The Role of Culture in Construction and Selection of Conceptual Metaphor of Hijab in Persian Cultural Discourse Based on Discourse Theory of Metaphor

Abstract

Conceptual metaphors reflect the cognitive insight and the belief system of a particular culture; that is, the metaphorical conceptualization of one word is based on its cultural background. From the perspective of discourse theory of metaphor, in order to examine the metaphors and explain them in discourse, the cognitive linguistics should be integrated with corpus analysis and pragmatics. This could be done through close reading of the texts in which the metaphors occur, and finding the evidence that these texts offer for the intentions of the speakers in using these metaphors. The Persian cultural texts selected for this research are the books "Hijab from the perspective of Quran and Sunnah", "Hijab and its Role in Mental Health", "Hijab: Islamic Government's Responsibilities and Authority" and "Ways to Strengthen Hijab Culture". In this study, with the aim of investigation of the role of culture in production and selection of metaphor in cultural Persian discourse, the cultural Persian discourse is studied and the conceptual metaphors of the concept "hijab" are identified. The analysis of 70 cases of identified metaphor related to concept of "hijab" shows that 'plant' domain is the most frequent source domain for conceptualization of "hijab in cultural Persian discourse. The analysis indicates the profound influence of religion, one aspect of culture, on the metaphor construction and choice. The use of these metaphors by the author of the text is motivated by Islamic worldview and Islamic religious teachings (Quran and Hadiths).

Keywords

• culture
• conceptual metaphor
• hijab
• discourse theory of metaphor
• persian discourse