MST-Department of English & Linguistics

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A Cognitive Linguistics Analysis of Gestures Used by Motorists in Mombasa County
(Kenyatta University, 2015) Chuchu, Stephen Githara
This study sought to investigate on a cognitive linguistics analysis of metaphorical gestures used by motorists in Mombasa County. The research focused on Mombasa due to its uniqueness and being multi-cultural. Mombasa is a hotpot of cultures with people from all over the world calling Mombasa home. This study set out to identify metaphorical gestures used by motorists to communicate various situations on the roads, for example presence of traffic police officers among many others. The study sought to demonstrate that gestures used by motorists in Mombasa county are categorized into either conventional or novel and that both gesture and speech share the burden of conveying information and provide an avenue to understand how humans formulate concepts and how they exploit those formulations while communicating. The study sought to establish whether the social variables of sex, age and level of education affect the interpretation of gestures. It also aimed at making a contribution to cognitive linguistics by analysing gestures within the Career of Metaphor Theory. Further, the researcher presented a questionnaire with a photograph/picture of a gesture and the respondents were required to interpret the gesture and state what they understood the gesture to mean.