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Making sense of indigenous knowledge systems: the case of traditional Chinese medicine

Cognitive linguists posit that all aspects of language are meaningful, and that meaning is motivated and structured by the nature of human experience in the environment. In this article I propose that indigenous knowledge systems are similarly motivated and can be productively analysed using a cognitive linguistic approach. I also suggest that this is a particularly urgent need in regard to indigenous or traditional medical systems which are still widely practised but often insufficiently understood in the modern biomedical context. I use the cognitive linguistic approach to analyse some central models and key terms in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The analysis suggests that image schemas play an important role in the structure of TCM conceptualisations, models and categorisations, which in turn motivate the semantic structures which underpin TCM terminology. As a consequence of the complex semantic networks which result from underlying conceptualisations, TCM terms can have specific reference for the TCM practitioner in spite of their extensive polysemy. This research suggests that the cognitive linguistic approach offers some excellent tools for analysing the complex conceptualisations of traditional medical systems and could be helpful in supporting dialogue between practitioners of traditional and modern medicine.