International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 4, No.

4; 2014
ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

“My Patience is Exhausted” and “Nafida Sabrii”: A Conceptual

Metaphoric Account of “Patience” Idioms in English and Arabic
Mohamed Mazen Galal1
1
English Department, Faculty of Education, Suez University, Suez, Egypt
Correspondence: Mohamed Mazen Galal, El-Ganayen, Karyet Amer, Suez, Egypt. Tel: 20-10-2279-4625.
E-mail: [email protected]

Received: April 22, 2014 Accepted: June 3, 2014 Online Published: July 29, 2014
doi: 10.5539/ijel.v4n4p22 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v4n4p22

Abstract
This paper attempts to explain convergence and divergence of Arabic and English idioms in view of the
Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), one of the landmarks in
cognitive linguistics which holds that our conceptual system is based on a group of mental metaphorical images
that determine our way of thinking and influence our experience of the world. The paper specifically focuses on
idioms related to patience in both languages. It has been found out that patience idioms in both languages
emanate from very similar conceptual metaphors: PATIENCE IS HARDNESS, PATIENCE IS A FLUID IN A
CONTAINER, and PATIENCE IS SPACIOUNESS; multiple differences, however, have been found to originate
basically from cultural/linguistic variance. This study also explores how analyzing Arabic and English „patience‟
idioms within CMT framework can have significant implications for L2 language learning.
Keywords: Arabic, conceptual metaphor, English, idioms, L2 language learning
1. Introduction
1.1 Overview of the Study
This paper seeks to compare the idiomatic expressions of patience in English and Arabic and motivate their
attestation in both universal bodily as well as cultural terms within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as
set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003). The paper provides a conceptual-metaphoric analysis of the
relevant idioms and explores how it can offer a great explanatory power of idioms and the significant
implications for L2 language learning. Sub-section1.2 presents idiom definition and characteristics that set it out
as a peculiar linguistic unit. It also cites some proposals as to how idioms are traditionally and cognitively
handled. Sub-section 1.3 explains how CMT can serve as a handy tool for motivating idiom structure, long
believed to be opaque and arbitrary. The final sub-section of this introduction explains the rationale for the study.
1.2 Idiom Definition and Various Perspectives
According to Simpson and Mendis (2003, p. 423) an idiom is “a group of words that occur in a more or less
fixed phrase whose overall meaning cannot be predicted by analyzing the meaning of its constituent parts”.
Based on this definition, idioms are considered complex multi-dimensional structures that have peculiar
semantic, structural, and lexico-grammatical characteristics in addition to certain degree of conventionality
(Langlotz, 2006, pp. 2-3). As regards grammatical status, idioms enjoy a degree of familiarity
(institutionalization) and in connection with form, they have the formal complexity of construction as being
multi-word units (compositeness); also, they are syntactically, morpho-syntactically and lexically variable. In
addition, idioms are known to be of restricted lexico-grmmatical behavior (frozenness), and in relation to
meaning they are different from other formulaic structures in that their meaning cannot be derived from their
constituents (non-compositionality). We will now discuss what is meant by each term.
Institutionalization as defined by Bauer (1983, p. 48) is “the process by which a string or formulation becomes
recognized and accepted as a lexical item of the language”. The idiomatic expression is taken as a whole to
express a certain meaning accepted by speech community and becomes in currency among native speakers of the
language. The idiom kick the bucket, for example, is conventionalized to mean „die‟ and has become common
among the speech community to mean so.
As indicated above, idioms have the characteristic of lexical and grammatical fixedness (Svensén, 1993, p. 109).

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By this is meant that it is hard to shuffle (i.e., delete or substitute) the elements inside the idiomatic unit
(frozenness), which is usually made up of two or more lexical constituents (compositeness). This can be
illustrated, once more, by the idiom kick the bucket. It would be quite unacceptable to shuffle the parts of the
phraseme kick the bucket, e.g., *the bucket which he surprisingly kicked yesterday was… or to change kick for
hit *hit the bucket or the for a *kick a bucket. This is what is referred to by Frazer (1970) as lexico-grammatical
restriction.
Non-compositionality of the idiom means that the total meaning of the idiom is not the total sum of its parts.
Given the fact that opacity blacks out chances of inferring the meaning, the arbitrariness of the idiomatic
structure is rather severe. Native speakers certainly pick up the meaning of those expressions without dividing
them into sub-units and understand them wholly so. Opacity of idioms results from the fact that they are
indivisible phrasemes whose meaning cannot be inferred from the individual words included. For example, in the
sentence this action will have the butterfly effect; the meaning of butterfly effect (local change that can have wide
consequences) is totally opaque without cultural and meta-linguistic explanation. Another illustrative example is
pass the buck (to pass responsibility for a problem to another person or to avoid dealing with it). It is hard to
guess the total meaning of this idiom based on the individual meaning of each word: pass + buck (O‟dell &
McCarthy, 2008, p. 6).
Based on idiom definition and the multiple views about its structure, an idiom can be seen as having special
meaning that is totally independent of its constituents and has a bit arbitrary unmotivated nature, which has
raised language learners‟ complaints. Despite their importance for language learning and fluency, idioms are
believed to be difficult parts of language. Moon (1998, p. 3) maintains that “idiom is an ambiguous term, used in
conflicting ways”. According to Cooper (1998), the difficulty of idiomatic uses lies in the special vocabulary that
students have to face as well as the figurative expressions which cannot be interpreted at the literal level that
students have to come across. Difficulty of idiom learning and assimilation is also asserted by Liu (2003, p. 671)
on the grounds that idioms‟ structure is rather rigid, and their meaning is unpredictable for language learners.
Traditional ways of introducing idioms have been proven inadequate. The traditional view has been that
formulaic expressions are better understood through direct and explicit interpretations. According to Chen and
Lai (2013) translation has traditionally been seen as the most common and direct way of understanding and
introducing idiomatic expressions. Hence, many reference books have been compiled to display contrasts
between the target and the native languages. Students were asked to memorize the idiom, a method that has been
found to be time- and effort-consuming. The problem with this, as Chen and Lai (2013) claim, is that idiomatic
expressions used in these references are not related in terms of meanings or themes. Moreover, the lists of idioms
selected lack logical relationship and systematic arrangement and were merely discrete and isolated, which were
deemed to be impractical and result in short retention.
Despite the attempts traditionally made to account for and present idioms, one major pitfall in the traditional
view of idioms observed by Kövecses and Szabó (1996) and Kövecses (2002, pp. 199-200) is that linguistic
meaning of idioms was treated as being dissociated from the human conceptual system, opaque and arbitrary. As
explained above (section 1.2), idioms were regarded as a matter of language alone, items of the lexicon, which
resulted in treating them as linguistic units independent of each other. To illustrate that the traditional view of
idioms is mistaken, and to put forward a conceptual explanation instead, Kövecses (2002, p. 200) uses the
following examples of idiomatic expressions that involve the word fire:
He was spitting fire.
The fire between them finally went out.
The painting set fire to the composer’s imagination.
Go ahead. Fire away!
The killing sparked off riots in the major cities.
He was burning the candle at both ends.
The bank robber snuffed out Sam’s life.
The speaker fanned the flames of the crowd’s enthusiasm.
As Kövecses explains, the above idioms tackle the phenomenon of fire and refer to its beginning (spark off), its
end (snuff out), the energy source it creates (burn the candle at both ends), its intensity (fan the flames), and
danger (fan the flames, spit fire). Other words of relevance to fire (i.e., from the domain of fire) are also used in
the idioms, such as burn, candle, snuff, flame, etc. Contrary to the traditional view that idioms are unmotivated
and unanalyzable wholes, Kövecses proposes that the process of creating the idiomatic expression is not actually
dependent on the individual words used but on the underlying concept (conceptual domain) of fire.

