From Ucing-Ucingan to Bebentengan: Metaphor and Identity in Traditional Sundanese Games

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

cognitive onomastics; Sundanese traditional games; conceptual metaphor; cultural naming; local identity

Abstract

This research investigates the names of traditional Sundanese games through the lens of cognitive onomastics, a branch of onomastics that views naming as a cognitive construction shaped by culture, experience, and conceptual metaphors. Traditional games such as gatrik, oray-orayan, ucing-ucingan, sondah, and bebentengan serve not only as recreational activities but also as representations of how the Sundanese people conceptualize nature, the body, animals, and social relations. The study aims to identify the linguistic, semantic, and metaphorical patterns embedded in these game names and to interpret the cultural meanings behind their naming processes. Employing a qualitative method, data were collected through literature review, interviews with cultural practitioners, and limited field observations. The analysis was conducted within the framework of cognitive onomastics, focusing on conceptual metaphor mapping, cognitive categorization, and prototype associations. The findings reveal that Sundanese game names are largely based on (1) animal metaphors (ucing-ucingan, oray-orayan), (2) associations with natural objects (gatrik, sondah), and (3) representations of social and defensive activities (bebentengan). These results indicate that game names function as “cognitive maps” that record how Sundanese society interprets reality through play. This study contributes to the development of cognitive onomastics in Indonesia while enriching our understanding of the interplay between language, culture, and local identity.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nandang Rusnandar
AU  - P. Suwardi Alamsyah
AU  - Lina Herlinawati
AU  - Basori Basori
AU  - Ai Kurniati
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - From Ucing-Ucingan to Bebentengan: Metaphor and Identity in Traditional Sundanese Games
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 132
EP  - 149
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_13
ID  - Rusnandar2026
ER  -