LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 22:9 September 2022
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2022
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Tactile-Terms in Gujarati: A Cognitive Semantic Analysis

Jahanvi Shah and Ajay Sarvaiya

Abstract

Touch is one of the five basic human senses with which one perceives the physical world around oneself. The conceptualization of touch varies among different languages. This paper attempts to analyze the conceptualization of tactile terms in Gujarati. The primary focus is on the conceptualization of the tactile terms with reference to their prototypical usage, and also their non-prototypical usage, that is, their metaphorical extensions. For example, the word for ‘hot temperament’ or ‘cold temperament’ conveys short-tempered and calm attributes of personality, respectively. These extended meanings are based on the conceptual metaphors available in the language, where the source domain is a touch descriptive adjective while the target domains vary. The target domains are established based on the conceptual metaphors observed in the conversational use of the language. There hasn’t been much work done in this area, especially in Indian languages.

This paper is divided into three sections. The first section consists of an introduction. The second section deals with the analysis of data. In closing, the third section provides the conclusion.

Keywords: touch, tactile terms, cognitive semantics, conceptual metaphors, conceptual blending

Introduction

Touch is one of the five basic human senses, along with taste, smell, sound, and sight. Touch is important to the learning and existence of humankind since it is imperative to the survival of humans. One can gauge the harmfulness or harmlessness of an object by touching it. Tactile terms (or touch-terms) are words that describe this sensation of touch. However, there is no basic cover term for words of sensation of touch. For example, there are seven basic taste terms in Gujarati (Wakhale & Sarvaiya 2021: 2), but there is no specific number of ‘touch-terms.’

In this paper, six tactile terms have been discussed from a cognitive semantic perspective. Using the Cognitive Metaphor Theory and the Conceptual Blending Theory, this paper tries to analyze the selected tactile terms.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Jahanvi Shah
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara
jahxnvi@gmail.com

Ajay Sarvaiya
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara
ajay.sarvaiya-linguistics@msubaroda.ac.in
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.