Metaphors of Mediation in Slovene Epitaphs
| Autor: | Joseph Paternost |
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| Rok vydání: | 1987 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Slovene Studies Journal. 9 |
| ISSN: | 0193-1075 1940-1973 |
| DOI: | 10.7152/ssj.v9i1.3700 |
| Popis: | The epitaph (in the meaning of 'a statement in verse'l) is still an important part of Slovene popular culture and the tradition to put up epitaphs in cemeteries in Slovenia continues in the 1980s, This paper is based on hundreds of epitaphs collected in some 98 cemeteries in Slovenia in 1983, The metaphoric language, including metaphors of medi ation, is an important component of many epitaphs and it is the purpose of this paper to show how such language may provide a possible clue to the human condition and how an analysis such as this may render the human situation more intelligible. D. Deshler suggests that metaphoric use is "'the stuff with which we make sense of our world"" and G. Lakoff and M. 10hnson characterize the "'essence of metaphor" as "understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another."J And, as far as linguistic pursuits go, 1.M. Sadock says that "the most important property of metaphor [is 1 its nonliteralness. "4 Epitaphs and tombstone inscriptions in general may also be viewed as being (if I may borrow and apply a phrase from 1. Fernandez) "at the center of the human condition'" because of the very fact that they refer to dying, and dying as we know is a transition from life to death, from culture to nature. that is, a cultural (and physical) being becomes a mere natural object. Death is thus the opposite of life. This opposition or contradiction, inherent in our mortality. cannot be resolved or overcome, for the dead do not return. 6 Nevertheless. this opposition between life and death may be mediated so that in the end death might be overcome. that is. it might be coped with more easily since after all as one person (1940-1973) put it. Nisem5vel, da bi umrl (TV)7 'I did not live in order to die.' This is done by metaphors of mediation. S Our discussion of metaphors of mediation will concentrate on two major aspects of this kind of symbolic activity in our epitaphs, namely. the use of nature or natural phenomena and, in turn. the use of place references (the case or orientational-spatial metaphoric formula. HAPPY is UP; SAD is DOWN). In the death-and-nature category. the following components of 'nature' appear to be especially common: flowers, gardens. valley. moun tains. and stars. Our first text or epitaph. i.e. a statement in verse. contains three such examples of metaphor |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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