Conceptual Metaphors of Negation in Space of Japanese Sign Language: The Symbolic Network of “UNDERSTAND” and its Embodied Foundations

Abstract

This study examines the concept of understanding and its negative counterparts in Japanese Sign Language (JSL) from a cognitive linguistic perspective, mainly through the lens of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The lexicon and semantic network of JSL differ from those of spoken Japanese, which is its surrounding language. Cognitive linguistics analyzes semantic networks based on embodiment and experientialism. We found that the morphemes forming “not-understand” in JSL cannot be divided into a content word “understand” and a negative affix “not,” as represented in spoken Japanese “wakara-nai” (wakaru = ‘understand,’ nai = ‘not’). “Not-understand” shares its handshape and location with “understand” but differs in the movement and orientation of the hands. We discovered that different forms of “understand” and their negative counterparts, which characteristically employ oppositional embodiments, can be explained by Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) spatial metaphor, a type of conceptual metaphor: known is down, unknown is up. Additionally, signs related to the concepts of understanding were analyzed and found to be construed through the following metaphors: understanding is grasping, ideas are objects, and ideas are food. We suggest that these semantically related signs form a conceptual network that parallels the relationships between the oppositional forms of the signs.