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Such separation between idiom presentation and the considerations of the human conceptual system is seen as an
impediment to understanding and learning/teaching idioms in L2 settings (Kövecses, 2002). Kövecses suggests
that idioms can be better understood if they are handled in terms of the conceptual domains they represent, not in
terms of the individual words. It is the conceptual domains that contribute towards creating idiomatic
expressions. The individual words can only be seen as reflection of a deeper process of conceptualization.
Towards understanding how conceptual theories can better explain the nature of idioms and the possible
implications of this on presenting idioms to language learners the following sub-section presents the basic tenets
of one of the most influential conceptual theories that provide an effective tool for idiom explanation, the
Conceptual Metaphor Theory.
1.3 Idioms and the Conceptual Theory of Metaphor
The main hypothesis of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) set forth by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003) is
that our conceptual system is based on a group of mental metaphorical images which determine our way of
thinking and influence our experience of the world. Lakoff and Johnson see metaphor as central to our thought
and language. While for most people metaphor is merely “a device of the poetic imagination and rhetorical
flourish—a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language… as characteristic of language alone, a matter
of words rather than thought or action” (2003, p. 4), for Lakoff and Johnson it is part of our everyday thought
and action and is not merely a linguistic device, hence: “what we experience, and what we do every day is very
much a matter of metaphor” (p. 4).
Lakoff and Johnson elaborate on what it means for a concept to be metaphorical and they illustrate their point by
giving many examples. To mention only one, they tackle the concept “ARGUMENT” and the conceptual
metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR. The metaphor appears in daily life in such expressions as: your claims are
indefensible; he attacked every weak point in my argument; his criticisms were right on target; I demolished his
argument; I‟ve never won an argument with him; you disagree? Okay, shoot!; if you use that “strategy”, he‟ll
“wipe you out”. He “shot down” all of my arguments. Those expressions are not merely words of language; they
actually represent realities of life that are witnessed in terms of the facts that we “win or lose arguments”, we see
the person we are arguing with as “an opponent”, we “attack” our opponent‟s “positions” and we “defend” our
own, we “gain” and “lose” ground, etc. (p. 5).
According to this theory, there are two domains for conceptual metaphors. The source domain, the domain of
experience from which we draw the metaphorical expressions, represented by the word WAR in the metaphor
ARGUMENT IS WAR; and the target domain, the domain we try to unravel, represented by the word
ARGUMENT in the current metaphor. The process of mapping across those conceptual domains puts the two
elements together (“ARGUMENT” and “WAR”) so that you can see the common ground, resemblances and
parallels that may exist between the source and the target. The metaphor, here, as asserted by Lakoff and Johnson,
is primarily based on this mapping, and language is only secondary. From this standpoint, metaphor is defined as
“a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system” (Lakoff, 2003, p. 203).
The Conceptual Metaphor Theory can provide a very handy tool for handling idioms. Kövecses (2004, p. 311)
maintains that “the theory of conceptual metaphors is emerging as a new tool that is capable of providing serious
assistance to both teachers and students in teaching and learning foreign languages”. He believes that learning
conceptual metaphors can be a useful means of understanding and teaching idiomatic expressions. Believing in
the need for developing conceptual fluency in language learning, Danesi (1994, p. 454) stresses the necessity of
raising awareness of metaphorical reasoning and how languages may converge or diverge based on encoding
various concepts.
Many researchers (Lazar, 1996; Deignan et al., 1997) have found that metaphor awareness can be of pedagogical
use in assisting foreign language learners to acquire L2 figurative expressions. Other researchers believe that
acquiring metaphoric competence is of great significance for language learning (Gibbs, 1994; Ponterotto, 1994;
Giora, 2003; Boers, 2003; Boers, Demecheleer, & Eyckmans, 2004; Littlemore & Low, 2006b). Based on a
study conducted by Charteris-Black (2002, p. 104) on university students, it was found out that “the easiest
metaphoric expressions are the ones that have equal conceptual foundation and linguistic forms both in the
native and target languages”, while those metaphoric expressions which have different conceptual foundations
but equal linguistic forms are the most difficult. The difficulties here, according to Charteris-Black emanate from
differences between native language and the target language with regard to conceptual systems and cultural
underpinnings of the idiomatic expressions.
Perhaps the crucial point about handling idioms within the conceptual theory approach is that cognitive
linguistics in general and the Conceptual Metaphor Theory in particular can motivate idioms. Motivation is very

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important to making language easier. According to Kövecses (2001, p. 305): “the assumption concerning the
potential usefulness of cognitive linguistics is predicated on the commonsensical belief that motivation always
facilitates learning”. Motivation is also seen by Boers and Lindstromberg (2006) as “The cognitive linguistics
feature that seems to have the greatest potential as a source for complementing current language pedagogy…” (p.
305), which has been also asserted by Langlotz (2006) who states that value of treating figurative idioms under
the cognitive approach is that the speaker is enabled to understand the meaning of idiomatic expressions, which
occurs via “reactivating or re-motivating their figuritivity” (p. 45).
Many idiomatic expressions can be motivated based on conceptual and cognitive explanation, which reflects
people‟s relation to their surrounding world as well as their own embodied experience, i.e., the way the human
body shapes how we understand and cognize our world (Gibbs, 2006). This embodied motivation can be
explained, for example, via the English idiom spit fire “express anger” in which a native speaker of English
unconsciously looks upon his or her body as a container ready to explode, which shows that idioms, in addition
to their linguistic properties, can also be conceptually motivated (Kövecses, 2002). Lakoff (1987) also shows
that learning is made easier if it is motivated rather than being arbitrarily presented. He illustrates how an idiom
such as spill the beans can be cognitively motivated: “In this case, the relevant metaphor is the CONDUIT
METAPHOR […]. According to the conduit metaphor, THE MIND IS A CONTAINER, IDEAS ARE ENTITIES
and communication involves taking ideas out of the mind, putting them into words, and sending them to other
people” (p. 450). According to such metaphoric extension “the beans corresponds to the information. The
container corresponds to the head” (p. 450). Thus, the meaning of spill the beans becomes fully motivated. (For
further discussion of the issue of motivation, see also Leung, 2008).
Based on the discussion above, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory has the potential of explaining and motivating
idioms, traditionally considered to be unanalyzeable and arbitrary structures, and is expected to yield various
pedagogical benefits, which this paper partly ventures to explore.
1.4 Rationale for the Study
The main purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the idiomatic expressions of patience in English and
Arabic within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The paper attempts to illustrate the conceptual
aspects of understanding the meaning of idiomatic expressions with a view to showing how the tool of
conceptual metaphor can be of considerable benefit to language learning. It indicates the interaction between the
bodily universal aspects of the human experience and the cultural assumptions in formulating Arabic and English
idioms.
The reason why this piece of research focuses on patience is that it is primarily a universal human feeling with
idioms prevalent in almost every language and culture. Patience idioms reflect in many ways the society‟s value
systems and beliefs. To my knowledge, no previous study has focused on addressing these idioms in Arabic and
English, unlike “anger” expressions, the anti-thesis of “patience”, which have been the focus of many studies
whether in relation to some languages or cross-linguistically. Moreover, patience also conjures many interesting
conceptual metaphors that are worth exploring.
2. Data
The corpus of this study has been compiled from various sources in English and Arabic. The English data is
mainly based on two major sources. The first is the NTC’s Thematic Dictionary of American Idioms by Richard
A. Spears. It is a thematic dictionary of essential idioms including more than 5500 of the most common idioms
covering 900 themes. This dictionary is almost encyclopedic in range and coverage of English idioms and what
makes it even more valuable is that it follows a topical order rather than the regular alphabetic arrangement. This
dictionary has been manually and electronically searched to pick up idioms relevant to the theme of patience.
The other English source is Metaphorically Speaking: A Dictionary of 3,800 Picturesque Idiomatic Expressions
by N. E. Renton. This is a self-contained dictionary and thesaurus of metaphors; it is arranged in alphabetical
order by keyword and in various categories and covers many topics primarily focusing on idiomatic metaphors.
The metaphors included in the dictionary are linguistically rather than conceptually presented.
It is assumed that the two works above represent the core of English language idioms, especially in light of the
fact that the idioms under study, i.e., patience-related idioms, do not vary much between the dialects of English.
The term “Arabic” as used in the study stands for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Though some scholars are of
the view that MSA is mainly a written rather than a spoken mode of expression, it is still widely used in various
spoken contexts including religious sermons and discussions, university lectures, TV serious talk shows and
debates, and many other significant encounters. Moreover, the linguistic situation in the Arabic-speaking

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countries involves the concurrent use of dialectical and standard Arabic. Though this study is mainly based on
MSA data, many of the expressions used have equal dialectal counterparts, and they may sometimes be used in
vernacular Arabic in diglossic situations.
The sources of Arabic data are primarily based on three works. The first is Ibrahim Al-Yaziji‟s Nuj‫؟‬at Al-raa’id
wa Shur‫؟‬at Al-waarid fi L-mutaraadif wa L-mutaawarid (The Spring of the Seeker in Synonyms and
Associations), an encyclopedic reference of Modern Standard Arabic which incorporates a big wealth of
idiomatic expressions arranged under various thematic headings.
The second reference work is A contextual Dictionary of Idioms, an Arabic-Arabic Dictionary compiled by
Mahmoud E. Sieny, Mokhtar A. Hussein & Sayyed A. Al-Doush. This work includes more than 2000 entries
featuring idioms in a simple language. It focuses on the language of media and current usage citing examples
from the Holy Quran, poetry and expressions of common use.
The last Arabic source is Dawood‟s Mua’ajam Al-ta’abeer Al-istilahy fi Al-Arabiya Al-Mua’asirah (The
Dictionary of Contemporary Arabic Idiomatic Expression). The dictionary includes idioms of contemporary
Arabic obtained from Arabic press and modern literary works. It also includes allusions to Classical Arabic
expressions.
The data in this study was compiled by listing patience-related entries in the works above based on manual and
electronic inspection. As for the Arabic data, the researcher had to use his intuition as a native speaker to verify
the currency of the data, and it was also crossed-checked informally by other natives.
The data procured from the dictionaries forms a solid basis for a cross-linguistic exploration into the two
languages and cultures. From the perspective of this study, the conventionalized, lexicalized dictionary idiomatic
expressions used are reflections of traditional language used in everyday life. In order to allow for a
cross-linguistic analysis, only those idioms relevant to patience were taken into consideration.
3. Methodology
Patience idioms in both languages are analyzed in view of the tenets of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory set
forth by Lakoff and Johnson and the subsequent literature, which can be summarized as follows.
a) The metaphor is a mapping which is well known to be unidirectional, from source to target domains.
b) The physical experience is the basis of the source domain (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), which presents itself
via “image content” reflecting bodily sensation and perception (Grady, 1997a).
c) The commonalities of our bodies and of the environments we live in constitute our conceptual systems to a
great extent (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999).
In this paper we set out to explore contrastively the similarities and differences between patience idioms in
English and Arabic, and towards this goal, lists of idioms in both languages have been established based on the
conceptual metaphor they were found to stand for. The comparison conducted resulted in the conceptual
metaphors dealt with in the analysis section.
The methodological principles for the description of conceptual metaphors in expressions are those put forward
by Barcelona (2001) and (Kövecses, 2002); hence, the linguistic expressions in our data are seen as
manifestations of conceptual metaphors in accordance with Kövecses‟ statement that “it is the metaphorical
linguistic expressions that reveal the existence of the conceptual metaphors” (2002, p. 6).The analysis and
description of the linguistic expressions (i.e., idioms) in English and Arabic is done in order to corroborate the
similarities and differences in conceptual metaphors between the two languages.
4. Analysis
This section analyzes the data collected relating to conceptual metaphors. The expressions analyzed all relate to
patience. According to the definition offered by Oxford Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (Hornby, 2010), patience
is an ability to stay calm, quiet, steady, even-tempered without complaining, which requires a person to bear
provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaining or losing one‟s temper or getting irritated. It is
also an ability or willingness to suppress agitation or infuriation when facing up to any delay; it is a special ability
in that you have to be careful and diligent. These conditions of patience are shared by humans and their
physiologically-based embodiment primarily motivates the conceptualization of such a feeling.
The following section presents the three metaphors that have been found to emanate from the data procured,
namely PATIENCE IS HARDNESS, PATIENCE IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, and PATIENCE IS
SPACIOUSNESS. Each metaphor is fully analyzed, and its bodily as well as cultural basis is detected. The

