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Metaphor and Symbol

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Embodiment via Body Parts: Studies

from Various Language and Cultures by
Zouheir A. Maalej & Ning Yu (Eds.)
a
Laura A. Cariola
a
Department of Linguistics and English Language , Lancaster
University
Published online: 11 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Laura A. Cariola (2012) Embodiment via Body Parts: Studies from Various
Language and Cultures by Zouheir A. Maalej & Ning Yu (Eds.), Metaphor and Symbol, 27:3, 261-264,
DOI: 10.1080/10926488.2012.691771

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 BOOK REVIEWS 261

very same question in terms of analyzing gestures shows how far metaphor research has come
and how far it still has to go.
In Section 4 the researchers attempt to bring all the ideas presented in earlier chapters together.
In Chapter 12, Low and Todd talk about guidelines for good practice in metaphor analysis,
particularly when soliciting judgments about metaphors and when identifying and analyzing
metaphors—to my mind this chapter could easily be included in the third section. In Chapter 13,
Rivers demonstrates how deliberate metaphor use and emotional reactions were linked in a
research project on e-learning. In Chapter 14, Cameron and Maslen describe the results of using
their discourse-based approach to metaphor analysis in order to compare the perceptions of terror-
ism experts with the opinions of general members of the public. For a chapter that brings together
much of what has been said in the previous chapters, it is rather short, simply listing the metaphors
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that officials and the public used when talking about terrorism. It would have been advantageous
to have more discussion on these findings. In addition, in Chapter 15, the last chapter, the con-
cluding remarks by Cameron and Maslen are also very succinct—only briefly summarizing what
they did in this volume. In contrast with the care that the editors and authors take at the beginning
and in the middle section of the book in terms of laying out their rationale, analyzing the pros
and cons of competing theories, and deeply delving into the methodology, this last section seems
more ad hoc. The strength of the work as a whole would have benefited from a more thorough
discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the discourse dynamic approach to metaphor
analyses and would also have benefited from a comparison with other approaches to metaphor
analyses.
In conclusion, while the authors of this volume favor looking at metaphors in discourse con-
texts so as to understand sociocultural conventions, they also take into consideration the historical
context that has led to metaphors being analyzed on the basis of intuition. Reading the volume,
one gets the sense that they would be quite willing to accept that metaphor analysis on different
types of data sets or using different methodologies may lead to different results, and this nuanced
appreciation of alternate approaches is likely to aid the field of metaphor studies as a whole.
The discourse dynamic approach is not competing head-on with other approaches, it is merely
pointing out that there is a large set of data (i.e., discourse data) that has not yet been examined
adequately in terms of metaphor analysis.

Embodiment via Body Parts: Studies from Various Language and Cultures. Zouheir A. Maalej,
& Ning Yu (Eds.). Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, 2011, ix
+ 258 pages, $135 (hardcover), ISBN 9789027223852.

Reviewed by Laura A. Cariola

Department of Linguistics and English Language
Lancaster University
l.cariola@lancaster.ac.uk

Recent trends in linguistics and cognitive science reflect an increasing interest to explore the
relationship between culture and language on the one hand, and the human mind and body on
the other. The edited volume Embodiment via Body Parts: Studies from Various Language and
 262 BOOK REVIEWS

