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العنوان
Cognitive Representation of Animals in Arabic and English Children’s Stories :
المؤلف
Abdullah, Fadia Ahmed.
هيئة الاعداد
باحث / فادية أحمد عبد الله
مشرف / نجوي يونس
مشرف / فيروز فؤاد
مناقش / نجوي يونس
تاريخ النشر
2022.
عدد الصفحات
215 p. :
اللغة
الإنجليزية
الدرجة
الدكتوراه
التخصص
اللسانيات واللغة
تاريخ الإجازة
1/1/2022
مكان الإجازة
جامعة عين شمس - كلية الألسن - اللغة الإنجليزية
الفهرس
Only 14 pages are availabe for public view

from 215

from 215

Abstract

The study aims to illustrate the cognitive representation of animals through the two cognitive theories of conceptual metaphors and frame semantics in light of ecolinguistics. To achieve this aim, the researcher employs FrameNet and applies the theories to 12 Arabic and 12 English children’s stories with a special focus on animal-related evocative lexical units that give rise to frames and frame elements that contribute to the representation of animals. Also, the metaphorical depiction of the animal-related concepts in the stories is highly effective in demonstrating how animals are portrayed not just lexically, but also conceptually. Consistent with the principles of ecolinguistics, which are sustainability and harmony between all living beings, the present study reveals the three types of cognitive structures found in this field: beneficial, destructive, and ambivalent (Stibbe, 2015). When it comes to the representation of animals, these cognitive structures or stories we live by are deduced based on both the evoked frames and conceptual metaphors in the stories. Some of the beneficial cognitive structures are the unity of animals and nature, the friendship between animals and humans, and the fact that animals are cooperative and friendly. Some of the destructive views are that animals are dangerous predators; animals cannot co-exist in peace with each other or with humans and that stronger animals prey on weaker ones. Ambivalent structures are in between and are divided into beneficial and destructive examples. Since ecolinguistics also calls for adopting attitudes that promote beneficial behaviors and resist the destructive ones, the present study goes a step further to suggest alternative cognitive structures that replace the destructive ones in the stories and bridge the gap in the ambivalent structures as well. Comparing the cognitive representation of animals in children’s stories in Arabic and English reveals that both languages share similar frames and conceptual metaphors that are used in the portrayal of animals. Although they are typologically heterogeneous, the Arabic and English sets of stories are similar when it comes to how animals are represented at the lexical and conceptual levels in animal-related children’s stories based on the sample analyzed.