Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies: The ‘Head’ edited by Iwona Kraska-Szlenk adds to linguistic studies on embodied cognition and conceptualization while focusing on one body part term from a comparative perspective. The ‘head’ is investigated as a source domain for extending multiple concepts in various target domains accessed via metaphor or metonymy. The contributions in the volume provide comparative and case studies based on analyses of the first-hand data from languages representing all continents and diversified linguistic groups, including endangered languages of Africa, Australia and Americas. The book offers new reflections on the relationship between embodiment, cultural situatedness and universal tendencies of semantic change. The findings contribute to general research on metaphor, metonymy, and polysemy within a paradigm of cognitive linguistics.
Iwona Kraska-Szlenk, Ph.D. (1995), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is Head of the Department of African Languages and Cultures at the University of Warsaw. She has published books and articles on phonology-morphology interface, analogy, embodiment and language-culture connection. Contributors are: Abinet Sime, Judit Baranyiné Kóczy, John Bradley, Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho, Luca Ciucci, Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Alice Gaby, Aslı Göksel, Aysel Kapan, Iwona Kraska-Szlenk, Yongxian Luo, Filiz Mutlu, Helma Pasch, Kelsie Pattillo, Ali Yagız Sen, Aleksandra Wilkos, Izabela Will, Hilal Yıldırım-Gündoğdu.
AcknowledgementsNotes on Contributors Introduction: Embodied Lexicon and the ‘Head’Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
Part 1 Comparative Studies
1 ‘Head(s)’ in Portuguese: the Metaphor in European and Brazilian PortugueseAleksandra Wilkos and Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho
2 On the Lexeme ‘Head’ in ZamucoanLuca Ciucci
3 What the Grammaticalization of ‘Head’ Reveals about the Semantic Structure of a Language?Zygmunt Frajzyngier
4 ‘Head’ in Some Non-Bantu Languages of the Oriental Province of DR CongoHelma Pasch
5 “Head” as a Link of Embodiment in ChineseYongxian Luo
6 From Head to Toe: How Languages Extend the Head to Name Body PartsKelsie Pattillo
7 Metonymic Extensions of the Body Part ‘Head’ in Mental and Social DomainsIwona Kraska-Szlenk
Part 2 Case Studies
8 The Conceptualization of HEAD among the Hausa Based on Verbal and Nonverbal RepresentationIzabela Will
9 Semantics of Amharic ras ‘Head’Abinet Sime
10 ‘Head’ Idioms in Turkish: Contrasts and CorrelationsFiliz Mutlu, Aysel Kapan, Ali Yagiz Sen, Hilal Yıldırım-Gündoğdu and Aslı Göksel
11 ‘He Cracked His Head Feverishly’: Conceptualizations of HEAD and THINKING in HungarianJudit Baranyiné Kóczy
12 Semantic Extensions of tatini ‘Her Head’ and tati ‘His Head’ in Deni (Arawá)Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho
13 Wulaya ‘Head’ in YanyuwaAlice Gaby and John Bradley Index
All interested in embodied cognition and language-culture connection; anyone concerned with the human body and its parts as source domains in conceptualization.