Body, meaning and conceptual complexes

Abstract

This article examines the polysemy of sunqu ‘heart’ in Chanka Quechua from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective. Based on an elicited corpus, the study proposes a semantic network that accounts for multiple senses organised around a core bodily meaning. The analysis shows that these senses do not arise solely through isolated metaphorical and metonymic processes, but also through more elaborated conceptual complexes. In particular, the study provides evidence of underexplored mechanisms in Indigenous American languages, such as patterns of conceptual interaction and the presence of metonymic chains. By situating these findings within the framework of conceptual complexes, the article contributes to a more holistic understanding of polysemy and of the cognitive mechanisms that account for its nature at the conceptual level, based on the analysis of Quechua, a Peruvian Indigenous language.