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Article In: Review of Cognitive Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Body, meaning and conceptual complexes

Sunqu ‘heart’ in Chanka Quechua

ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Tecnológica del Perú
 | Universidad Nacional Enrique Guzmán y Valle
 | Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica
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Abstract
This article examines the polysemy of sunqu ‘heart’ in Chanka Quechua from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective. Based on an elicited corpus, the study proposes a semantic network that accounts for multiple senses organised around a core bodily meaning. The analysis shows that these senses do not arise solely through isolated metaphorical and metonymic processes, but also through more elaborated conceptual complexes. In particular, the study provides evidence of underexplored mechanisms in Indigenous American languages, such as patterns of conceptual interaction and the presence of metonymic chains. By situating these findings within the framework of conceptual complexes, the article contributes to a more holistic understanding of polysemy and of the cognitive mechanisms that account for its nature at the conceptual level, based on the analysis of Quechua, a Peruvian Indigenous language.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies: Semantics, polysemy, and cognition in Quechua
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Polysemy: Metaphor, metonymy and conceptual complexes
    • 4.1Metaphor and metonymy
    • 4.2Conceptual complexes
      • 4.2.1Metaphor and metonymy interaction
      • 4.2.2Metonymic chains
  • 5.Body, meaning and conceptual complexes: sunqu ‘heart’ in Chanka Quechua
    • 5.1Senses derived from patterns of conceptual interaction
    • 5.2Senses derived from metonymic complexes
    • 5.3Senses derived from metonymic processes
  • Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • References
References (49)
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