Abstract
This paper attempts to explain convergence and divergence of Arabic and English idioms in view of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), one of the landmarks in cognitive linguistics which holds that our conceptual system is based on a group of mental metaphorical images that determine our way of thinking and influence our experience of the world. The paper specifically focuses on idioms related to patience in both languages. It has been found out that patience idioms in both languages emanate from very similar conceptual metaphors: PATIENCE IS HARDNESS, PATIENCE IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, and PATIENCE IS SPACIOUNESS; multiple differences, however, have been found to originate basically from cultural/linguistic variance. This study also explores how analyzing Arabic and English ‘patience’ idioms within CMT framework can have significant implications for L2 language learning.
Highlights
1.1 Overview of the StudyThis paper seeks to compare the idiomatic expressions of patience in English and Arabic and motivate their attestation in both universal bodily as well as cultural terms within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003)
This paper attempts to explain convergence and divergence of Arabic and English idioms in view of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), one of the landmarks in cognitive linguistics which holds that our conceptual system is based on a group of mental metaphorical images that determine our way of thinking and influence our experience of the world
This study explores how analyzing Arabic and English „patience‟ idioms within CMT framework can have significant implications for L2 language learning
Summary
This paper seeks to compare the idiomatic expressions of patience in English and Arabic and motivate their attestation in both universal bodily as well as cultural terms within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003). The paper provides a conceptual-metaphoric analysis of the relevant idioms and explores how it can offer a great explanatory power of idioms and the significant implications for L2 language learning. Sub-section1.2 presents idiom definition and characteristics that set it out as a peculiar linguistic unit. Sub-section 1.3 explains how CMT can serve as a handy tool for motivating idiom structure, long believed to be opaque and arbitrary. The final sub-section of this introduction explains the rationale for the study
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