PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Metaphorical language is used extensively in everyday speech as well as in literary discourse. Since metaphors are mainly culturally-determined, they sometimes become the source of misinterpretation in intercultural interactions. Due to their concreteness and highly sensuous nature, edible items are liable to function as a source domain that can be mapped onto several target domains, including human traits. In line with this view, the current study aims to investigate the metaphorical conceptualisations of edible items in contemporary Persian from the perspective of Cultural Linguistics. Accordingly, a list of edibles was prepared and 237 Persian speakers in Iran wrote down their conceptualisations of each item. The results indicated that in Persian, edibles are associated with PERSONALITY and APPEARANCE as target domains. The paper concludes that edible conceptualisations can be largely attributed to the similarities between some traits of human beings and those of the food items. The findings of this study should lead to a better understanding of the Persian culture and language.