Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to conduct a cognitive linguistic analysis of trauma in Andrew Niikondo’s Are you a person or a ghost and Tshiwa Trudie Amulungu’s Taming my elephant. Cognitive linguistics is a scientific sphere that studies the knowledge about the world formed in the human mind, its inner structures, representative methods, and regularities. Cognitive linguistics was examined in three schemata: link, path and balance. The schema theory assumes that the reader of a literary text must possess background knowledge of a literary text to enhance comprehension. The trauma theory was used to complement the schema theory. This study followed the qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. A content analysis checklist was used as a research instrument; the research data was collected through reading the two autobiographies. A text selection criterion was used to select the two texts that were studied. The two texts were selected among a collection of over thirty Namibian authored autobiographies because the texts outline the content of the problem statement of this study as both authors recount their liberation struggle experiences, cultural shocks, both in exile and after independence, with honesty, emotion, and humour. The study findings revealed that the use of lexical expressions in autobiographical writing can assist in the relieving of traumatic emotions that affect individuals. The study revealed that the image schemas provided for the retrieval of liberation struggle memories of both Amulungu and Niikondo as they narrate their path, link and balance representations of their stories. Mental schemas enable figurative reasoning. The study also revealed that discourse performs persuasion in keeping readers to continue reading the texts. It was concluded that the language used in lexical expressions can predict several aspects of human behaviour. The study further concluded that figurative language is a conduit for imaginative memories that help readers to comprehend autobiographical authors’ viewpoints. While the study acknowledges that the writing of Namibian autobiography has been widely conducted in the English language. The study recommends the translation of these texts of their initial writing in local Namibian languages that can now then be translated into the English language or vice-versa. There are other forms of figurative meaning that cannot clearly be expressed in English as they would in local Namibian languages since the autobiographies are vessels of Namibian culture and histories.
