Document Type : Original Article
Author
Doctoral student of the theoretical foundations of Islam
Abstract
The central claim of cognitive linguistics is that meaning is the same as conceptualization. Conceptualization refers to information processing. In conceptualization, we understand one conceptual domain in terms of another. Many factors influence conceptualization in the field of cognitive linguistics, including the four general techniques of attention/focus, judgment and comparison, perspective/positioning, and blending. Ayatollah Khamenei makes extensive use of this approach in his interpretive methodology. This paper seeks to extract the various factors of conceptualization through an analytical method based on his published works, particularly his books. In attention and focus, he has utilized the dynamic aspect of the semantic extension of disbelief and polytheism in the socio-political realm by emphasizing the central focus on monotheism and the rejection of tyranny and power-mongering. On the other hand, his judgment and comparison lend substance to his interpretive theories through categorization, metaphors, and contexts. Categorization under the headings of "Imams of Disbelief" and "Imams of Religion," "Nation and Government," and "Fear and Decline" are among the comparative aspects of his method. His masterpiece of conceptualization is his use of structural metaphors (path, strength, clarity, seasonal, boat, magnet, trade, sieve, knot), existential metaphors (imparting motion, giving birth to faith, openness, educator), and directional metaphors (peak, depth). This in itself has raised many perspectives, positions, and dominant viewpoints, as well as countless indicators, and has brought many internal matters out of subjectivity and into objectivity. This has in itself become a form of structural molding and a dynamic force-generating flow in his methodology. This paper has endeavored to extract Ayatollah Khamenei's general cognitive theory by forming a network of causal relationships of conceptualization from his perspective.
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