A Cognitive-semantic Study of Numbers as Markers of Duality in Kurdish Idioms

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to investigate the number ‘two’ as a marker of duality in Kurdish idioms and to uncover the underlying cognitive motivations and understandings. The nature of the study is qualitative, and it adopts conceptual metaphor theory as an analytical framework, along with using MIPVU to identify metaphor-related words. Three reliable and authoritative Kurdish resources were employed to form a triangulation dataset and extract expressions including the number ‘two’. A thorough analysis of the number ‘two’ as a marker of duality in Kurdish idioms confirms that this number functions as a cognitive tool rather than purely representing quantitative values. The analysis of this study reveals four key functions of the number ‘two’ in Kurdish idioms: completeness/complementarity, division/opposition, repetition/excess, and small quantity. These four categories present various conceptual metaphors at the idiom level that demonstrate how twoness forms abstract meanings. Moreover, the study findings support the claim that numbers do not merely indicate quantitative dimensions; rather, they are metaphorically employed to conceptualize abstract and less tangible concepts.

The study’s significance is centered on positioning it within the broader academic and scholarly contributions in the study of idioms, and more specifically, numerical idioms. Likewise, it situates Kurdish numerical idioms within a cognitive-linguistic framework, clarifying how duality and figurative language are interrelated in the formation of meaning. The study findings further provide a foundation for practical implications in translation, pedagogy, and cross-linguistic comparison, highlighting the vital role of cultural aspects in understanding idiomatic meaning.