Volume 8, Issue 3 (9-2025)                   JSAL 2025, 8(3): 86-110 | Back to browse issues page

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Naseri M, Taktabar Firouzjaei H, Ostovan T, Ahmadzadeh Qomi Z. (2025). Cognitive Representation of the Concept of Greed in Persian and Egyptian Proverbs: A Langackerian Cognitive Grammar Perspective [In Persian]. JSAL. 8(3), 86-110.
URL: http://jsal.ierf.ir/article-1-219-en.html
Cognitive Representation of the Concept of Greed in Persian and Egyptian Proverbs: A Langackerian Cognitive Grammar Perspective [In Persian]
Mahdi Naseri1 , Hossein Taktabar Firouzjaei1 , Tahereh Ostovan *2 , Zahra Ahmadzadeh Qomi3
1- Associate Professor and Faculty Member, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Qom, Qom, Iran
2- PhD Candidate in Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Theology, University of Tehran (Farabi Campus), Qom, Iran , ostovantahereh@gmail.com
3- PhD Candidate in Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Theology, University of Tehran (Farabi Campus), Qom, Iran
Abstract:   (668 Views)
Proverbs constitute one of the fundamental branches of folk literature and, as concise, metaphorical linguistic units, they embody the deep cultural, social, and moral repositories of nations. A proverb not only reflects the collective mindset and ethical attitudes of a society but also plays a decisive role in shaping its cognitive and pedagogical patterns. Hence, the scientific study of proverbs serves as an effective means of understanding the worldview and value systems encoded within a language and its culture. The present study adopts a comparative approach within the framework of Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar to explore the cognitive representation of the concept of greed in Persian and Egyptian proverbs. This theoretical model conceives language as part of the human cognitive process, establishing a fundamental relation among linguistic form, meaning, and mental experience. It rests upon three central components—cognitive profiling, conceptual schema (mental representation pattern), and subjective construal. Applying these elements to the analysis of proverbs allows for unveiling the hidden conceptual layers embedded in linguistic and metaphorical structures and provides a systematic explanation of the interrelation among language, cognition, and culture. The Egyptian proverb corpus has been selected from Al-Amthāl al-ʿĀmmiyya by Ahmad Taymur Pasha. The research method is descriptive–analytical and comparative. Findings indicate that, in Persian proverbs, the notion of greed is represented through a direct moral cause–effect schema, emphasizing normative and evaluative construal; greed in this cultural context predominantly appears as a form of moral counsel and admonition. Conversely, Egyptian proverbs depict greed through cognitive and behavioral imagery, conveying concepts via sensory metaphors such as hunter–prey, capacity–impossible fullness, and movement–consequence. In the Persian tradition, the representation of greed tends toward abstract moral rationality and evaluative judgment, whereas the Egyptian tradition highlights embodied, experiential, and intuitive cognition. Both cultures portray greed as a source of downfall and destruction, yet the cognitive pathways of meaning construction differ—being ethically rational in Persian and behaviorally concrete in Egyptian cultural discourse.
 
Keywords: Persian Proverbs, Egyptian Proverbs, Cognitive Semantics of Greed, Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar
     
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Linguistic research
Received: 2025/06/30 | Accepted: 2025/08/11 | Published: 2025/09/1
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