Interpreting the Human Being Metaphors in Ekegusii Pop Songs Using the Cognitive Semantics Framework

Abstract

The paper explores the human being metaphors in Ekegusii pop songs (EPS). Composers of EPS use human being metaphors to convey their message in different perspectives. It is possible for the meaning of the human being metaphors to elude the audience of EPS because language is both embodied and situated in a specific environment. Therefore, the meaning of the metaphors need to be objectively interpreted to reveal the message of the composers. The study purposively sampled Christopher Mosioma’s (Embarambamba) EPS amasomo (education) and the late Ontiri Bikundo’s obwanchani (love) based on the songs’ richness in metaphors. The Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit was used to identify 54 metaphors in the EPS by four coders (including the researchers). The concept of conceptual mapping, which is a fundamental tenet of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, was employed to understand the source domains in terms of the target domains. The identified metaphors were classified into four conceptual domains of human being, animal, plant and object using the principle of the Great Chain of Being Metaphor. The paper then identified eight human being metaphors for the present study. The research found that human being metaphors are important ways of conceptualizing other human beings in society. In addition, metaphors are important tools of communication and should be explained using a cognitive semantics framework. The findings of the study will benefit the audience of the EPS, ethnographers and metaphor theorists to conceptualise EPS and culture.