PEOPLE AS ZODIAC SIGNS – ASTROLOGICAL CODE OF A PERSON’S IDENTITY

PEOPLE AS ZODIAC SIGNS – ASTROLOGICAL CODE OF A PERSON’S IDENTITY

Author:  V.N. Golodnaya¹, А.V. Olyanich²

Affiliation:  ¹ Nevinnomyssk Institute of Economics, Management and Law, ² Volgograd State Agricultural University

Abstract:  The article deals with the conceptualization of identity as the central point of a person’s world. To understand themselves, people address, among others, astrological metaphors (which have not been researched as a means of identity conceptualization) as a way to explain the perceptions of themselves and their surroundings. In this paper, the authors intend to analyze the impact, which horoscopes as a media product, have upon us. The research is based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and is supported by speech samples taken from the corpora of the English language and popular Internet-sites. The authors hypothesize that zodiac images reflect the reality as we want it to be rather than as what it actually is. Studying astrological metaphors first as a cognitive and then as a linguistic phenomenon, the authors come to some conclusions about both positive and negative ways astrological images can influence people’s perceptions, attitudes, actions and behavior, which may be applied in the further research of metaphoric models in other subject areas.

Keywords:  astrological metaphor, metaphoric model, horoscope, identity, time and space conceptualization, stereotype.

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For citation:  Golodnaya, V. N., & Olyanich, А. V. (2018). People as zodiac signs – astrological code of a person’s identity. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 2, 121-125.

Pages:  121-125