What the Ewe Mind Thinks it is: A Case Study of Some Everyday Expressions

Abstract

Like many languages, Ewe exhibits metaphor as a pervasive feature, evident in expressions about emotions, death, sensation, and time. Yet its metaphorical conceptualisation of the human mind has received little scholarly attention. This study addresses that gap by examining everyday expressions that reveal culturally grounded models of cognition and the linguistic expression of thought. Data were collected from 20 older-generation native speakers of Ewe through interviews and conversational observation. Analysis within Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Cultural Linguistics identified nineteen metaphors of the mind, notably those of distance, depth, temperature, purity, turbulence, and divorce. These metaphors function as conceptual tools that reflect embodied experience and cultural values, situating cognition within social, moral, and communal contexts. The findings show that Ewe metaphors of the mind are systematic and context-sensitive, demonstrating how cognition is socially constructed and dynamically expressed through language. Highlighting Ewe perspectives, the study diversifies metaphor theory and affirms the intellectual sophistication inherent in African languages.