（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）概念隐喻视野中的英壮谚语对比研究.pdf

iv 概念隐喻视野中的英壮谚语对比研究 2004 级英语语言文学硕士研究生： . 导师： 教授 在传统的眼光中, 隐喻是一种修辞手段。 20 世纪 70 年代以后, 随着认知语言学的兴起 和发展，除修辞功能外，隐喻被认为是人类认知、思维、经验、言语和行为的基础, 是我 们赖以生存的基本方式。 概念隐喻是用某一相对具体、结构相对清晰的概念去理解那些抽象、缺乏内部结构或 难以想象的概念的过程。概念隐喻是认知抽象范畴的基本方式和有效工具。 谚语是在民间广为流传的、简练的、通俗的、且具有历史传统教育意义的固定语句。 培根曾经说过： “每一个民族的天才、机智和精神都可以在它的谚语中找到。 ” 作为语言 中的精华和最有活力的组成部分，谚语有时以概念隐喻的方式反映人民的经验和智慧。从 这个意义上说，谚语和概念隐喻是相通的。 英语是当今世界上使用最广泛、最富影响力的语言之一，它的谚语可谓是琳琅满目， 千姿百态。壮语是中国人口最多的少数民族壮族的语言，是壮族人民思维和交流的工 具。壮语谚语结构独特、音韵优美，是世界民族语言的一朵奇葩。 随着经济全球化的发展，各国各民族之间的交往日益频繁。外语学习和跨文化研究已 经成为新的潮流。然而，纵览谚语研究的历史，从壮语角度开展英壮对比研究的活动尚不 多见。作为一种尝试，本文将在概念隐喻框架内，对英、壮语中的谚语进行对比性的梳理 和探讨，以期找出它们在内容来源、表达方式和表现风格等方面的异同。 本文分五章。第一章是绪论，内容主要涉及本文的研究目标、壮族人和壮语的背景介 绍、以及本文的总体结构等。第二章主要涉及概念隐喻理论，内容包括：概念隐喻的定义、 概念隐喻理论框架内一些相关概念的说明, 以及概念隐喻的分类等。第三、四章是本文的 主要部分。本文作者在此就谚语的定义、隐喻性隐喻的定义、以及它们的起源、表达方式 和表现风格等方面的异同进行梳理和分析。第五章是结论。 通过一系列的对比、分析，文章最后指出： （1）概念隐喻理论具有普遍性, 并适用于 英壮谚语的对比研究; （2）英、壮隐喻性谚语具有相似的内容来源、表达方式和风格特征； （3）由于历史、语言特色和民族文化等原因，英、壮隐喻性谚语在内容来源、表达方式 和音韵方面也存在数量上、句法上或风格上的差异。 关键词：概念隐喻；英语；壮语；谚语；对比研究 v a contrastive study on english and zhuang proverbs: a perspective from conceptual metaphor postgraduate: . tutor: prof. . abstract metaphor is traditionally regarded as a rhetorical device in poetry and speech. with the rise and development of cognitive linguistics since the 1970s, metaphor has been considered to be the basis of cognition, thought, experience, speech and behaviors. conceptual metaphor is a way to cognize something comparatively abstract or inherently unstructured in terms of something relatively concrete or highly structured. conceptual metaphor is a primary way and a powerful tool for conceptualizing abstract and intangible categories. proverbs are brief and popular sentences with instructive implications among the folk people. for proverbs, bacon remarked: all the talent, the wisdom and even the spirit of a nation can be found in its proverbs. being one of the most vital part of language, some proverbs sometimes act as conceptual metaphors for people to understand the abstract concepts like emotions, beauty, theories, morality and so on. at this point, proverbs are closely interconnected to conceptual metaphors. english is one of the most widely used and influential languages in the world. proverbs in english are abundant and of many styles. zhuang is the language of zhuang people, the most populous people of china s minority ethnic groups. zhuang proverbs are unique in the world with their special structures, beautiful rhyme and rhythmical sounds. with the development of globalization, exchanges between countries and nations are getting more and more frequent. foreign studies and cross- culture researches have been a mainstream. in history, studies on proverbs have been involved largely in perspectives of functions, semantics, and so on. as a try, for the purpose of finding out the similarities and differences between these two languages, this thesis will focus on a contrastive study of english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs. this thesis consists of five chapters. chapter i includes the objectives of the thesis, the background introduction of zhuang people and zhuang language, as well as the framework of the present study. chapter ii deals with conceptual metaphor theory, mainly referring to the definition of conceptual metaphor, some related basic concepts and the relevant classifications. chapter iii and chapter iv are the main constituents of this thesis, in which the definition and some fundamental features of metaphorical proverb are discussed. and based on the sources, vi the syntactic characteristics and stylistic features of proverbs, the similarities and differences between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs will be probed. after a series of contrasts and analyses, in chapter v, i draw the conclusion as follows: (1) the conceptual metaphor theory ( cmt) is applicable to the contrastive study between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs. the zhuang metaphorical proverbs basically comply with the definition and classifications of cmt. (2) in terms of sources, syntactic structures and stylistic features, english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs share many similarities: 1)they are both widely derived from folk origins, classical works and loan translations; 2)their expression forms largely involve employment of different sentence patterns to get their rich and colorful forms, imperative structures to gain instructive effects, balanced structures to get rhythms, inverted order to achieve emphases, and ellipsis to get brevity and so on; 3)they bear stylistic features such as brevity, colloquialism and beautiful rhyme, each of which respectively makes them short, popular and rhythmical. (3) the differences between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs include: 1) in sources of classical works and loan translations, english metaphorical proverbs are abundant, while the zhuang ones are rare; 2) in syntax, repetition is common in english, while couplet forms and xie- hou- yu are active in zhuang; 3) an english alliteration mainly means the repetition of the beginning letter, while a zhuang one means the repetition of the first sound of a sentence; 4) in rhyme aspect, zhuang metaphorical proverbs have variants while english not. (4) based on the same brain structure, the similar knowledge and experience, the common thinking mode of human being dominates the similarities of linguistic expressions, including the features of syntax, styles and so on. as regards the differences between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs, historical and cultural causes, geographical conditions and living environments can function as the convincing explanations. key words: conceptual metaphor; english; zhuang; proverbs; contrastive study 论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明: 所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研 究工作及取得的成果。