THE AKAMBA FOLK THEORY OF NGOὸ ‘ANGER’

George Mbithi Mutuku

Abstract


The research in this paper is about the folk theory of ngoὸ ‘anger’ among the Akamba people. The Akamba have several words for anger: ũthatu (anger), ũthilĩku (anger which sometimes involves cursing), ngoo (anger; but the word ngoo also has other meanings, that is, ‘heart’, ‘nausea’, ‘desire’, and ‘banana flower’), woo (anger, pain), and nzika (anger; but nzika also means ‘doubt’ in some regions of Ũkambanĩ). They have many other words, which they use to imply ‘anger’ but which in themselves do not mean anger. These include: kũng’athia (an expression of being stiff from intense anger), ũũ (bitter), ũlalako (irritation, a hot feeling that people get when they eat hot pepper), ũkaatu (unpalatable taste), kũtangwa (to be choked) and kwĩw’a makindi (to feel as if there are internal lumps that are making you bulge). The Akamba anger word analyzed here is ngoὸ ‘anger’. The choice of ngoὸ ‘anger’ is informed by my findings that it is a reference to the central organ, ngoo ‘heart’, where the Akamba believe that the emotion takes place.

 

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Keywords


Ngoὸ ‘anger’, logic, Ego, frame and frame elements

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References


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