Conceptualizing love as a force in mugithi songs: A cognitive linguistics approach

Mugithi songs play an important role in Gìkùyù cultural preservation by conveying social meanings through metaphorical expression. Despite this linguistic richness, limited research has examined metaphors of love conceptualized as a force in mugithi songs from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Most studies on Kenyan music have focused on socio-cultural and historical concerns, leaving cognitive analyses underexplored. Against this backdrop, this study employed the principle of conceptual mappings within Cognitive Linguistics to analyse metaphors of love as a force in mugithi songs. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Primary data were collected from 44 purposively sampled Gìkùyù native speakers selected by gender and age. An interview schedule elicited interpretations of metaphorical expressions in the songs. The songs were also purposively sampled based on richness in metaphoricity. The Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU) was used to identify metaphors. The identified metaphors were translated into English and presented in tabular form. Eight metaphors conceptualizing love as a force were identified. The findings reveal that the abstract emotion of love is understood through concrete domains. The study concludes that mugithi songs reflect structured cognitive patterns in conceptualization of love and contributes to cognitive linguistics and Gìkùyù music discourse.