Teses / dissertações sobre o tema "Tshivenda language – Culture and metaphor"

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the cognitive, conceptual, linguistic, communicative and cultural nature of metaphors in Tshivenḓa in spoken discourse within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory extended to the framework of metaphor research on language, mind and culture, developed especially in the works of Kövecses (1999, 2000a,b, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011a,b). This study on metaphor in Tshivenḓa assumes an intuitive method in that the analyst identified metaphor usage in Tshivenḓa introspectively, while a more data-driven methodology is also assumed through the systematic identification of metaphors within a pre-determined set of lexical-semantic items and the conceptual mappings of selected metaphors from previous metaphor research. The study systematically identifies metaphors in spoken communication in Tshivenḓa by considering the occurrence of the following types of nouns as source and/or target: (i) natural objects and phenomena, (ii) human beings, (iii) animals, (iv) body shape and colour, (v) body parts, (vi) medicine, (vii) diseases, (viii) food-related nouns, (ix) artifacts and possessions, (x) emotions, (xi) character traits and virtues, (xii) religious terms. The study gives evidence of the striking nature of metaphors as cultural products or constructs in the interpretations evoked by the source domain nouns and the cross-domain mappings posited for the source and target, thereby providing compelling evidence that metaphor research needs to take into account the cognitive, linguistic, communicative and cultural nature of metaphor usage.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie doen ‘n ondersoek van die kognitiewe, konseptuele, linguistiese, kommunikatiewe en kulturele aard van metafore in gesproke kommunikasie in Tsivenḓa binne die breë raamwerk van konseptuele metafoorteorie soos uitgebrei na die raamwerk van metafoornavorsing oor taal, denke en kultuur, soos veral ontwikkel in die werk van Kövecses (1999, 2000a,b, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007 en 2011a,b). Die studie aanvaar ‘n intuïtiewe ondersoekmetode in die sin dat die navorser metafoorgebruik in Tshivenḓa introspektief geïdentifiseer het, terwyl ‘n meer data-gedrewe metodologie terselfdertyd ook aanvaar is deur die sistematiese identifisering van metafore binne ‘n voorafbepaalde stel leksikaal-semantiese items asook deur die konseptuele karterings van geselekteerde metafore vanuit vorige metafoornavorsing. Die studie identifiseer op sistematiese wyse in Tshivenḓa gesproke kommunikasie die volgende semantiese tipes naamwoorde as bron of teiken in die metafoor: (i) natuurlike objekte en verskynsels, (ii) mense, (iii) diere, (iv) liggaamsvorme en kleur, (v) liggaamsdele, (vi) medisyne, (vii) siektes, (viii) voedsel-naamwoorde, (ix) artifakte en besittings, (x) emosies, (xi) karakter kenmerke en attribute, en (xii) religieuse terme. Die studie bied evidensie aan die treffende aard van metafore as kulturele produkte of konstrukte in die interpretasies opgeroep deur die bron-domein naamwoorde en die kruis-domein karterings gepostuleer vir die bron en die teiken, en bied daardeur oortuigende bewyse dat metafoornavorsing die kognitiewe, linguistiese, kommunikatiewe en kulturele aard van metafoorgebruik in aanmerking moet neem.

Thesis (M.A.(African language))--University of Limpopo, 2011
The aim of this study was to investigate the problems encountered by translators when translating medical terms from English into Tshivenda. It has been revealed in this study that the major problem that the translators are confronted with is lack of terminology in the specialized field such as Health. This problem is caused by the fact that different languages entail a variety of culture. The study revealed that most translators and lexicographers resort to transliteration and borrowing when confronted with zero-equivalence. They regard transliteration and borrowing as the quickest possible strategies. The study discovered that transliteration should not be opted as an alternative strategy to deal with zero-equivalence as users will be led to a state of confusion. The study revealed that communicative translation is regarded as the most fruitful method of translation as it conveys the exact message of the original in a best possible manner. Both the source and the target users get the same message.

Thesis (M.A. (African languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2011
The aim of this study was to investigate the problems encountered by translators when translating medical terms from English into Tshivenda. It has been revealed in this study that the major problem that the translators are confronted with is lack of terminology in the specialized field such as Health. This problem is caused by the fact that different languages entail a variety of culture. The study revealed that most translators and lexicographers resort to transliteration and borrowing when confronted with zero-equivalence. They regard transliteration and borrowing as the quickest possible strategies. The study discovered that transliteration should not be opted as an alternative strategy to deal with zero-equivalence as users will be led to a state of confusion. The study revealed that communicative translation is regarded as the most fruitful method of translation as it conveys the exact message of the original in a best possible manner. Both the source and the target users get the same message. KEY CONCEPTS Translation, Culture, Source Language (SL), Target Language (TL), Translation equivalence and Zero-equivalence.

