Volume 13
Graduate Working Papers

Avoiding the Wrath of the Thunder Beings: Restricted Language and Lakhota Metaphorical Structure

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  • Violet Catches,
  • Jule Gómez de Garcia
Violet Catches
University of Colorado Boulder
Jule Gómez de Garcia
University of Colorado Boulder
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25810/srnr-we55

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.

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