Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

The ‘Foot/Leg’

Series: 

Over the past two decades, linguistic research into embodiment has paid considerable attention to the human body and its individual parts, particularly within typological and cognitively oriented studies. This volume continues that line of inquiry with a specific focus on the lower limb. It shows that, like other major body parts, the lower limb serves as a highly productive source domain for a wide range of conceptualisations across the world’s languages and cultures. More generally, the book contributes to the growing body of work at the intersection of cognition, language, and culture. It also engages with embodiment theory, which posits that human cognition and language are fundamentally grounded in sensory-motor experience.

Contributors are: Kelsie Pattillo, Jaime Peña, Gema Silva, Franklin Espinoza, Marleny Rodríguez, Małgorzata Waśniewska, Rosanna Tramutoli, Izabela Will, Joseph Jaoko Ochieng, Annika Tjuka, Cristina Martins Fargetti, Carmen Lúcia Reis Rodrigues, Judit Baranyiné Kóczy, Iwona Kraska-Szlenk, Yi Tie, Yongxian Luo, and Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho.
Copyright Year:
2026
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73210-0
Publication:
10 Nov 2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73209-4
Publication:
20 Nov 2025
Cover Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

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Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho, Ph.D (2017), Sao Paulo State University (UNESP). He is Professor of Linguistics at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo. He has published a book on Deni language phonology and papers on Deni grammar.

Iwona Kraska-Szlenk, Ph.D. (1995), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is Professor at the University of Warsaw. She has authored books on general linguistics and Swahili and edited multi-authored volumes, including Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage (Benjamins, 2020).
List of Tables
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors

Introduction: The Overview of the Volume
 Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho and Iwona Kraska-Szlenk

Part 1 General Studies



1 Naming the foot/leg: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective
 Kelsie Pattillo

2 The Conceptualizations Of ‘Leg/Foot’ from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
 Małgorzata Waśniewska

Part 2 Case Studies from America



3 A Comparative Analysis of Lower Body-Part Terms and Their Semantic Extensions among Some Peruvian Indigenous Languages
 Jaime Peña, Gema Silva, Franklin Espinoza and Marleny Rodríguez

4 About Foot-Leg Terms in Juruna and Xipaya
 Cristina Martins Fargetti and Carmen Lúcia Reis Rodrigues

Part 3 Case Studies from Africa



5 Unyawo alunampumulo ‘The Foot Has No Rest’: A Semantic Description of ‘Foot’ and ‘Leg’ Expressions in Zulu
 Rosanna Tramutoli

6 Foot/Leg in Dholuo
 Joseph Jaoko Ochieng

7 An Executive Part of the Body: LEG/FOOT in Hausa
 Izabela Will

Part 4 Case Studies from Asia



8 The Representation of Foot/Leg Polysemy in the Mind: Insights from Vietnamese Body Part Extensions with chân
 Annika Tjuka

9 “A Thousand-Mile Journey Starts with One Step”: Metaphorical Mappings of the “Foot” in Chinese
 Yi Tie and Yongxian Luo

Part 5 Case Studies from Europe



10 Metonymic Chains of Leg for Stability and Leg for Motion: A Perspective from Hungarian
 Judit Baranyiné Kóczy

11 Usage Patterns of Polish noga ‘Leg/Foot’ and Its Diminutive nóżka: A Corpus Study
 Iwona Kraska-Szlenk

12 Leg(s) in Brazilian Portuguese: Metaphoric and Metonymic Processes
 Mateus Cruz Maciel de Carvalho

Index
Researches and students across the field of cognitive and cultural linguistics, and all interested in embodied cognition, conceptualization and language-culture connection.
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