Melting intestines, red hearts, and scattering eyes: exploring embodiment in the Efik feeling lexica

Abstract Languages feature labels used to name various feeling states, referred to as emotion lexica. Language-specific linguistic features patterned after culturally-shaped templates such as somatic referencing, make each emotion lexicon unique. This study investigates somatic referencing in the emotion lexicon of the Efik ethnolinguistic group obtained through ethnographic linguistic fieldwork in South-eastern Nigeria. Our analysis revealed that in the Efik language, nearly fifty body-centered lexemes serve as the primary labels for a variety of feeling states. The identified emotion terms incorporated specific body parts, various parts of the face, as well as the generalized body. In each instance, the body referent constituted part of the internal structure of the feeling label. Our findings complement existing emotion research examining the cultural scripting of emotion experiences as well as their expression and communication.