Cultures is a contribution to this line of inquiry that investigates the interaction between embod-
iment and culture as a means to further the understanding of the underlying culturally specific
cognitive processes.
The authors situate the present volume within previous cognitive linguistic work on the inter-
section between body parts, human cognition, language, and culture (Ziemke, Zlatev, & Frank,
2007; Frank, Dirven, Ziemke, & Bernádez, 2008; Sharifian, Dirven, Yu, & Miemeier, 2008) by
focusing on the role of individual body parts, both internal and external, in the embodied concep-
tualization of emotions in various cultures and languages. The volume is based on the hypothesis
that the use of body parts as a means to conceptualize human cognition, such as emotions, per-
sonality traits, cultural values and mental faculties, etc. represents language-body connections
that might allow for deeper insights into the underlying culturally shaped mind-body connections
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(e.g., Gibbs, 2006). An emphasis is also given to clarifying cultural and language specific man-
ifestations of specific body parts and bodily experiences that are expressed through the use of
metaphor and metonymy.
The introduction of the book outlines the theory of embodiment and how it is intertwined
with the concept of culture in cognitive science. The ten studies are divided into three sections
corresponding to the geographical locations of the languages in order to accentuate the cultural
aspect of embodiment, as compared to arranging the chapters in accordance with similarity of
body parts. However, the lack of an acknowledgment and critical discussion of sociocultural
phenomena, such as subcultures, immigration, and diasporas, indicates an implicit assumption
that cultures and languages could be geographically fixed.
The first part focuses on European perspectives on body parts, including the Danish, English,
Estonian, German (compared to Indonesian), Modern Greek, and Spanish languages. The first
chapter, by Sophia Marmaridou, “The relevance of embodiment in lexica, and collocational
meaning: The case of prosopo ‘face’ in Modern Greek,” demonstrates that the metaphori-
cal and culturally motivated polysemy of “face” (prosopo) embodies psychological and social
aspects of the self, and spatial orientation, whereas prosopo-related collocations embody social
organisations and institutions, and evaluations of social qualities.
In Chapter 2, “Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions,” Ene Vainik shows
that there is no relationship between specific body parts and the expression of emotions in
Estonian. Instead, the embodiment of emotional universals (e.g., fear, anger, joy, and sadness;
Wierzbicka, 1999) is based on a range of observable, dynamic and external body parts rather than
non-observable body parts. Types of cognitive mappings are also positively correlated with three
types of bodily manifestations (i.e., metonymy for observable symptoms, metaphor for internal
images, and metaphtonymy for bodily sensations) that are moderated by the cognitive perspective
(observer vs. emoter).
The cross-linguistic study of Chapter 3, “Metaphors and metonymies of MOUTH in Danish,
English, and Spanish” by Uwe Kjær Nissen provides evidence that firstly, bodily experiences are
mapped onto metaphorical and metonymical expressions of the word mouth, and the equivalents
of Spanish boca and Danish mund, and secondly, that the differences in mapping mind and body
onto the body part ‘mouth’ are culturally motivated, even in closely related European languages.
The analysis of Chapter 4, “HEAD and EYE in German and Indonesian figurative uses,” by
Poppy Siahaan, is an account of how both languages share similarities but also differ in the
metaphorical and metonymic extensions of the same body parts as source concepts. The results
show that in both languages the “head” draws on the target domain of (human) LEADER and
 BOOK REVIEWS 263

