Influence of Social and Cultural Contexts on the Conceptualization of Emotion Metaphors in EkeGusii
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.63988/Résumé
Emotions constitute some of the most abstract dimensions of human experience, yet they are central to social interaction and cultural meaning-making. However, emotion metaphors are not universal; rather, they are shaped by specific social, cultural, and ecological contexts. This study examines how social and cultural factors influence the conceptualization of emotion metaphors in EkeGusii, a Bantu language classified under zone E42. Anchored in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), which views metaphor as fundamental to human cognition, the study explores how embodied experience interacts with culturally shared knowledge in shaping emotional meaning. An Interpretive Phenomenological Research (IPR) design was employed to capture participants’ lived experiences and interpretations of metaphorical emotional expression in everyday social interaction. The findings demonstrate that the conceptualization of emotion metaphors in EkeGusii is strongly shaped by social and cultural contexts, confirming that metaphor functions as a culturally preferred and socially regulated mode of emotional expression. Emotion metaphors vary systematically across communal settings, encoding culturally sanctioned meanings and moral expectations. In wedding contexts, love and happiness are conceptualized through agrarian and material metaphors emphasizing fidelity, sweetness, and relational commitment. Political discourse foregrounds metaphors of anger, fear, and power grounded in embodied experiences such as heat and pressure, enabling the expression of intense affect while maintaining social decorum. Metaphors associated with childbirth frame happiness as renewal and communal obligation, while burial contexts employ metaphors of return, humility, and loss to articulate collective grief and respect for the dead. Overall, emotion metaphors in EkeGusii operate as culturally embedded cognitive and communicative resources through which shared values, social norms, and collective lived experience are negotiated.
Références
Berrada, K. (2007). The conceptualization of emotions: A study of the Arabic emotion lexicon. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(3), 213–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480701435342
Eberhard, D. M., Simons, G. F., & Fennig, C. D. (Eds.). (2024). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (27th ed.). SIL International. https://www.ethnologue.com
Gibbs, R. W. (2006). Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge University Press.
Gibbs, R. W. (2009). Metaphor, meaning, and cognition. Cambridge University Press.
Githiora, C. (2002). Sheng: Peer language, Swahili dialect or emerging creole? Journal of African Cultural Studies, 15(2), 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369681022000042637
Kiambaa, E. (2018). A conceptual metaphor analysis of metaphors, metonymy and their interaction in the conceptual space: The case of Kikamba (Master’s thesis, University of Nairobi). http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/105363
Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and emotion: Language, culture, and body in human feeling. Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2003). Metaphor and emotion: Language, culture, and body in human feeling (Rev. ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2005). Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2020). Extended conceptual metaphor theory. Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. Basic Books.
Larkin, M., Smith, J. A., & Flowers, P. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 6(4), 321–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780880903340091
Mariera, J. (2021). Inter-ethnic relations and cultural exchange among Bantu communities of Kenya. East African Publishers.
Matsuki, K. (1995). Metaphors of anger in Japanese. In J. R. Taylor & R. E. MacLaury (Eds.), Language and the cognitive construal of the world (pp. 137–151). Mouton de Gruyter.
Nikolopoulou, K. (2022). What is interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA)? Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/interpretative-phenomenological-analysis.html
Ryding, K. C. (2014). Arabic: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2015). Discourse and knowledge: A sociocognitive approach. Cambridge University Press.
Yu, N. (1998). The contemporary theory of metaphor: A perspective from Chinese. John Benjamins.
Zhou, P., Critchley, H., Garfinkel, S., & Gao, Y. (2021). The conceptualization of emotions across cultures: A model based on interoceptive neuroscience. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 125, 314–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.023
Téléchargements
Publiée
Numéro
Rubrique
Licence
(c) Copyright Gillphine Onkware, Helga Schröder, Abigael Mbua 2026
Ce travail est disponible sous la licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International .
