METAPHORIC LANGUAGE USE: A STUDY OF PASHTOONS’ JIRGA SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN PASHTOONKHWA

Abstract

Cultural processes have always been contributory in shaping people’s particular demeanor and point of view. My approach is quite similar to other researchers but my framework is different. My work focuses on metaphorical language used in “Jirga”, an element of unwritten code of life, Pashtunwali, which the Pashtuns have been practicing for centuries. This code strictly guides the lives of Pashtun people living in Afghanistan, Khyber Pashtunkhwa, and Pashtoon belt of Balochistan known as Southern Pashtunkhwa in Pakistan. By using the framework of Pashtunwali, this article provides a new perspective of metaphorical language used in “Jirgas”. As a creative act how cultural processes gets through a persistent process of construction and deconstruction in one of the prime themes that has been discussed in this paper. In the first part of the paper, the researchers have carried out extensive epistemological overview to understand and articulate the fundamental concepts and dominant theories in the discourse. While in the second part an in-depth analysis has supported concurrent parameters and solid language that influences cultures and traditions. How these metaphors fit into the tradition of Pashtoonwali; the unwritten code of Pashtuns is one of the main question, the paper unfolds.