Extension of The Meaning and Physical Context of Vehicle Terms to Everyday Persian Vocabulary And Vice versa

Many Persian terms and expressions realated to vehicles have undergone extension of the meaning and physical context. The corpus under study includes vehicle terms that have entered Persian vocabulary as well as common words and expressions that have been added to vehicle terms through extension of the meaning and physical context. Identifying whether a word or an expression has undergone extension of meaning and physical context is based on the linguistic intuition of the author as a native speaker of Persian. This research presents several examples and discusses them within the framework of Relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986). In line with this theory, there exists a combination of knowledge, experiences and shared background information about vehicle-realated terms in the mind of every Persian speaker. Using this combination, not only Persian speakers are aware of their original meanings and physical contexts but also they have access to their extended meanings and/ or physical contexts. In accordance with the Relevance theory, when a Persian speaker hears a vehicle-realated term, s/he considers the physical context to evaluate it and then matches it with her/his background knowledge in order to figure out if the speaker intended its original meaning or its extended meaning.
Extended abstract
1.Introduction
Transportation is an effective and inseperable part of human life. It has always been the reason for creating many words, idioms and proverbs in Persian. Its effect has been so great that vehicles and their features have been used to describe some of the features of human body and behavior. There are also some common Persian words and expressions that have been added to vehicle terms through extension of the meaning and physical context. The present study aimed to address the following research questions:

Which common Persian words and expressions have been added to vehicle terms through the extension of the meaning and physical context?
Which vehicle-realated terms have been added to the Persian vocabulary through the extension of the meaning and physical context?
What are the reasons of this word and expression exchange?

2.Theoretical framework
The theoretical framework of this paper is the Relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986). In fact this theory is the extended modle of Grice’s maxim of relation as one of the cooperative principles. According to Luchjenbroers (1989: 1), Grice’s theory is speaker-oriented while Sperber & Wilson’s theory is listener-oriented.  
     According to the relevance theory, relevance means that the listener expects the speaker to do their best to create a message which is as relevent as possible. And the listener receives and interprets the message with the same expection. The more contextual information in the message, the more relevent it is; and the existance of more relevent message requires less mental effort by the listener. Sperber & Wilson (1986) argue that human is evolved to look for the most relevent information. In accordance with this theory, there exists a combination of knowledge, experiences and shared background information in the mind of every speaker. When the listener hears the speaker’s message, s/he considers the physical context to evaluate it and then matches it with her/his background knowledge in order to figure out its meaning.
3.Methodology
This research primarily aimed at addressing the extension of the meaning and physical context of vehicle terms to common Persian vocabulary and vice versa. Then, it discussed these words and expressions within the framework of Relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986). They were collected using dictionaries, internet search, car classified ads, the experieces of the present reseacher in dealing with mechanics, drivers, and petrolheads as well as his own vocabulary knowledge. Identifying whether a word or an expression has undergone extension of meaning and physical context is based on the linguistic intuition of the author as a native speaker of Persian. The corpus under study includes vehicle terms that have entered Persian vocabulary as well as common words and expressions that have been added to vehicle terms through extension of the meaning and physical context.
4.Results & Discussion
In response to the first and second research questions, it should be stated that almost all the Persian words and expressions that have been added to vehicle terms through extension of the meaning and physical context and those vehicle-realated terms that have been added likewise to the Persian vocabulary were introduced. In response to the third research question “What is the reason of this word and expression exchange?”, it should be stated that the analysis of these exchanges indicated that different semantic changes, extension of the physical context, and metaphorical extention occur due to the similarity between the function and behavior of vehicles and humans as well as the similarity between the appearance of some vehicle parts and the features of human body and life style. The possessor-possessee relation as a type of metonymy is one reason for the extension of vehicle-realated terms to the Persian vocabulary, while metaphorical extention is a reason for the addition of Persian vocabulary to vehicle terms.
 5.Conclusions & Suggestions
Using their shared background knowledge about vehicle-realated terms, Persian speakers not only are aware of their original meanings and physical contexts but also they have access to their extended meanings and/ or physical contexts. According to the Relevance theory, when a Persian speaker hears a vehicle-realated term, s/he considers the physical context to evaluate it and then matches it with her/his background knowledge in order to figure out if the speaker intended its original meaning or its extended meaning.
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