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Head metaphors and metonymies in two dialects of Arabic

A cognitive linguistic approach

 | King Saud University
Published online: 15 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00228.alg
Abstract
Studies on body parts are pervasive in many languages and cultures. The current research selects for study head metaphors and metonymies in Saudi Arabic (SA), and compares them to their Tunisian Arabic (TA) counterparts ( (2014). Body parts we live by in language and culture: The raS ‘head’ and yidd ‘hand’ in Tunisian Arabic. In Iwona Kraska-Szlenk and Mathias Brenzinger (Eds.), The body in language: Comparative studies of linguistic embodiment (pp. 224–259). Leiden & Boston: BRILL. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The objective of the study is to test whether SA and TA as belonging to the same Arab-Islamic civilization, show the same head metaphors and metonymies. To do so, data for SA are collected from various sources by the researcher while data for TA were available in (2014). Body parts we live by in language and culture: The raS ‘head’ and yidd ‘hand’ in Tunisian Arabic. In Iwona Kraska-Szlenk and Mathias Brenzinger (Eds.), The body in language: Comparative studies of linguistic embodiment (pp. 224–259). Leiden & Boston: BRILL. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. The framework is a combined one, consisting of the Cognitive Metaphor Theory (CMT) as developed by Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and the Cognitive Theory of Metonymy (CTM) as developed by Radden, G., & Z. Kövecses. (2007). Towards a theory of metonymy. In V. Evans, B. Bergen & J. Zinken (Eds.), The cognitive linguistics reader (pp. 335–359). London & Oakville: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, together with two views of cognition: embodied cognition (Gibbs, R. W., Lima, P. L. C., & Francozo, E. (2004). Metaphor is grounded in embodied experience. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(7), 1189–1210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Foglia, L., & R. A. Wilson. (2013). Embodied cognition. WIREs Cogn Sci., 21, 2–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and cultural cognition (Sharifian, F. (2011). Cultural conceptualizations and language. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Results show that, in conformity with (2014). Body parts we live by in language and culture: The raS ‘head’ and yidd ‘hand’ in Tunisian Arabic. In Iwona Kraska-Szlenk and Mathias Brenzinger (Eds.), The body in language: Comparative studies of linguistic embodiment (pp. 224–259). Leiden & Boston: BRILL. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar claim about the marked use of metonymy more with character traits and cultural values than the mental faculty, metonymy is embodied and more frequent than metaphor. Results also show that although these two dialects of Arabic belong in the same Arab-Islamic culture, they show major differences in making changes to the head in sense-making. These outcomes, together with other results arrived at by Zibin, A., A. M. Altakhaineh, & O. Musmar. (2024). Head metonymies and metaphors in Jordanian and Tunisian Arabic: an extended Conceptual metaphor theory perspective. Language and Cognition, 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, point to the fact that in some Arab-Islamic sub-cultures language and embodiment seem to be under pressure and overridden by cultural cognition.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Overview of head in cognitive linguistics
  • 2.Framework and methodology
    • 2.1Framework
    • 2.2Methodology
  • 3.Data analysis
    • 3.1Head as a container for mental objects and people
    • 3.2Head in character traits
      • Stubbornness
      • Challenge
      • Annoyance
      • Careworn-ness / Carefree-ness
      • Arrogance
      • Insanity
    • 3.3Head in cultural values
      • Pride
      • Hospitality
      • Loyalty
      • Industriousness
  • 4.Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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