Love does not emerge from the eyes but from the ears: Semantic associations in Uto-Aztecan languages

Abstract

The semantic associations between the lexicon of body parts and physical perception are almost universal. Within the domain of perception, it has been pointed out the supremacy of the ‘eyes’ and the ‘visual’ sense as metaphorical sources for other sensorial verbs (‘see’ > ‘hear’) as well as other cognitive domains (Viberg, 1984; Sweetser, 1990). In contrast, the ‘ears’ and the auditory modality are barely mentioned within these patterns of semantic changes (Evans and Wilkins, 2000). The present study explores the semantic extension of body parts and sensory verbs within the Yuto-Aztecan family. Rather than the vision, Yuto-Aztecan languages prefer the ‘ears’ and ‘hearing’, together to other vital body parts such as ‘mind/heart’ and ‘blood’, to develop physical, intellectual and emotional perception predicates