Gender-Marked Metaphors: Influence of Grammatical Gender and Frequency on Referential Choice of Metaphorical Name of the Person in the Russian Language

The paper aims to discuss the results of the experimental research into the correlation between the influence of language (the gender of the noun) and speech (frequency of using words in speech) on the referential choice of a metaphorical name of a person. As a result, we prove a significant influence of grammatical gender on solving the problem of figurative reference to the name of a man or woman.The interaction between linguistic factors (the grammatical gender) and speech (frequency) is manifested in the fact that the frequency factor is significant in functionally weak areas where there is a conflict between the problem being solved and grammatical gender of the word (for example, the problem to determine the reference of feminine words to a male).