GENDER-NEUTRAL EUPHEMISMS IN ENGLISH- LANGUAGE MEDIA DISCOURSE: COGNITIVE- DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article examines gender-neutral euphemisms in contemporary English-language media discourse from the perspective of cognitive-discursive analysis. The aim of the study is to identify cognitive mechanisms and discursive functions of euphemisms. The research material includes publications from British and American media containing such nominations as Mx, singular they, womxn, Latinx, pregnant people, menstruators, non-gestational parent, DSD athlete, and others. The analysis identifies three groups of gender-neu- tral euphemisms: euphemisms aimed at eliminating the binary gender opposition in the naming of persons and social roles; euphemisms that make it possible to discuss physiological and reproductive processes without linking them exclusively to women; euphemisms of institutional and scientific discourse. The study shows that euphemization is realized through such mechanisms as reframing, recategorization, generalization, metonymic transfer, refocusing, conceptual decomposition, terminologization, and terminological derivation. It is argued that gender-neutral euphemisms perform inclusive-pragmatic, cognitive-conceptual, ideological-marking, institutional-legitimizing, and neutralizing-standardizing functions.