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Article published In: Beyond Corpus Data — Complementary and Alternative Methods in Cognitive Linguistics
Edited by Anton Granvik, Veera Hatakka, Olli O. Silvennoinen, Riku Erkkilä and Eveliina Mäntylä
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 23:2] 2025
► pp. 510–543

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Regular article

The semantics of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face’

For a new perspective in the cross-linguistic study of body-part terms

 | Xiamen University | Fujian Polytechnic Normal University
 | Xiamen University
Published online: 19 February 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00173.men
Abstract
This study examines the figurative conceptualization of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face.’ Based primarily on the “lexical approach,” the study shows how the meaning of “face” extends metaphorically and metonymically to such abstract concepts as time, emotions, and the intellect. Most of the face-related words in Amharic are also found in other languages, though cross-linguistic differences also exist. In the comparative study of body-part terms, a new approach is proposed, the “encompassing approach,” which claims that the contrastive study of body-part terms cannot be confined to a single term. Rather, it needs to consider the potential association between individual parts and specific cognitive processes. Once these processes are considered, the cross-linguistic variations between related body-part terms become marginal. We conclude that the (near)-universal status of body parts cannot be measured by examining the explicit use of a given part only.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Why does our “face” mean the same thing in all cultures?
  • 3.Method: Data source and analysis
  • 4.Metonymies and metaphors for fit ‘face’
    • 4.1Face as the most distinctive part of a person
    • 4.2Spatiotemporal extension of fit
    • 4.3Temporal extensions of fit
    • 4.4Face as a window to a person’s inner state
    • 4.5Fit as the locus of focus, attention
  • 5.Discussion: What does the concept of fit ‘face’ have to tell us about the body as a universal source domain in human conceptual system?
    • 5.1The new perspective: “encompassing approach” in body-part terms contrastive analysis
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • List of interlinear glosses abbreviations
  • References
  • Dictionaries
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