The study of Persian compound adjectives on the basis of conceptual blending theory

INTRODUCTIONThis article is studying Persian compound adjectives based on conceptual blending theory. The method of the research is descriptive-analytic and the data collection is corpus-based. The research data are 400 compound adjectives from language data base of Persian language (PDLB). The goal of the research is to determine the cognitive processes involving in forming Persian compound adjectives (metaphor, metonymy and metaphor-metonymy) and to determine the level of creativity of compounding processes according to Benczes classification and to determine the interaction between endocentric and exocentric compounds according to Benczes results (2006). The results show that in forming Persian compound adjectives, the frequency level of metaphor is the most. then Next frequency level belongs to metaphor-metonymy while the frequency of metonymy is indeed the least. According to Benczes (2006), with the stronger metaphoric relations, the creativity level and the abstractness of meaning indeed increase. The research results show that Persian speakers have more willing to use metaphoric meaning for producing and understanding compound adjectives. As with the level of creativity, the metaphor-metonymy process has the most frequency. Drawing from the fact that metaphor holds the most number of the frequency of the conceptual blending process, it can be concluded thatPersian speakers have no problem with understanding metaphoric meanings and have more willing to understand metaphoric meanings. Creating meanings through metaphoric compounds simplifies perception of metaphoric concepts for us. This vast use of metaphor and metonymy shows the creativity and dynamism of language. The creativity level of metaphor-metonymy conceptual blending is more than others.Foucounier and Turner (2003) considered the mental blending spaces and conceptual blending theory with four-part patterns. In their opinion, mental spaces are small conceptual packages which are made through speaking and thinking and are used in special situations for perceiving events and verbs. These mental spaces include smaller elements. Each of these elements is formed based on cognitive framework and special meaning models. According to conceptual blending theory, four spaces are involved in forming meanings: 1- Input space which is the source domain, 2- Output space which is the target domain, 3- General space which includes an abstract and schematic structure and is common between all availa