figurative language In a universalist perspective

Abstract

The past few years have brought increasing interest in lexical universals. Much of this interest has been stimulated by Berlin and Kay's (1969) widely cited study of uniformities in color classification, and by Berlin's (1972Berlin's ( , 1976Berlin, Breedlove, andRaven 1973, 1974) proposals of general principles of classification and nomenclature in folk biology. Numerous studies of color and folk biology, and of other domains, document additional regularities (for extensive citation, see Witkowski and Brown 1978a). Among the latter, the domain of human body part terms has proved rich in cross-language regularities.Lexical universals described for the domain of human body parts have primarily involved nomenclatural uniformities. Studies by Brown (1976), Swanson and Witkowski (1977), and Andersen (19781, for example, all identify body parts (e.g., head, hand, foot, eye, ear) that are regularly labeled by simple lexemes, and other parts (e.g., fingernail, toenail, eyelid, earlobe) that are regularly labeled by complex lexemes. The latter studies and several others (e.g., Ellen 1977; Liston 1972; McClure 1975; Stark 1969) have also been concerned with patterns in the manner in which parts of the body are conceptually related t o one another. In addition, attention has been given t o the association between the general perception of space and shape and the naming of human body parts (e.g., Friedrich 1969aFriedrich , 1969b Stross 1976).The present paper focuses on the semantic content of figurative names for certain body parts. More specifically, it deals with cross-language regularities in the use of figurative language in body part labeling. Evidence is assembled showing that certain metaphors for body parts occur with high frequencies in languages of the world. Their rates of occurrence This paper assembles cross-language evidence documenting several high frequency, figurative labels for body parts: e.g., "child o f the eye," for pupil of the eye; "mother of the hand," for thumb; "mouse of the arm," for biceps. These figurative expressions occur in languages at frequencies that greatly exceed chance. In addition, their distribution is discontinuous across genetic and geographic language boundaries, indicating frequent independent invention. Repeated invention of similar figurative expressions is due to universal naming tendencies. These tendencies relate to underlying marking principles, intralanguage lexical constraints, physical worldlperceptual givens, and language context and use considerations. greatly exceed chance, and they are not continuous in their distribution across genetic and geographic language boundaries. Consequently, it can be inferred that they have been invented over and over again in human languages.Figurative language encompasses all areas of speech and behavior relating to the nonliteral, metaphorical, and rhetorical. Anthropologists in particular have recently been taking note of the pervasive role of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and the like in the daily lives of people and are beginn...

Procedimientos de creación léxica en las designaciones iberorrománicas del párpado (I)

“…Desde la perspectiva de análisis léxico-semántica, la organización onomasiológica de los mapas resulta idónea para estudiar las relaciones que se establecen entre los conceptos y sus designaciones y, al mismo tiempo, por tanto, también para entender los modos de conceptualización de realidades concretas y cotidianas. Por ello, con el fin de contribuir a la determinación y descripción de los procedimientos semánticos de creación léxica más comunes de los nombres de partes del cuerpo (Tagliavini 1949;Brown y Witkowski 1981), se analiza el conjunto de denominaciones que se recogen en los atlas lingüísticos iberorrománicos sobre el 'párpado'. Se ha elegido este concepto porque los mapas en los que se halla recogen un elevado grado de variación designativa (más de 60 formas léxicas distintas) y porque posee una representación importante en la geolingüística iberorromance, pues se halla en el cuestionario de la mayoría de atlas 3 de las variedades habladas en las Península Ibérica (ALDC -15; ALEA -V, 1200; ALEANR -VII, 948; ALeCMan -273; ALEICan -II, 480; ALCyL -1132 4 ; ALGa -V, 15; ALPI -585 y ALEPG -0440 5 ).…”

“…Mediante el estudio de las distintas formas de referirse al párpado que compilan los atlas iberorrománicos 6 se pretende contribuir, en la medida de lo posible, a mostrar el grado de variación léxica que se da en las designaciones de algunas partes del cuerpo; dar cuenta de la información que subyace a los datos léxicos de los atlas para el análisis de la creación léxico-semántica de las lenguas; ejemplificar el funcionamiento de la lengua, es decir, evidenciar los mecanismos más relevantes en el proceso de creación de significado (la metáfora y la metonimia); y, finalmente, aportar datos sobre la idea de que la creación de nombres de partes del cuerpo sigue un patrón de formación regular en las lenguas iberorrománicas, como se ha demostrado que sucede para otros conceptos ('pupila', 'genitales masculinos', 'músculos', 'dedos de la mano') en otras lenguas del mundo (Tagliavini 1949;Brown y Witkowski 1981;Veny 2000;Caprini y Ronzitti 2007;Julià 2009aJulià , 2009bJulià , 2010.…”

Body part categorisation in Punjabi

“…'person of the eye', 'angel of the eye'); alternatively the pupil is equated with a seed or similar object (e.g. 'kernel', 'acorn') (Brown and Witkowski, 1981). Marshallese, an Austronesian language, was the only example that Brown and Witkowski (1981) found in a sample of 118 languages which equates the pupil with a star.…”

“…'kernel', 'acorn') (Brown and Witkowski, 1981). Marshallese, an Austronesian language, was the only example that Brown and Witkowski (1981) found in a sample of 118 languages which equates the pupil with a star. To this sole example, we can add Punjabi, as well as Hindi and Urdu, as examples of languages which use the expression 'the star of the eye' to refer to the pupil.…”

Lexical Encoding Sequences and Language Change: Color Terminology Systems

“…Languages of the Mayan family, a branch of a large Mesoamerican phylum (Witkowski and Brown 1978b;Brown and Witkowski 1979;Witkowski and Harrison 1979a, b), are descended from a parent language spoken over 4,000 years ago (Kaufman 1976). These languages, with the exception of Huastec, differ from Polynesian languages and Miwok languages in that they are contiguously located (in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras).…”