Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian
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Farzad Sharifian✝
Abstract
Common Persian expressions containing cheshm ‘eye’ convey conceptualizations of emotions, including love, envy, and greed, as well as denote character traits such as naiveté and willfulness. This body part is also associated with a Persian cultural schema that equates ‘eye do’ or ‘eye hit’, with ‘casting a charm or spell’ on someone, believed to invite bad luck in the form of sickness or loss. Overall, Persian ‘eye’ expressions do not reflect the metaphor understanding is seeing as a dominant conceptualization in the everyday use of speakers. The findings of this study provide further support for the claim that there is close interaction among language, body, and culture. In other words, it confirms the position that figurative meanings based on the body do not draw their power from an assumption that there is but one natural way in which we interact physically with our environment.
Abstract
Common Persian expressions containing cheshm ‘eye’ convey conceptualizations of emotions, including love, envy, and greed, as well as denote character traits such as naiveté and willfulness. This body part is also associated with a Persian cultural schema that equates ‘eye do’ or ‘eye hit’, with ‘casting a charm or spell’ on someone, believed to invite bad luck in the form of sickness or loss. Overall, Persian ‘eye’ expressions do not reflect the metaphor understanding is seeing as a dominant conceptualization in the everyday use of speakers. The findings of this study provide further support for the claim that there is close interaction among language, body, and culture. In other words, it confirms the position that figurative meanings based on the body do not draw their power from an assumption that there is but one natural way in which we interact physically with our environment.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Introduction 1
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Part 1. European perspectives
- The relevance of embodiment to lexical and collocational meaning 23
- Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions of emotion 41
- Contrasting body parts 71
- head and eye in German and Indonesian figurative uses 93
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Part 2. East Asian perspectives
- Speech organs and linguistic activity/function in Chinese 117
- Inner and outer body parts 149
- A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions 171
-
Part 3. Middle Eastern and North African perspectives
- Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian 197
- Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic 213
- The apocalypse happens when the feet take the position of the head 241
- Index 257
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. European perspectives
- The relevance of embodiment to lexical and collocational meaning 23
- Dynamic body parts in Estonian figurative descriptions of emotion 41
- Contrasting body parts 71
- head and eye in German and Indonesian figurative uses 93
-
Part 2. East Asian perspectives
- Speech organs and linguistic activity/function in Chinese 117
- Inner and outer body parts 149
- A cultural-linguistic look at Japanese ‘eye’ expressions 171
-
Part 3. Middle Eastern and North African perspectives
- Conceptualizations of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian 197
- Figurative dimensions of 3ayn ‘eye’ in Tunisian Arabic 213
- The apocalypse happens when the feet take the position of the head 241
- Index 257
