The Differences and Similarities of the Conceptualization of Sadness in Poetic and non-Poetic language: A Cognitive and Corpus-based Study

Authors
V. farshi 1
A. afrashi 2
1 Ph.D. Linguistics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Professor of Linguistics, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The current study investigates the similarities and differences of conceptualization of SADNESS in representative corpuses of ordinary (non-poetic) and poetic language. Analysing two separate corpuses (Persian Language Data Base and Farsi Language Corpus), the writers managed to identify and extract the relevant conceptual metaphors of SADNESS in both ordinary language and contemporary poetics respectively. Then according to Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1989), the most frequent generic and specific mappings of SADNESS in both ordinary and poetic language were determined. The study showed that almost all the generic metaphors of SADNESS occur in both types discourse, though some of them occur significantly in either the one or the other type. An analysis of the two sets of metaphors revealed several important differences between poetic and non-poetic conceptualization of SADNESS, including the higher degree of agentivity, positive conceptualization of SADNESS and unconventionality in poetic language compared to non-poetic genre. The finding that almost all the identified metaphors are found in poetic and non-poetic language supports Lakoff and Turner’s claim (1989) that there is nothing essentially different about poetic metaphors.


Keywords

Subjects

Humanities and Cultural Studies. [In Persian].
• Barcelona, A. (1986). “On the Concept of Depression in American English: A Cognitive approach” in Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses. Vol.12. Pp. 7-35.
• Gibbs, R. W. (1994). The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Gries, S. Th. & Stefanowitsch, A. (2006) .Corpus-based Approaches to Metaphor and Metanymy. Berlin/ New York: Moutin de Gruyter.
• Khodaparasti, F. (1996). The Comprehensive Encyclopedia for Synonymous and Antonymous Words of Persian Language. Shiraz: Fars Encyclopedia. [In Persian].
• Kovecses, Z. (1998). “Are There any Emotion-specific Metaphors?” .In A. Athanasiadou & E. Tabakowska (Eds.), Speaking of Emotions: Conceptualization and Expression (pp. 127-151). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruter.
• Kovecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kovecses, Z. (2008). “The Conceptual Structure of Happiness”. In: TISSARI, H. et al. (Ed.). Happiness: cognition, experience, language. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Pp. 131-143.
• Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Lakoff, G. (1993). “Contemporary Theory of Metaphor”. New York: ln Ortony, A. (Ed).Metaphor and Thought (2nd Ed.). Cambridge University Press. Pp. 202-251.
• Lakoff, G. (2009). “The Neural Theory of Metaphor”. In W. W. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (Pp. 17–38). New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Lakoff, G. & Turner, M. (1989). More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Malekian, M. & Sasani, F. (2013). “Cognitive expression of Sadness and Happiness in daily speaking”. Journal of Comparative Linguistic Studies, 3d year, Vol. 5 Pp. 113-139. [In Persian].
• Moloudi, A. S. (2016). Metaphorical Conceptualization of Feelings in Farsi l: A Cognitive Approach. Ph.D. Dissertation in General Linguistics: University of Tehran. [In Persian].
• Moradi, M. & Pirzad Moshak, Sh, (2013). “A Comparative and Contrastive study of Sadness Conceptualization in Persian and English” in English Linguistic Research (ELR). Vol. 2. No. 1.Pp. 107-112.
• Shamisa, S. (2011). Expressions and Meanings. Tehran: Payame-Noor Press. [In Persian].
• Sinding, M. (2002). “Assembling Spaces: The Conceptual Structure of Allegory”. Style 36 (3), Special Issue on Cognitive approaches to Figurative Language. Pp. 503-523.
• Sohrabi, Farkhonde & Maroof, Y. (2014). “The symbol of Sun in the poems, composed by Amal Dongol and Shafi’ee Kadkani”. Comparative Literature Studies. Forth Year, Vol. 14. 2014. Pp. 1-24. [In Persian].
• Wierzbicka, A. (2009). “Language and Metalanguage: key issues in emotion research”. Emotion review.Vol 1.No 1. Pp. 3-14.
• Yu, N. (1995). “Metaphorical Expressions of Anger and Happiness in Chinese and English” in. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity. 10(2). Pp. 59-92.
Language Related Research
Volume 11, Issue 1 - Serial Number 55
March and April 2020
Pages 193-217