جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه "image schema" در نشریات گروه "ادبیات و زبان ها"

The present study aims to analyze the verb “bastan” (to close) using cognitive semantics. The meanings of “bastan” have been collected using library method, extracted from dictionaries including Sokhan, Dehkhoda, Sadri Afshar's Persian Dictionary, Persian Spoken Variety, and the Etymological Dictionary of the Persian Language. This data was used for comparative analysis. In this research, a qualitative research method has been used to describe the meanings and to determine if there is a relationship among them using the image schema theory in cognitive semantics, specifically the models proposed by Evans and Greene, Evans and Evans. The analysis of the schematic meanings of the verb “bastan” showed that out of 26 meanings, 11 are force schemas, indicating an obstacle of a physical or abstract nature, and 18 are link(age) schemas, either physical or abstract. In one case, in addition to the mentioned schema, a splitting schema was considered. Etymological considerations show that the verb “bastan” originates from a single root in its current form: -band in ancient Persian, bandh (badhnāti) in Sanskrit, and -band in Avesta. This matter does not allow the existence of two different unrelated schema, because the connection between meanings will be lost. This research argues that associative schemas show the relationship between the various meanings of the polysemic verb “bastan”.

The conceptual domain refers to any mental organization of human experience. The regularity with which different languages employ the same metaphors, often based on their own perceptions, has led to the hypothesis that the mapping between conceptual domains corresponds to the neural mappings in the brain. The conceptual metaphor theory proposed by George Lakoff and his colleagues arose from linguistics but became of interest to cognitive scientists due to its claims about the mind and the brain. The main claim Lakoff makes in this respect is that metaphors are a matter not only of language but of thought in the first place. Metaphorical expressions in languages are manifestations of our thinking which is fundamentally metaphorical. Metaphor is not a mere stylistic or rhetorical figure, but a major and indispensable part of our ordinary, conventional way of conceptualizing the world.
Lakoff asserts that human thinking works effortlessly thanks to metaphorical thinking, but psychological research has found that metaphors are actually more difficult to process than non-metaphoric expressions. Furthermore, when metaphors lose their novelty and become conventionalized, they eventually lose their status of being metaphors and become processed like ordinary words. Therefore, the role of the conceptual metaphor in organizing human thinking is more limited than what was claimed by the linguists.
According to cognitive metaphor theory, metaphors originate in a process of “phenomenological embodiment”. They are formed when perceptual and sensory experiences from an embodied source domain, such as pushing, pulling, supporting, balance, straight-curved, near-far, front-back, and high-low, are used to represent abstract entities in a target domain. Cognitive metaphor theory is capable of explaining universal aspects of language and culture as well as cultural variation. While languages’ phenomenological foundations are universal, societies and social groups differ in terms of the associations they make between conceptual metaphors and abstract target domains. In other words, different societies and groups use different sets of metaphors to construct and interpret social reality in different ways. Cognitive metaphor theory for social research implies that studying the distribution of metaphors in natural language can reveal how common sense is constructed and negotiated within groups. Cognitive linguists themselves have studied the metaphors used in natural language. For instance, Lakoff studied the metaphors related to security used in political discourse. He developed a rhetorical approach to metaphor, known as critical metaphor analysis, which draws on the methodologies and perspectives developed in cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, and critical linguistics. He used the approach to examine metaphors from the domains of political rhetoric, press reporting, religion, and the communications of a wide range of political leaders.
Conceptual metaphor is the perception of a conceptual field known as intent through the perception of another conceptual field. The field of principle is formed through the process of planning, and the conceptual structures called image schemas link the understanding of the unseen to the visible. There are different types of image schemas, the most important of which are the kinetic, directional, force, and ontological schemas. A part of oral literature is affected by the loss of loved ones and depicts special topics about the phenomenon of death. The writings on tombstones are one of popular vessels that bear a certain aspect of the virtues and honors of the characters and reflect social, religious, and linguistic aspects from the various eras in which they were written. When we look at the writings on tombstones, we find that they are characterized by diversity in linguistic styles, including the conceptual metaphors they contain. What concerns us here is to study some of the conceptual metaphors that were written on tombstones to reveal the most important initial fields used in these writings and extract the most prominent schemas of their images. The results showed that conceptual metaphors in the writings on tombstones are understood by the transfer of mental representations from the field of principle (the most sensual and tangible perceptions) to the field of goal (death) in a metaphorical harmony created by the writer on the tombstones so that the mental representations are perceptible to the recipient and that the motor schema (32%) and the directional schema (28%) are the most prominent image schema in the inscriptions on tombstones.

