USE OF ‘EYE’ METAPHOR IN IDIOMS: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND URDU

Abstract

Metaphorical conceptualization can vary across and within languages and cultures. Metaphors also vary along social and subcultural dimensions. The article focuses on the variation of idiomatic expression of “eye” metaphor in English and Urdu, to see how the metaphorical concept of ‘eye’ varies in the idioms of both languages. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) is used as a framework to investigate the metaphorical variations. Data has been taken from the standard dictionaries of both languages–“Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries” for English and “Feroz-ul-Lughat” for Urdu. First, target and source domains of the use of ‘eye’ metaphors are identified. Second, the domain mappings for both languages are compared at conceptual level. Findings of the study show that although idioms of eye in both languages target same seven domains of EMOTION, STATE, FEELING, CAREFUL ATTENTION, LIMITATION, SPEED, ATTRACTION, the differences lie in the mapping of these domains.The findings have implications for future research in the fields of translation studies and comparative linguistics to understand that despite having universal properties, languages vary at the basic conceptual level.