Structural and semantic study of animal adjectives in Lori ‎Bakhtiari: An Analysis Based on Ecolinguistics

Ecolinguistics is a new area in language studies, which focuses on the interrelation between a language and its users’ geographical and natural environment. In ecolinguistics, the environment around the speakers, their association with  nature and the climate of their region are among the various factors involved in the formation of words in a linguistic society.  For example the number of terms related to nature is greater in societies linked with nature through livestock or farming than in those which lack such link. Iran has a large diversity in natural ecosystems. The present paper first introduces and describes ecolinguistics, then the animal adjectives (qualifying domestic animals, wildlife, birds and insects) are studied in the Lori Bakhtiari dialect. The findings of this research show that the words related to animal characteristics and moods and their metaphorical meanings are used to describe the speakers’ characteristics and moods in the linguistic society under investigation.