Cover not available
Part of
Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage
Edited by Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 12] 2020
► pp. 215–245

Keeping an eye on body parts

Cultural conceptualizations of the ‘eye’ in Hungarian

The notion of embodiment refers to the bodily basis of human perceptions about the environment, and also structures our conceptual system (Gibbs 2005; Johnson 1987). This is most evidently manifested in the conceptualizations of body parts and organs and their metaphorical extension to various target domains, illustrated by the metaphor of understanding/knowing is seeing, which was considered by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) and Sweetser (1990) being universally prevalent. This claim was supported by a range of cross-linguistic studies in English (Alm-Arvius 1993; Danesi 1990; Ibarretxe-Antuñano 1999, 2002; Sweetser 1990; Viberg 2008; Yu 2008), but also debated by others (Evans and Wilkins 2000; Sharifian 2011), pointing to the fact that the conceptual links between perceptual modalities and abstract domains are grounded in cultural models (Kövecses 2000; Sharifian et al. 2008; Yu 2008), hence they can be regarded as cultural conceptualizations (Sharifian 2017).

In line with the cross-linguistic research on the metaphorical mappings of vision, the present chapter aims at unveiling the conceptualizations of Hungarian szem ‘eye’, in order to test whether the expressions that derive from it primarily represent the eye as the seat of thinking/knowing/understanding. According to the results, it is argued that beside the conceptualizations of perception, emotion and interpersonal power, the understanding is seeing metaphor is present in the Hungarian expressions. However, conceptualizations of the eye in Hungarian are also connected to cultural values. For example, some expressions such as szemfedél ‘eye-cover’, szemmel verés ‘beating with the eyes’ and szemfényvesztés ‘deception, subtleness’ are based on cultural schemas. The chapter further demonstrates that, as part of conceptualization, some spatial orientations attached to the eye may take on certain evaluations, as exemplified in the case of szeme közé ‘into between his eyes’ and its dominantly negative attribution. In this way, the chapter is a contribution to prove the interface between body, language and culture.