The main goal of this study is to identify conceptual metaphors in two genetically distinct languages, namely Iranian Persian and British English, analyze their domains and attempt to detect possible cultural impacts on their construction. Although there are a good number of studies on the relationship between metaphor and culture in some languages, there appears to be a limited number of comparative studies on different languages with culturally distinct contexts and their metaphors. In an attempt to investigate the cultural imprints on metaphor, this thesis has a special focus on metaphors applied in two Persian and English short stories. ‘Roast Goose’ by M.A. Jamalzadeh and ‘The Luncheon’ by W.S. Maugham are two well-known near contemporary short stories, which are subject to our study. The two emotions of anxiety and greed, as the most dominant subjects of metaphorical expressions in these stories, are identified following MIP (Metaphor Identification Procedure) and the concepts involved in the construction of their underlying conceptual metaphors will be analyzed based on Kövecses’s (2010a) method. The thesis presents a conceptual approach within a cognitive linguistic perspective to pinpoint metaphors and the stories behind them in these two literal texts.

Thesis (DLitt)--Stellenbosch University, 2005
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A survey of the research on the Biblical Hebrew psalms of lamentation reveals a lack of attention paid to the divine images found in these poems. Previous studies, for the most part, focused on literary and stylistic aspects pertaining to the Psalms in general and the psalms of lamentation in particular. The competent reader will, however, notice that divine metaphors abound in these psalms. This study investigates the divine metaphors (nominal and verbal) in the Biblical Hebrew psalms of lamentation from a cognitive anthropological perspective. It is argued that the literary information in these poems is a cognitive representation of the psalmist's world. The various divine portrayals arise from the poet's cognitive organisation and utilisation of cultural information. The analysis of the metaphorical expressions affords the exegete insight into the cognitive world of the supplicant and the strategies employed by the one who offers praise and does not eschew lament. Some of the theoretical assumptions of cognitive anthropology are applied to a selection of psalms of lamentation (Pss. 7, 17, 31, 35, 44, 59, 74 and 80) as a means of illustrating how this approach can shed new light on the way the deity is depicted in the laments. To achieve this, each psalm is analysed both from a cognitive and literary perspective. The examination of the divine metaphors reveals the various cognitive strategies employed to portray Yahweh. It is shown that these recurring images result from the application of cultural models, conceptual metaphors and image-schemas. Given the soundness of the proposed hypothesis, this investigation arrives at the conclusion that a cognitive perspective on the divine representations in the Biblical Hebrew psalms of lamentation is indeed a worthy endeavour.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: "n Oorsig van die navorsing oor die klaagpsalms wys uit dat daar tot dusver nie baie aandag geskenk is aan die beelde wat in dié psalms gebruik word om na God te verwys nie. Vorige studies fokus meestalop die literêre en stilistiese aspekte van die psalms, in die algemeen, en die klaagpsalms in die besonder. 'n Kompetente leser sal egter gou die oorvloed van metafore vir God raaksien. Hierdie studie ondersoek die metafore vir God (nominaal en verbaal) in die klaagpsalms vanuit 'n kognitief antropologiese perspektief. Daar word geargumenteer dat die literêre informasie in hierdie gedigte 'n kognitiewe voorstelling van die psalmis se lewenswêreld daarstel. Die verskeie Godsvoorstellings spruit uit die digter se kognitiewe aanwending en organisasie van kulturele informasie. 'n Analise van die metaforiese uitdrukkings verskaf aan die eksegeet insig in die kognitiewe wêreld van die bidder en die strategieë wat die een gebruik wat God se lof besing, sonder om klag uit te sluit. Van die insigte van die kognitiewe antropologie word toegepas op 'n seleksie van klaagpsalms (Ps. 7,17,31,35,44,59,74,80) en daar word voorgehou hoe hierdie benadering nuwe perspektiewe bied op die wyse waarop die godheid voorgestel word in die klaagpsalms. Vir die doel word elke Psalm literêr en kognitief ontleed. Die ondersoek na die metafore met betrekking tot God lê die verskeie kognitiewe strategieë bloot wat gebruik word om Jahwe voor te stel. Daar word aangetoon dat hierdie terugkerende beelde die gevolg is van die toepassing van kulturele modelle, konsepsuele metafore en beeldskemas. Gegewe die oortuigingskrag van die voorgestelde hipotese, konkludeer die ondersoek dat 'n kognitief-antropologiese perspektief op die Godsvoorstellings in die klaagpsalms inderdaad 'n belangrike onderwerp van navorsing is.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
214 Leaves printed on single pages, preliminary pages i- xvi and numbered pages 1-191. Includes bibliography and illustrations.
Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. Digitized by Ivan Jacobs on request of Niel Hendrickz, 15 April 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This investigation is informed by the assumption that language, as representation and as image, is positioned in a metaphorical relationship to reality. Language, as a structure of representation, is the way in which we represent reality to ourselves and to others and recreate the past, as well as the way in which we invest our lives with meaning, significance and experience. Language includes visual and verbal representation, and this investigation shows how image and text create a variety of multiple meanings through playful and interactive reciprocation. Following from the assumption that language comprises temporal and spatial qualities, it is also the terrain that enables us to know and understand reality, ourselves, and others. This emphasizes the material nature of language, which is also connected with social and cultural practices and, as such, involves reciprocation and interaction between divergences. Language is therefore a mode of action that makes the bridging of divisions possible. Language is proposed as a medium through which the monolithic hegemony of the apartheid past may be confronted within a multicultural South Africa. The aim of representing this past in my work is not to recall it as it was or to discover etemal, inheritable qualities, but rather to bring about re-demption (healing) through re-presentation. Re-demption and re-presentation is a textual practice that involves a re-script of the past. With the understanding that history and culture are regarded as text, re-writing the past does not involve representation as mimesis, but as production. This investigation recognizes the role of the subconscious as the other or the alterity in all language constructs that makes it possible to circumvent the logic of binary oppositions; entertain alternatives simultaneously; erase boundaries; share spaces, and discover the other in the self. This unconscious language of the other, as a strange doubling and interplay between near and far, gives rise to poies/s. The creation of multi-dimensional spaces that draw the poetical and the everyday into an imaginative and directed conceptual interplay as well as provoke dialogue between differences and diversities, engenders a desire for the complexity of the other. The interplay and recurrent movement across divisions and between paradoxes create a new and changed interspace, characterized by difference, plurality, and contradiction. Intertextual spaces allow relationships between differences and exist precisely as a result of dialogicity between diversities. In this way it is possible to establish, by virtue of difference, a mutual, interdependent relationship with the other. Metaphorical language requires an allegorical reading that places divergences in relation to one another, thereby causing a mythic animation of signification that moves from one level to another. Mytho-poeisis, as an allegorical structure, is proposed as a model by means of which symbolic transformation and redemption of the personal and collective psyche may occur. Poetic re-imagining as re-presentation impels change and transformation and points to other possible forms of social and ethical experiences. This impulse, to reconcile the social and the aesthetic, or the cultural with symbolic form, is based on the principle of reconciliation between art and life.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek handhaaf die veronderstelling dat taal in 'n metaforiese verhouding tot die werklikheid staan as voorstelling en as beeld. Taal, as 'n struktuur van voorstelling, is die wyse waarop ons die werklikheid aan onsself en ander voorstel en die verlede herskep, asook die wyse waarop ons sin, betekenis en ervaring aan ons lewens verskaf. Taal sluit visuele en verbale voorstellings in en hierdie ondersoek toon op watter wyse beeld en teks in speelse en interaktiewe wisselwerking 'n verskeidenheid meersinnige betekenisse skep. Uitgaande van die veronderstelling dat taal temporele en ruimtelike kwaliteite betrek, is dit ook die terrein wat ons in staat stel om die werklikheid, onsself en ander te ken en verstaan. Dit beklemtoon die materiele aard van taal, wat ook met sosiale en kulturele praktyke verbind is en sodanig wisselwerking en interaksie tussen uiteenlopendhede betrek. Taal is dus 'n modus van doen, wat oorbrugging van skeidings moontlik maak. Taal word as 'n medium voorgestel waardeur die monolitiese hegemonie van die apartheidsverlede binne 'n multikulturele Suid-Afrika gekonfronteer word. Voorstelling van hierdie verlede in my werk is nie met die doel om dit te herroep soos dit was, of ewige, erfbare eienskappe te ontdek nie, maar eerder om herstel deur her-voorstelling te bewerkstellig. Her-stel en her-voorstelling is 'n tekstuele praktyk wat 'n re-skripsie van die verlede behels. Met begrip dat geskiedenis en kultuur as teks beskou word, behels die her-skryf van die verlede nie voorstelling as mimesis nie, maar as produksie. Hierdie ondersoek erken die rol van die onderbewussyn as die ander of die alteriteit (alterity) in alle taalvoorstellings wat dit moontlik maak om die logika