13.2110, Sum: "Face"/"Eye" Polysemy

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-13-2110. Fri Aug 16 2002. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 13.2110, Sum: "Face"/"Eye" Polysemy

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1)
Date:  Thu, 15 Aug 2002 13:07:44 -0400
From:  "george huttar" <george_huttar at sil.org>
Subject:  'face'/'eye' polysemy

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 15 Aug 2002 13:07:44 -0400
From:  "george huttar" <george_huttar at sil.org>
Subject:  'face'/'eye' polysemy

     On 26 July I asked in what languages the occurrence of a single

     lexeme for 'face' and 'eye' is found, in addition to those already

     mentioned in the literature Sango, Tarascan, 30 or so Mayan languages, Ijo

     and Berbice Dutch Creole).  First, my thanks to the following respondents:


     Paul Boersma (Dutch)
     Mike Cahill (Konni)
     Rod Casali (Nawuri...)
     Stefan Dienst (Bambara)
     Robert Early (Austronesian, Eastern Oceanic, Lewo)

     Johanna Laakso (Estonian, Finnish)
     Richard Laurent (Greek)
     Mark A. Mandel (Greek)
     Wiltrud Mihatsch (Cahuilla, Ojibway, Quechua, Warao, Upper Sorbian, Basque
     Hans Schmidt (Rotuman)
     Uwe Seibert (Chadic)
     Pete Unseth (Gimira [3D Bench}, Majang)
     Bart van der Veer (Dutch)


     Second, the replies show that the polysemy in question is quite

     widespread (though nothing was reported for most of Asia), with the

     use of the same lexeme for 'face' and 'eye' reported for the following


     languages:


     Homeric Greek


     Eastern Oceanic (reconstructed) and (all? many?) descendants--e.g.,

     Lewo of Vanuatu, Rotoman/Rotuman of Fiji); but separate forms are

     reconstructed for Austronesian


     Africa:


          Konni (Gur, Ghana) -- 'face' 3D 'eyes' (pl.)


          Gimira (Omotic, Ethiopia)


          Majang (Surmic, Ethiopia, contiguous to preceding language)


          Chadic languages


          Bambara (Mande, Mali & other countries)


     North America:


          Cahuilla (Uto-Aztecan, USA)


          Ojibwa(y)(Algonquian, Canada)


     South America


          Quechua/Quichua, Ecaudor Highland (Quechuan)


          Warao (isolate, Guyana)


     Third, several replies mentioned derivational or compounding

     relationships between 'face' and 'eye', or relationships between

     'face' and 'sight':


          Estonian nE4gu 'face' - cf. nE4ge- 'to see'


          Finnish "metonymic use of "silmE4t" ('eyes' [pl.]) denoting

          'face', at least in some special contexts as in "pestE4 silmE4n
sE4"

          'to wash one's eyes 3D face'."


          Dutch gezicht 'face', 'sight (power of seeing)', 'sight

          (something seen)'


          Nawuri (Kwa, Ghana; possibly other Guang languages such as

          Chumburu) "the word for face is a compound of the plural for

          'eyes' with a postposition meaning at, literally 'at the eyes'."


          Upper Sorbian (Slavic, Germany) and Basque (France & Spain)

          'face' 3D 'between the eyes'




     Finally, special thanks to Wiltrud Mihatsch who pointed out the

     following article:  BROWN, C. H./WITKOWSKI, S. R. (1985): Polysemy,

     lexical change and cultural importance, _Man_ 18, 72-89, and further

     wrote:


          Besides FACE/EYE polysemies, there are many compounds with EYE,

          MOUTH, NOSE etc. that mean FACE, or polysemies with other parts

          of the face all over the world.


          ...the observations I send you are from a research project that

          collects and analyses sources of body part lexemes in a large

          sample of languages (for further information:

          http://www.sfb441.uni-tuebingen.de/b6/index-engl.html)


     The site mentioned has connections to a number of interesting

     abstracts and other items on the semantics of body-part terms in many

     languages.


     George Huttar
     george_huttar at sil.org


     Box 24686
     00502 Karen
     Nairobi
     KENYA

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