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Published:
Jul 18, 2016DOI:
10.4314/ljh.v26i1.3Keywords:
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Main Article Content
The metonymic and metaphoric conceptualisations of the heart in Akan and English
Abstract
The paper examines the metaphorical and metonymic structure of the heart in Akan (a Kwa language in West Africa,) and English, within the framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), formulated by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). My aim is to explore the ways in which akoma, ‘the heart’, is used in Akan to express human experiences and also to compare the conceptualisations of the heart in Akan to those in English in order to establish whether the two languages manifest any cross-conceptual, cross-linguistic or cross-cultural differences. The data reveal that there are no striking differences between English and Akan with respect to the metaphoric and metonymic conceptualisations of the heart. The differences in the language-specific conceptualisations are attributed to the cultural models embedded in the two languages.
Keywords: heart, metaphor, metonymy, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, cultural models
