Extended Semantic Potentials of Body-related Temperature Expressions in English and Arabic: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This research paper is a cross-language analysis of two semantic topics in Arabic and English, where the researchers examined the expanded semantic capacity arising from mixing temperature terms like 'hot,' 'cold' and 'soft' with such body parts as 'core,' 'mouth,' 'chest,' and 'leg,.'' This attempt is made to figure out the body-related temperature expressions that exist in English and Arabic and how the generalized textual meanings of such phrases vary in both languages. For several languages like English and Arabic, the "body-based temperature words,' including 'hot head' and 'cold-blooded,' and 'soft mouth' are available. Such combinations are essential in metaphorical studies for two reasons: they represent the meeting point of two investigation fields, and often, such combinations are not common but linguistically viable. Their metaphorical meaning is sharply defined contextually and culturally. In specific semanticized tracks, the four temperature terms "hot," "cold," "soft," and "cool" have static significance. That is, their definition is set and definitive. Yet, such terms may develop complex definitions in other ways, and also new meanings are contextual. The study is especially useful in language and translation research and teaching as it sheds light on a hitherto underexplored area of the Arabic-English language pair.