The semantics and metaphorical extensions of temperature terms in Gurenɛ
Temperature phenomena are universal, and languages show diversity in the ways in which they express the experience of temperature linguistically (Sutrop 1998; Plank 2003; Koptjevskaja-Tamm & Rakhilina 2006; Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2011). I explore these phenomena in Gurenɛ, a Gur language of the Niger-Congo family, using both elicited and spontaneously occurring data, to discuss the semantics of temperature terms such as ma’ɛ ‘be cold’ and tulegɛ ‘be hot’. The speakers employ a range of linguistic terms to describe, evaluate and categorise temperature phenomena based on touching objects, personal-feeling and ambient experience. To a large extent, speakers’ use of these terms and evaluation of temperature is influenced by their experience of the tropical weather which categorises their social and cultural activities. The terms cut across three word classes: verbs, adjectives, and nouns, and are used to describe both tactile and non-tactile temperature. Of particular interest in the Gurenɛ data are the metaphorical extensions of concepts from the temperature domain to describe human emotions and social situations. A unique feature of these metaphorical expressions is that the use of the same temperature term to predicate a different part of the human body may bring about different semantic interpretations. Thus, when ma’ɛ ‘be cold’ is predicated of a person’s head it denotes absence of illness but when it is predicated of a person’s stomach it implies an illness.
References (36)
References
Adjei, Franscisca Adzo. 2012. Temperature system of Siyasɛ and Ewe. In Selected Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Bruce Connell & Nicholas Rolle (eds), 104-116. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. <[URL], document #2741 ![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ameka, Felix K. 2006. Ewe serial verb constructions in their grammatical context. In Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald & Robert M.W. Dixon (eds), 125-141. Oxford: OUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anyidoho, Akosua & Dakubu, Kropp M.E. 2008. Ghana: Indigenous languages, English, and an emerging national identity. In Language & National Identity in Africa, Andrew Simpson (ed.), 141-157. Oxford: OUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2004. A Morpho-Syntactic Study of the Gurene Verb. MPhil dissertation, University of Ghana.
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2005. Serial verb constructions in Gurenɛ: An overview. Legon. Journal of the Humanities 16: 55-71.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2008. Sequencing of verbal modifiers in Gurenε. International Journal of Language and Literature 1: 67-81.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2011. Verb Morphology: Phrase Structure in a Gur Language (Gurenɛ). Saarbrücken: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2012. Basic and extended uses of posture verbs in Gurene. CogniTextes: Online <[URL]> vol 7.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene. 2013. The Semantics and Grammar of Positional Verbs in Gurenɛ: A Typological Perspective. PhD dissertation, University of Manchester.
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene & Adjei, Adzo Francisca. 2008. The adjective class in Nafaanra. Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin 5: 16-26.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bendor-Samuel, John. 1971. Niger-Congo, Gur. In Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7: Linguistics in Sub-Saharan, Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.), 141-178. The Hague: Mouton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bendor-Samuel, John T. (ed.). 1989. The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of the Africa's Largest Language Family. New York NY: University Press of America.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berlin, Brent & Kay, Paul. 1969. Basic Colour Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. Berkeley CA: University of California.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bodomo, Adams. 1997. The Structure of Dagaare [Stanford Monographs in African Languages]. Stanford CA: CSLI.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dakubu, Kropp M.E. (ed). 1988. The Languages of Ghana. London and New York: Kegan Paul International.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dakubu, Kropp M.E. 1996. A Grammar of Gurune. Legon: Language Centre.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dakubu, Kropp M.E. 2009. Paelons Farefari (gurene): Language et culture de Bolgatanga (Ghana) et ses environs. Paris: L' Harmattan.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dakubu, Kropp M.E. 2000. The particle la in Gurene. Gur Papers/Cahiers Voltaïques 5: 59-65.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dakubu, Kropp M.E., Awinkene, Atintono S. & Nsoh, E. Avea (eds), 2007. Gurene-English Dictionary. Legon: Linguistics Department.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Firsching, Henrike. 2009. Temperature terms in African languages. Paper presented at WOCAL6 (6th World Congress of African Linguistics) at the University of Cologne, 17 August.
Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek (eds). 2000. African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2007. Guidelines for collecting linguistic expressions for temperature concepts: Version 1. <[URL]>
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2011. “It’s boiling hot!” On the structure of the linguistic temperature domain across languages. In Rahmen des Sprechens. Beitrӓge zur Valenztheorie, Varietӓtenlinguistik, Kognitiven und Historischen Semantik Tübingen, Sarah Dessì Schmid, Ulrich Detges, Paul Gévaudan, Wiltrud Mihatsch & Richard Waltereit (eds), 393–410. Tübingen: Narr.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria & Rakhilina, Ekaterina V. 2006. "Some like it hot": On the semantics of temperature adjectives in Russian and Swedish. STUF (Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 59(2): 253-269. Special issue The Lexicon: Typological and Contrastive Perspectives, Giannoula Giannoulopoulou & Torsten Leuschner (eds).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kövecses, Zoltan. 2010. Metaphor. Oxford: OUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lewis, Paul M. (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th edn. Dallas TX: SIL International. <[URL]>![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lorenzetti, Maria Ivana. 2009. ‘That girl is hot, her dress is so cool, and I’m just chilling out now’: Emergent metaphorical usages of temperature terms in English and Italian. In Corpus-Based Approaches to Figurative Language, John Barnden, Mark Lee, Jeanette Littlemore, Rosamund Moon, Gill Philip & Alan Wallington (eds), 103-113. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Naden, Tony. 1988. The Gur languages. In The Languages of Ghana, Kropp M.E. Dakubu (ed.), 12-49. London: Kegan Paul International.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nsoh, Avea Ephraim. 1997. Some Aspects of Gurune (Frafra) Nominal Structure. Ms, University of Ghana.
Nsoh, Avea Ephraim. 2002. Classifying the nominal in the Gurenɛ dialect of Farefare of Northern Ghana. Journal of Dagaare Studies 2:1-15.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nsoh, Avea Ephraim. 2010. Adjective types in Farefari. Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin 6: 113-131.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nsoh, Avea Ephraim. 2011. A Lexical-Functional Syntax of the Adjective in the Farefari Language. PhD dissertation, University of Ghana.
Plank, Frans. 2003. Temperature talk. Paper presented at the Workshop on Lexical Typology at the ALT conference in Cagliari, September.
Schaefer, Alan Paul. 2009. Narrative Storyline Marking in Safaliba: Determining the Meaning and Discourse Function of a Typologically-Suspect Pronoun set. PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Arlington.
Sutrop, Urmas. 1998. Basic temperature terms and subjective temperature scale. Lexicology 4: 60-64.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.