Lexical Field and Language Universals Analysis of Body Parts in Persian and English: A Typological Approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Vali Rezai ¹
• Mahdeih Abbaspour ²

¹ Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

² PhD Candidate of Linguistics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/jlkd.2024.89179.1260

Abstract

This study employed a typological approach to examine the terminology used for lower body parts in Persian and English. The aim was to identify commonalities and divergences in the naming and categorization of the parts of the lower limb, while also assessing the validity of proposed linguistic universals in this field. Despite linguistic and cultural differences, the findings revealed significant similarities in the general classification of lower limbs between the two languages, with six main categories identified in both. However, variations exist in the specific terminology and categorization details, suggesting the influence of cultural and worldview differences on bodily conceptualization. Further, an examination of language universals indicates that while some hold true across both languages, others are not fully supported. This research underscores that even with shared underlying concepts, languages can exhibit distinct semantic systems in their representation of the human body.

Keywords

• Lexical Typology
• Lexical Field
• The Names of the Limbs
• Language Universals

Main Subjects

• Linguistic typology

References

رضایی، والی؛ ثامنیان، طاهره. (۱۴۰۲). نام اندام‌ها و بیان احساسات در زبان فارسی: نگاهی رده‌شناختی. زبان‌شناسی و گویش‌های خراسان، 15(3)، صص 27-1.‎ https://doi.org/10.22067/jlkd.2023.84080.1191

Ali, A. S. M. (2003). Body part words in English and Arabic: A contrastive study. International journal of Arabic-English studies, 4(1), 175-189. https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.4.1.11

Andersen, E. S. (1978). Lexical universals of body-part terminology. In J. H. Greenberg (Ed.), Universals of human language (pp 335-368). United States: Stanford University Press. ISBN-13:‎978-0804709651

Comrie, B. (1989). Language universals and linguistic typology: Syntax and morphology. Chicago: University of Chicago press. ISBN-13:978-0226114330

Croft, W. (2003). Typology and universals. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511840579

Enfield, N. J., Majid, A., & Van Staden, M. (2006). Cross-linguistic categorisation of the body: Introduction. Language sciences, 28(2-3), 137-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2005.11.001

Franklin, K. J. (1963). Kewa ethnolinguistic concepts of body parts. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 19(1), 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1086/soutjanth.19.1.3628922

Gąsiorowski, P. (2017). The embarrassment of riches:‘Head’words in the Indo-European family. In Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting. (pp 101-115). Poland, Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University. DOI: 10.1515/yplm-2017-0005

Greenberg, J. H. (1966). Language universals, with special reference to feature hierarchies. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110899771.fm

Hawkins, J. A. (1988). Explaining language universals. England: Basil Blackwell. ISBN:0631174567

Heine, B. (2014). The body in language: Observations from grammaticalization. In Brenzinger, M. & Kraska-Szlenk,A. (Eds). In The Body in Language. (pp. 13-32). Leiden. Boston: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004274297_003

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, M., Rakhilina, E., & Vanhove, M. (2016). The semantics of lexical typology. In Riemer, N. (ED). In The Routledge handbook of semantics (pp. 434-454). United Kingdom: Routledge. https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01486051v1

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, M., Vanhove, M., & Koch, P. (2007). Typological approaches to lexical semantics. Linguistic Typology,11(1). pp 159-185. DOI: 10.1515/LINGTY.2007.013

Lambton, A. K. S. (1981). State and government in medieval Islam: An introduction to the study of Islamic political theory: the jurists. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/3632158

Lyons, J. (1981). Language and Linguistics: An introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511809859

Lyons, J. (1995). Linguistic semantics: An introduction. United Kingdom: Cambridge University. Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810213

Maalej, Z. (2004). Figurative Language in Anger Expressions in Tunisian Arabic: An Extended View of Embodiment. Metaphor and Symbol, 19 (1), 51-75. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327868MS1901_3

Maalej, Z. A., & Yu, N. (Eds). (2011). Embodiment via body parts: Studies from various languages and cultures (Vol. 31). Netherland: John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.31

Majid, A. (2010). Words for parts of the body. In Malt. B & Wolff. P. (EDs). In Words and the mind: How words capture human experience, (pp 58-71). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199718641

Materynska, O. (2019). Semantic Relation of Meronymy in Languages of Different Structure (Case Study of Semantics of Body Part Names). Advanced Education, (12), 256-264. ISSN:2409-3351

Monanska, D. (2016). Contrastive Analysis of the Lexical Fields of Body Parts in English, Slovak and Hungarian (bakalárska práca, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Faculty of Arts; Department of British and American Studies).

Moravcsik, E. A. (2013). Introducing language typology. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511978876

Rakhilina, E., & Reznikova, T. (2016). A frame-based methodology for lexical typology. The lexical typology of semantic shifts, (58), 95-129. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110377675-004

Stringer, D. (2019). Lexical semantics: Relativity and transfer. In Erdogan, N.& Wei. M. (Eds). In Applied linguistics for teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse learners (pp. 180-203). IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8467-4.ch007

Tjuka, A., Forkel, R., & List, J. M. (2024). Universal and cultural factors shape body part vocabularies. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 10486. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61140-0

Trier, Jost (1931), Der deutsche Wortschatz im Sinnbezirk des Verstandes, Ph.D. diss: Bonn. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:141907503

Velupillai, V. (2012). An Introduction to Linguistic Typology. Netherland: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.176

Viberg, Å. (1983). The verbs of perception: A typological study. In Butterworth,B.& Comrie. B. & Dahl. Ö. (Eds). In Explanations for Language Universals (pp123-162). English: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1983.21.1.123

Werner, O., & Begishe, K. Y. (1970). A lexemic typology of Navajo anatomical terms I: the foot. International Journal of American Linguistics, 36(4), 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1086/465119

Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. United State: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262730068

Willems, K. (2013). The linguistic sign at the lexicon-syntax interface: Assumptions and implications of the Generative Lexicon Theory. Semiotica, (193), 233-287. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2013-0014

Windfuhr, G. L. (ED). (2009). The Iranian languages. London: Routledge. ISBN:9780415622356

Yu, N. (2004). The eyes for sight and mind. Journal of Pragmatics, (36), 663-686. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(03)00053-5.