Cognitive semantics reaches how the mind works and human experience in understanding concepts through language by studies the meaning. The summary of this approach is that metaphor is not just a linguistic issue; the main origin of metaphor is the mind, but for its emergence, it needs appropriate linguistic, cultural, and social contexts, and the relationship between metaphor and mind, society, and culture is a two-way relationship. Metaphors help abstract areas to be understood based on objective areas. Image schemas are among the conceptual structures that have been paid attention to in this field and are made with a metaphorical foundation to be considered as a bridge for the relation between our physical experiences and more complex cognitive domains and help to understand concepts that are essentially immeasurable. The present study has aimed to analyze the spatial metaphors and volume, movement and power schemas in the sonnets of "Hossein Monzavi" using the descriptive-analytical method and referring to the theory of cognitive semanticists. The findings of the study show that Monzavi used image schemas to visualize concepts such as: love, doubt, desire, hatred, sadness, endurance, happiness, madness. His conceptual metaphors show that love, madness, drunkenness, shame and kindness have a high place in the poet's mental world and in his lived culture; Love is one of the powerful forces in his thought and dominates everything, and after love, division, fate and sadness are at a high level in terms of power.

This research, after presenting theoretical discussions about pictorial schemas - which is proposed in the field of cognitive semantics, seeks to find the answer to this main question, first of all, which image schemas Saadi uses in explaining the two issues of envy and regret and secondly, what is his purpose of using pictorial schemes for these two moral vices? This type of study showed that the sheikh of Shiraz used these two morally objectionable attributes in his garden under two volumetric and non-volumetric schemas and in general a combination of schemas. Based on this, the unpleasant character of envy causes many negative effects for the envious person, one of which is regret. It is for this reason that in this research, these two categories have been emphasized.The results of this research show that Saadi used two schemes of power and volume for envy, but regret has a volume scheme everywhere in Boostan.From the statistical charts of this article, it can be seen that the frequency of patterns of regret is higher than envy. Therefore, rather than emphasizing the power of envy, Saadi pays attention to its result, that is, regret. So a person should avoid envy so as not to be caught by its results. In other words, Saadi explains the necessity of avoiding envy by stating its results. The research method is analytical-descriptive. It should be mentioned that no research has been done with this particular approach regarding Saadi's Boostan.

Based upon diachronic-cognitive linguists, language structure is the product of our interaction with the world around us. The way we build discourse and develop linguistic categories can immediately be derived from the way we experience our environment and use that experience in specific communication. Thanks to recent works on the evolution of grammatical categories e.g auxiliaries, we now have a sizable knowledge of the main patterns of grammaticalization which allows for fairly reliable linguistic reconstructions and hypotheses on genetic evolution through main cognitive processes e.g semantic bleeching. Following the doctorines of cognitive semantics, the present proposal bears an attempt to discover and define which aspects of meaning of a lexical source are lost and which are preserved through grammaticalization. Analyzing a specific grammaticalized product, namely the auxiliary verb xâstan, the future marker, through the lexical xâstan ‘to want’ in Persian, we will suggest that the evolution of the target grammatical meaning, the future, through grammaticalization process occurs applying semantic bleaching by way of which the entire idiosyncratic semantic features are vanished but the image-schematic structure. This must mean that an image-schema is abstracted from the earlier lexical sense since it would be potentially much more immanent and pervasive than the fully fleshed-out lexical meaning.

