Analysis of body and sensory perception: conceptual metaphors in English and Shona

Abstract

English and Shona are two typologically unrelated languages and represent very different cultures. According to Kovecses (2002:165) it is possible for such different languages and cultures to conceptualize specific concepts in similar ways. Kovecses (2002:165) suggests that there is some universal motivation for the metaphors to emerge in these cultures. Kovecses (2002:165) claims that the near-universality of such metaphors is motivated by universal aspects of the human body. It has also been observed that cultural differences may arise because of differences in environments or ecologies. Such cultural differences give rise to differences in conceptual construals ofreality and hence also in the conceptual metaphors of different languages (ibid). I am now going to apply the hypothesis that claims that humans experience their environment through their bodies and hence also construe the world in terms of their bodily experiences.