| dc.contributor.author | Gachugi, Florence G. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Justine, Sikuku | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kiliku, Patrick | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-01-12T12:31:34Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-01-12T12:31:34Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-03-03 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2411-5681 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://www.ijern.com/journal/2018/March-2018/02.pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://repository.mut.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/6933 | |
| dc.description.abstract | 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. | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | International Journal of Education and Research | en_US |
| dc.subject | Polysemy, Cognitive linguistics, Body part terms, Semantic extension, Metaphor, Metonymy | en_US |
| dc.title | The Polysemy of the Gikũyũ Body Part Terms Kĩongo ‘Head’ and Gũtũ ‘Ear’: a Cognitive Linguistic Approach | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |
