Lexical and Cultural Meaning of Body Parts: Examples from Jordanian Arabic
Publication Date: 17/02/2021
Author(s): Almawjdeh Lina, Al-Khawalda Mohammad.
Volume/Issue: Volume 1 , Issue 1 (2021)
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to investigate the difference between lexical and cultural meaning of certain expressions related to body parts used by Jordanians, and to find cultural and linguistic explanations for these usages. It has been recognized that different parts of the body are used intensively in Jordanian daily speech to express that certain meanings differ from their conceptual meanings. Such meanings are linguistically described as the connotative, associative or cultural meanings of words. 200 subjects participated in this study. A questionnaire was applied to reach the aim of the paper. It was so interesting that most of the subjects use the associative or cultural meanings rather than the lexical ones. Moreover, the lexical meanings of such expressions were ignored.
Keywords:
Lexical Meaning, Associative Meaning, Connotative Meaning, Cultural Meaning, Body Parts, Arabic
