Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs: a cross-linguistic study
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ukitu zuen
john. ERG mary. ABS touch AUX ‘John touched Mary’ (34) Juan tocó a María john touched to mary ‘John touched Mary’ In both languages, the only possible interpretation of (33) and (34) is the physical reading. In these sentences, it is understood that John physically touched Mary. In no way can they have the metaphorical ambiguity that exists in English. This is not to say that it is impossible to express the metaphorical ‘to affect’ reading in these two languages with tactile verbs. See, for instance examples (35) in Basque and (36) in Spanish. 151 It is important to bear in mind that this universality is restricted to those languages that share a common cultural background. English, Basque and Spanish – although linguistically different languages – share the same Western culture. It would be necessary to study this semantic field of sense perception in other languages free from this Western cultural background in order to prove or disprove the universal character of these mappings. B. Iraide Ibarretxe Antuñano Chapter 2: The Semantic Field of Sense Perception 202 (35) Edertasunak ukitu du azkenean Iñakiren bihotz gogorra beauty. ERG touch AUX end. INE iñaki. GEN heart strong. ABS ‘In the end, beauty changed Iñaki’s hard feelings’ (36) Juan le tocó el corazón a María john 3 SG . DAT touched the heart to mary ‘John touched Mary’s heart’ In Basque as well as in Spanish the mapping between the physical domain of touch and that of ‘to affect’ is allowed as well; but in order to reach this meaning it is necessary to add a complement to the verb that denotes feelings. The direct object in (35) and (36), the heart, is understood not as a physical object; under the cognitive approach, heart is a metaphorical realisation of the image schema of a container, where HEART IS A CONTAINER FOR FEELINGS (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). In fact, as Moliner (1983) points out, in Spanish the verb tocar needs expressions such as el corazón ‘the heart’, el amor propio ‘one’s own pride’, la dignidad ‘dignity’ in order to imply this interpretation. In Basque, there is another possibility. Instead of using the verb ukitu, the meaning ‘to affect (metaphorically)’ can be expressed by the verb hunkitu, as in (37). (37) Jonek Miren hunkitu zuen jon. ERG mary. ABS touch AUX ‘John touched Mary’ In Basque, the verbs ukitu and hunkitu are etymologically related (see Michelena 1990 [1985], and Chapter 3). In general, however, ukitu is more widely used for the physical contact and hunkitu is usually restricted to the abstract interpretation. Nevertheless, both verbs can also be used in the other way, provided that an adjunct or argument specifies that a hand is being used for the touching, as in (38), or that the subject is non-physical, as in (39). B. Iraide Ibarretxe Antuñano Chapter 2: The Semantic Field of Sense Perception 203 (38) Eskuaz hunkitu diot hand. INSTR touch AUX Download 1.39 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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