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analysis clarifies how the two contrasted languages converge or diverge in delineating the relevant metaphors.
4.1 Patience Is Hardness
Because patience is an ability to bear undesirable things without complaining, it causes much body stress, holding
one‟s breath, and hardness of breathing; it is considered an agonizing experience, a type of difficulty; this type of
difficulty is motivated by the metaphor DIFFICULTY IS HARDNESS, which is a common observation in
everyday life. Hardness of objects correlates with discomfort we live through when trying to manipulate them; this
can be easily detected through expressions such as this is a very hard problem to solve; or this is a tough situation
to deal with (Grady, 1997a).
Remaining patient against hardships is a difficult situation that needs a powerful person to handle it; no wonder
then that we see a patient person delineated as a bearer of hardships. Owing to the heavy burden of having to
remain steadfast and persistent, hardness is seen as a real physical load which requires a patient person to be
powerful in body; hence, we see in Arabic many references to a patient person as being “strong” in body as (1) and
(2) show:
1. huwa Salbu l-3uud )‫د‬ٛ‫ صٍت اٌع‬ٛ٘)
he hard the-physique
“Lit. He is of powerful physique.”
2. huwa Salbu l-mu3jam (ُ‫ صٍت اٌّعج‬ٛ٘(
he hard the-body
“Lit. He is of powerful body.”
Besides the powerful-body images, Arabic data compares the hardness of a patient person to that of the
“mountain”, a symbol of hardness and resilience. In Arabic, a mountain is much more than merely a natural
elevation of the earth surface rising from the surrounding level; it stands for fortitude and the ability to withstand
the test of time and erosion. It also stands for pride and forbearance, not submitting to the hardships of life; hence
the patient person is seen as “as hard as a mountain” and “as hard as a valley‟s rock”, as (3-4) indicate:
3. ka?anna-hu Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad (‫اد‬ٛ‫د ِٓ األط‬ٛ‫(وؤٔٗ ط‬
like-him mountain of the-mountains
“Lit. He is like one of the mountains.”
4. huwaa fii ʃ-ʃadaa?idi Saxratu waad (‫اد‬ٚ ‫ اٌشذائذ صخشح‬ٟ‫ ف‬ٛ٘)
he in the-hardships rock valley
“Lit. At hardships, he is as hard as the rock of the valley.”
For a patient person, a calamity is no more than just a small rift in a rock:
5. waqratun fii Saxrah (‫ صخشح‬ٟ‫لشح ف‬ٚ)
small rift in rock
“Lit. A small rift in a rock.”
Because patience is seen as “hardness”, failing to remain patient, as our Arabic data shows, is a sign of weakness,
which is presented here in “softness” terms. A forbearing person is someone who is “never softened by incidents”:
6. laa yaliinu janbu-hu li-7aadiɵ )‫ٓ جٕجٗ ٌذبدس‬١ٍ٠ ‫(ال‬
no soften side-his to- incident
“Lit. His sides are never softened by incidents.”
One aspect of portraying the hardships that a patient person has to go through is to picture that person as carrying a
heavy load. Patience is illustrated in Arabic as a cumbersome object that weighs heavily on the bearer; a patient
person is required to be able to bear such a heavy burden. This is very much in keeping with Grady‟s primary
metaphor DIFFICULTY/HARDSHIP IS HEAVINESS (1997a) based on the observed correlation between our
sensory judgment of mass and the affective states associated with exertion; it is this correlation that relates the
conceptual domain of HARDSHIP to the source domain of HEAVINESS. Because patience is seen as a “heavy”
object, a patient person has to be up to the task of bearing. Recurrent idioms in Arabic depict an enduring person as
someone who is a “bearer of hardships”, a “bearer of misfortunes”, and a “bearer of the calamities of time”:
7. muTTali3un bi-ʃʃadaa?id (‫)ِعطٍع ثبٌشذائذ‬
bearer of-hardships
“Lit. [He is] a bearer of hardships”
8.7amuulun l-innaa?ibaat.(‫ي ٌٍٕبئجبد‬ّٛ‫) د‬
bearer of-misfortunes

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“Lit. [He is] a bearer of misfortunes.”

9. muqrinun li-xuTubi d-dahr )‫ة اٌذ٘ش‬ٛ‫( ِمشْ ٌخط‬
bearer to-calamities the-time
“Lit. [He is] a bearer of calamities of time.”
The effect of bearing the difficulty would require someone to “bite hard on one‟s molars” in order to be able to
carry the heavy burdens of patience:
10. ya3aDDu 3alaa naajiðay-h (ٗ٠‫ ٔبجز‬ٍٝ‫عط ع‬٠)
bite on two-mollars-his
“Lit. [He] bites hard on one‟s molars.”
A patient person is not only delineated in terms of physical power, but also psychological vigor. A patient person is
a fearless person, who never submits:
11. laa turawwi3u-hu n-nawaa?ib (‫ائت‬ٌٕٛ‫عٗ ا‬ٚ‫)ال رش‬
no frighten-him the-calamities
“Lit. [He is] not frightened by misfortunes.”
12. laa yataDa3Da3 li-riyabi D-Dahr )‫ت اٌذ٘ش‬٠‫زعععع ٌش‬٠ ‫(ال‬
no submit to- uncertainties the-time
“Lit. He never submits to the uncertainties of time.”
Showing no patience, on the other hand, is seen as weakness, and falling down. The conception of presenting
lacking one‟s fortitude as such seems to be induced by the bodily primary metaphor FUNCTIONALITY/
VIABILITY IS ERECTNESS, based on the observed correlation between functionality and erect (up) position; the
sense of weakness is carried through the following idioms which represent various signs of weakness:
13. wahana bi-hi Sabru-h (ٖ‫٘ٓ ثٗ صجش‬ٚ)
weaken with-him patience-his
“Lit. His patience weakened.”
14. wahaa jaladu-h (ٖ‫ جٍذ‬ٝ٘ٚ)
weakened patience-his
“Lit. His patience weakened.”
15. wahaa ja? ʃu-h (ٗ‫ جؤش‬ٝ٘ٚ)
weakened self-possession-his
“Lit. His self-possession weakened.”
16. xaara ?iSTibar-uh (ٖ‫)خبساصطجبس‬
faltered powerful patience-his
“Lit. His powerful patience faltered.”
17. Da3ufa i-7timaalu-h )ٌٗ‫)ظعف ادزّب‬
weakened forbearance-his
“Lit. His forbearance weakened.”
As the examples above show, contrary to the toughness of patience, losing patience is a sign of fragility; a person is
required to endure all hardships patiently; an eager desire for relief is a sign of feebleness.
Arabic also elaborates on lack of patience as a sign of weakness by introducing the term “3uqdah” (knot), which is
a symbol of power and strength; to have endurance and remain patient is to have your knot “tied”, while losing
one‟s patience is to have your knots “untied”. The following examples show weakness in terms of “untying the
knots of patience”, “loosening the knots of patience”, “tearing the rims of patience cloth”:
18. ?In7allat 3uqdatu Sabri-h (ٖ‫)أذٍذ عمذح صجش‬
untied knot patience-his
“Lit. The strength of his patience was lost.”
19. ?intaqaDat mirratu Sabri-h (ٖ‫)أزمعذ ِشح صجش‬
loosened knot patience-his
“Lit. The knots of his patience loosened.”
20. ?infaSamat 3uraa Sabri-h (ٖ‫ صجش‬ٜ‫)أفصّذ عش‬
tear-passive rims patience-his
“Lit. The rims of his patience cloth were torn.”