Cognitive semantics is one of the new patterns in the study of language that examines the relationship between the mind, human sensory perceptions, and linguistic elements. This model analyzes the way information is conceptualized in the mind. Image schema is one of the most fundamental approaches of cognitive semantics, which is formed as abstract concepts in the minds as a result of human interaction with the surrounding world and based on biological experiences. The clear and meaningful structure of schema can be a basis for forming metaphorical maps and understanding complex intellectual domains; Therefore, the purpose of the current research is that, based on the cognitive approach and relying on Johnson’s theory, while examining the three schematic containment, path, and force systems, how to represent life experiences in the poet’s mind, the connection of his worldview with the three schemas, as well as the ability of these systems to objectify abstract matters should be analyzed. The finding of the research show that Samih al-Qassim used has tangibly expressed his desired revolutionary themes by using perceptual elements and physical experiences in order to arouse the spirit of struggle in the audience. He has used a containment schema to visualize the concept of identity, a path schema to objectify the theme of achieving social goals and ideals, and a force schema as a tool to show the stability of the Palestinian nation. Based on the results of the research, the mentioned schemas show a detailed understanding of the mentalities and personality dimensions of Samih al-Qassim, these systems show the singer as committed to the community, as well as a person with high self-esteem and epic emotions.

Understanding the way that abstract information has been expressed in the different languages is one of the attractive subjects in cognitive linguistics. In this regard, Idioms as a part of cultural and national identity of speakers can play an important role in understanding concepts and linguistic materials. So in the present study we have tried to examine the representations of image schemas in two languages; Persian and English, within the framework of cognitive semantics and based on Johnson's Schematic Model (1987). Therefore, we selected the data from the “Common Persian Idioms and Phrases: Persian-English” which was provided by Bateni (2013) and have studied them in a descriptive-analytical way. This paper explores the conceptual image schemas of idioms in Persian and then compares them with their English equivalent. The results show that the mental coding process of idioms in these two languages can be divided in 6 ways and in most cases this process was similar between these languages. Moreover, English has the most schematic similarity between their information and messages. The pass and force schema are the most common in English and Persian, respectively. Due to the conceptual schemas are dynamic patterns in cognitive semantics which are not studied thoroughly the idioms of these Languages in past; so the importance and the objective of this study was the analysis of this phenomenon in the context of conceptual schema and also explain the relationship between the speakers language and mind.

The path of mystical journey is a path that is full of meanders. A mystic must overcome obstacles heroically to reach God. These are not physical barriers. According to the theory of image schemas first presented by Lycoff and Johnson, the mystic thinks and speaks about these obstacles by using force schemas. This study tried to compare Sanā'ie and Ayn al-Quzāt Hamadāni’s views about obstacles in the path of mystical journey by analyzing force schemas in their two works of Hadiqah al-Haqiqah (Garden of Truth) and Tamhidāt (Preparations) through a descriptive-analytical method. The units of analysis were the distiches and stanzas that contained force schemas in the mentioned works. The scope of our research was all their contents. The similarities of the intellectual foundations of the two mystics were reflected in the schemas of the second and third types. The word of God, moral vices, dependence on the world, soul, and knowledge of God were the main axes of these two types of schemas in the two works. The differences between the lived experiences and types of mysticism of the two mystics were found to have led to a significant difference in their use of the first type of schema. Also, they were different in their frequencies of using schemas, such as appearance of Shari'a, the devil, moral vices, divine zeal, and status, because of their varied lived experiences and intellectual foundations.

Schemata are mental images taken from one's embodied experiments and based on which concepts are abstracted. The present article aims at introducing movement schema in Forough Farrokhzad's poems. Meanwhile, it tries to Specify the role such schemas in conveying the themes of the poet’s poetry. The application of theoretical linguistics issues in literary criticism makes such research significant. The body of the data has been gathered by attributive method. Then the data has been studied with descriptive-analytical method. The findings of the research revealed that movement schema in Forough Farrokhzad’s poems convey some meanings such as 'loneliness', 'frustration', 'refusing guilt', 'description of love' and 'desire for change', 'description of social deviations and anomalies' remembering and forgetting the past' and 'thinking about death'.

