Conceptualization of Anger in Modern Standard Arabic and English: A Comparative Study

Figurative language is part of our everyday life where meaning is communicated indirectly. Metaphor is among the major figurative devices that are commonly encountered in interactions. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of metaphors to conceptualize abstract concepts namely that of anger in both English and Arabic. To this extent, a corpus consisting of metaphorical expressions denoting anger in both languages was utilized. These expressions were classified based on their metaphorical mappings and later on analysed using Kövecses’ (2002) framework. Results indicated that even though the two languages share a number of anger conceptualizations, they had certain differences. These differences were attributed to difference in language, in the sense that language genius and vocabulary repertoire often influence the conceptualization process. Culture, too, proved to be another source of as elements like climate and life style manipulate the conceptualization process. Note that the study of metaphorical conceptualization of emotions in general and anger specifically is underestimated in Arabic and further research is required