The Role of Body-Part Names in Expressing Cultural Concepts: An Analysis of Persian Colloquial Expression

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
reza kheirabadi 1
Masume Kheirabadi 2
1 Ph.D. in Linguistics, Associate professor of Organization for Educational Research and Planning (OERP)
2 Organization for Educational Research and Planning
Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine cultural notions in Persian idioms whose structure includes at least one body-part term. The methodological approach is descriptive-analytical, and data were collected through library sources. Accordingly, two works were analyzed: “The Dictionary of Proverbs and Common Expressions in Persian” and “The Dictionary of Persian, English, and French Proverbs and Idioms,” and, ultimately, four hundred and twenty idioms were identified. The data were analyzed within the framework of cultural linguistics (Sharyfian, 2017). According to the results, the body-parts Head, Heart, Hand, and Eye show the highest frequencies in the constructions of the idioms under study. The head as a body-part in Persian idioms conceptualizes cultural categories such as cleverness, civility, danger, and certain emotions. The body-parts heart and nose play a prominent role in conceptualizing cultural notions of emotions. The eye, associated with the notions of respect, fear, and anger, while the body-parts of hand is employed to express negative reactions.
Keywords
Body-Part Names
Idiom
Persian
Cultural Concepts
Cultural Linguistics