An Anthropolinguistic Approach to the Comparative Analysis of Idioms Containing Objects in Spanish and Persian

The present study attempts to carry out a contrastive analysis -within the framework of anthropological linguistics- on idioms formed in relation with common concepts in Spanish and Persian, based on how natives speakers of these languages deal with the objects around them. In this approach, the possible similarities and differences between linguistic components are analyzed according to the native speakers' cultural and sociological issues. This approach, more than anything else, is indebted to the theory of linguistic relativity, a theory based on the influence of language on thought and, in particular, on the individual's attitudes towards objects, and how his/her language treats objects around him/her. The main question of the present research is what impacts do objects and artifacts have on the creation of possible similarities and differences in idiom formulation, in native Spanish and Persian speakers' culture. Since idioms are an inseparable part of folklore and popular knowledge, and perhaps the most culture-bound part of language, the authors try to assess the effects of cultural interaction with objects around Spanish and Persian native speakers on their idiom formulation referring to common concepts, through the contrastive analysis of object-containing idioms in Spanish and Persian, in order to present a model for an inter-linguistic analysis within an anthropolinguistic framework. The main objective of this research is the comparison of the idioms containing objects in Spanish and Persian in order to show how the attitude of the speakers of those languages towards objects, is reflected in the form and content of idioms under the influence of the context and cultural characteristics. Based on the analysis carried out in this study, in Spanish and Persian, idiomatization referring to a common concept according to the special interaction of these native speakers with the objects around them, tends more towards cultural differences than similarities, and the focus of idiomatization similarities has been based on objects and artifacts that are used in the household.