CONCEPTUALISATION OF DEATH IN THE SLOVENIAN AND MACEDONIAN LANGUAGES

Gjoko  Nikolovski; Biljana  Mirchevska Bosheva

doi:10.21618/fil2532343n

Authors

Gjoko Nikolovski University of Maribor Faculty of Philosophy
Biljana Mirchevska Bosheva Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21618/fil2532343n

Keywords:

Contrastive analysis, conceptual analysis, idioms, Slovenian language, Macedonian language, cognitive linguistics

Abstract

This paper presents the conceptualisation of death in the Slovenian and Macedonian languages through the prism of the cognitive mechanisms of metaphor and metonymy. With this aim, phraseological material from the two languages is analysed, which conveys a linguistic image of non-violent death. The conceptual and comparative analysis showed that conceptual domains are involved in the formation of Slovenian and Macedonian phrasemes and their meaning. The cognitive mechanism of metaphor (often intertwined with the cognitive mechanism of metonymy) acts as an established link between the initial concrete and the target abstract domain, and the linguistic realisation of this link is the phrasemes. The analysis showed that to understand and facilitate the acceptance of the abstract concept of death, we are helped by familiar experiences from the environment, and these mappings are usually from the more concrete to the more abstract domain (death), namely: (1) the image of the human body instead of death (with dysphemistic potential), (2) migration à death (with euphemistic potential), (3) the grave as a location à death (with dysphemistic potential), (4) sleeping (the human body in a horizontal position)àdeath (with euphemistic potential), (5) a living being à death (with dysphemistic and euphemistic potential), (6) light outàdeath (with euphemistic potential), (7) time à death (with euphemistic potential), (8) a valuable object à death (with euphemistic potential), (9) a substance à death (with euphemistic potential), (10) people à animals (with dysphemistic potential).Compared to dictionary and lexicon definitions of death, which define it mainly as the cessation of life and life processes, the cognitive view offers a broader perspective, addressing (1) the physiological effects of death, (2) death as migration, (3) death as movement underground, (4) death as sleep, (5) death as a living being, (6) death as darkness, (7) death as a final act, (8) death as the loss of a precious object, (9) death as the loss of substance, and (10) death of humans as the death of animals. The cognitive view of death is rooted in the human perception of death, which coincides with the anthropocentric nature of phraseology and its linguistic units based on the cognitive mechanisms of metaphor and metonymy.

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