The paper discusses the role of metaphor in the name construction of sea creatures among Akan (Mfantse) people within the purview of onomasiology. The role of metaphor in the naming of sea creatures has been understudied. This paper is a step towards filling the gap by analyzing the role metaphor plays in constructing naming units for sea creatures. This study has a qualitative research design. Twelve (12) fishers were purposely sampled, three (3) each from four fishing towns: Anomabo, Apam, Sekondi (Sekunde) and Moree (Mowure). The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. The paper finds that likeness between sea creatures and static and/or dynamic entities triggers names for sea creatures. It concludes that, metaphor is employed to achieve simpler forms for salient features, communicate non-codable salient features and condense multiple features in the quest to name sea creatures among the Mfantse people. Through these vital roles, a general metaphor Sea Creatures are Land Animals/Entities is realized. The encyclopedic knowledge, which the Mfantse people have about their environment is realized through their naming strategies. It is recommended that the linguistics of naming percepts in indigenous Akan occupations be explored further.

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This paper investigates metonymic expressions that express MATURITY in the Mfantse dialect of Akan. Studies in English and Akan have demonstrated that, through metonym (and metaphor), concrete concepts and experiential realities like the heartbeat, redness of the eyes, and hotness of the skin serve as grounding for the conception of abstract concepts like fear, joy, sadness, and anger (Kövecses, 1986, 1990, 1991; Agyekum, 2018). This study analyzes the features that qualify a subject for maturity among the Mfantse people which is an understudied topic. Similar to the conception of emotions, concrete concepts, as well as experiential realities, are used to express the mature state of an entity. Thus, expressions of maturity encode cognitive underpinnings that reflect the experience, culture, and the environment of the speakers of the language. The study uses a qualitative design. Fifteen Akan speakers were purposively selected for this study. We used semi-structured interviews to collect data. Findings indicate that concrete concepts, as well as experiential realities like CHANGE-OF-STATE and CROP FLORESCENCE, serve as grounding to mark the maturity of a subject. The effect of maturity is used as the vehicle to access the subject of maturity. It was concluded that, according to the Mfantse people, maturity is an innate trait that is marked by signs, transition, deeds, and relationships. This study collects, indexes, catalogues, and describes metonymic expressions of maturity, and opens up an opportunity to probe further into the role of difference in the sociolinguistic real-time use of these everyday metonyms (and metaphors) as well as the dynamism of metonymy in everyday use of the Mfantse people.