The concept of ‘time’ is one of the most important and fundamental concepts in human mind and life, which according to the findings of cognitive linguists, is mainly understood and expressed metaphorically in different languages and cultures. The present paper examines the conceptual metaphors of time in Persian and its purpose is to provide a systematic model of the types of conceptual metaphors that Persian speakers use to understand and express the concept of ‘time’. The study is based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, 1999; Lakoff, 1993) and the theory of image schemas (Johnson, 1987) and its data are mainly extracted from the Hamshahri Corpus (second version) supplemented with data from Internet Google search. The results show that in Persian, the concept of ‘time’ is understood and expressed based on three image schemas of ‘movement’, ‘container’ and ‘object’, and through the conceptual metaphors ‘time is space’, ‘time is an (moving or stationary) object’, ‘time is human’, and ‘time is a container’.

Nowadays, Cognitive semantic approach plays an important role in learning second/foreign language. However, a few experimental investigations have applied a cognitive perspective to instructed L2 learning. The main purpose of the present research is comparing impact of cognitive approach to the traditional approach in learning some frequency concepts of the preposition "be" in Persian language. First, different meanings of preposition "be“ were selected from Farhang Sokhan Anvari (1381) and then some sentences and phrases containing this preposition were investigated according to the Farsi Biamoozim (1388) in the middle level. Prior to begging the instruction, 50 non-Persian learners (woman) were selected by proficiency test at Jamee-Almostafa of Mashhad center. This group were randomly divided into control and experimental groups and then, pre-test and post-test was applied between these groups. By using SPSS, comparison of the pre-test in control and experimental group revealed that there isn’t significant difference between prior knowledge of two groups before treatment, whereas the post-test showed that there is statistically significant difference between two groups. The results indicated that experimental group which was under the training of cognitive method showed significant gains than control group who received the traditional training methods.

The present paper is a semantic survey of prepositions "/barāyē/ and /tā/. The aim of study is to identify schematic meaning of the mentioned prepositions with a diachronic view in order to investigate semasiological changes of meaning as a result of their secondary grammaticalization. To achieve this goal, the meanings of each of the prepositions were gathered from Sokhan and Dehkhoda dictionaries. After analyzing prepositions' meanings, associative image schemas with the meanings have been mentioned. Prototypical and peripheral meanings of prepositions have been determined using Evan and Tyler's (2003) suggested method. After proving polysemy of the mentioned prepositions; semantic network of each preposition; is drawn. Finally, polysemy of the investigated prepositions has been explained with regard to imagery schemas as the result of secondary grammaticalization. The innovative aspect of this research is that the polysemy and secondary grammaticalization of prepositions had not been studied with regard to conceptual schemas associated with their semantic functions before.

This is a fundamental research whose method is content analysis. It attempted to examine some cognitive and social elements of the texts of Teaching Persian Language in Persian (6th book) (Islamic Language and Education Training Center, 1395) for non-Persian learners of Al-Mustafa International University in the framework of socio-cognitive linguistics. The unit of analysis was "sentence" and all of the texts were examined. To do this, all sentences containing image schemas were extracted from among the 1150 sentences existing in the book while availing from Johnsons’ 1987 research. Then, from among these (430) sentences, 400 ones containing social variables were extracted and analyzed. In these sentences, the image schemas of "movement", "force", "collection" and "content" made the most metaphorical conceptualization, and the image schemas of "link", "merging" and "attraction" had the least share. Besides, social variables of "religion", "power", "politeness", "consciousness" and "dignity" have rolled in a metaphorical system. Moreover, the results indicate the influence of texts by the type of audience, the purpose of learning the Persian language, and the writers’ style and attitude.

Cognitive sociolinguistics is a new attitude in linguistics that has appeared from the interaction of two approaches of social linguistics and cognitive linguistics and its purpose is to study the cognitive socio dimensions in daily use of language. This is a descriptive-analytical study and the purpose is to analyze the Eightth Persian textbook of Junior Secondary School (Akbari Sheldereh, 1397) based on cognitive sociolinguistics. In this study the unit of analysis was "sentence" and all of the texts were examined. From among the 1200 sentences existing in the book, all sentences (500) containing image schemas were extracted while availing from Johnsons’ 1987 research. From among these (500) sentences, the ones (170 cases) containing social variables were determined and finally the interaction of image schemas and social varriables were analyzed (quantitative and qualitative) and repersented. 320 cases of image schemas and 240 cases of social variables have participated in this interaction.The results indicate that the image schemas of "force", "content", "path" and "process" and the social variables of "religion and religion attitude", "culture" and "solidarity" had the most participation in two approaches of cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics interaction. Although, the use of more than 500 metaphorical sentences indicates that the authors of this book have paid attention to the growth of youth creativity and abstract thinking; but according to the %34 interaction of metaphorical sentences and social variables, the authors believe that the cognitive sociolinguistics approach is not presented enough. The other finding indicates that the more image schemas than social variables make the complex conceptual structure in the sentence; of course, the opposite is true. Creating a sense of sincerity with the high use of "solidarity" variable, gender discrimination and introducing Iranian-Islamic culture in the metaphorical structures are the other findings of this study.

