The role of context in the formation ofhejab‘veiling’ metaphors inhejabbillboards and posters in Iran

Properhejabobservance has long been an important issue to political-religious conservatives in Iran who, in recent years, have relied on metaphorical language to persuade Iranian women to dress modestly in public. The present paper, based on Kövecses’s (2015) account of metaphor in context, explores the role of contextual factors involved in the formation ofhejablinguistic metaphors used in 56 pro-hejabbillboards and posters. Data analysis indicates that the moral and social status of women are depicted as being determined by, or correlated with, their degree of veiling. On that basis, properly covered up women are shown to be the recipients of very positive metaphorical conceptualizations (aspearls,flowers, andangels), whereas immodestly dressed women are negatively pictured as being subject to sexual objectification (asunwrapped edibles). Moreover, thehejab is a protective coveris shown to be the metaphor instantiated in many of the billboards and posters. The protective function ofhejabis highlighted by conceptualizing corrupt men asfliesanddevils.Finally, the metaphorical patterns represent the contextual role of political and religious ideology, key cultural concepts, and show entrenched conventional conceptual metaphors and metonymies in the production of novel metaphors.