METAPHOR AS INSTRUMENT OF IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTS IN IWEKA’S THE ANCIENT CURSE AND ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART
Keywords:
metaphor, ideology, constructs, Achebe, IwekaAbstract
The goal of this study is to demonstrate Nigerian authors’ creativity in the exploration of metaphors for the construction of religious ideology and other forms of thought belief in their texts, The Ancient Curse and Things Fall Apart. A metaphor can be conceived in relation to any coherent organization of human experiences. Thus, human language becomes the vehicle for the articulation and projection of these experiences in communication. This is permissible following the pivotal role of language in the conceptualization of ideas. Working with cognitive linguistics from this panorama, Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) conceptual metaphors becomes a handy theoretical base for this work. Aspects of van Dijk's (2006) socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis will also be explored for the analysis of the ideologies projected using cognitive metaphors. Excerpts from the text formed the data for analysis. Findings revealed that the authors principally employed orientational and ontological metaphors as cognitive linguistic tools for ideological constructions. The works are characterized by such cross-domain mappings like: FEAR IS A BEING, PEACE IS A FRAGILE OBJECT, ANGER IS WAR, DEATH IS A BEING, HEALTH IS UP; SICKNESS IS DOWN, SUCCESS IS UP; FAILURE IS DOWN.
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Published on: 26-12-2023
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