The aim of this research is to explore the common metaphors in the Turkish Qashqai Dialect within the frame work of Cognitive Semantics and based on Evans and Green Schematic Model (2006), in order to express conceptualization of the speakers of various experience during their lives. Proverbs are indicator of though, culture, identity, taste and talent of speakers of language, therefore their preservation, study and investigation in the language studies are of high importance. On the other hand, Image Schemas, provide a link between physical experience and more complex cognitive domains as language. Given that, to the best of our knowledge no research has been done about the function of Image Schema in Turkish Qashqai proverbs, this type of researche is necessary. The present study was done through descriptive–inductive method, and the data were collected based on field study and empirical research. The result of this study showed that the overall schema types specified in Green and Evans Model (2006), including: Space, Containment, Locomotion, Force, Balance,Identity, and Existence, were traced in proverb of Turkish Qashqai Dialect and the most frequently used image schema was Containment and after that Locomotion image schema and the least frequently used was Balance image schema.

In cognitive linguistics, the study of linguistic meaning is not the aim by itself. Instead in this field of linguistics, the focus is on understanding the nature of conceptual system of human's mind.  Noting that image schema due to its importance in understanding of abstract concepts are an important category in linguistic studies. This paper studies the embodied patterns of image schemas in the absolute congenital blind compared with their counterparts based on Johnson's embodied cognition theory (1987) in cognitive semantics.

The methodology of this quantitative research is comparative between two groups of blind and non-blinds.  Thus, 48 male and female blinds and non-blinds with diploma and graduate education aged 18- 28 years, due to the study of such variables as gender, education and age, were evaluated, and they were asked to describe 30 selected words based on Ricci Bitty and Poggi's  procedures (1991), then their image schemas were investigated.
Results and

The results showed that the blinds, due to lack of vision, use more lexical descriptions and more image schema than their counterparts, in a way, graduate female blinds were reported as the most frequent users of image schema. The statistics also prove that the path and cycle schema, among different types of schema proposed by Johnson (1987), have the most and the least amount of usage in both groups respectively. Also, the study showed that age, gender, education variables as influential factors had no effect on understanding blind people and their counterparts from the image schema.

Proverbs represent the beliefs and values of human cultures, the study of which can provide profound insights into concepts and daily experiences of language users. In this regard, cognitive semantics constitutes an effective framework to study linguistic meaning and uncover speakers' conceptualization of the world. In this study, we analyzed Azeri Turkish proverbs based on conceptual metaphor and image schemas theories. First, 470 Azeri proverbs were collected from the Turkish Azeri Proverbs book, and then they were checked by interviewing senior Azeri speakers. The proverbs were initially analyzed by looking for conceptual metaphors and source domain concepts and then the second time they were searched for image schemas. The findings showed that the source domain ANIMAL is the most frequent conceptual domain and the least frequent domain is related to the PATH and HEAT-COLD source domains. Also, the most frequent domain in image schemas was CONTAINMENT image schema and the least frequent one was the BALANCE image schema. In conclusion, findings suggest that the ANIMAL source domain as well as the CONTAINMENT image schema are the most prominent conceptual domains that have been frequently used in Azeri proverbs and have shaped the daily experience of Azeri speakers.