除论文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含 其他个人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。 对本文的研究作 出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担本 声明的法律责任。 研究生签名：_ 日期：_ 论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。广 西师范大学、中国科学技术信息研究所、清华大学论文合作部，由全 国保留本人所送交学位论文的复印件和电子文档，可以采用影印、缩 印或其他复印手段保存论文。 本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容 相一致。除在保密期的保密论文外，允许论文被查阅或借阅，可以公 布（包括刊登）论文的全部或部分内容。论文的公布（包括刊登）授 权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名：_ 日期：_ 导 师签名：_ 日期：_ 1 chapter i introduction 1.1 objectives of the present study with the development of globalization, varieties of exchanges between countries are getting more and more frequent. inter- language and cross- culture researches have been a mainstream. in history, studies on proverbs have been largely involved in perspectives of content, semantics, syntax and so on. as known to all, proverbs perform like a window through which we can gain a general understanding of a certain nation including its historic stages, folk customs, social system, cultural heritage, national psycho- traits, religions and so on. to gain knowledge of proverbs between different languages and cultures can better advance the exchanges between different cultures or nations. as a try, for the purpose of seeking the similarities and differences between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs, this thesis will concentrate on a contrastive study from the perspective of conceptual metaphor theory. through a series of contrasts and analyses, this thesis aims to find out: (1) whether the conceptual metaphor theory is applicable to the contrastive study between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs; (2) what are the similarities? (3) what are the differences? (4) what can account for these similarities and differences? 1.2 zhuang people and their language the zhuang people are the most populous one among china s ethnic minorities. they mainly inhabit in the central and western areas of the guangxi zhuang autonomous region and in the southeastern part of yunnan province, as well as in parts of guangdong, guizhou and hunan provinces that border on guangxi. according to 2002 statistics, the total population of zhuang is approximately 17 million, with 15.6 million in guangxi. the zhuang people are the original inhabitants of this part of south china, having lived and prospered there for generations with their own unique history and culture. according to early references in han writings, the “ luoyue” and “ xi ou” of the spring- autumn- warring- state periods were the ancestors of the zhuang, who were related to the ancient “yue” people. it had been a long time before the ancestors of the zhuang realized that they are in need of a ripe writing system for their language. around the time of the sui dynasty (ad 581- 618), they created a writing system based on the form of chinese characters. these “ ancient zhuang characters” are traditionally called “ sawndip” (a raw writing) among the zhuang people. this system is rather inefficient and mainly used by taoist priests in the field of taoist rites or related activities. till now, it has not been standardized across the various dialects, and is impossibly 2 regarded as a unified writing system for the zhuang people. the modern zhuang script is a new writing system which was first designed, ratified and introduced by the central government of the people s republic of china. it was created to benefit the communication among the zhuang people, as well as to provide a tool for the ongoing development of zhuang culture. (based on the foreword of zhuang- chinese- english dictionary, 2005) according to linguistic findings, zhuang language belongs to the zhuang- dai branch of the zhuang- dong language group under the sino- tibetan language family. as introduced in previous paragraphs, although zhuang language is the communication tool and thought carrier of the largest minority group in china, it hadn t been a ripe writing system until the year 1955 when it gained its new life. its unusual history and strong vitality have aroused quite some linguists interest. however, contrastive studies between english and zhuang are rare. as a zhuang student, i have a strong desire of undertaking such kind of the task. proverbs are commonly used to impart experience and knowledge obtained from predecessors. their simple spoken forms are widely accepted and enjoy popularities among the folk people. as there is no ripe writing system in history, to conduct a contrastive study via oral metaphorical proverbs is a better access to this ongoing study. 1.3 organization of the present thesis based on conceptual metaphor theory , this thesis consists of five chapters which focus on finding the similarities and differences between english and zhuang proverbs. chapter i serves as an introduction containing the objectives of the present study, the background information of zhuang people and their language, and the basic structure of this thesis as well. chapter ii deals with conceptual metaphor theory, mainly referring to its definition, some related basic concepts and the cmt classifications. chapter iii and chapter iv are the main constituents of this thesis, in which the definition and some fundamental features of metaphorical proverb are discussed. and based on the sources, the syntactic characteristics and stylistic features of proverbs, the similarities and differences between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs will be probed. after a series of contrasts and analyses, chapter v comes to the conclusion of this thesis,where i present the major findings. 