Structural and Semantic Analysis of Adjectives Expressing the Emotion of Anger in the Persian Language

Abstract

The article examines the qualitative adjectives of the modern Persian language that nominate the emotion of anger. On the basis of word-formational, componential and cognitive-metaphorical analysis, the principal structural models of such adjectives are identified, their semantic parameters are described (the intensity of the emotion, the temporal stability of the feature, stylistic colouring and etymological layer), and their figurative basis is characterised. It is demonstrated that the lexico-semantic group under study has been formed from both the Iranian and the Arabic lexical strata, while heat, fire, nervous tension and disorder serve as its basic images. The findings show that the semantic field of anger in Persian is organised as a system of intersecting oppositions - weak versus strong anger, transient state versus permanent character trait, bookish versus colloquial register, and inner experience versus outward manifestation - and that its figurative motivation largely coincides with universal cognitive models while retaining culture-specific features.