Metaphor in TshiVenda

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the cognitive, conceptual, linguistic, communicative and cultural nature of metaphors in Tshivenḓa in spoken discourse within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory extended to the framework of metaphor research on language, mind and culture, developed especially in the works of Kövecses (1999, 2000a,b, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011a,b). This study on metaphor in Tshivenḓa assumes an intuitive method in that the analyst identified metaphor usage in Tshivenḓa introspectively, while a more data-driven methodology is also assumed through the systematic identification of metaphors within a pre-determined set of lexical-semantic items and the conceptual mappings of selected metaphors from previous metaphor research. The study systematically identifies metaphors in spoken communication in Tshivenḓa by considering the occurrence of the following types of nouns as source and/or target: (i) natural objects and phenomena, (ii) human beings, (iii) animals, (iv) body shape and colour, (v) body parts, (vi) medicine, (vii) diseases, (viii) food-related nouns, (ix) artifacts and possessions, (x) emotions, (xi) character traits and virtues, (xii) religious terms. The study gives evidence of the striking nature of metaphors as cultural products or constructs in the interpretations evoked by the source domain nouns and the cross-domain mappings posited for the source and target, thereby providing compelling evidence that metaphor research needs to take into account the cognitive, linguistic, communicative and cultural nature of metaphor usage.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University