In this paper, we aim to analyze the difference between classical Persian and new Persian poems using the current cognitive linguistics theories. The study aims to recognize the differences and similarities of the image schemas of two styles of poetry; namely, classical and modern poem. The research question is that what kinds of different image schemas are used in classical and modern poems. The hypothesis is that there are different kinds of image schemas in classical and modern poem. To this end, we analyze the image schemas of Hafiz's poems as sample of classical poetry and Sohrab Sepehri's poems as modern one. We have chosen 13 poems of Hafiz Divan as classical poems and 8 poems of Sohrab Sepehri's Hasht Ketab as modern Persian poems. We have identified the image schemas of the poems based on cognitive linguistics theoretical framework.  
In the review of literature, there were some researches which focused on the comparison of the poetry of classical poets or comparison of the poetry of contemporary poets, but there was no research which compares image schemas of classical poetry with modern poem. Thus, the present study focuses on a new aspect.
In conclusion, we noticed similarities and differences in the usage of image schemas of two styles of poems. The similarity is that in both styles containment and locomotion schemas are most used. But the difference is that in Hafiz's poems there was no significant difference between the number of locomotion and the number of containment schemas. However, there is significant difference between the number of containment schemas and all other schemas including locomotion schema in Sepehri's poems. It indicates the difference between a sample of classical poem and a sample of modern poem along with the usage of image schemas. Due to their mystic worldview both of poets have used containment and locomotion schemas.

Since proverbs are deeply rooted in people's culture and thought, the study of the image schema of Arabic proverbs will lead to a deeper understanding of Arabic life and culture. Investigating the image schemas of the Arabic proverbs based on cognitive semantics introduces us to the thought, culture, and morals of the Arab. According to the cognitive view that "the human beings develop what have been experienced into the domain of abstract concepts", The present study seeks to investigate the variety of existing schemas in the thousand proverbs of the book of Faraid al-Adab based on the image schema model of Evans & Green in the framework of cognitive linguistics. This article also examines the effectiveness and frequency of image schema as well as the reasons for the multiplicity of them.
It also tries to provide answers to two other questions which image schemas are more abundant in the collection of Faraid al-Adab, and what is the significance of analyzing Arabic proverbs in the framework of cognitive semantics. The present study is based on this descriptive-analytic approach. So one thousand proverbs of Faraid al-Adab are randomly selected and the various schemas in it are extracted and analyzed in order to examine how these visual perceptions are transferred to the field of abstract concepts. The analysis is based on the hypothesis that the container schema and quantities schema have a high frequency in Arabic proverbs.
It also gives a more accurate understanding of the objective and metaphorical meanings of the Arabic proverbs are achieved in the empirical and abstract application of the context of cognitive semantics and conceptual schemas. This is because the human mind is basically empirical and language cannot be studied independently from human imagination.
The results of the research showed that the types of image schemas provided by Evans and Green are observable in Faraid al-Adab, and the balance schemas have the highest frequency and non-material schemas have the lowest frequency in the proverbs that we studied. According to their role and their presence in the life of the Arabs, animals and other elements of nature, appear with a high stance in the proverbs. Also, human activities and their organs have a significant role in establishing the source domains of the proverbs. More often, Arabic speakers convey concrete entities to abstract matters. However, they occasionally have the opposite tendency. Compared to the Persian proverbs, the Arabic proverbs tend to show more of the plurality of image schema. This is due to the fact that the simple life and experiences of the Bedouin lifestyle has its effect in this matter.Image Schemas are usually taken from different aspects of experience, but this feature is less distinctive in the Arabic proverbs. The life and experiences of the Bedouin people has had its influence in this regard. As a result, in comparison with Persian proverbs, there are fewer cases of both cluster schemas and network schemas in Arabic proverbs.

