Conceptual Metonymies in Kurdish Language According to Sherko Bekas Poetry: A Cognitive Approach

This investigation aims to study conceptual metonymies in Kurdish Language, based on cognitive approach. The data of the study are poems from the book; Now a Girl is my Homeland (2011), by Sherko Bekas, a contemporary Kurdish poet. The rate of relationship between everyday language spoken by Kurdish people and these conceptual metonymies, and also the frequency and variety of metonymies in Kurdish language according to Bekas poetry are the main questions in this study. Analyzing data is based on theories about conceptual metonymies presented by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), and Kovecses (2010). The results of the study show that, conceptual metonymies along with conceptual metaphors are used widely in Kurdish language and Bekas poetry. »Part-whole« and »container for contained« are the most common ones in these poems and accordingly in Kurdish Language. These metonymies are among everyday speech or to somehow they are adapted from Kurdish culture and language.