evitar verdades incómodas. Los neologismos aportan un aire de autenticidad a la narrativa y muestran cómo la lengua evoluciona para satisfacer variadas necesidades, no sólo pragmáticas, sino también sociales, ideológicas y eufemísticas.

Financiación

Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, ERDF Funds

Citas

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Publicado

13-07-2021

Cómo citar

López-Rúa, P. (2021). The Subjugation of Women through Lexical Innovation in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Feminismo/s, (38), 23–51. https://doi.org/10.14198/fem.2021.38.02

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Sección

Dosier monográfico