A Cognitive Analysis of White Colour Metaphorization in Algerian Arabic

Abstract

This study explores the use of white verbal colour metaphors in the Algerian context. It seeks to unravel how the use of conceptual metaphors symbolises white colour. Data informants were eight native speakers of the dialect under scrutiny, and the corpus of the study consisted of 14 verbal metaphors. The researcher adopted Lakoff and Johnsons’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980) and Charteris Black’s Critical Metaphor Analysis (2004) to analyse data. The findings revealed that a very high proportion of the examples are mapped onto positive domains in the Algerian culture, such as spiritual purity. Negative connotations of white in Algeria included drugs, anger, and poison. Some findings of this study assimilated previously obtained conclusions in the field. The researchers linked this to shared factors such as culture, language, economy, and history. About differences, they emanate from the Algerian community's various cultural, historical, and social backgrounds, including the long colonial history of both France and Turkey in Algeria. However, the differences in conceptualising concepts in the east and west of Algeria can be traced back to the vast distance that separates the two (over 1.800 km).