Conceptualızatıon of Emotıon Through Body Part Idıoms in Turkısh: A Cognıtıve Lınguıstıc Study

Abstract

This dissertation addresses three problems: (1) distribution of the body part terms used in idioms to express emotions; (2) categorization and distribution of emotion concepts in relation to the body part idioms; (3) conceptual metaphors and metonymies underlying the body part idioms that express an emotion type. The study utilizes 488 idioms that contain body part words (e.g. heart, eye etc.) that are obtained from several dictionaries of idioms. Data consists of 28 emotion concepts and 19 distinct body parts expressing a higher variety of emotion types. It first identifies and categorizes the emotion types expressed in these idioms, and second reveals the conceptual metaphors and metonymies underlying these idioms. The study demonstrates that particular body parts are productive source domains in Turkish for the conceptualization of particular emotion concepts, and they constitute a complex cognitive-cultural conceptualization model for Turkish.