Conceptualizations of head in Dholuo

Abstract

The role of the body in human perception of the surroundings has been continually investigated in the recent past. It has been influenced by the embodiment hypothesis which holds that the human body provides the very first experience that humans have about their environments. This article brings evidence from Dholuo that the head is conceptualized in various ways like metonymic head for hair, head for person, head for character traits, unit of measurement. Metaphorically, the head is extended to mean reason, emotion, container, tool, memory, among others. These findings show that the head is highly polysemous in Dholuo.

Keywords

• head
• body
• conceptualization
• embodiment
• metaphor
• metonymy