26.5203, Diss: Turkish, Cog Sci: Melike Baş: 'Conceptualization of Emotion Through Body Part Idioms in Turkish: A Cognitive Linguistic Study'

Fri Nov 20 14:25:11 UTC 2015

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-5203. Fri Nov 20 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.5203, Diss: Turkish, Cog Sci: Melike Baş: 'Conceptualization of Emotion Through Body Part Idioms in Turkish: A Cognitive Linguistic Study'

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry, Sara Couture)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
              http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Ashley Parker <ashley at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 09:24:56
From: Melike Baş [melikebas07 at gmail.com]
Subject: Conceptualization of Emotion Through Body Part Idioms in Turkish: A Cognitive Linguistic Study

Institution: Hacettepe University 
Program: Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2015 

Author: Melike Baş

Dissertation Title: Conceptualization of Emotion Through Body Part Idioms in
Turkish: A Cognitive Linguistic Study 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science

Subject Language(s): Turkish (tur)

Dissertation Director(s):
Nalan Büyükkantarcıoğlu

Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation seeks to illuminate the embodied cognition of Turkish speakers via the idiomatic language they use to communicate their emotions. More specifically, it addresses three problems: (1) distribution of the body part terms used in idioms to express emotions; (2) categorization and distribution of emotion concepts in relation to the body part idioms; (3) conceptual metaphors and metonymies underlying the body part idioms that express an emotion type. 

The study utilizes 488 idioms that contain body part words (e.g. heart, eye etc.) that are obtained from several dictionaries of idioms. It first identifies and categorizes the emotion types expressed in these idioms, and second reveals the conceptual metaphors and metonymies underlying these idioms. In determining the emotion types expressed in the idioms, the emotion categorization model of Ortony, Clore and Collins (1989) is based on, however, the model is restructured for Turkish in respect to the features of the study. An interrater analysis is conducted to test the emotion types of the idioms determined by the researcher, and the accuracy of the emotion types are confirmed. Conceptual Metaphor Theory, developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1989) and Kövecses (2000a, 2005), is employed to analyse the data and to determine the conceptual mappings.

Data consists of 28 emotion concepts and 19 distinct body parts expressing a higher variety of emotion types. The quantitative distribution of the body parts in the idioms and the emotion types they express are presented in tables and figures. The conceptual metaphors and metonymies are analyzed under five emotion categories with the highest frequencies (i.e. sadness, distress, anger, liking/love, fear). 

The study demonstrates that particular body parts are productive source domains in Turkish for the conceptualization of particular emotion concepts, and they constitute a complex cognitive-cultural conceptualization model for Turkish. Although conceptual metaphors and metonymies are grounded in bodily experience and show universal tendencies at the generic level, their linguistic manifestations reveal important roles of cultural influences. The study is significant in that it unveils how emotion is culturally conceptualized and embodied in Turkish due to its association with the concrete body parts, and demonstrates the role it plays in the construction of cognitive schemas both socially and individually.

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-26-5203	
----------------------------------------------------------