van binere oposisies te omseil; alternatiewe gelyktydig in ag te neem; grense uit te wis, ruimtes te deel en die ander in die self te ontdek. Hierdie onbewuste taal van die ander, as 'n vreemde verdubbeling en spel tussen naby en ver, gee aanleiding tot poesis (poiesis). Die skep van multidimensionele ruimtes wat die poetiese en die alledaagse in 'n verbeeldingryke en gerigte konseptuele wisselspel betrek, asook dialoog tussen verskille en diversiteite bewerkstellig, skep 'n aandrang vir die kompleksiteit van die ander. Die interspel en ewigdurende beweging oor skeidings en tussen paradokse skep 'n nuwe en veranderde interruimte, wat gekenmerk word deur verskil, pluraliteit en kontradiksie. Intertekstuele ruimtes laat verskilsverhoudings toe en bestaan juis as gevolg van dialogisiteit tussen diversiteite. Op hierdie wyse is dit moontlik om op grond van verskil 'n wedersydse en interafhanklike verhouding met die ander aan te knoop. Metaforiese taalgebruik verg 'n allegoriese lees wat uiteenlopendhede in verhouding tot mekaar plaas sodat dit 'n mitiese animasie van betekening bewerkstellig wat vanaf een vlak na 'n ander vlak beweeg. Mito-poesis, as 'n allegoriese struktuur, word voorgestel as model waarvolgens simboliese transformasie en herstel van die persoonlike en kollektiewe psige kan geskied. Poetiese her-verbeelding as her-voorstelling motiveer verandering en transformasie en dui op ander moontlike vorms van sosiale en etiese ervarings. Hierdie impuls, om die sosiale en die estetiese, of om die kulturele met simboliese vorm te vereenselwig, berus op die beginsel van versoening tussen kuns en lewe.

Notre recherche porte sur l’analyse d’un processus spécifique d’apprentissage par le concept d’ingegno du philosophe napolitain Giambattista Vico : La pratique du débat de l’Ecole Gelugpa du bouddhisme tibétain. Dans une première partie, à travers une anthropologie de son geste et de son imaginaire, nous présentons le déploiement de l’ingegno et la dimension transdisciplinaire de cette pratique traditionnelle de formation. Dans une deuxième partie, nous utilisons l’outil AT9 pour faire une lecture herméneutique de l’imaginaire de moines tibétains pratiquant le débat. A travers les projections de soi que constituent les AT9 réalisés, nous cherchons les traces des projections des apprentissages et leur dimension transdisciplinaire. Nous concluons ou plutôt offrons aux praticiens transdisciplinaires, la mise en débat d’un outil transdisciplinaire transformateur des pratiques de formation telles que les nôtres se sont métamorphosées au long cours de notre apprentissage de chercheur
Our research focuses on the analysis of a specific process of learning: The concept of ingegno by the Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico: The practice of the debate of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism. In the first section, through an anthropology of its gesture and its imagination, we present the deployment of ingegno and transdisciplinary dimension of this traditional practice of education. In the second section, we use the tool AT9 to do a hermeneutic reading from the imagination of the Tibetan monks in the process of discussions. Through the projections themselves, that constitute the AT9 realized, we looked for traces of projections of learning and their transdisciplinary dimension. It is concluded, or rather offered to the transdisciplinary practitioners, the debate of a transforming tool of the transdisciplinary training practices, such as ours have been transformed during the course of our learning researcher

A small group experience is analyzed from a hermeneutic stance for members' use of metaphor in construction of the emergent group culture. Metaphor is described as a process rather than a product of language. As process, metaphor is primarily an invitation to others to co-create, within a particular context, the objectifications and typifications that will come to represent the shared experience. As an extension of this concept, metaphor is thought to assume and invite intimacy by eliciting exposure of cognitive constructions used in the formulations of a constructed reality. Second, metaphor is described as an integrative device capable of incorporating and illuminating, within a single utterance, multiple aspects of the situation, and of facilitating the group's progress through developmental stages. The discourse used in this study was produced by nine members and a consultant of a self-study experiential group as they struggled to understand the nature of their task, the multiple roles they took in production of the event, and their interdependent relationships as they constructed the social reality of the experience. Metaphor both described and became the group's dynamics as it integrated contextual elements and identified member's fears and fantasies, thereby contributing to the development of the collective. In the first metaphoric instance the tension created by cameras and film crew, anonymity and job security, were addressed through an analogy about film ratings. Further analogies of guns, firing squads, sitting ducks, shipwrecks and desert islands, a Greek chorus, and even God, were developed as violence, aggression, power and competition, safety and rescue, alternated as dominant themes in the discourse. In each case, metaphor filled an important role in the group's dynamics. A brothel became the metaphoric vehicle for expression of underlying sexual aggression, directly alluding to the difficulty experienced by both men and women in their attempts to validate and legitimize individual roles in the group. The mechanisms by which this analogy developed and the consequences for the group are discussed.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
