The concentric architecture of the Basque weather lexicon: A cognitive-cultural analysis
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Published
16-06-2026
Kepa Dieguez Barahona
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2390-251X
Abstract
This article analyses the Basque ethnometeorological lexicon as a motivated system, challenging the view of language as arbitrary signs. Using an integrated framework of Embodied Cognition, Cultural Cognition, Usage-Based Linguistics and the Concentric Theory of Lexical Creation, it examines how this vocabulary arises from perception, culture and communication. A cognitive-structural analysis reveals a highly organised lexicon structured in six concentric circles of metaphorical creation, radiating from the human body to material culture, food, animals, mythology and religion. The lexicon is profoundly iconic, featuring extensive onomatopoeia, and exhibits high granularity, reportedly distinguishing over twelve types of rain. These findings support a moderate linguistic relativity, suggesting that the lexicon actively shapes a community’s environmental perception. We conclude that such specialised vocabularies are dynamic archives, preserving traditional ecological knowledge and embodying unique ways of constructing reality.
How to Cite
Dieguez Barahona, Kepa. 2026. “The Concentric Architecture of the Basque Weather Lexicon: A Cognitive-Cultural Analysis”. Anuario Del Seminario De Filología Vasca "Julio De Urquijo", June. https://doi.org/10.1387/asju.28090.
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Palmer, Gary B. 1996. Towards a theory of cultural linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press (Spanish edn. Lingüística cultural. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2000).
Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco. 1974. Lingüística estructural. Madrid: Gredos.
Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot (Spanish edn. Curso de lingüística general. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1945).
Sharifian, Farzad. 2017. Cultural linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Slobin, Dan I. 1996. From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking”. In John J. Gumperz & Stephen C. Levinson (eds.) Rethinking linguistic relativity, 70–96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taub, Sarah F. 2001. Language from the body: Iconicity and metaphor in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomasello, Michael. 1999. The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Whorf, Benjamin L. 1956. Language, thought and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wilcox, Sherman. 2004. Cognitive iconicity: Conceptual spaces, meaning, and gesture in signed language. Cognitive Linguistics 15(2). 119–147. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2004.005
Barandiaran, José Miguel de. 1972. Obras completas. Bilbao: La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca.
Barsalou, Lawrence W. 1999. Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22 (4). 577–609.
Barsalou, Lawrence W. 2008. Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology 59(1). 617–645. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639
Berlin, Brent. 1992. Ethnobiological Classification: Principles of Categorization of Plants and Animals in Traditional Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bernárdez, Enrique. 2008. El lenguaje como cultura. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1994. Raisons pratiques. Sur la theorie de láction. Paris: Édition du Seuil.
Bross, Fabian. 2024. What is iconicity? The view from sign languages. Sign Language and Linguistics 27(1). 73–102. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.22003.bro
Brown, Penelope. 2008. Up, down, and across the land: Landscape terms, spatial language, and cosmological reference in Tzeltal. Language Sciences 30(2 3). 151–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2006.12.003
Burenhult, Niclas & Stephen C. Levinson. 2008. Language and landscape: A cross-linguistic perspective. Language Sciences 30(2-3). 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2006.12.028
Caro Baroja, Julio. 1984. Sobre la religión antigua y el calendario del Pueblo Vasco. San Sebastián: Txertoa.
Casasanto, Daniel. 2017. The hierarchical structure of metaphor. In Barbara Dancygier (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of cognitive linguistics, 1–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dieguez Barahona, Kepa. 2021. Euskal lexiko meteorologikoaren azterketa. University of the Basque Country (EHU) doctoral dissertation. http://hdl.handle.net/10810/53666
Dieguez Barahona, Kepa. 2022. Euskal lexiko meteorologikoaren azterketa: kultura eta kognizioa. ASJU 56(1). 271–299. https://doi.org/10.1387/asju.23359
Emmorey, Karen. 2014. Iconicity as structure mapping. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369(1651). 20130301. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0301
Euskaltzaindia. 2008. Euskararen Herri Hizkeren Atlasa. I. Lexikoa (EHHA). Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia.
Fauconnier, Gilles & Mark Turner. 2002. The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Books.
Gumperz, John J. & Stephen C. Levinson (eds.). 1996. Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hutchins, Edwin. 1995. Cognition in the wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide. 2004. Motion events in Basque narratives. In Susanne Foster Cohen (ed.), Cognitive linguistics and language acquisition, 123–152. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide & Javier Valenzuela. 2021. Lenguaje y cognición. Madrid: Editorial Síntesis.
Iza Erviti, Aneider. 2012. Resemblance operations and conceptual complexity in animal metaphors. Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas 7. 81–92. https://doi.org/10.4995/rlyla.2012.1133
Kövecses, Zoltán. 2002. Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Zoltán. 2015. Where metaphors come from: Reconsidering context in metaphor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krupnik, Igor. 2010. Siku: Knowing our ice. In Igor Krupnik, Claudio Aporta, Shari Gearheard, Gita J. Laidler & Lene Kielsen Holm (eds.), SIKU: Knowing our ice, 1–20. Dordrecht: Springer.
Lakoff, George & Mark Turner. 1989. More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lamb, Sydney M. 1999. Pathways of the brain: The neurocognitive basis of language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1990. Concept, image, and symbol: The cognitive basis of grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lucy, John A. 1992. Grammatical categories and cognition: A case study of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mark, David M., Andrew G. Turk, Niclas Burenhult & David Stea. 2011. Landscape in language: An introduction. In David M. Mark, Andrew G. Turk, Niclas Burenhult & David Stea (eds.), Landscape in Language: Transdisciplinary perspectives, 1–24. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.4.02mar
Mitxelena, Koldo. 1987–2005. Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia – Diccionario General Vasco. Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia.
Occhino, Corrine, Benjamin Anible, Erin Wilkinson & Jill P. Morford. 2017. Iconicity is in the eye of the beholder: How language experience affects perceived iconicity. Gesture 16(1). 100–126. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.16.1.04occ
Palmer, Gary B. 1996. Towards a theory of cultural linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press (Spanish edn. Lingüística cultural. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2000).
Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco. 1974. Lingüística estructural. Madrid: Gredos.
Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot (Spanish edn. Curso de lingüística general. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1945).
Sharifian, Farzad. 2017. Cultural linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Slobin, Dan I. 1996. From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking”. In John J. Gumperz & Stephen C. Levinson (eds.) Rethinking linguistic relativity, 70–96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taub, Sarah F. 2001. Language from the body: Iconicity and metaphor in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomasello, Michael. 1999. The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Whorf, Benjamin L. 1956. Language, thought and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wilcox, Sherman. 2004. Cognitive iconicity: Conceptual spaces, meaning, and gesture in signed language. Cognitive Linguistics 15(2). 119–147. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2004.005
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This works is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.