Body Parts in Hamar

This thesis aims at providing a preliminary description of body part terms and their use in Hamar, a language of Ethiopia. Mainly based on elicited data from a native speaker, an overview is given of body part terms in Hamar. Several lexical and grammatical features of body part terms are discussed. It is explained why a body part partonomy could not be established. Going beyond the human body, animal body part terms and their relation to human body part terms are explored. The way in which Hamar denotes the ‘top’ and the ‘back’ of objects is based on anthropomorphic and zoomorphic models. It is argued that body part mapping in Hamar is mainly due to an analogy in shape/appearance, space/position and function. Hamar uses body part terms to express deictic orientation, similar to other African languages. In doing so, the language interacts with case markers and elevation deictics. Based on the four-stage model of Heine et al. (1991), it is argued that Hamar body parts have only...Show moreThis thesis aims at providing a preliminary description of body part terms and their use in Hamar, a language of Ethiopia. Mainly based on elicited data from a native speaker, an overview is given of body part terms in Hamar. Several lexical and grammatical features of body part terms are discussed. It is explained why a body part partonomy could not be established. Going beyond the human body, animal body part terms and their relation to human body part terms are explored. The way in which Hamar denotes the ‘top’ and the ‘back’ of objects is based on anthropomorphic and zoomorphic models. It is argued that body part mapping in Hamar is mainly due to an analogy in shape/appearance, space/position and function. Hamar uses body part terms to express deictic orientation, similar to other African languages. In doing so, the language interacts with case markers and elevation deictics. Based on the four-stage model of Heine et al. (1991), it is argued that Hamar body parts have only partly been grammaticalized. Locational body part nouns usually appear as BODY PART NOUN-F.OBL-LOCATIONAL CASE MARKER and are part of a genitive construction.Show less

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Body Parts in Hamar