Cultural-linguistic case study of Early Arabic Poetry: Frame Semantics, mental spaces, Conceptual Integration, and the role of context in meaning construal

Bartosz Pietrzak

Abstract


The article examines complex meaning construals in selected verses from Early Arabic poetry. It describes how cultural knowledge, activated by lexical and pragmatic factors, enables accurate interpretation of the intended meaning conveyed in the analyzed examples. In exploring these construals, the study adopts a cultural-linguistic approach, using Frame Semantics to operate its analytical tools, and drawing from Conceptual Integration (Blending) Theory. It also addresses the role of contextual cues in meaning construction, applying the model of frame flouting. The results indicate that the analyzed construals can be explained as blends triggered by violations of the expectations elicited from the audience by the genre of a particular poem. The paper explores the potential of Blending Theory for examining the relationship between culture and language in research on languages rooted in poetic traditions, such as Classical Arabic. Finally, it advances the hypothesis about the role played by context-sensitive complex meaning construals in the transmission of cultural knowledge.

Keywords


Early Arabic Poetry; Classical Arabic; Cultural Linguistics; Frame Semantics; blends; Conceptual Integration Theory; frame flouting

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/et.2026.38.117
Date of publication: 2026-10-08 20:42:15
Date of submission: 2025-04-24 12:32:08


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