Language, conceptualization, and cultural linguistics. The role of culture in the formation of cognitive schemas in languages

Abstract

The relationship between language, culture, and cognition is a key aspect within the interdisciplinary feild of cultural linguistics research. It attempts to describe how language reflects and shows cultural norms, values, and beliefs, throught cognitive frameworks like conceptualization, schema, and categorization. Meanwhile, studies in cognitive linguistics also have shown that language is formed based on conceptualizations and schemas directly influenced by culture. This paper, in its theoretical section, reviews the key concepts of cultural linguistics and its background. Additionally, it presents a case study on the Persian language, aiming to examine the cultural conceptualizations of “politeness” and the cultural schema of Iranian compliment Ta’arof by reviewing and analysing various examples. The analysis indicates that selecting and using specific language features can serve as indicators of conceptualizations or of specific cognitive schemas rooted in culture, consequently confirming the notion that culture significantly shapes language.

Keywords

• language
• conceptualization
• cultural linguistics
• persian language
• ta’arof (persian politeness)