Conceptual Metaphor in Arabic Linguistic Studies: A Critical Review of the Existing Research

Abstract

This critical review examines the trajectory of conceptual metaphor in Arabic linguistics, focusing on its movement from a rhetorical concept associated with figurative expression and stylistic ornament to a cognitive concept that treats metaphor as a mechanism for constructing conceptualizations, organizing experience, and understanding abstract meanings. It evaluates Arabic scholarship in terms of its grasp of the theoretical foundations of conceptual metaphor and its use of source domain, target domain, mapping, embodiment, and image schemas, while reviewing applications to religious, literary, political, media, cinematic, proverbial, fictional, and language-teaching discourse. The review shows that Arabic studies have broadened the study of metaphor by connecting it with thought, culture, and context, and have demonstrated the suitability of diverse Arabic materials for cognitive analysis. Yet the reviewed scholarship varies in methodological rigor, especially in identifying metaphorical expressions, distinguishing them from conceptual structures, and justifying movement from linguistic examples to cognitive generalizations, alongside limited use of organized corpora, quantitative procedures, and analyst verification. The review recommends terminological precision, transparent evidence-selection procedures, wider comparisons across Standard Arabic, dialects, and discourse genres, and closer integration of cognitive analysis with context, pragmatics, and culture, enabling Arabic research to contribute to theoretical development while testing its explanatory limits.