Metaphorical Conceptualizations of Cultural Heritage among Turkish and Syrian University Students
Abstract
This study explores how Turkish and Syrian university students conceptualize cultural heritage through metaphorical expressions. It aims to understand how students from different cultural backgrounds make sense of a concept closely related to identity, memory, and collective belonging. The study draws on Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory and is supported by Newmark’s (2010) classification of culture-specific items to analyze metaphors from both cognitive and cultural perspectives. The dataset of the study was collected from undergraduate students in the Department of English Language and Literature at Gaziantep University through an open-ended metaphor elicitation prompt administered in Turkish (“For me, cultural heritage is like … because …”). Responses were analyzed qualitatively to identify metaphor vehicles and to code justificatory clauses across six cultural domains, with descriptive frequency counts used to indicate relative prominence. The results show that Turkish and Syrian students rely on largely shared metaphorical patterns, particularly those of continuity, preservation, connection, identity, and value. However, they differ in how these metaphors are culturally elaborated through their explanatory clauses. Turkish students more often frame cultural heritage through collective continuity, preservation, and social responsibility, frequently drawing on nature-based metaphors (e.g., tree, root, natural environment) and transmission-oriented images such as bridge, trace, and word of mouth, emphasizing collective identity, social unity, responsibility, and value-based evaluations of heritage as a stabilizing social resource. Syrian students more frequently ground their metaphors in personal life, emotional memory, and historical continuity, highlighting internalized belonging, memory, emotional attachment, and endurance, while also referring to historical depth, language, and cultural traces that connect the past with present identity. Overall, the findings suggest that metaphor use reflects both shared cognitive structuring and culturally shaped experience, and that metaphor analysis offers insight into how cultural heritage is understood as both a material and a symbolic phenomenon in multicultural academic settings.
Keywords
cultural heritage, conceptual metaphor, Turkish students, Syrian students, cultural identity
Ethical Statement
This study received ethical approval from the Social and Human Sciences Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Committee of Gaziantep University (Meeting No: 14, dated 3 November 2025). The research proposal, including its aims, methodology, data sources, and data collection instruments, was reviewed and evaluated in accordance with ethical principles governing research involving human participants. No ethical violation was identified, and the study was approved for implementation by unanimous decision of the committee. Participation in the study was voluntary, informed consent was obtained from all participants, and anonymity and confidentiality were strictly maintained. The data were used solely for academic purposes and analyzed in an aggregated manner.
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