Author(s): Hani ABUMATHKOUR

Title: Cutting and breaking metaphors of the self in Jordanian Arabic on social media: An exploratory study

Source: Sz. Simon, P. Baka, A. Litovkina (eds.): 15th International Conference of J. Selye University. Language and Literacy Sections. Conference Proceedings

ISBN: 978-80-8122-497-3

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36007/4973.2024.09

Publisher: J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia

PY, pages: 2024, 9-22

Published on-line: 2024

Language: en

Abstract: This study aimed at exploring how speakers of Jordanian Arabic describe the affected self using a certain type of verbs in a metaphorical way. It attempted to mainly answer three questions: What are the cutting and breaking verbs/events that are used to talk about the self in Jordanian Arabic? What are the most frequently used cutting and breaking verbs/events to describe intangible aspects of the affected self by Jordanian Arabic speakers? And what are the intangible self-dimensions described by cutting and breaking expressions as being affected? To answer all these questions, qualitative and quantitative analyses based on the structural model by Devylder and Zlatev (2020) as an alternative approach to investigate the metaphors of the self in a Facebook corpus where native speakers of Jordanian Arabic provide narration of their experiences was conducted to pinpoint cutting and breaking metaphors to talk about the self. This study is an attempt to investigate metaphor from a structural perspective away from the traditional idea-content aspect of metaphors. The analysis showed that the speakers of JA usually use cutting and breaking expressions to describe four affected dimensions of the self, i.e., emotional, mental, social, and interpersonal.

Keywords: Cutting, Breaking, Metaphors, The self, Jordanian Arabic, Facebook

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