A Cross -Linguistic Study Of Animal Metaphors: A Case Study Of Kamba And Maasai Languages

Abstract

This research study presents a comparative analysis of animal metaphors from the Kamba and Maasai languages. The research study endeavors to find out how cultural background contributes to shared and divergent views of the same animal metaphor in the two cultures. The research used Fillmore Frame Theory in the analysis of animal metaphors. Animal metaphors in the Maasai and Kamba cultures are commonly used to connote negative meaning although a few depicts positive qualities. The findings of this study indicated that both Kamba and Maasai cultures have animal metaphors that are similar for instance in both cultures there are metaphors drawn from lion, elephant, donkey, wasp and dogs among others. Among the shared metaphors there are those that have the same interpretation in both cultures for example metaphor on elephant which means huge and energetic and metaphor drawn from wasp which means aggressive and violent. Other metaphors are similar but are conceptualized differently for example metaphor drawn from a cow in Maasai means a respected person because a cow is the main source of food while in Kamba it means a stupid person since it is basically used to assist in tasks like farming, this therefore raises the question of intercultural miscommunication. The other category of animal metaphors discovered in this study is observed to be culture specific it is as a result of the distinct differences in the living environment of the two communities, among the Maasai there are more animal metaphors drawn from wild animals like giraffe, eland, wild dog and chameleon. On the other hand the Kamba have animal metaphor inspired by farming drawn from cock, caterpillar, raccoon, robin among others. Verbal metaphors are also found in the two cultures. Verbal metaphors in both communities are universal while others are culture specific. In both cultures these metaphors do not have similar interpretation due to the differences in cultural beliefs and attitude upheld by members of the two communities both have metaphors derived from the verb to roar, in the Maasai it means to boast for no reason while among Kamba it is to warn. The research has concluded that different interpretation of same animal metaphor leads to miscommunication among native speakers of the two speech communities