Ecolinguistics in Proverbs: A Comparative Study of Animal Names in Bakhtiari Luri and Gilaki

This comparative study explores the cultural significance of animal-related proverbs in the Bakhtiari Luri and Gilaki languages. Adopting an analytical approach, the research examines the cultural concepts embedded in the natural phenomena represented in the proverbs of the two speech communities. The corpus was compiled through library research by collecting Gilaki and Bakhtiari proverbs, which were subsequently described and analyzed within relevant thematic and discursive frameworks. The data consists of 72 Bakhtiari and 109 Gilaki proverbs concerning domestic animals, classified according to animal species and discourse categories, and examined descriptively and analytically. The findings indicate that donkeys, camels, and ewes are dominant in Bakhtiari proverbs, reflecting the community’s mountainous ecosystem, nomadic lifestyle, and pastoral economy. In contrast, dogs, birds, horses, and cattle are more prominent in Gilaki proverbs, which align with the plains and wetlands of the Caspian region. Discourse analysis reveals that Gilaki proverbs emphasize moral and social values, while Bakhtiari ones focus more on the functional and utilitarian aspects of animals. These results suggest that proverbs, beyond their literary and didactic functions, embody ecological knowledge and cultural metaphors that vividly reflect the interrelationship between humans, animals, and the environment in local folk cultures.
 
Extended Abstract
1.Introduction
This study, drawing on the framework of ecolinguistics, examines the role of language in shaping human attitudes toward nature and its subsequent impact on either the degradation or preservation of ecosystems. As a reflection of community’s culture, beliefs, rituals, and identity, language, particularly in the form of proverbs, can reveal the relationship between society and the natural world and provide a basis for gradually transforming environmental discourses. In this regard, proverbs related to domesticated animals in Bakhtiari Luri and Gilaki are analyzed as sources for understanding the mindset and lifestyle of people living in Iran’s mountainous and temperate regions. The analysis of these proverbs enables a systematic elucidation of their role in representing cultural and ecological dimensions, as well as the implications that their similarities and differences hold for environmental attitudes. Ultimately, the study demonstrates how the linguistic structures of these two dialects have been shaped by the surrounding environment and what function they perform in sustaining or transforming environmental orientations.
2.Theoretical Framework
In this section, the influence of environmental characteristics of each ecological zone on the morphological, syntactic, and lexical structures of dialects and their role in shaping metaphors and regional dialectal variation is highlighted. Ecolinguistics seeks to explain linguistic and dialectal diversity through environmental factors, demonstrating that even dialects within a single geographical region cannot be fully understood without considering ecological conditions. The discussion then turns to animal metaphors, which are widely used across cultures to conceptualize human attributes and are grounded in the behavior, behavioral patterns, human-animal interactions, and physical appearance of animals. As cognitive and linguistic tools, animal metaphors represent human traits and states by referencing animals, thereby enhancing the expressive capacity of language in articulating abstract concepts. Humanities often attribute human-like qualities to animals and subsequently employ these attributed characteristics to explain their own behaviors. Furthermore, an examination of the role of metaphor in environmental scientific discourse illustrates how unreflective metaphor use can lead to social misunderstandings and policies that run counter to sustainability, whereas the deliberate and informed selection of metaphors can foster a more coherent alignment between scientific concepts and the social values associated with environmental sustainability.
3.Methodology
Ecolinguistics is an interdisciplinary field that examines the reciprocal relationship between language and the environment, exploring how physical and social ecological factors influence the structure and functions of language. Within this framework, the notions of a linguistic ecosystem emphasize the bidirectional interaction between language and its environment, positioning language as both a product and a producer of the surrounding world. A segment of research in this field overlaps with discourse analysis, demonstrating how linguistic categorizations, including those related to animals, are shaped by their perceived utility and their relationship to humans. Meanwhile, cultural linguistics, drawing on concepts such as cognition, schemas, categories, and cultural metaphors, accounts for the relationship between language and culturally grounded conceptualizations.
Within this perspective, proverbs are regarded as dynamic linguistic and cultural units, not merely historical remnants but active tools for representing experience and facilitating problem-solving. Studies on proverbs reveal that they are deeply ingrained in culture and acquire nuanced meanings depending on their context and situational use. From a discourse-oriented viewpoint, they can be classified along a continuum ranging from beneficial to destructive discourses. In this approach, the primary criterion for analyzing proverbs lies in their implicit meanings rather than their surface-level thematic content.
4.Results & Discussion
This research examines proverbs featuring animal names in the Bakhtiari and Gilaki dialects from an ecolinguistic and cultural linguistic perspective. In the Bakhtiari corpus, the high frequency of animal names, particularly donkey and dog, reflects the nomadic population’s livelihood and symbolic bond with livestock and the natural environment. These proverbs utilize animal nomenclature to judge and evaluate human behaviors and social relations through the lenses of morality, social standing, and power dynamics. Analysis of 72 Bakhtiari proverbs reveals that the highest frequencies belong to donkey (30%) and dog (19%), with the majority of these instances falling within the category of destructive discourse.
Similarly, within the Gilaki discourse, situated in a forested and coastal climate, animal names, especially dog, occupy a central position. Among the 109 Gilaki proverbs analyzed, dog accounts for 37% of occurrences, followed by horse, cow, cat, goat, and various birds. In these proverbs, themes of ethics, social relations, and power-seeking remain prominent, with the share of destructive discourse reported to be significantly higher than that of beneficial discourse. These results demonstrate that in both dialects, domestic animals function far beyond mere biological reference; they play a pivotal role in the conceptualization of human relationships, power hierarchies, and cultural value systems.
5.Conclusion & Suggestions
The findings of this study indicate that proverbs containing animal names in the Bakhtiari Luri and Gilaki dialects embody the environmental and cultural concepts and beliefs of their speakers, functioning as repositories of intergenerational knowledge. A comparison of the two corpora shows that the prominence of donkey in Bakhtiari culture and the high frequency of dog names as well as the presence of birds in Gilaki culture is directly linked to the ecological conditions and livelihood patterns of each region. The absence or presence of certain species (such as camel, ram, goose, and stork) reflects underlying geographical and cultural distinctions.
The pattern of animal naming in these proverbs is not arbitrary; rather, it is grounded in lived experience and the everyday encounters of communities with local animal species. Consequently, proverbs implicitly represent an awareness of biodiversity and the interdependence between humans and other living beings. In both dialects, animals serve not only ecological roles but also act as powerful tools for transmitting knowledge, experience, and social values, with their characteristics being used to describe and evaluate human behavior. Discourse analysis reveals that Gilaki proverbs exhibit a higher proportion of moral and social themes compared to Bakhtiari, whereas in domains related to power-seeking and destructive discourse, the two communities display similar patterns. Bakhtiari Luri, however, records a greater share of beneficial discourse. These differences demonstrate that cultural preferences, social needs, and communal priorities are directly reflected in the selection of themes and the conceptualization of animals in proverbs, positioning language as a subtle indicator for interpreting the relationship between culture, climate, and ecosystem.
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