The Role of the Metonimical Transfer in the Formation of Expressions Related to the Concept of “Death” in Russian and Persian Languages

This study analyses the role of metonymic transfer in the formation of euphemisms in the semantic field of “death” in Russian and Persian languages. Death as an inevitable reality in human’s life possesses an important place in all languages and cultures. Dealing with this concept has been always difficult. The word “death” invokes fear and discomfort among people. Sometimes fear, and sometimes a sense of politeness and decency make people take advantage of euphemisms. Metonymic transfer is one of the most relevant ways to form euphemisms in the semantic field of “death”. Metonymy refers to the transfer of titles from one subject to another based on proximity. In line with metonymy, different kinds of it including synecdoche and metalepsis in Russian and implicature and allegory in Persian also play important roles in the formation of euphemisms of the “death” concept. In this article, we would categorize the Russian as well as Persian euphemisms, which are formed on the basis of metonymic transfer, into three groups: 1) euphemistic units, formed by means of metonymy; 2) euphemistic units formed by metalepsis; 3) euphemistic units formed by synecdoche. While comparing Russian and Persian euphemisms in the semantic field of “death”, we aim to clarify the similarities and differences of the usage of metonymic transfer in these two languages.