FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN EKEGUSII IDIOMS: ITS DIFFERENT TYPES AND ITS MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE IN AN AGGLUTINATING LANGUAGE OF KENYA

Abstract

If there is one genre in language that exhibits special features in its
compositeness, it is idioms. Their composition, whether it be a string of words
or just one word (in agglutinating languages like Ekegusii, a Bantu language of
Kenya), is typically based on figurative language such as metaphors, metonyms,
similes, hyperboles, understatements, and euphemisms. Ekegusii examples
include the following: a) gotwera amate (literally ‘to spit saliva on’, which is a
metaphor-based idiom meaning ‘to bless someone or something’); b) goaka
ekeranya (literally ‘to cane someone’, which is a metonymy-based idiom
meaning ‘to be nominated for a specific task’ or ‘to tell someone something
vexing, be it true or false’); c) koragera buna omosamaro (literally ‘to eat like
someone from the Bosamaro clan’, which is a simile-based idiom meaning ‘to
eat a lot’). This paper illustrates the different types of figurative language
contained in Ekegusii idioms and shows, through some idioms formed only of
verb forms, that the very definition of idiom as a group of words cannot be
enough to define idiom in an agglutinating language.