CHARACTER TRAITS; however, in German the figurative expression is more frequently asso-
ciated with the function of Kopf “head” and Auge “eye,” whereas in Indonesian the kepala “head”
is more strongly related to its position, and mata “eye” to the appearance of its shape.The sec-
ond part represents East Asian perspectives on body parts, exemplified by Japanese and Chinese.
Chapter 5 “Speech organs and linguistic activity/function in Chinese,” by Ning Yu, explores the
metonymic chain from the speech organ to language. The study proposes that the metonymies
SPEECH ORGAN FOR SPEAKING (i.e., act of speaking) and SPEECH ORGAN FOR SPEECH
(i.e., manner of talking and reading) are conventional expressions in Chinese. While SPEECH
ORGAN FOR LANGUAGE does not commonly arise in the Chinese lexicon, it is however real-
ized in the lexicographic writing system as a component of the radical “mouth” that represents
the meaning of “language” and “speech.”
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In Chapter 6, “Inner and outer body parts: A case of hara ‘belly’ and koshi ‘lower back’
in Japanese,” Tomokazu Nagai and Masako K. Hiraga show that the metaphorical expressions
of the outer body part hara “lower back” embody attitude and behaviour, as compared to the
inner body part koshi “belly,” which metonymically motivates figurative expressions of mental
and spiritual stability. In relation to figurative expressions that also include non-human entities,
however, hara is predominately extended metonymically, whereas expressions related to koshi
are often extended metaphorically
Chapter 7, “A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions,” by Debra J. Occhi, exam-
ines how the social-cultural image schema of the “eye” motivates metaphorical expressions as a
means to express emotional states. The study outlines the use of vertical “eye” metaphors as
an index of social hierarchy, and other socialcultural features, including gender, personality, and
mental health.
The third part shows Middle Eastern and North African perspectives on body parts, such as
those found in Tunisian Arabic, Persian and Turkish. In Chapter 8, “Conceptualizations of cheshm
‘eye’ in Persian,” Farzad Sharifian examines how cheshm “eye” is conceptualized as a container
for various emotions, character traits and cognitive functioning. The Persian cultural conceptual-
ization of the “eye” is also associated with the belief of “casting a charm or spell” in the form of
bad luck, sickness and loss. Although the idea of perception reflects the notion of intuition and
inspiration, the figurative meaning of the ‘eye’ is not related to the concept of mind and thinking.
Chapter 9, “Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic,” by Zouheir A.
Maalej, examines how “eye” reflects a culturally motivated conceptualization of mental fac-
ulties (e.g., knowing, understanding, thinking), physical states (e.g., sleep, death), emotions
(e.g., love, desire, anger), character traits (e.g., ambition, greed, naiveté), and cultural values
(e.g., respect/consideration, hospitality) through the use of image schema-based metaphors,
metonymies and metonymically motivated metaphors.
In Chapter 10, “The apocalypse happens when the feet take the position of the head: Figurative
uses of ‘head’ and ‘feet’ in Turkish,” Mustafa Aksan investigates social stratification through the
use of verticality (UP–DOWN) in culturally exploited metaphors and metonymies of the body
parts “head” and “feet”. While conceptual metaphors and metonymies involving the head (UP)
embody positive cultural values (e.g., HEAD FOR ORDER, HEAD FOR RULER, HEAD FOR
TALENT), the feet (DOWN) represent culturally negative values (e.g., LESS IS DOWN, LOW
STATUS IS DOWN).
The book is a valuable collection of empirical evidence in the field of culturally extended
embodiment. It successfully explores the interaction between human mind, language and culture,
 264 BOOK REVIEWS

as much as the relationship between metonymy and metaphor in embodiment. Despite the deci-
sion to group the chapters in accordance with geographical location of cultures and languages,
I found myself intuitively drawn to read the chapters separately in order to conduct an “impres-
sionistic” cross-cultural comparison of the symbolic use of similar body parts. In this sense, the
chapters can be read separately. The authors could have perhaps included a summarising dis-
cussion that would have critically outlined in what ways the various language and cultures are
similar, how they differ in the conceptualisation of human cognition through the use of the same
body parts, and equally, how different body parts are associated with similar human concepts.
In conclusion, Embodiment via Body Parts: Studies from Various Language and Cultures is
a very commendable book for students and researchers who are interested in the intersection of
culture and language, and metaphor and metonymy in the articulation of human cognition and
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bodily experiences.

REFERENCES

Frank, R. M., Dirven, R., Ziemke, T., & Bernádez, E. (Eds.). (2008). Body, language, and mind (Vol. 2): Sociocultural
situatedness. Berlin, Germany/New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gibbs, R. W. (2006). Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sharifian, F., Dirven, R., Yu, N., & Miemeier, S. (Eds.) (2008). Culture, body, and language: Conceptualization of heart
and other internal body organs across languages and cultures. Berlin, Germany/New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.
Wierzbicka, A. (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Ziemke, T., Zlatev, J., & Frank, R. M. (Eds.). (2007). Body, language and mind (Vol. 1): Embodiment. Berlin,
Germany/New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.