From Shape to Form

This paper is a comparative study of words referring to the external appearance in English and Persian languages as representatives of occidental and oriental thinking. Three types of words are distinguished: (i) those referring to external appearance with no reference to meaning; (ii) those referring to an appearance containing meaning; and (iii) those that refer to meaning in addition to appearance. This study demonstrates that in both studied languages there is virtually no word, which refers exclusively to appearance. Another significant point is that in English, words denotative of a range of meanings are used solely in a single sense. While in Persian, a single word is used to simultaneously signify a range of meanings from material to extramundane. This could be attributed to the occidental preference for exactitude of speech versus the oriental predilection for multifaceted expression. Nevertheless, this difference between languages necessitates an inevitable obliteration of meaning in translation between oriental and occidental languages.