In this project I try to apply theories from cognitive linguistics, mainly the idea of "conceptual blending" as outlined by Fauconnier and Turner in their book "The Way We Think" (2002). Arguments and metaphors, they hold, can be analyzed as conceptual blends. In an article from 2005, Edward Slingerland connects this theory with the concept of "somatic markers" or "gut feelings" as developed by the neurologist Antonio Damasio (1994). Slingerland argues that the somatic markers are important when presenting an argument. We do not only rely on the purely rational capacities of our listeners when we argue, but by connecting our arguments to somatic markers we appeal to the feelings of those we try to convince.
Two basic arguments in my paper is 1) that rituals can be analyzed as conceptual blends, and 2) that an important function of many rituals is that they reinforce certain basic feelings, thereby disposing the performer of a specific ritual to follow the norms that underlie the current interpretation of that ritual. As an example I use the controversy on the Muslim salat among the Gayo people of Sumatra, that John R. Bowen describes in his works (1984, 1993).
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