The Role of Conceptual Metaphors in Constructing Euphemistic Expressions of Death in English and Arabic دور الاستعارات المفاهيمية في بناء التعبيرات الملطفة عن الموت باللغتين الإنجليزية والعربية

Abstract

This study aims at examining the interaction between conceptual metaphors (CMs) and euphemistic expressions (EEs) and exploring the influence of culture on them. The study is limited to the domain of death. To achieve the aims of the study, a set of death CMs and a set of death EEs in English and Arabic are selected from certain dictionaries and books. The interaction between CMs and EEs is investigated using Lakoff & Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980/2003), taking into consideration Warren's model (1992) regarding metaphor as one of the semantic innovations for constructing euphemisms. It is found that English and Arabic share the same source domains departure and an end for the target domain death, in addition to culture-specific source domains in English and Arabic. The study provides insight into a significant need for using linguistic metaphors in EEs, which are not used randomly, but rather they are based on certain CMs structured in the mind. Some of these CMs are mentioned in the selected books and others are inferred by the researcher.