語文與創作學系華語文教學碩士班
105
The concept of metaphor is not only rhetoric, but also reflects the thinking, values, life experience and other cultural characteristics of the ethnicity. While using metaphors, it’s hard for native speakers to be conscious of the concept, and it will confuse nonnative speakers. For example, “chicken” is one of the zodiac signs, and it has an auspicious meaning. However, “chicken” in some phrases implies a shallow, tiny and other negative semantics in Chinese idiomatic expressions, such as “a drowned rat”, “crowing like a cock and snatching like a dog”, “chicken feather, garlic skin” etc. Therefore, the animal metaphor has a systematic mapping concept, not just a single symbolic meaning, which also reveals the cultural concept and metaphorical culture in Chinese ethnicity. The aim of this research is to analyze the metaphorical categories and the principles in “Bird” metaphors, explore the cultural concepts and metaphorical culture, and provide animal cultural teaching suggestions from the perspective of teaching Chinese as a Second Language (CSL). The analysis corpus of this study is bird words/phrases within the metaphorical concept, which are selected from the Re-printed National Dictionary, edited by the Ministry of Education. In order to help foreign learners grasp the concept of word/phrase metaphors and increase their understanding and effectiveness of communication, the researcher investigated the concept of bird word/phrases in Chinese about their source and target domains, figured out the mapping relation between the two domains, induced the cultural concept and metaphorical culture and made the suggestions for teaching Chinese as a Second Language in animal metaphors. The results of this study showed that the bird words/phrases in Chinese contains the cultural concept and there are fixed systematical metaphor in mapping the space, behavior and sensory. It also revealed the concept of social structure and value of Chinese community. Therefore, from the teaching CSL point of view, the breakthrough point should consider the perspective of the source domain, starting from the basic cultural concepts of each ethnicity while teaching the concept of metaphor in Chinese words/phrases. Based on the notion of the target culture, the relationship between the metaphor and the culture can be found. By integrating cross-cultural comparisons, to assist nonnative speakers to understand and develop the concept of words/phrases metaphor and conceptual culture in Chinese.

Expressed Silence: A Study of the Metaphorics of Word in Selected Nineteenth-Century American Texts This dissertation explores the patterned use of certain “metaphors of word”——images of reading, writing, listening, and speaking——in four American texts: Emerson’s Nature, Thoreau’s Walden, Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, and Melville’s Moby Dick. Assumed in my discussion is the modern view of metaphor as a cognitive device used, not for mere stylistic ornament, but for creating a certain mental perspective. Based on the perspectival view and on the experiential—gestalt account of metaphor, the structures of these metaphors of word are examined in order to discern the systematic nature of their argument and to determine the cultural and historical reasons why language imagery, and not some other type of imagery, was chosen to represent this argument. After surveying the cultural influences of democracy, mercantilism, Romanticism, and Calvinism, I characterize the metaphoric systems of each text and then move on to a closer study of the role of silence within these systems. From this analysis, I conclude that these nineteenth— century texts reflect a shift away from the book toward the voice as a predominant symbol, and away from writing toward speaking as a privileged metaphor. Language imagery works to represent ways of knowing, so that linguistic and epistemic concerns become inextricably intertwined. The process of using language operates as a metaphor for the process of gaining knowledge. In this metaphorics of word, silence emerges as a particularly striking metaphor in the way that it expresses the coalescence of being and knowing, the realization that we know what we know. In this scheme, metaphors of word structure ways of understanding, and the expressed silence metaphor highlights the way interior speech can function in the discernment of knowledge. Ultimately, I contend that the perspective provided by this nineteenth—century metaphorics of word forecasts the modern view of rhetoric as epistemic. By employing linguistic action as a figure for representing epistemic action, a metaphorics of word promotes an understanding of rhetoric’s primary purpose as the interrogation of truth.