Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations?
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Mercedes Montes de Oca Vega
Abstract
This paper offers a comparative analysis of two corpora of shared riddles from the sixteenth century and present day Nahuatl. Riddles are a form of speech play practiced in Nahua communities since pre-Hispanic times. Conceptualization behind riddles has been preserved, has changed and has also been lost. Analysis will expose the ways of perceiving and thinking in construing the clues of riddles from a cognitive approach based on Blending Theory together with concepts like profile, construal, mental spaces. Socio-cultural information plays a crucial part in establishing domains of knowledge in which meaning relations are established.
Abstract
This paper offers a comparative analysis of two corpora of shared riddles from the sixteenth century and present day Nahuatl. Riddles are a form of speech play practiced in Nahua communities since pre-Hispanic times. Conceptualization behind riddles has been preserved, has changed and has also been lost. Analysis will expose the ways of perceiving and thinking in construing the clues of riddles from a cognitive approach based on Blending Theory together with concepts like profile, construal, mental spaces. Socio-cultural information plays a crucial part in establishing domains of knowledge in which meaning relations are established.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Prologue 1
- Endangered metaphors 15
- “Our language is very literal” 21
- “My heart falls out” 77
- Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven 103
- Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? 123
- Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ashéninka Perené myths and folk stories 145
- The use of a conceptual metaphor in the Siroi language of Papua New Guinea 161
- Kewa figures of speech 185
- Metaphors in Dimasa and Rabha – A comparative study 205
- Numbers that Chumburung people count on 221
- The importance of unveiling conceptual metaphors in a minority language 253
- Antlers as a metaphor of pride 275
- Metaphors of the Finnish Roma in Finnish and Romani 293
- “Bhio’ tu dìreach ga ithe, bha e cho math = You would just eat it, it was so good” 315
- Metaphors of an endangered Low Saxon basis dialect – exemplified by idioms of STUPIDITY and DEATH 339
- Index of conceptual metaphors/metonymies 359
- Name index 361
- Subject index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Prologue 1
- Endangered metaphors 15
- “Our language is very literal” 21
- “My heart falls out” 77
- Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven 103
- Are Nahuatl riddles endangered conceptualizations? 123
- Bodily-based conceptual metaphors in Ashéninka Perené myths and folk stories 145
- The use of a conceptual metaphor in the Siroi language of Papua New Guinea 161
- Kewa figures of speech 185
- Metaphors in Dimasa and Rabha – A comparative study 205
- Numbers that Chumburung people count on 221
- The importance of unveiling conceptual metaphors in a minority language 253
- Antlers as a metaphor of pride 275
- Metaphors of the Finnish Roma in Finnish and Romani 293
- “Bhio’ tu dìreach ga ithe, bha e cho math = You would just eat it, it was so good” 315
- Metaphors of an endangered Low Saxon basis dialect – exemplified by idioms of STUPIDITY and DEATH 339
- Index of conceptual metaphors/metonymies 359
- Name index 361
- Subject index 365
