Inner and outer body parts
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Tomokazu Nagai
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to consider the relationship between the outer and inner body as sources of motivation for metonymy and metaphor. We base our discussion on examples of Japanese expressions that use outer and inner areas of the body centered around the abdominal region: hara ‘belly’ and koshi ‘lower back’, respectively. Figurative expressions with koshi, which are linked to a human possessor, are strongly related to motion or attitude, while the ones with hara are related to mental or spiritual states or activities. Moreover, there is a tendency for the two words to differ in the way that their core meanings are tropically extended: koshi-related expressions are mainly extended metonymically, whereas hara-related expressions are extended metaphorically. However, this tendency of motivation by metonymy and metaphor does not hold when koshi and hara are figuratively used with non-human referents in the external world.
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to consider the relationship between the outer and inner body as sources of motivation for metonymy and metaphor. We base our discussion on examples of Japanese expressions that use outer and inner areas of the body centered around the abdominal region: hara ‘belly’ and koshi ‘lower back’, respectively. Figurative expressions with koshi, which are linked to a human possessor, are strongly related to motion or attitude, while the ones with hara are related to mental or spiritual states or activities. Moreover, there is a tendency for the two words to differ in the way that their core meanings are tropically extended: koshi-related expressions are mainly extended metonymically, whereas hara-related expressions are extended metaphorically. However, this tendency of motivation by metonymy and metaphor does not hold when koshi and hara are figuratively used with non-human referents in the external world.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Introduction 1
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Part 1. European perspectives
- The relevance of embodiment to lexical and collocational meaning 23
- Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions of emotion 41
- Contrasting body parts 71
- head and eye in German and Indonesian figurative uses 93
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Part 2. East Asian perspectives
- Speech organs and linguistic activity/function in Chinese 117
- Inner and outer body parts 149
- A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions 171
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Part 3. Middle Eastern and North African perspectives
- Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian 197
- Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic 213
- The apocalypse happens when the feet take the position of the head 241
- Index 257
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. European perspectives
- The relevance of embodiment to lexical and collocational meaning 23
- Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions of emotion 41
- Contrasting body parts 71
- head and eye in German and Indonesian figurative uses 93
-
Part 2. East Asian perspectives
- Speech organs and linguistic activity/function in Chinese 117
- Inner and outer body parts 149
- A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions 171
-
Part 3. Middle Eastern and North African perspectives
- Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian 197
- Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic 213
- The apocalypse happens when the feet take the position of the head 241
- Index 257
