http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui The DSpace digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. 2026-03-05T11:54:28Z http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/6589 The Polysemy Of The Gĩkũyũ Nouns That Denote Celestial Bodies Gachũgĩ, Florence G. This paper examines from a Cognitive Linguistic approach the polysemy of the GĩKũYũ nouns from the semantic field of celestial bodies namely: mweri “moon”, njata “star” and riua “sun”.These nouns have multiple meanings among them the literal and extended meanings. From the data analysis it was observed that the literal meanings of these nouns are extended to have related meanings which are found in the semantic fields of animals, human beings and seasons. Metaphor and metonymy are the two mechanisms that motivate formation of polysemous meanings from these nouns. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/6588 The Polysemy of the Gikũyũ Body Part Terms Kĩongo ‘Head’ and Gũtũ ‘Ear’: a Cognitive Linguistic Approach Gachũgĩ, Florence G.; Sikuku, Justine; Kiliku, Patrick Polysemy is defined as a phenomenon where a single linguistic unit has several yet related meanings (Evans and Green 2006). Using the Cognitive Linguistics Approach, this paper analyses the polysemy of two Gikũyũ body part terms namely kĩongo ‘head’ and gũtũ ‘ear’ .Cognitive Linguistics interprets the meanings of polysemous words based on their cognition as the identification of polysemy involves the conceptualization of everyday life. The body part terms are often used to talk about other things than body parts and show a great variety of meanings. This paper also shows that these body part terms have enormous potential for semantic extensions into other semantic domains. These semantic extensions have a clear motivation through either metaphor or metonymy which are central to Cognitive Linguistics 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/6587 Systematic Polysemy in Gĩkũyũ Gachũgĩ, Florence G. Polysemy is a phenomenon whereby words have multiple distinct yet related senses. These senses are related in a systematic way and form systematic patterns. This paper explores the different systematic patterns of polysemy exhibited by Gĩkũyũ nouns, where these nouns have sets of senses that are related in similar ways. These senses cut across different semantic fields such as plants, animal, people, body parts, and objects, types of food and beverages, events. Some of the senses invoke metaphoric relations. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/6586 Conceptual Metaphors and Perception Verbs in GĩKũYũ Gachũgĩ, Florence G. This paper examines the polysemy that exists in the semantic field of perception verbs in Gĩkũyũ which is a Bantu Language of the Niger – Congo group spoken in Kenya. These verbs do not only convey the meanings that are related to the physical perception of each sense modality but they are extended to express varieties of meanings in other semantic fields. The paper also examines the link between the concrete and the abstract meanings within perception verbs in GĩKũYũ through conceptual metaphor. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z