Keywords: body part, cultural conceptualization, cultural schema, eye, Hungarian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptualization of body parts
    • 2.1Embodiment in language
    • 2.2Previous research on ‘eye’
  • 3.Meanings of szem ‘eye’
  • 4.Conceptualizations of szem
    • 4.1Szem as the seat of cultural values
      • 4.1.1Conceptualizations of morality and conscience
      • 4.1.2Conceptualizations of respect
    • 4.2Perception/alertness
    • 4.3Szem as the seat of intellect
    • 4.4Szem as the seat of emotion
    • 4.5Behavior
    • 4.6Interpersonal power, control and the cultural schema evil eye
    • 4.7Summary
  • 5.Spatial metaphors related to szem: The case study of szeme közé
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 23 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.12.c10koc
References
Alm-Arvius, Christina
(1993) The English Verb See: A Study in Multiple Meaning. Göteborg: Acta Universitas Gothoburgensis.Google Scholar
Baranyiné Kóczy, Judit
(2019) “‘He cracked his head feverishly’: Conceptualizations of HEAD and THINKING in Hungarian.” In: Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (ed.), Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies: The ‘Head’. Leiden: Brill. 219–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bańczerowski, Janusz
(2007) “A fej nyelvi képe a magyar nyelvben” [The linguistic image of head in Hungarian]. Magyar Nyelvőr, 131(4), 385–402.Google Scholar
Bárczi, Géza and Országh, László
(1962) A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára VI. [Dictionary of the Hungarian Language VI.]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Baş, M.
(2015) Conceptualization of Emotion through Body part Idioms in Turkish: A Cognitive Linguistic study. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Hacettepe University, Turkey.Google Scholar
Benczes, Réka, Barcelona, Antonio, and Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Francisco José
(eds.) (2011) Defining metonymy in cognitive linguistics: Towards a consensus view. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benkő, Lóránd
(1976) A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára 3. [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Hungarian Language Vol. 3.]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Benkő, Mihály
(1992) “A halotti arctakaró történetéhez” [On the history of the burial pall]. Antik Tanulmányok, 36(1-2), 106–108.Google Scholar
(1992/93) “Burial masks of Eurasian mounted nomad peoples in the migration period. /1st millennium A. D./” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 46(2–3), 113–131.Google Scholar
Brenzinger, Matthias and Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona
(eds.) (2014) The Body in Language: Comparative Studies of Linguistic Embodiment (Series Editors: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon and N. J. Enfield, Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, vol. 8). Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Breu, Marlene R. and Marchese, Ronald T.
(2005) “Protecting the Populace: Blue beads and other amulets”. In: Ronald T. Marchese (ed.), The Fabric of Life: Cultural Transformations in Turkish Society. New York: Global Academic Publishing. 85–98.Google Scholar
Brown, Cecil H. and Stanley R. Witkowski
(1983) Polysemy, lexical change, and cultural importance. Man 18(1): 72–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Csábi, Szilvia
(2005) Alternative Conceptualization in English and Hungarian Idioms. PhD dissertation. Budapest: Eötvös Lóránd University.Google Scholar
Czuczor, Gergely and Fogarasi, János
(1870) A magyar nyelv szótára. Ötödik kötet [Dictionary of the Hungarian Language. Fifth Volume]. Pest: Atheneum.Google Scholar
Danesi, Marcel
(1990) “Thinking is Seeing: Visual Metaphors and the Nature of Abstract Thought”. Semiotica, 80(3/4), 221‒237.Google Scholar
Dömötör, Tekla
(ed.) (1990) Magyar néprajz VII. Népszokás, néphit, népi vallásosság [Hungarian Ethnography. Vol. VII: Folk Costume, Folk Belief and Folk Religion]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Evans, Nick and Wilkins, David
(2000) “In the Mind’s Ear: The Semantic Extensions of Perception Verbs in Australian Languages”. Language, 76(3), 546‒592. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk and Grondelaers, Stefan
(1995) “Looking back at anger: Cultural tradition and metaphorical patterns”. In: John R. Taylor and Robert E. Maclaury (eds.), Language and the construal of the world. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 153–180.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W.
(1999) “Taking metaphor out of our heads and putting it into the cultural world”. In: Raymond W. Gibbs and Gerard. J. Steen (eds.), Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 145–166. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Embodiment and Cognitive Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hungarian National Corpus
. [URL] 13 November 2017
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide
(1999) “Metaphorical Mappings in the Sense of Smell”. In: Raymond W. Gibbs and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 29‒45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002) “MIND-AS-BODY as a Cross-linguistic Conceptual Metaphor”. Miscelánea. A Journal of English and American Studies, 25, 93–119.Google Scholar
(2012) “The importance of unveiling conceptual metaphors in a minority language: The case of Basque”. In: Anna Idström and Elisabeth Piirainen (eds.), Endangered Metaphors. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 253–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Mark
(1987) The Body in the Mind. The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination and Reason. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1997) “Embodied meaning and cognitive science”. In: David Michael Levin (ed.), Language Beyond Postmodernism: Saying and Thinking in Gendlin’s Philosophy. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. 148–175.Google Scholar
Kövecses, Zoltán
(2000) Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling. New York, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kövecses, Zoltán and Benczes, Réka
(2010) Kognitív nyelvészet [Cognitive Linguistics]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona
(2014) Semantics of Body Part Terms: General Trends and a Case Study of Swahili. München: Lincom.Google Scholar
(ed.) (2019) Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies: The ‘Head’. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, George and Johnson, Mark
(1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1999) Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Maalej, Zouheir
(2004) “Figurative language in anger expressions in Tunisian Arabic: An extended view of embodiment”. Metaphor and Symbol, 19(1), 51–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) “Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic”. In: Zouheir Maalej and Ning Yu (eds.), Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 213‒240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maalej, Zouheir and Yu, Ning
(eds.) (2011) Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mandler, Jean Matter
(1984) Stories, scripts, and scenes: Aspects of schema theory. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mayer, Jessica
(1982) “Body, Psyche and Society: Conceptions of Illness in Ommura, Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea”. Oceania, 52, 240‒259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Occhi, Debra J.
(2011) “A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions”. In: Zouheir Maalej and Ning Yu (eds.), Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 171‒193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oravecz, Csaba
et al. (2014) “The Hungarian Gigaword Corpus”. In: Nicoletta Calzolari et al. (eds.), Proceedings of LREC 2014. Reykjavik: European Language Resources Association. 1719‒1723.Google Scholar
Ortutay, Gyula
(ed.) (1981) Magyar néprajzi lexikon IV. [The Hungarian Encyclopedia of Ethnography. Vol.4]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Pasch, Helma
(2014) “Embodiment in Zande”. In: Matthias Brenzinger and Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (eds.), The Body in Language: Comparative Studies of Linguistic Embodiment (Series Editors: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon and N. J. Enfield, Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, vol. 8). Leiden: Brill. 199–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pusztai, Ferenc
(ed.) (2014) Magyar értelmező kéziszótár [Hungarian Orthographical Dictionary]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Quinn, Naomi and Holland, Dorothy
(eds.) (1987) Cultural models in language and thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosch, Eleanor
(1978) “Principles of categorization”. In: Eleanor Rosch and Barbara B. Lloyd (eds.), Cognition and Categorization. Hillsdale, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum. 27–48.Google Scholar
Sharifian, Farzad
(2011) “Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian”. In: Zouheir Maalej and Ning Yu (eds.), Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 197–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017) Cultural Linguistics. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
et al. (eds.) (2008) Culture, Body, and Language: Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siahaan, Poppy
(2011) “head and eye in German and Indonesian figurative uses”. In: Zouheir Maalej and Ning Yu (eds.), Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 93–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spooner, Brian
1976 Anthropology and the Evil Eye. In: Clarence Maloney (ed.), The Evil Eye. New York: Columbia University Press. 279–86.Google Scholar
Sweetser, Eve
(1990) From Etymology to Pragmatics. Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Talmy, Leonard
(1983) “How language structures space”. In: Herbert L. Pick, Jr. and Linda Acredolo (eds.), Spatial Orientation: Theory, Research, and Application. New York: Plenum Press. 225 – 282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tompa, József
(ed.) (1969) A mai magyar nyelv rendszere I. [The structure of present day Hungarian. Vol. 1]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
Vainik, Ene
(2011) “Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions”. In: Zouheir Maalej and Ning Yu (eds.), Embodiment via body parts. Studies from various languages and cultures. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 41–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Viberg, Ake
(2008) “Swedish verbs of perception from a typological and contrastive perspective”. In: María de los Ángeles Gómez González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie and Elsa M. González Álvarez (eds.), Languages and Cultures in Contrast and Comparison. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 123‒172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, Ning
(2004) “The eyes for sight and mind”. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 663–686. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) “Metaphor from body and culture”. In: Raymond W. Gibbs (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 247–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) From Body to Meaning in Culture. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zaicz, Gábor
(2006) Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete [Dictionary of etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and suffixes]. Budapest: Tinta Kiadó.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Baranyiné Kóczy, Judit
2023. Cultural conceptualizations of sight and cultural values. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 10:2 ► pp. 313 ff. DOI logo
Menete, Sérgio N. & Guiying Jiang
2024. The semantics of the polysemic Amharic word fit ‘face’. Review of Cognitive Linguistics DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.