Role of Body Members in Constructing Metaphors in Persian Political Texts

Abstract

The major aim of this study was to explore how the body parts play roles in Persian political texts as metaphorical expressions
according to cognitive point of view. Due to this fact, by examining a number of contemporary political expressions, the accumulated
data were attributed into different body members including: dast (hand), cheshm (eye), sar (head), p?(foot), ru (face), dah?n (mouth), del
(stomach, heart), sh?ne (shoulder), angosht (finger), zab?n (tongue), dand?n (tooth), gush (ear), sine (breast), ghalb (heart) and gardan
(neck). Based on the findings, there are fifteen body members by applying which the political metaphors are conceptualized and
reflected in Persian political discourse. Furthermore, the results obtained from the current study revealed that among the human body
members which are conceptualized in Persian political texts, "head" is the most frequent one.