Ethiopian Journal of Languages and Literature

Metaphorical Conceptualization of Emotive Concepts in Amharic

Gashaw Arutie Asaye — 2021-01-22

This article describes the construal of emotive concepts such as anger, fear, love, hate, and sadness in Amharic, a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. The study is conducted within the framework of cognitive semantics, specifically guided by the conceptual metaphor theory. The database of the study includes written texts, elicitation, and introspection as supporting methods. The study has shown that emotive concepts can be metaphorically structured in terms of various source domains. For example, anger can be associated with the devil, insanity, fire, wounds, and physical force. Additionally, linguistic expressions that originate from the domain of containment, womanhood, and excretion can be used to describe a state of fear. The source domains of space (more specifically, a bounded region, a moving entity, and a downward type of verticality schema), injury, black color, and bitter taste can be mapped onto the target domain of sadness. It has also been found that the emotion of love can be understood through physical force and as an object. In Amharic, spatialization metaphors, specifically, terms corresponding to an out schema can be used to talk about hate. The motivations behind such mappings are physical and cultural experiences.

Justice Conceptions in Tigrigna Proverbs

Tesfaye Mesele Zibabu — 2024-09-05

This paper aims to examine justice conceptions in Tigrigna proverbs. Through the conceptual structure of justice and critical discourse analysis, the embedded and overt aspects of justice are investigated. To contextually identify the meanings of the proverbs, four purposively selected key informants were involved. Accordingly, the proverbs showed the importance of due time witness, faithful and credible evidence. Likewise, judges are noted as crucial to ensure justice. Yet, some proverbs notify the possibility of judicial errors or misuse of judicial power, and the need for further appeal. Furthermore, the proverbs indicate the need for a community of justice to be sensible and justly pursue their cases. Yet, standing to sue is taken as negative. Additionally, empathy, peace, shared responsibility to prevent oppression and ensure justice, the safety of the neighborhood, giving

parents immunity from accusation, and standing against those who try to override justice are salient concerns, instructions, and forewarnings to maintain justice.

Reading Comprehension Level and Background Knowledge of a Text among Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students

Bereket Hailemariam Ersamo — 2021-01-22

The general objective of this study was to assess the relationship between reading comprehension level and background knowledge of a text among deaf/hard of hearing students. Accordingly, it investigated the relationship between reading comprehension level and background knowledge of a textof grade 9-12 deaf students at Mekane Eyesus School for the Deaf, Hossana. It particularly determined the reading comprehension level of grade levels 9 to 12 deaf students; assessed the role of background knowledge of a text in comprehending a textand identified the correlation between reading comprehension level and

background knowledge of a text.A case study research design was chosen. One hundred fourteen grade 9-12 deaf students were randomly selected. The data were collected through an adapted Standardized Diagnostic Reading Test, MICO and abackground knowledge questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage mean, standard deviation and Pearsons’ r correlation coefficient. The results from the reading comprehension test revealed that overall low reading comprehension with (M = 42, SD = 20), categorizing the students as struggling readers with a reading comprehension score below 60%. In relation to

background knowledge of a text, the result revealed that deaf students believe that prior knowledge sometimes enable them to comprehend what they read in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with (M = 3.09, SD = .46). Regarding the correlation between reading comprehension level and

background knowledge of a text, there was a modest positive significant correlation between background knowledge and reading comprehension level. (Pearson’s r = .243 and p = .009).

የሸንበተ ቆጮ ክዋኔ በሸካቾ ብሔረሰብ

Girum Areda — 2021-01-22

የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓላማ የሸንበተ ቆጮ ሀገረሰባዊ እምነት ክዋኔን መተንተን ነው። ጥናቱ በሸካቾ ዞን አንድራቻ እና ማሻ ወረዳዎች በሚገኙ ስምንት ቀበሌዎች ላይ ያተኮረ ነው። ጥናቱ ዓይነታዊ ገላጭ (Qualitative Descriptive) የምርምር ስልትን የተከተለ ሲሆን ምልከታ፣ ቃለ መጠይቅ እና የቡድን ውይይት የመረጃ መሰብሰቢያ ዘዴዎችን ተግባራዊ አድርጓል። የተሰበሰቡ መረጃዎችን ትርጉም ለመፈከር የክዋኔ መርና የትዕምርት ንድፈ ሀሳቦች ጥቅም ላይ ውለዋል። በጥናቱም የሸንበተ ቆጮ ክዋኔ የተፈጸመበት መቼት፣ የክዋኔውን ሂደት፣ የከዋኞቹን የአከዋወን ስልት፣ ክዋኔውን ይመለከቱ የነበሩ ተሳታፊዎች ለክዋኔው የነበራቸውን ስሜት እንዲሁም የድርጊቶችና የቁሶች ውክልና ተተንትነዋል። የሸንበተ ቆጮ ሀገረሰባዊ እምነት ክዋኔ ለአባታዊ ሙት አማልክት መንፈስ የሚቀርብ የመስዋዕት ሥርዓተ ክዋኔ ነው። የሸካቾ አባወራ ካመረተው ምርት ላይ ምንም ሳይነካ፣ ለቤት ፍጆታ ቀድሞ ሳያውል፣ ሳይሸጥና ሳይለውጥ ለአባታዊ ሙት አማልክት መንፈስ መስዋዕት ያቀርባል። በምላሹ ደግሞ የአባታዊ ሙት አማልክት መንፈስ የተመረተውን ምርትና ህይወታቸውን እንደሚባርክ፣ ከፈጣሪ (ከየሮቺ) ጋር እንደሚያስታርቅ፣ በራዕይ ወይም በመንፈስ ተገልጦ ምድራዊ ቤተሰቦቹን እንደሚመክርና እና እንደሚገስጽ፣ የሚያጋጥሟቸውን የህይወት ውጣ ውረዶች እና ውጥረቶች መቋቋም እንዲችሉ ያግዛል ተብሎ በብሔረሰቡ ዘንድ እንደሚታመን በጥናቱ ተመላክቷል።