‘Refuse Dump, Hurry Up!’: A Cognitive Onomastic and Cultural Metaphor Perspective of Nzema Death-Prevention Names

African personal names have communicative contents that reflect the experiences and expectations of the name-giver as well as the bearer. Death-prevention names, for instance, provide some assurance and security that are vital for a child’s survival, given the implicit assumption that certain spirit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Languages (Basel) 2024-05, Vol.9 (5), p.167
Main Author: Yakub, Mohammed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child mortality
Children
cultural metaphor
Cultural values
Culture
Death
Death & dying
death-prevention names
ethno-pragmatics
Kwa languages
Linguistics
Metaphor
Names, Personal
Nzema
Onomasiology
Onomastics
Personal names
Prevention
Religion
Religious aspects
Social aspects
Spirituality
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Summary:African personal names have communicative contents that reflect the experiences and expectations of the name-giver as well as the bearer. Death-prevention names, for instance, provide some assurance and security that are vital for a child’s survival, given the implicit assumption that certain spiritual forces are at work. The bestowal of despicable and ‘ugly’ names on children whose preceding siblings died shortly after birth is also a common practice among the Nzema, aiming at preventing succeeding children from death. This study examines cultural conceptions and metaphorical correlations in Nzema death-prevention names. Using 42 death-prevention names obtained through interviews, the study discusses the implications of the names and their metaphoric connections with the objects used to identify this category of people. The study reveals that features of entities such as ɛkpɔtɛ ‘vulture’, nrɛzenra ‘housefly’, kɛndɛne ‘basket’, and fovolɛ ‘refuse dump’ are attributed to these children to make them seem ‘unpleasant’ to the ancestral spirits who are believed to have been snatching them after birth. Other ‘long-lasting’ entities like nyevile ‘sea’, bolɛ ‘rock’, and kpɔma ‘walking stick’ are used metaphorically to refer to a child with the belief that they would survive right from birth and live long on the earth.
ISSN:2226-471X
2226-471X
DOI:10.3390/languages9050167