The heart and positive emotions

A view from Amharic

Bibliographic Data

ID17563410
AuthorsSérgio N Menete (0000-0003-3427-1696, 299627 School of Foreign Languages, Fujian Polytechnic Normal University , Fuqing , China, corresponding author), Guiying Jiang (0000-0002-4361-5959, Xiamen University), Betelhem Tirusew Bayu (Research School for Southeast Asian Studies, Xiamen University , Xiamen , China)
Year2026
Volume47
Issue1
Pages135-169
Publication date2026-02-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of African Languages and Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-6164 • E-ISSN: 1613-3811
PublisherDe Gruyter Mouton (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/jall-2024-0026
OpenAlexW7131295055
LanguageEN
References cited44

This study analyzes the Amharic lexrme ləbb ‘heart’ from a cognitive linguistics perspective, contributing to what is known about conceptualization through body-part terms in connection to emotions. Based on the results of the metaphoric and metonymic extension of ləbb ‘heart’ from Amharic monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, the study finds that the heart is intrinsically associated with positive emotions such that it can metonymically stand for courage and love. The concept of “heart” in Amharic is also commonly used with words suggesting negative emotions. However, this connection is mainly possible through compositionality. The Amharic model of the association of the “heart” to positive emotions is also valid for other unrelated languages. Our results suggest that natural languages share important similarities in the body-based conceptualization of emotions

Amharic · Cognition · Cognitive linguistics · Conceptualization · Metonymy · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access