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Another perspective of weakness is presented through the image of structure destruction; while patience is
depicted as a well-structured building, losing one‟s patience is a total fall and destruction of such a structure:
21.?infataqat banaa?iqu Sabri-h (ٖ‫)أفزمذ ثٕبئك صجش‬
break loose the supporting blocks his patience
“Lit. The supporting blocks of his patience broke loose.”
22. taqawwaDat da3aa?imu iSTibarih (ٖ‫ظذ دعبئُ اصطجبس‬ٛ‫)رم‬
demolished pillars forbearance
“ Lit. The pillars of his patience demolished.”
Weakness (lack of patience) may also be embodied as submission; someone who cannot bear hardships is said to
“submit”:
23. ?axlada ?ilaa ʃ- ʃ ujuun (ْٛ‫ اٌشج‬ٌٝ‫)أخٍذ إ‬
submitted to the-grief
“Lit. He submitted to grief.”
24. ?istakaana lil-3abrah (‫)اسزىبْ ٌٍعجشح‬
surrendered to-the-tear
“Lit. submitted to tears.”
Weakness is also represented in terms of lack of restrain, inability to control one‟s self; a person who cannot remain
patient is someone who cannot control his tears or heart:
25. laa yamliku dam3a-h (ٗ‫ٍّه دِع‬٠ ‫)ال‬
no hold tears-his
“Lit. He cannot hold his tears.”
26. laa yamliku qalba-h (ٗ‫ٍّه لٍج‬٠ ‫)ال‬
no control heart -his
“Lit. He cannot control his heart.”
Another sign of weakness is represented in military terms. Lack of resilience in the face of trouble is embodied as
losing one‟s protective forces and fortresses. This is in keeping with the above-mentioned bodily primary
metaphor FUNCTIONALITY/ VIABILITY IS ERECTNESS, as well as the primary metaphor DIFFICULTIES
ARE OPPONENTS, where feelings of discomfort mirror physical struggle. In the following Arabic data (27-29),
the lack of patience is represented as a military defeat where one suffers the destruction of his fortresses, fences and
combatant battalions:
27. tada3a-t 7uSunu Sabri-h (ٖ‫ْ صجش‬ٛ‫)رذاعذ دص‬
fell-they fortresses patience-his
“Lit. The fortress of his patience fell.”
28. dukka-t ?aswaari Sabri-h (ٖ‫اس صجش‬ٛ‫)دوذ أس‬
pounded-passive fences patience-his
“Lit. The fences of his patience were pounded.”
29. muzziqat kataa?ibu Sabri-h (ٖ‫)ِزلذ وزبئت صجش‬
destroyed-passive battalions patience-his
“Lit. His battalions of patience were destroyed.”
Our data shows that the hardness of patience metaphor is equally detected for English idiomatic expressions.
However, English does not seem to be very detailed or figurative in showing the hardness of bearing patience
compared to Arabic.
English data shows that, indeed, remaining patient requires being strong:
30. Give me strength!
31. You have to live with it.
On exhibiting the hardness of patience, English sometimes focuses on the external aspects of how a patient person
should be (facial gestures) as well as the agony of having to control one‟s anger and remain patient:
32. grin and bear it !
33. grit your teeth !
The idiomatic expressions above reflect the sense of patience being a real agony and hardship. The stoical

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courage expected of someone bearing patience also relates to the primary metaphor DIFFICULTY/HARDSHIP
IS HEAVINESS.
English also summons the experiential and the cultural to convey the meaning of patience, as the following
idiom shows:
34. You must bite the bullet.
The expression above reflects the true fact that army doctors gave patients a bullet to put between their teeth in
order to alleviate the agonizing pain of surgery (oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, etymological note, 2010).
Difficulty of the patience experience in English is also associated with having to wait until difficulty is overcome;
managing to be patient and surviving a difficult situation without complaining is echoed in the expression:
35. sweat it out
36. ride it out
37. keep your shirt on
The difficulty of keeping patient is sometimes associated with remaining steadfast in the face of provocations
and exercising great self-possession and self control. As was seen with Arabic, the primary metaphor
FUNCTIONALITY/VIABILITY IS ERECTNESS, based on the observed association between functionality and
erect position, is fleshed out in English. However, unlike Arabic, where erect position takes the form of mountains,
buildings as well as the military defences, English focuses on natural erect postures of sitting and standing:
38. sit tight !
39. stand for it!
40. stand still for something
Based on the hardness metaphor presented above in English and Arabic, it seems that Arabic idioms are
particularly meticulous about delineating hardness/weakness images. Arabic is really exhaustive in terms of
illustrating many aspects of hardness/weakness in physical and figurative terms. There are numerous references
to patience in terms of powerful/weak body, mountains, rocks, calamity-bearing, structure demolishing,
submission, knot tying/untying, military defeat, etc. Though the English idioms, generally, refer to patience in
hardness terms, they are by no means intricate, as far as the current data is concerned. they do not seem to have
full attention to detail. It mainly focuses on external appearances, such as facial gestures (grinning and
teeth-gritting) and postures, e.g., sit tight!. Compared to the extravagant figurative Arabic idioms of forbearing
and non-submission, English is scanty in delineating ornate imagery.
4.2 Patience Is a Fluid in a Container
Emotions are usually conceptualized as internal forces that exercise pressure somehow. Based on Talmy‟s work
(1988) about “force dynamic”, Kövecses (2000, pp. 61-86) explains that what lies behind most of the emotion
metaphors is EMOTION IS FORCE. He detects the following emotion-related metaphors: ANGER IS HOT
FLUID IN A CONTAINER (She is boiling with anger); LOVE IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER (She was
overflowing with love).
The fluid image has a bodily basis since emotions usually have the force of fluid (based on the primary metaphor
EMOTIONS ARE FLUIDS) and are easily affected by pressure which causes them to overflow; controlling an
emotion is an attempt to keep the fluid inside the container; overflowing is one possible effect of not being able
to control one‟s anger and keep patient (Kovecses, 2000, p. 67). There has been cross-linguistic evidence of the
fluid image in many languages; Kövecses (1995b, p. 118) suggests, based on data from English, Chinese,
Japanese and Hungarian that many cultures conceptualize human beings as containers and emotions as substance
inside the container. There is also a difference relative to productivity; while the fluid image is productive in
English, it is not very productive in some other languages.
Our data shows the association of patience to fluid in Arabic and English. Problems of self-control and losing
one‟s patience break out in two cases. First, when one‟s “supply” of patience is exhausted:
41. nafida Sabru-h (ٖ‫)ٔفذ صجش‬
ran out patience-his
“Lit. His patience ran out.”
42. faraƔa Sabru-h (ٖ‫)فشغ صجش‬
became empty patience-his

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“Lit. His patience became exhausted.”

The exhaustion of the patience “fluid” can other substantiations in Arabic. It may take the form of “drainage” as
in (43) or “seepage” as in (44-45):
43. nazafa Sabru-h )ٖ‫)ٔزف صجش‬
drained patience-his
“Lit. His patience drained.”
44. naDaba S-STibaru-h )ٖ‫)ٔعت اصطجبس‬
seeped away great patience-his
“Lit. His great patience seeped away in the ground”
45. naDaba ma3iinu S-STibaarih )ٖ‫ٓ اصطجبس‬١‫)ٔعت ِع‬
seeped away in the ground source forbearance
“Lit. The source of his forbearance seeped away in the ground.”
As we note here, most of the fluid expressions in Arabic refer to the concept of termination from different
perspectives; so, the verbs nafida, faraƔa refer to the mere act of “exhaustion”; nazafa refers to the act of
“drainage”, while naDaba denote the “seepage” perspective.
While Arabic possesses a multi-perspective image of liquid exhaustion, English focuses merely on a single-sided
image of exhaustion, as examples (46-49) indicate:
46. His patience is exhausted.
47. They can never keep patience.
48. They are easily out of patience.
49. They lose patience.
The other case of losing self control (i.e., losing patience) is when another form of fluid (i.e., the anger fluid) in
another container (i.e., anger container) “overflows”, which conjures the classic metaphor ANGER IS FLUID IN
A CONTAINER. The container here is represented in Arabic by the term “kayl” (vessel). Having more than
enough is a real cause of anger and breaking into rage, the antithesis of patience, as in (50-52):
50. faaDa l-kayl (ً١‫)فبض اٌى‬
overflowed the-vessel
“Lit. The vessel overflowed.”
51. Tafa7a l-kayl (ً١‫)طفخ اٌى‬
spilled over the-vessel
“Lit. The vessel spilled over.”
52. balƔa s-saylu z-zubaa (ٝ‫ً اٌزث‬١‫)ثٍػ اٌس‬
reached the-flood the-elevated places
“Lit. The flood reached the elevated places.”
ANGER IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER metaphor is echoed in the following English expressions:
53. They have had enough
54.They have had it up to here.
Based on the image of patience as a fluid, both English and Arabic assert the importance of keeping a good
supply of “patience”, considering such an asset a very important precaution for facing difficulties. An ideal state
of “patience” occurs when one has abundant supply of patience; this is exemplified by the following famous
Arabic phrase:
55.Sabrun jameel
patience great
“Lit. great patience; have great patience.”
The following English expressions also assert the importance of keeping as much as possible of patience:
56. He has great patience.
57. She has endless patience.
58. He has infinite patience.
When this supply is less than what is required, anger rears with its ugly head:
59. She has little patience

