Article

A Comparative Analysis of the Figurative Language in Arabic and South African Languages

Entisar Khalifa Aljoundi ORCID

    Received: 19 November 2025 | Revised: 9 April 2026 | Accepted: 17 April 2026 | Published Online: 24 April 2026

    Abstract

    Arabic and South African languages contain rich idiomatic expressions, many of which are based on body-related metaphors that play an important role in everyday communication. This study compares body-part idioms in Arabic and South African to examine how physical body concepts are used to express abstract meanings. Most previous research has primarily focused on English idioms, leaving a noticeable gap in studies concerning Arabic and South African idioms. This study intends to fill that gap based on the perspective offered by Lakoff and Johnson, who emphasize that metaphors are intrinsic to everyday communication. Drawing on the conceptual metaphor framework of Lakoff and Johnson, the research analyses the underlying conceptual structures of these idioms. A qualitative comparative approach was employed to analyse and compare body-related idioms selected from Arabic and South African languages. The data being analyzed was specifically chosen to form a corpus for this study. The analysis shows that both languages rely extensively on conventionalized body metaphors. Despite cultural and linguistic differences, the two languages demonstrate notable similarities in the use of body idioms, although some differences appear in their conceptual interpretations. These findings contribute to cross-linguistic studies of metaphor and idiomatic expressions, addressing the limited research on Arabic and South African languages in comparison to the more extensively studied English idioms.

    Keywords

    A Corpus, Arabic Figurative Use, Body Parts Idioms, Linguistic and Conceptual Analysis, South African Figurative Use

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