Conceptual representations of the human body as a container for emotional responses in Dholuo

Abstract

This paper examined containment metaphors in the target domains of happiness, sadness and anger in Dholuo. It further sought to examine the conceptual metaphors that can be derived from the general source domain of containment and to explain the vital relations that are manifested in the containment conceptual metaphors. One hundred metaphorical expressions describing the emotions of happiness, sadness and anger were collected from the conversations of ten native speakers of Dholuo. A total of fourteen conceptual metaphors were derived from three basic emotions of happiness, sadness and anger. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study found out that emotion is a notion that is interconnected with language. Moreover, feelings influence reasoning and thought processes thereby explaining our comprehension of the world and its reality. The study further found out that conceptual metaphor is a crucial principal that the mind employs to comprehend an abstract entity such as emotion. Keywords: conceptual metaphors, containment, emotions, metaphorical expressions, reality