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The above English expression also resonates in Arabic:

60. huwaa qaliilu S-Sabr
he little the-patience
“Lit. He has little patience.”
Based upon the exposition above, the fluid metaphor suggests that a forbearing person should not let his supply
of patience exhaust, nor allow his anger fluid to overflow.
It is astonishing to see the striking resemblance between English and Arabic. The difference between the two
languages, however, seems to lie in elaboration and figurativeness. Arabic is more elaborate and figurative than
English in delineating the fluid image. As the examples above show, Arabic is multi-perspective while English
seems to be only single-sided.
4.3 Patience Is Spaciousness
In view of the discussion above, patience is governed by the container metaphor BODY IS A CONTAINER FOR
THE EMOTIONS. Physically, a wide and spacious container can allow for more liquid in or for the liquid level to
go down in the container, and the more spacious the container, the more it can assimilate the fluid.
This conception is captured profusely in Arabic, where patience is depicted in “spacious terms”; the following
example denotes this:
61. fasii7u ruq3ati S-Sabr (‫خ سلعخ اٌصجش‬١‫)فس‬
wide patch the-patience
“Lit. A man whose patience is wide-patched.”
The spaciousness of the container is captured in Arabic in terms of two main body parts, Sadr “breast/chest” and
qalb “heart”. According to Maalej (2004, p. 72), in culturally specific embodiment, a particular emotion
establishes a conventional cultural correlation between a body part and a certain conceptualization of an emotion
concept. As our data shows, the breast, as well as the heart, plays an important role in carrying the sense of
spaciousness.
Sadr, the breast, is highlighted in the Arabic/Islamic culture as an organ that stands for many emotions and
concepts that are of particular relevance to guidance, calmness and forbearance. The concept
of ?inʃraa7u/?inqibaDu S-Sadr ‫ك اٌصذس‬١‫ظ‬/‫(إٔششاح‬breast expansion /constriction) is particularly significant and has
been mentioned many times in the Quran to assert these concepts (Khan, 2014).
One‟s breast may be expanded so that he can be prepared to receive the religion of Islam and to be obedient to
Allah:
ٍٝ‫جعً اهلل اٌشجس ع‬٠ ‫ اٌسّبء وزٌه‬ٟ‫صعذ ف‬٠ ‫مبً دشجبً وؤّٔب‬١‫جعً صذسٖ ظ‬٠ ٍٗ‫ع‬٠ ْ‫شد أ‬٠ ِٓ ٚ َ‫ششح صذسٖ ٌإلسال‬٠ ٗ٠‫ذ‬ٙ٠ ْ‫شد اهلل أ‬٠ ّٓ‫"ف‬
"ِْٕٛ‫ؤ‬٠ ‫ٓ ال‬٠‫اٌز‬
“Those whom Allah (in His Plan) willeth to guide, He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to
leave straying, He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth
Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe.” [Surat Al-An‟am, 6:125; translated by Abdullah
Yusuf Ali, 1938]
The breast can also be expanded so that the believer is provided with Allah‟s light and is walking with a bright
guidance:
"ٓ١‫ ظالي ِج‬ٟ‫ٌئه ف‬ٚ‫ُ ِٓ روش اهلل أ‬ٙ‫ث‬ٍٛ‫خ ل‬١‫ً ٌٍمبس‬٠ٛ‫س ِٓ سثٗ ف‬ٛٔ ٍٝ‫ ع‬ٛٙ‫"فّٓ ششح اهلل صذسٖ ٌإلسالَ ف‬
“Is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam, so that he has received enlightenment from Allah, (no better
than one hard-hearted)? Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against celebrating the praises of Allah! They
are manifestly wandering (in error)!” [Az-Zumar, 39:22; translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938].
As we see in the verse above, breast is translated as “heart” which reflects a view by some Quran interpreters
that the breast can sometimes be used to refer to heart. However, what is of importance here is that the above
two verses of Quran mean that breast (or heart) expansion makes the believer more comfortable with Islam.
The third mentioning of breast expansion is when Prophet Moses prayed to Allah to expand his breast; breast
expansion is seen here as Allah‟s providence to help him bear hardships and remain patient in the face of
afflicting calamities.
ٞ‫ صذس‬ٌٟ ‫ اششح‬ٟ‫لبي سث‬
“(Moses) said: “O my Lord! expand me my breast.” [Surat Taha, 20:25; translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938].

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In his interpretation of this verse, Khan (2014) explains that:

Prophet Musa has a stutter problem and has a strong temper, so when he calls Pharaoh/ Fir‟awn to Islam,
he hears many evil words from him. His chest feels constricted because he is angry and is stuttering. So
he asks Allah to expand his chest for him. This means that there is an expansion of the chest required
for a Messenger of Allah. This Messenger experience is emotionally draining and very tough. So they
need to be given this Divine emotional and secure support from Allah to make them at ease and
calmness with their role as a Messenger from Allah”.
The fourth mentioning of breast expansion asserts the importance of such an act for Allah‟s prophet (Muhammad)
to be able to bear the hardships of the extremely demanding and tough job of conveying the message of Islam to
the whole humanity up till the end of time:
‫أٌُ ٔششح ٌه صذسن‬
“Have We not expanded thee thy breast?” (Surat Al-Inshirah, 94:1; translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938).
Thus in view of the meaning of breast expansion/ constriction as cited above in the Quran, breast expansion is a
true sign of calmness, guidance and a good preparation for standing up to hardships and remaining patient.
The following Arabic idiomatic expressions show that indeed there is always association between abundant
patience and breast expansion; a tolerant person is someone whose breast is broad:
62. waasi3u finaa?i S-Sadr (‫اسع فٕبء اٌصذس‬ٚ)
wide space the-breast
“Lit. A body whose breast is wide.”
63. waasi3u S-Sadr (‫اسع اٌصذس‬ٚ)
broad the- breast
“Lit. broad- breasted person”
In actual daily dealings, a person is able to face up to difficulties when he/she challenges them with a “broad
breast”:
64. talaqqaa l-?amra bi-ra7bi Sadri-h )ٖ‫ األِش ثشدت صذس‬ٝ‫(رٍم‬
received the-issue with-broad breast-his
“Lit. He received it with a broad breast.”
65. nazala haaða l-?amru min-hu fii ðar3in fasii7 (‫خ‬١‫ رسع فس‬ٟ‫)ٔزي ِٕٗ ٘زا األِش ف‬
descended this the issue from -him in breast broad
“Lit. He received it with a broad breast.”
As indicated above, breast is not the only organ that has to be wide in order to put up with life sufferings;
spaciousness of heart is very important, too.
It is known that heart means a lot to human existence. It is generally considered to be the seat of emotions as
attested in many cultures (e.g., Chinese (Yu, 1998, 2003), English (Niemeier, 1997, 2000), Hungarian (Kövecses,
2002), hence the prevalence of HEART AS A CONTAINER metaphor. As is the case for Tunisian Arabic
(Maalej, 2008), heart is actually a very productive source domain in Arabic in general (not only for Tunisian
Arabic) for the conceptualization of emotions and feelings. The data in hand is in agreement with Maalej‟s
Tunisian Arabic data in the sense of heart being the seat of emotions rather than a bearer of the mental faculty.
According to the Quranic verses (quoted in Maalej, 2008, p. 398), the heart is sometimes used as the instrument
of understanding:
“‫ب‬ٙ‫ْ ث‬ٛ‫سّع‬٠ ‫ُ آراْ ال‬ٌٙ ٚ ‫ب‬ٙ‫ْ ث‬ٚ‫جصش‬٠ ‫ٓ ال‬١‫ُ أع‬ٌٙ ٚ ‫ب‬ٙ‫ْ ث‬ٛٙ‫فم‬٠ ‫ة ال‬ٍٛ‫ُ ل‬ٌٙ ‫ اإلٔس‬ٚ ٓ‫شا ِٓ اٌج‬١‫ُٕ وث‬ٙ‫ٌمذ رسأٔب ٌج‬ٚ”
a. Many are the Ginns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes
wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. (Surat Al-A‟raaf, or Heights, 7:179, translated by
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938).
“‫ب‬ٙ‫ْ ث‬ٍٛ‫عم‬٠ ‫ة‬ٍٛ‫ُ ل‬ٌٙ ْٛ‫ األسض فزى‬ٟ‫ا ف‬ٚ‫ش‬١‫س‬٠ ٍُ‫”أف‬
b. Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and minds) may thus learn wisdom. (Surat Al-Hajj, or
The Pilgrimage, 22:46, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938.)
"‫ذ‬١ٙ‫ ش‬ٛ٘ٚ ‫ اٌسّع‬ٝ‫ أٌم‬ٚ‫ ٌّٓ وبْ ٌٗ لٍت أ‬ٜ‫ رٌه ٌزوش‬ٟ‫"إْ ف‬
c. Verily in this is a Message for any that has a heart and understanding or who gives ear and earnestly witnesses
(the truth).( Sura L (qaf, or The Matter has been decreed), translated by Abdullah Y. A, 1938, p. 1417)

