Antonomasia and Personal Naming among the Ndebele of Lupane

Abstract

Antonomasia refers to the semantic mechanism of replacing a proper name with an allusion or ascription that denotes a perceived set of traits. This paper aims to examine how antonomasia as a phenomenon is used in personal naming, as driven by cognitive metonymic and metaphoric mechanisms. It seeks to explore how the Ndebele conceptualise different members of society and consequently name them. From a Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) perspective, the study employs autoethnography and focus group discussion to study a group of adults in a rural community, exploring how antonomasia has been used in their adult-acquired names. Convenience sampling techniques were used to identify twelve participants who were put into three groups based on their social and physical proximity. Sources of antonomasia in personal naming include perceived physical or behavioural qualities, one’s life history and experiences, as well as one’s speech habits. In other instances, antonomasia is based on metaphorisation that is founded on association and transfer of semantic conceptual structure. The study concludes that antonomasia is a primary naming strategy among the Ndebele, especially about names acquired at adulthood, where one dimension of a person’s character becomes a typical representation of who they are.