Żresz jak świnia! Jedz jak człowiek! – czyli o niektórych stereotypach językowych dotyczących jedzenia

Abstract

Eating (consumption) is a life activity characteristic of both humans and animals. Therefore, it determines a certain common area combining two different perspectives of interdisciplinary research, which are respectively referred to as food studies and animal studies. The article focuses on the discussion of the most common linguistic stereotypes related to eating. On the basis of the analysis of the most frequently used Polish phraseologisms, including verbs ‘eat’ and ‘gobble’, an attempt will be made to detect the basic connotative components of their meaning, and at the same time, to reconstruct the emerging linguistic image of food stemming from them. In the course of the analysis of the investigated language sample, the author uses selected research procedures formulated in the area of culture semantics (elements of cognitive definition, notational metaphor, animalisation).