Metaphorical application and interpretation of animal terms: A contrastive study of English and Persian

The present research adopts a contrastive and descriptive approach aiming at discovering the reason for similarities and differences between the metaphorical meanings of animal terms between the two languages of English and Persian. For this purpose the most popular animal metaphors in both languages are compared and contrasted. The animals are mostly those with which we have close contact in our daily lives. It is believed that if we could learn how metaphors have originated across languages we could find some explanations for similarities and differences of the metaphorical meanings across languages and cultures. Contrasting the origins of metaphorical concepts is believed to be an appropriate framework for this goal. The results of this study reflect how English and Persian people conceptualize their surrounding world across cultures and how they lexicalize them. It is found that although the physical characteristics and behaviour of animals are the basis for the metaphorical applications or interpretations of animal terms, they are not the only determining factor. The other factors in metaphorical meanings of animal names are culture, language-specificity, and also those behavioural characteristics of animals which are attributed to culture (culturally salient features).