Language learning is one of the most complex issues in teaching a foreign language. Prepositions having different meanings in different contexts are mostly problematic issues for both language instructors and non-Persian learners. Although prepositions are frequently used in Persian textbooks and daily conversations, learners fail to incidentally acquire them and often show low achievements in using them correctly. The strategy commonly employed by language instructors is teaching the multiple senses of prepositions by rote learning (Song, 2013). Rote learning lacks comprehensive analysis of different concepts of prepositions. Hence, students have to memorize them merely by repetition. In contrast, Cognitive Linguistics (CL) suggests a different approach to teaching prepositions that may have a strong impact on the methodologies of foreign language teaching and meaningful learning (Song, 2013). Compared to traditional approaches, cognitive linguistics offers an account of language structure that is arguably more comprehensive (Langacker, 1995). It opens up a new perspective of the CL-inspired meaningful learning approach on language teaching demonstrating the unification of the integrated model of text and picture for comprehension (the ITPC model). It also integrates the new knowledge with related prior knowledge in the cognitive structure of the learner mind (Ausubel, 2000). In addition, the ITPC model illustrates thoroughly how information is processed through each stage of the cognitive procedure. Prepositions are considered as having different meanings that are presented in a very systematized and related way in this model that in turns provides a fruitful basis for explaining the use of prepositions in different contexts. Thus, it seems to have a great effect on the methods of foreign language teaching and learning (Song, 2013).
The present study focuses on the preposition, "Az" which is frequently used for presenting spatial meaning. So, the aim of the study is to provide an instructional syllabus based on cognitive semantics perspective for teaching different senses of this preposition to non- Persian speakers (in intermediate level). This preposition has 26 different usages as illustrated in Farhange Sokhane Anvari (2003). We have determined its prototype and different meanings based on this dictionary and the criteria of Tyler and Evans (2003). For this purpose, some sentences and phrases including this preposition were selected from non-Persian speaker’s textbooks in Jameat-almostafa center of Mashhad. According to Farhange Sokhane Anvari (2003), the first usage of this preposition is to show the “source” as far as the spatial and metaphoric concept is concerned. In this study, we introduced a suggested model of teaching in its abstract spatial usage. The proposed instructional method is an integrated model of text and picture (by PowerPoint and poster) for teaching semantic structure of the preposition, regarding its central and other meanings. The use of images, containing sensory and perceptual experiences of students, can make meaningful relationship between their new and previous knowledge. The findings open up an effective perspective in teaching and meaningful learning of this preposition for non-native speakers.
Theoretical Framework: Cognitive linguistics is one of the new schools of Linguistics derived from new cognitive sciences. In their interactions with environment, human beings perceive one thing in terms of another thing metaphorically. This is known as “conceptualization” in which abstract meanings are discovered based on their physical counterparts. We assume that a preposition designates a conceptual spatial relation between a TR (trajectory) and an LM (landmark), which constitutes an abstract spatial scene. Conceptual content can be abstracted away from specific spatial scenes, giving rise to a more abstract representation, which is called a proto-scene. A proto-scene is associated with prototype of a particular preposition. According to Langacker (1987), an image schema includes a trajectory, a landmark, and relationship between the trajectory and the landmark. Thus, prepositions are able to extend the spatial senses to their abstract senses by metaphorical mappings.
In this study, first, according to the criteria of Tyler and Evans (2003), prototype and different meanings of preposition “Az” were selected from Farhang Sokhan (Anvari, 2003). Then, some sentences and phrases containing the preposition were investigated by random sampling in the textbooks of Jameat-Al-Mostafa center in Mashhad. Finally, a suggested model was introduced
for teaching the Persian preposition "Az” to non-native speakers, based on the domain theory of Langacker (1987) and the notion of image schemas (Lakoff & Johnson, 1987). The proposed instructional method is an integrated model of text and picture (by PowerPoint and poster) for teaching semantic structure of the preposition, regarding its central and other meanings.
At the end of each session, the related exercises were given to the students including multiple choice, filling the gap, and matching.
Based on the cognitive approach, the prototype meaning of preposition “Az” is the “source” in which trajectory (TR) runs away from landmark (LM). In the present study, the focus was on high frequency concepts, such as “source” and “part of whole”. In the first session, an interesting prologue was used to attract students. Since the image schema of ”Az”, is “source”, explain it’s spatial and abstract meanings. In the second session, another concept of it, “part of whole” is explained for spatial and abstract meanings. Finally, students should do the exercises.
Conclusion and Suggestions: This study focused on a cognitive approach to teaching Persian prepositions to non-native speakers. In cognitive approach, learning has more effects on knowledge acquisition in constructing cognitive schemata. In this approach, students can integrate new knowledge with relevant prior knowledge, so learning is meaningful and satisfying. In the present study, an instructional model for teaching two different concepts of preposition “Az” in the spatial and abstract domains are presented. Future studies are required to investigate other prepositions as well as their different meanings.