Graduate Working Papers
Avoiding the Wrath of the Thunder Beings: Restricted Language and Lakhota Metaphorical Structure
Keywords
- metaphor, lakhota
How to Cite
Catches, V., & de Garcia, J. G. . (1994). Avoiding the Wrath of the Thunder Beings: Restricted Language and Lakhota Metaphorical Structure. Colorado Research in Linguistics, 13. https://doi.org/10.25810/srnr-we55
Abstract
Metaphor gives us a way to relate abstract concepts to things in our everyday lives. What we explore in this paper are the restrictions placed on Lakhota speakers when talking about the Wakíyā, the Thunderbeings. The defining characteristic of the Wakíyā is their anger, but the Lakhota people cannot speak of this anger using the same metaphorical language that is used to describe human anger. The nature of this restriction is discussed here from the perspective of a native speaker of the language.