Fist in the Worldview: Czech Language, Gestures, and Czech Sign Language

This thesis examines the interpretation and reconstruction of the linguistic image of the fist across three communicative codes: Czech language, gestures, and Czech Sign Language. It draws on the principles of cognitive and cultural linguistics and adopts a comparative approach that makes it possible to trace which semantic domains are associated with the fist across these systems despite their differing modalities. The analysis of the Czech lexeme pěst 'fist' is based on dictionary sources, corpus data, and phraseology, and aims to reconstruct and delineate the core semantic domains associated with this concept. These domains are subsequently examined in the field of nonverbal communication, where the fist is studied both as a salient component of semantic gestures and as a cultural symbol. In Czech Sign Language, the fist is analysed as a salient and semantically motivated handshape (handshapes A and sA) that occurs both in conventionalised lexical signs and in the productive lexicon. Particular attention is paid to the analysis, categorisation, and interpretation of lexicalised signs with respect to their visual motivation and their grounding in embodied experience. The results of the study show that meanings associated with the fist in all three codes cluster primarily around the concepts of...