A Cognitive Approach to Mental Spaces in English and Kurdish

In this article, mental spaces in English and Kurdish are analyzed. The study investigates the construction of mental space in English and Kurdish in order to identify differences and similarities between the two languages. Examples from both languages are used. The Kurdish examples are taken from rudaw.com and English examples are from every day uses and bbc.com. Mental space builders based on the Fauconnier approach are examined and shown to be effective, including modal verbs, prepositional phrases, negative constructions, and discourse markers. Although each of these components serves as a space builder, the structure of the sentences that contain them varies between the two languages. For instance, in Kurdish negative constructions, the negative element appears at the end of the sentence, delaying the listener's perception of the negativity until the speaker completes the sentence.