Figurative language In a universalist perspective

Abstract

This paper assembles cross‐language evidence documenting several high frequency, figurative labels for body parts: e.g., “child of the eye,” for pupil of the eye; “mother of the hand,” for thumb; “mouse of the arm,” for biceps. These figurative expressions occur in languages at frequencies that greatly exceed chance. In addition, their distribution is discontinuous across genetic and geographic language boundaries, indicating frequent independent invention. Repeated invention of similar figurative expressions is due to universal naming tendencies. These tendencies relate to underlying marking principles, intralanguage lexical constraints, physical world/perceptual givens, and language context and use considerations. [anatomical terminology, cognitive anthropology, folk classification, language universals, marking principles, metaphor]