A Cognitive Analysis of Woman Metaphors in Kikuyu Secular Songs

The purpose of this paper was to analyze conceptual metaphors of women in the Kikuyu Secular Songs using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Metaphors are an essential aspect of human communication and a prominent linguistic feature found in virtually all human languages. However, metaphors are not merely a rhetorical device but a reflection of the working of the human cognitive system depicting different construal and points of view taken by its interpreter. The study employed a qualitative research design. A sample size of 6 participants was purposively sampled and a corpus of 30 woman metaphors was identified in 12 songs. Content analysis was used to analyse the metaphors structures by mapping source domains onto target domains. The findings of this study show that in kikuyu secular songs women are perceived positively as medicine, star, rib, joy, and gift. However, women are also depicted negatively by comparing them to frogs, plough, colonialist, chameleons and fruitless trees. The aspect of culture is also key in the conceptualization and interpretation of these metaphors.

Keywords: Metaphors, Cognitive metaphors, Woman, Kikuyu Secular Songs.