In Search of Methodology for Analyzing Verbal Zoosemy: The Case of English Prison Slang to Rat

Abstract

Verbal zoosemy – which is becoming a more and more attractive area of research – is a mechanism that in comparison to nominal zoosemy poses more difficulty for the linguists of today since the process involves the combination of the general metaphorical schema and metonymic transfer. What is also important is the fact that verbal zoosemy is a phenomenon that may be found not merely in standard languages, but also in their non-standard varieties, such as, for example, English prison slang, which is a particularly rich source of animal metaphors, both nominal and verbal, due to its particularly highly metaphorical nature. Nevertheless, this aspect of prison slang seems to be apparently neglected, if not altogether ignored. The paper is an attempt to uncover the main twists and turns of verbal zoosemy functioning in English prison slang, employing a cognitively couched methodological framework based on selected elements of cognitive linguistics and conceptual semantics.