Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 1

b) Monkeys Table 3: Monkey proverbs associated with the identification of the source domain and the target domain. Proverbs Source Target 4. نويع يف درقلا هّمأ لازغ ( 'l-qird fi 9yu:n umu: ġ aza:l ) Lit. Tr. A monkey is a gazelle in its mother’s eyes. Fig. M. People must become less biased when dealing with others. Monkey An ugly person 5. كيجي ال كدرقب ىضرا يّلا هنم درقا ( 'rDa: biqirdak la yiji:k 'lli: 'qrad minnu: ) Lit. Tr. Be content with your monkey, so you won’t have someone/something worse than it. Fig. M. One must be satisfied with what he/she has (money, job, materials, relationships, etc). A person with bad habits The above table exhibits the proverbial sentences that pertain to monkeys. A monkey is a tropical, long-tailed primate that lives in hot countries. In the fourth proverb shown in Table 3, a monkey is personified with certain negative connotations which are attached to an ugly person. In other words, the unflattering physical qualities (ugliness) of a monkey are mapped onto an ugly human being. However, such hideous, bad-looking person is conceptualized through the eyes of his/her mother as a lovely, beautiful human being which is perceived as a لازغ ‘ gazelle ’ in the proverb. This points out that people might have a bias, rather than being neutral, when they have a preference for or aversion to particular people whom they love. Therefore, if the present proverb is articulated by a Hijazi speaker in a designated communicative situation, it directly warns the hearer not to become biased and settle matters to the benefit of the ones whom he/she loves at the expense of others. In the fifth proverb, a person with bad habits is being conceptualized in terms of its behavior as a monkey. If some person does not endure this person’s mischievous or child-like behavior, he/she will end up having another individual in his/her life whose actions are even worse than the one with the monkey-like traits whom he/she resented before. The proverb does not only apply to the context of relationships among human beings in the Hijazi culture, but also to such other entities as objects, properties, materials, and anything that a person may own. As a result, the proverb advises people to be content with what they have (money, partners, friends, possessions, etc.), so as to avoid losing everything, or having things that are worse than what they already possess. Again, it is evident that the connotations evoked by monkeys are abusive and deliver a distorted imagery to the hearer (see Table 3). It is indisputable that the connotative semantics of a monkey in the Hijazi speech community are loaded with negative characteristics, such as ugliness, noisiness, intolerability, and hideousness. This finding of ascribing negative connotations to monkeys is consistent with the results of several other research studies around the globe (Yusuf, 1997; Krikmann, 2001; Pourhossein, 2016; Saragih & Mulyadi, 2020). c) Wolves Table 4: Wolf proverbs associated with the identification of the source domain and the target domain. Proverbs Source Target 6. ول لّسغتي ريمضلا يز تراص ام ،بايتلا سانلا يز بائذلا ( law 'DDami:r yit ġ assal zai 'ttiyab ma: Sarat 'nna:s zai 'ddeyab ) Lit. Tr. If conscience is washed like clothes, people wouldn’t have become like wolves. Fig. M. Some people are insincere and manifest two-faced characteristics. Wolf A deceitful/two-faced person 7. يز ،بيرغ هعبط بئذلا هتفش نا ،بره هتفش ام ناو بثو ( zai 'ddi:b Tab9u: ġ ari:b: in šuftu: harab wo in ma šuftu: wasab ) Lit. Tr. Like a wolf with a weird disposition: if you saw it, it ran away; and if you didn’t see it, it jumps. Fig. M. Some people show a double-faced card in certain situations. A wolf is the largest wild member of the dog family which prefers to live in remote wilderness and forests, and tends to hunt in packs. The Arabian wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf which has long lived on the Arabian Peninsula. A wolf is typically a complex, highly intelligent and playful predator. It has a large head with a wide forehead, powerful jaws, bone-crushing teeth, and long, blunt muzzle. More importantly, its limbs are long Volume XXII Issue I Version I 60 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C Exploring Connotative Meanings and Metaphors of Saudi Animal Proverbs: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis