Why do Czech speakers have both duše (the soul) and duch (the spirit, a ghost)?

Abstract

Despite the genetic connection between the linguistic forms duše (the soul) and duch (the spirit, a ghost), the relationship between the two denoted concepts is complicated in the contemporary Czech linguistic image of the world. Duše and duch partly overlap in some contexts, but they may be completely different in other cases; values associated with them may differ as well.

The contribution analyses shared and different features of conceptualizations of duše and duch in speakers of Czech and it focuses specifically on duše and duch related to human beings. The analysis is based on data from corpora of written Czech.

Special attention is paid to duše and duch in combination with adjectives and in selected constructions with prepositions.

Keywords

• soul
• spirit
• Czech language
• adjective
• preposition
• linguistic image of the world
• metaphor
• metonymy