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In the verses above, as explained by Maalej, and also based on the interpreter‟s notes, the heart has a meaning
that is close to “mind”. Our data suggests that the heart as a container intended here has to do more with
emotions and the ability to withstand provocations than being an instrument of thought.
The Arabic data denotes that in order for somebody to be able to remain calm and patient in the face of
calamities he needs to have a large, spacious, heart as (66-67) show:
66. nazala min-hu haaða l-?amru fii baalin waasi3 (‫اسع‬ٚ ‫ ثبي‬ٟ‫)ٔزي ِٕٗ ٘زا األِش ف‬
descended from -him this the issue in heart wide
“Lit. He received it with a large heart.”
67. nazala haaðaa l-?amru min-hu fii lababin raxii )ٟ‫ ٌجت سخ‬ٟ‫(ٔزي ٘زا األِش ِٕٗ ف‬
descended this the-issue from-him in heart large
“Lit. He received it with a spacious heart.”
Spaciousness is sometimes depicted in general terms, away from the container image. As the following example
shows, patience is set in dimensional aspects; a forbearing person is someone with “long patience”:
68. ?i7tamala-hu bi-Tuuli ?anaati-h )ٗ‫ي أٔبر‬ٛ‫( ادزٍّٗ ثط‬
he-bore-it with-length patience-his
“Lit. He bore it with his long patience.”
Although it appears from the data above that spaciousness is set in physical terms and the idiomatic metaphors
seem to be motivated by the primary metaphor QUANTITY IS SIZE where much patience is associated with
spacious terms such as fasii7 (wide-patched), waasi3 (broad) ra7b (broad), Tuul (long), raxii (large), its basis is
psychological in general. It is generally believed, according to some theories of contemplation, that experiencing
one‟s spaciousness, which is easily ignored and difficult to focus on or describe, is a positive act and one way of
recognizing the true nature of one‟s soul (Brown, 1999). According to John Barter (2004), spaciousness of mind,
together with stillness and silence is the spontaneous natural state of our mind. When we are removed from the
inner true nature of the mind, we start to lose balance, harmony, peace and well-being in our life; then, we start
to suffer more stress and illness. Spaciousness is one of the aspects that lead to greater personal health, better
proficiency, and enhancement of our human capacity.
As spaciousness is associated with tolerance, patience and a positive view of life, narrowness is connected with
lack of patience. As Hollis (1994, p. 56) explains, the Indo-European word angh which means “to constrict” is
the etymological basis for the English words “anxiety”, “anger”, and “angina”. A close look at the Arabic data
shows the association between impatience and narrowness; people are always fed up with strictures that box
them into narrowness; an impatient person is represented, as the following Arabic idioms show, as someone
whose breast is “too narrow”:
69. Daaqa bi-hi ðar3-uh (ٗ‫)ظبق ثٗ رسع‬
narrow with-it breast-his
“Lit. His breast is too narrow to bear it.”
70. Daaqa Sadru-h )ٖ‫(ظبق صذس‬
narrow breast-his
“Lit. His breast became too narrow.”
However, narrowness goes beyond mere association with the breast; a person lacking patience would find
narrowness in many things. His “capacity” (Tawq in Arabic) to face difficult situations would be too narrow:
71. Daaqa 3an-hu Tawqu-h (ٗ‫ل‬ٛ‫)ظبق عٕٗ ط‬
narrow with-it capacity-his
“Lit. His capacity was too narrow to bear it.”
He would also find his “roads”, “paths” and “courses” too narrow:
72. Daaqat bi-hi l-maðaahib (‫)ظبلذ ثٗ اٌّزا٘ت‬
narrowed with-it the-roads
“Lit. His roads became too narrow.”
73. Daaqa bi-hi s-subul )ً‫(ظبلذ ثٗ اٌسج‬
narrowed with-him the-paths
“Lit. His paths became too narrow.”
74. Daaqat 3alay-hi l-masaalik )‫ٗ اٌّسبٌه‬١ٍ‫(ظبلذ ع‬

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narrowed on-him the-courses

“Lit. His courses became too narrow.”
The circle of narrowness would even get more widened so that the person lacking patience would find the whole
world too constricted:
75. Daaqat 3alayhi l-?arDu bi-ra7bi-haa (‫ب‬ٙ‫ٗ األسض ثشدج‬١ٍ‫)ظبلذ ع‬
narrowed on-him the-earth with-vastness-its
“Lit. The earth with all its vastness became too narrow.”
76. Daaqati d-dunya fii 3ayna-yh (ٗ١ٕ١‫ ع‬ٟ‫ب ف‬١ٔ‫(ظبلذ اٌذ‬
narrowed the-world in eyes-two
“Lit. The world narrowed in his two eyes.”
Narrowness can take different figurative environmental/cultural incarnations. Sometimes it is depicted in
“hunting” terms so that distress might cause the afflicted to find himself/herself in a situation narrower than the
“meshes of hunter‟s net”,
77. ?amsaa mina l-karbi fii ?aDyaqi min kaffati 7aabil. )ً‫ك ِٓ وفخ دبث‬١‫ أظ‬ٟ‫ ِٓ اٌىشة ف‬ٝ‫(أِس‬
became from the-grief in narrower from mesh hunter
“Lit. Grief landed him in a situation narrower than the meshes of hunter‟s net.”
Sometimes narrowness is compared to the “the eye of a needle”:
78. ?aDyaqau min sammi l-xyaaT (‫بغ‬١‫ك ِٓ سُ اٌخ‬١‫)أظ‬
narrower from eye the-needle
“Lit. in a situation narrower than the eye of the needle.”
sammi l-xyaaT “the eye of the needle” in the expression above symbolizes a very narrow passage someone has to
go through. sammi l-xyaaT is mentioned in the Quran to refer to a narrow passage that is impossible to pass
through:
".ٓ١ِ‫ اٌّجش‬ٞ‫ وزٌه ٔجز‬ٚ ‫بغ‬١‫ سُ اٌخ‬ٟ‫ٍج اٌجًّ ف‬٠ ٝ‫ْ اٌجٕخ دز‬ٍٛ‫ذخ‬٠ ‫ال‬ٚ ‫اة اٌسّبء‬ٛ‫ُ أث‬ٌٙ ‫ب ال رفزخ‬ٕٙ‫ا ع‬ٚ‫اسزىجش‬ٚ ‫برٕب‬٠‫ا ثآ‬ٛ‫ٓ وزث‬٠‫"إْ اٌز‬
To those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven nor
will they enter the garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: such is Our reward for those in
sin. [Surat Al-Araf, 7:40; translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 1938].
Another form that the image of narrowness can take is interestingly the shape of the white circle of the Arabic
letter “meem”)َ(:
79. ?aDyaqau min bayaaDi l-miim (ُ١ٌّ‫بض ا‬١‫ك ِٓ ث‬١‫)أظ‬
narrower from whiteness the- miim
“Lit. …in a situation narrower than the white circle of the Arabic letter „meem‟)َ(.”
My data does not include many English idiomatic expressions that associate patience with spaciousness;
however, it is not possible to ignore expressions such as the following:
80. He is a big-hearted man.
81. We all need largeness of heart.
82. He is a narrow-minded and narrow-hearted person.
The data above is straightforward and bears the same relations indicated for Arabic between patience and
spaciousness on the one hand, and narrowness and lack of patience on the other. However, we see some
differences between English and Arabic in terms of range, figurativity and manipulation of ecological items.
As we see above, while English sets spaciousness in very general terms, i.e., “big” and “largeness”, spaciousness
is set in various terms in Arabic. It is set in terms of “wide-patched”, “wide-area”, “broad” breast; “wide” and
“large” heart. The same goes for “narrowness”, which is set in elaborate characterizations and is pictured from
various angles. Arabic offers considerable details of the perspectives of narrowness, e.g., “narrow paths”,
“narrow earth”, “narrow world”.
Also, the figurativeness of English spaciousness/narrowness expressions is too limited, referring only to the
vastness of the heart, while Arabic is more figurative than English in delineating vivid images of what
spaciousness as well as narrowness is.
Moreover, while English does not seem to employ cultural artifacts in delineating the spaciousness/narrowness
image, Arabic sets in explicit visualizations many cultural issues of particular relevance to narrowness: “narrow

