A Corpus-Based Study of Conventionality of Conceptual Metaphors in Written Persian: The Case of the Lexeme /Por/ (Full) and Its Synonymous Expressions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University. Shiraz. Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate and compare the degree of conventionality of synonymous metaphorical patterns in written Persian. In the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and using the corpus-based method of Metaphorical Pattern Analysis by Stefanowitsch (2006), seven synonymous Persian words – /por/, /ākande/, /saršār/, /labālab/, /labriz/, /mālāmāl/, and /mamlov/ – all conveying the meaning of “fullness”, were analyzed. Data were extracted from Hamshahri 2 Written Corpus. The conventionality degree of each pattern was calculated based on the relative frequency of its metaphorical versus non-metaphorical uses. Findings revealed that despite sharing a basic meaning, the synonymous words are not identical in their degree of conventionality and exhibit varying levels of entrenchment and productivity within the conceptual system. Accordingly, the order of conventionality from highest to lowest is: /saršār/, /mālāmāl/, /ākande/, /labriz/, /por/, /mamlov/, and /labālab/. These results confirm that a word's overall frequency does not necessarily equate to its degree of metaphorical entrenchment, and that the “relative frequency” of metaphorical use is a better measure for assessing conventionality. This finding supports the notion that even seemingly synonymous patterns display distinct metaphorical behavior, and that conventionality is an independent phenomenon from lexical synonymy.

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References

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Journal of Linguistics & Iranian Languages
Volume 10, Issue 3
February 2026
Pages 51-68

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History

  • Receive Date: 21 January 2026
  • Revise Date: 07 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 08 February 2026

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