Towards a grammar of the senses: Perception in Lushese

The present volume presents the Eastern Bantu language Lushese and focuses primarily on the meaning and use of the verbs of perception. The linguistic documentation of this endangered African language spoken on the Ssesse Islands is based on fieldwork conducted in Uganda between 2009 and 2011. After an introduction on theoretical and methodological issues concerning language and perception, the second chapter includes a sketch grammar of Lushese. Chapter three discusses the body as a source for grammar and meaning, chapter four presents the linguistic expression of emotion and chapter five explores the links between language, perception and cognition. The sixth chapter gives an overview of linguistic expressions within the domain of social interaction. The last chapter serves as a summary and highlights the relevance of the linguistic examples in Lushese within the scientific discourse of language and perception as well as within the discourse of language documentation in Africa. The basic word list of Lushese is included as Appendix; the vocabulary allows a comparison of Lushese with Luganda and two linguistic varieties of Lusoga.