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meshes of the hunter‟s net”, “narrower than the eye of the needle” and “narrower than meem space”. Arabic thus
provides a considerable array of cultural entities, which the English data does not seem to display.
In addition, in terms of manipulating body organs, English focus only on the heart, unlike Arabic proves to be
richer than Arabic since it handles both the breast and the heart; Arabic is even more figurative and elaborate in
addressing the body organs concerned.
Thus, as the data above shows, whereas English generally resembles Arabic in the same generic images of
spaciousness and narrowness, it offers only scanty detail compared to Arabic which is extensively elucidated and
more figurative.
5. Discussion and Implications for Language Learning
Based on the analysis above, it appears that both Arabic and English share the universal human experience of
patience, as reflected in the primary body-based metaphors and the main difference lies in the cultural/linguistic
substantiation.
PATIENCE IS HARDNESS metaphor is based on mainly, among others, the primary metaphor DIFFICULTY IS
HARDNESS. Arabic sets forbearance in more physical terms, e.g., Salbu l-3uud )‫د‬ٛ‫( )صٍت اٌع‬Lit. A man of
powerful physique), Salbu l-mu3jam )ُ‫( (صٍت اٌّعج‬Lit. A man of powerful body); laa yaliinu janbu-hu li-7aadiɵ
)‫ٓ جٕجٗ ٌذبدس‬١ٍ٠‫“ (ال‬lit. His sides are never softened by incidents”. Furthermore, Arabic stresses the importance of
psychological resilience in bearing the hardships of remaining patient: muTTali3un bi-ʃʃadaa?id (‫)ِعطٍع ثبٌشذائذ‬
“Lit. a bearer of hardships”; 7amuulun l-innaa?ibaat. (‫ي ٌٍٕبئجبد‬ّٛ‫“ )د‬lit. a bearer of misfortunes”; muqrinun
li-xuTubi d-dahr )‫ة اٌذ٘ش‬ٛ‫“ (ِمشْ ٌخط‬lit. a bearer of calamities of the time”. In addition, Arabic depicts the
hardness of patience in more environmental images of “mountain” and “fortress”; e.g., Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad
(‫اد‬ٛ‫د ِٓ األط‬ٛ‫“ (وؤٔٗ ط‬lit. He is like one of the mountains”; fii ʃ-ʃadaa?idi Saxratu waad (‫اد‬ٚ ‫ اٌشذائذ صخشح‬ٟ‫“ )ف‬lit. At
hardships he is as hard as the rock of the valley”; tadaa3a-t 7uSunu Sabri-h (ٖ‫ْ صجش‬ٛ‫“ )رذاعذ دص‬Lit. The fortress of
his patience fell”; dukka-t ?aswaari Sabri-h (ٖ‫اس صجش‬ٛ‫“ )دوذ أس‬lit. The fences of his patience were pounded”. The
same images that manifest patience as hardness are mirrored in showing impatience as a sign of weakness: wahana
bi-hi Sabru-h (ٖ‫٘ٓ ثٗ صجش‬ٚ) (lit. His patience weakened). wahaa jaladu-h (ٖ‫ جٍذ‬ٝ٘ٚ) (lit. His patience weakened) (lit.
His patience weakened); Da3ufa 7timaalu-h )ٌٗ‫)ظعف ادزّب‬. The expressions above also demonstrate a high degree
of figurativeness.
English on the other hand does not seem to be very detailed and figurative in showing the hardness of bearing
patience, focusing only on the external aspects of how a patient person should be as well as the agony of having to
control one‟s anger and remain patient, e.g., “grin and bear it”; “grit one‟s teeth”; and the external appearance as
reflected in, e.g., “sweat it out”; “ride it out” or remaining steadfast in the face of provocations, e.g., “keep your
shirt on”; “sit tight”.
The fluid image in both languages seems to be almost identical in relating lack of patience to liquid exhaustion.
The difference between conceptualizing patience as being liquid in both languages seems to lie in English having
more attributes of patience than Arabic, e.g., “little”, “great”, “infinite”. Arabic, however, is more exhaustive
than English in delineating the fluid image, adopting a figurative multi-perspective orientation.
As for PATIENCE IS SPACIOUSNESS, it appears that this metaphor is mainly Arabic. English data is not
comparable to its Arabic counterpart whether in terms of range or figurativeness. The meaning of spaciousness is
extended in Arabic; many references associate more patience with spaciousness of the body organs of “breast”,
and “heart”, e.g., fasii7u ruq3ati S-Sabr ‫خ سلعخ اٌصجش‬١‫“ فس‬Lit. A man whose patience is wide-patched”; waasi3u
finaa?i S-Sadr (‫اسع فٕبء اٌصذس‬ٚ) “lit. The body breast area is wide”, waasi3u ð-ðar3 (‫اسع اٌزسع‬ٚ); baalin waasi3 ( ‫ثبي‬
‫اسع‬ٚ), lababin raxii (ٟ‫)ٌجت سخ‬. The Islamic concept of shar7u S-Sadr (breast expansion) is highly prominent in the
Arabic data.
Arabic also presents a panoramic view of the relation between lack of patience and narrowness. Narrowness goes
beyond “breast” and “heart” to encompass “abilities” (Tawq), “roads” (l-maðaahib, l-masaalik, s-subul), and the
whole earth (?al-?arDu). Furthermore, Arabic is more figurative and pictorial in relating impatience to
narrowness so that narrowness is portrayed in various culture-specific expressions, such as “?aDyaqu min kaffati
7aabil )ً‫ك ِٓ وفخ دبث‬١‫”(أظ‬, “?aDyaqu min sammi l-xyaaT (‫بغ‬١‫ك ِٓ سُ اٌخ‬١‫”)أظ‬, and “?aDyaqu min bayaaDi l-miim
(ُ١ٌّ‫بض ا‬١‫ك ِٓ ث‬١‫”)أظ‬.
Explaining patience idioms within CMT as done above shows that idioms of patience in both languages emanate
from identical conceptual metaphors (primary metaphors) and the differences can be explained in terms of
exhaustiveness, figurativeness as well as the cultural elements employed by both languages. For example, while
PATIENCE IS HARDNESS is set in Arabic in physical terms denoting physical power of body, mountains and

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fortresses, English focuses on showing the stoical features of forbearance. Also, for the fluid image, it is worth
noting that despite the parallel images in both languages, English gives more attention to attribution (having
many attributes) while Arabic is highly figurative and multi-perspective. The close similarity between English
and Arabic in terms of fluid image can be exploited to save the time of learning/teaching these fluid-related
idioms. While the difference is only minimal for the fluid image, much variance is observed for PATIENCE IS
SPACIOUSNESS, which requires much work pedagogically; since this metaphor is minimally attested in
English, it requires planning increased awareness-raising activities.
The research confirms the embodiment view of language, the premise that we experience and construe our world
through our bodies. It also proves the centrality of our cultural experience in shaping our conception of the world,
which is inevitably reflected in terms of language.
The analysis of idioms along the lines described above is likely to make it easier for students to learn idioms.
Metaphorical analysis enhances language learning since it involves comparing one‟s native idioms to their target
counterparts, which has proven to be empirically valid based on previous studies (e.g., Kömür & Çimen, 2009)
that demonstrated that students are likely be more motivated to learn idioms when they discover the similarities
and differences between source and target languages and cultures, and that CMT-based awareness-raising
activities can enhance the use of idiomatic expressions in terms of production (productive capacity) and
reception (reading/listening comprehension).
What our analysis does is that it illustrates the primary cognitive basis for this group of idioms is very similar
and the main difference is based on some cultural and linguistic nuances. Familiarization with the conceptual
system of each language is made possible through the explanation of the conceptual metaphors above. Based on
our analysis, the following table can show L2 syllabus designers and curriculum developers a flavor of the
conceptual, cultural and linguistic similarities and differences between Arabic and English, illustrating the
primary basis of the conceptual metaphor and how this is permeated by culture and language (cultural/linguistic
differences) and examples of the resulting output idioms.

Table 1. Summary of the conceptual metaphors of patience in English and Arabic

Conceptual Primary Basis Cultural/Linguistic Output Idioms )Illustrative Examples)
Metaphor Differences
PATIENCE IS DIFFICULTY IS Arabic: more physical Salbu l-3uud )‫د‬ٛ‫( )صٍت اٌع‬Lit. A man
HARDNESS HARDNESS; terms; environmental of powerful physique); huwa Salbu
HARDSHIP IS images of “mountain” l-mu3jam ( ُ‫ صٍت اٌّعج‬ٛ٘( (Lit. He is
HEAVINESS; and “fortress”, “rock”. of powerful body); ka?anna-hu
Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad ) ‫د‬ٛ‫(وؤٔٗ ط‬
DIFFICULTIES ‫اد‬ٛ‫( ِٓ األط‬Lit. He is like one of the
ARE OPPONENTS; mountains); huwaa fii ʃ-ʃadaa?idi
FUNCTIONALITY/ Saxratu waad ( ‫اد‬ٚ ‫ اٌشذائذ صخشح‬ٟ‫ف‬ٛ٘(
VIABILITY IS (Lit. At hardships he is as hard as the
ERECTNESS rock of the valley)
English: not very grin and bear it;
detailed and figurative; grit your teeth; sit tight;
agony of having to
control; up position for stand for it.
endurance
PATIENCE IS A BODY IS A Arabic: relate enough nafida Sabru-h )ٖ‫( (ٔفذ صجش‬Lit. His
FLUID IN A CONTAINER; patience to an adequate patience ran out); nazafa Sabru-h
CONTAINER EMOTION IS supply of fluid; no )ٖ‫( (ٔزف صجش‬Lit. His patience
FORCE; overflowing of the drained”); naDaba S-STibaru-h
“vessel” of anger fluid; )ٖ‫( (ٔعت اصطجبس‬Lit. his great patience
EMOTIONS ARE multi-perspective image seeped away)
FLUIDS of exhaustion. faaDa l-kayl )ً١‫( (فبض اٌى‬Lit. the
vessel overflowed).

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English: relate lack of His patience is exhausted; they have

patience to liquid had it up to here;
exhaustion; no great/endless/infinite patience.
overflowing of anger
liquid; has more
attributes of patience.
PATIENCE IS BODY IS A Arabic: wider range and waasi3u finaa?i S-Sadr ( ‫اسع فٕبء‬ٚ
SPACIOUSNESS CONTAINER FOR more figurative; ‫( )اٌصذس‬Lit. His body breast area is
THE EMOTIONS; expanded/constricted wide); baalin waasi3; lababin raxii
QUANTITY IS breast; heart; ways; )‫اسع‬ٚ ‫( (ثبي‬a large heart); Daaqa
SIZE paths; earth; world; Sadru-h )ٖ‫( (ظبق صذس‬Lit. His breast
environmental/cultural became too narrow); Daaqat bi-hi
images l-maðaahib (‫( )ظبلذ ثٗ اٌّزا٘ت‬Lit. His
roads became too narrow); Daaqat
3alayhi l-?arDu ‫ٗ األسض‬١ٍ‫( ظبلذ ع‬Lit.
The earth with all its vastness became
too narrow); ?aDyaqi min kaffati
7aabil)ً‫ك ِٓ وفخ دبث‬١‫( (أظ‬Lit. narrower
than the meshes of hunter‟s
net); ?adyaqau min sammi l-xyaaT
(‫بغ‬١‫ك ِٓ سُ اٌخ‬١‫( )أظ‬Lit. narrower than
the eye of the needle).
English: since He is a big-hearted man; a
PATIENCE IS narrow-minded and narrow-hearted
SPACIOUSNESS is not person.
as detailed and figurative
as in Arabic, full
awareness has to be
raised to the
cross-linguistic
differences.

The table above asserts Boers‟ observation that the notion of conceptual metaphor can help explain and motivate
figurative idioms which may appear to be arbitrary and incomprehensible (2003, p. 231). It shows how patience
idioms can all be subsumed under two or three secondary metaphors (i.e., PATIENCE IS HARDNESS,
PATIENCE IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, and PATIENCE IS SPACIOUSNESS) and how they relate to
each other.
The table above, as well as the whole study, elucidates fully the physical basis of idioms, the correspondence
between the source domain and the target domain, and how they culturally interact. This is likely to help make
classes more interactive and more efficient, as was evident elsewhere (cf. Cooper, 1998). It also asserts basic
facts in Boers‟ review study (2011) in which he concluded that CMT and subsequent literature:
demonstrated that a lot of so-called idiomatic language was actually far less random and less arbitrary
than had long been assumed… The idea that the semantics of idioms, phrasal verbs1 and figuratively
used words in general might be explainable with reference to general conceptual metaphors held a
certain promise for language pedagogy, because it suddenly looked as though great chunks of language
which had hitherto seemed un-teachable could be made easier to learn after all. (p. 227-228)
The analysis given in the study can enable language teachers to teach the unteachable by finding ways to explain
the previously unanalyzeable idioms; it may guide teachers to take into account that PATIENCE IS HARDNESS,
for example, is basic to both languages, and that while the English experience of hardness is to “bite the bullet”,
“grit one‟s teeth”, etc, the Arabic experience of hardness is to “grit one‟s two molars” and to be “like a
mountain” (Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad), etc. Also the same holds true for PATIENCE IS LIQUID IN A
CONTAINER within which the idioms of patience is exhausted, keep patience, lose patience, have had enough,
can be explained.

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By explaining the motivation behind idiomatic expressions and recognizing the underlying conceptual metaphors,
it is possible to induce insightful learning, which is more outstanding than rote learning; this method of idiom
presentation can even empower students to work out more readily the meaning of newly L2 figurative phrases
(Kovecses & Szabo, 1996, p. 351). For instance, by conceptually explaining idioms such as “sweat it out!”
learners can more readily guess the meaning of “ride it out”. Likewise, “grin and bear it” can give learners some
hints about the possible significance of “give me strength” since they belong to the same conceptual domain.
Also, for students of Arabic as a second or a foreign language (ASL/AFL), understanding the mountainous
image of “Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad” (he is like one of the mountains) can help students to have access to other
similar idioms, e.g., huwaa fii adaaidi Saxratu waad (‫اد‬ٚ ‫ اٌشذائذ صخشح‬ٟ‫ ف‬ٛ٘) (At hardships he is as hard as the rock
of the valley); waqratun fii Saxrah (‫ صخشح‬ٟ‫لشح ف‬ٚ) (a small rift in a rock); furthermore understanding “tada3a-t
7uSunu Sabri-h” (ٖ‫ْ صجش‬ٛ‫ ( )رذاعذ دص‬The fortress of his patience fell) is likely to offer learners some clues to
grasp such figurative idioms as “dukka-t ?aswaari Sabri-h” (ٖ‫اس صجش‬ٛ‫( )دوذ أس‬The fences of his patience were
pounded) and “muzziqat kataa?ibu Sabri-h” (ٖ‫( )ِزلذ وزبئت صجش‬His battalions of patience were destroyed). The
nice match that we observe in this analysis between Arabic and English as regards PATIENCE IS A FLUID IN A
CONTAINER metaphor can be of great assistance in teaching these idioms to ESL/EFL and AFL/ASL students.
The CMT analysis given above has the value of explaining the metaphorical nature of idioms and drawing
attention to the concrete meaning of words and stimulating mental imagery and making vocabulary more
memorable (Boers, 2000a, p. 563). For example, patience in Arabic can be thought of in terms of physical power
as represented by the expressions Salbu l-3uud )‫د‬ٛ‫)صٍت اٌع‬, Salbu l-mu3jam (ُ‫(صٍت اٌّعج‬, or in terms of
mountains Tawdun mina l-?aTwaad ‫اد‬ٛ‫د ِٓ األط‬ٛ‫ وؤٔٗ ط‬or to think of patience as being a fortress tada3a-t
7uSuunu Sabri-h (ٖ‫ْ صجش‬ٛ‫)رذاعذ دص‬, dukka-t ?aswaari Sabri-h (ٖ‫اس صجش‬ٛ‫ ;)دوذ أس‬in English we can invoke the
images associated with patience as somebody gritting his teeth, ginning in the face of hardships or sitting tight or
keeping his shirt on. The same holds good for PATIENCE IS A FLUID and PATIENCE IS SPACIOUSNESS.
The CMT analysis is also capable of raising awareness of some cultural explanation connected with some idioms,
which is a necessary part of pedagogical planning relevant to idiom teaching. For example, the English
expression “bite the bullet” sheds light on a certain practice that is used in the English culture; the expressions
related to rock, mountains, fortresses, knots, fences equally refer to specific cultural realities in Arabic. This
CMT-based analysis, thus, opens a window into language culture and unravels mysteries behind expressions that
have long been seen to be arbitrary by language learning specialists.
This type of conceptual analysis of idiom is likely to enhance what has been referred to as conceptual fluency
(Danesi, 1995; Samani & Hashemian, 2012). Many researchers (Boers, 1999; Lazar, 1996; Liu, 2008) present
multiple activities that can raise L2 learners‟ metaphoric awareness which would translate comparisons and
correspondences like the ones included in this study into practical classroom activities, e.g., association of
idioms with mental images; idiom notebooks and flashcards; idiom games; illustrated story-telling involving
conceptual metaphors, origin-of-the-idiom exercises, etc.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, the preceding discussion has led us to support the view that indeed metaphors are rife in our
everyday language and that conceptual metaphors are the outcome of the interaction between body and culture.
The paper supports the cultural embodied cognition position. While the universality principle generically
manifests itself at one level of conceptualization, there exist some cultural/language-specific construals
stemming from cultural particularities. As we have found out, Arabic and English patience idioms emanate from
almost identical primary bases; however, idioms might differ based on varying cultural assumptions and
language-specific variations which result in diverse idiomatic expressions. The conceptual analysis of patience
idioms within the framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory has proven this theory to be an effective tool
for language analysis and learning. The CMT-based analysis presented in the study validates the claims of the
conceptual account of idioms versus the traditional linguistic account, and offers great potential for enhancing
language learners‟ conceptual fluency and explaining language chunks that have long been assumed to be
random and arbitrary.
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Appendix
List of the Phonemic Symbols Used In the Study
I. CONSONANTS
b voiced bilabial stop
t voiceless dental stop
T voiceless (emphatic) dental stop
d voiced dental stop
D voiced (emphatic) dental stop
k voiceless velar stop
q voiceless uvular stop
? voiceless glottal stop
j voiced palatal affricate
3 voiced pharyngeal fricative
Ɣ voiced velar fricative
f voiceless labio-dental fricative
ɵ voiceless inter-dental fricative
ð voiced inter-dental fricative
ð voiced (emphatic) inter-dental fricative
s voiceless dental fricative
S voiceless (emphatic) dental fricative
z voiced dental fricative
voiceless palatal fricative
x voiceless uvular fricative
7 voiceless pharyngeal fricative
h voiceless laryngeal fricative
r voiced dental trill
l voiced lateral dental
m voiced bilabial nasal
n voiced dental nasal
w voiced bilabial glide

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y voiced palatal glide

II. VOWELS
i short high front unrounded vowel
ii long high front unrounded vowel
a short central unrounded vowel
aa long low central unrounded vowel
u short high back rounded vowel
uu long high back rounded vowel

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Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
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