3 chapter ii conceptual metaphor theory in order to build a theoretical framework for the discussions in chapter iii and chapter iv, and help readers have a clear and all- round understanding of the metaphorical proverbs from english and zhuang language, i would like to give a brief introduction to conceptual metaphor theory, including its definition, some concerning basic concepts and the cmt classifications. 2.1 conceptual metaphor with the creation and development of cognitive linguistics, metaphor is claimed to be a primary way of thinking. in the cognitive linguistic view of metaphor, “ our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is metaphorically structured and fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (lakoff after being rearranged, most metaphorical expressions can be returned to the form of “ a is b” . 2.2 some basic terminologies concerning conceptual metaphor “ on various traditional views, metaphor is a matter of unusual language, typically novel and poetic language that strike us as deviant, imaginative, and fanciful” (lakoff the other is that the source domain of a metaphor can also be some substances- - - actions like running, walking, singing or some spiritual activities like thinking, designing and so on. at this level, “ we can conceive of personification as a form of ontological metaphor. in personification, human 8 qualities are given to nonhuman entities” ( z lt n k vecses,2002: 35 ), e.g., 1) his idea will live on for ever. 2) cognitive psychology is still in its infancy. in example (1), “ his idea” is an abstract and complex thing which is hard to describe and reflect. but with the metaphorical verb “ live” contextually indicates, the concept “ idea” is seen as something alive like a human being or an animal. with all the information gathered from related imagination, we know from the metaphorical expression that “ his idea” is forever existing like a living thing. in example (2), “ cognitive psychology” is just a term with no shape or life, but with the metaphorical word “ infancy” here, the abstract concept of “ cognitive psychology” is seen as a living thing and easily understood by people. with all the information gathered from related imagination, we know that “ cognitive psychology” is still not a mature theory but a promising one. (b) container metaphor: 1) she is in love. 2) we are out of trouble now. in example (1), the concept “ love” is a feeling with no shape or capacity. but when to put it behind the preposition “ in” , people would regard it as a container with a certain shape and capacity, something that can be seen, touched, felt and easily understood. so the abstract concept “ love” here is something tangible and no longer so complex and hard to understand. in example (2), the concept “ trouble” is also an abstract state. but when putting it behind “ out of ” , we would naturally imagine it as a substantial container. from “ out of trouble” we know that “ we” have been released from the constraint or relaxed from some difficulties. 2.3.3 orientational metaphor “ orientation” means the basic human spatial directions, such as “ up- down” , “ center- periphery” , “ in- out” , etc. to think of something, people, first would naturally imagine that what link them together. orientational metaphor is really a “ coherence metaphor” . by coherence, we can simply mean that a certain domain is conceptualized in a uniform manner. let s take the up- down image schema for example: 1) more is up, less is down. 2) speed up, slow down. 3) i am feeling down these days. 4) he is a new rising star in our company. from the four examples given above, it can be seen that the orientation “ up- down” is very 9 commonly used to conceptualize some abstract things, such as emotion, quantity, quality, power, status and so on. upward orientation tends to go together with positive evaluation, while downward orientation with a negative one. orientational metaphors are not limited to the orientation “ up- down” . they can also be some other spatial orientations which are in pair of opposites, such as center- periphery, in- out, front- back, etc. see examples: 1) he is moving toward the center of power in our company. 2) the whole country has been out of control for more than two weeks. 3) now, please the leaders be seated in the front row. 4) the country is a backward one. here, in these examples, center and front, are mostly regarded as positive, while out and back as negative. 2.4 summary conceptual metaphor theory makes a very important contribution to the system of contemporary metaphor theory. source domain and target domain are two essential terminologies related to cmt (conceptual metaphor theory). they form the model of cmt as: conceptual domain (a) is conceptual domain (b). people tend to employ the more concrete and physical concept as a source domain in understanding the more abstract and intangible purpose concept, a target domain. the mapping process is actually to cast the image schema of the source domain onto the target domain, or to find out the inherent universality between the source domain and the target domain, by which the target domain can be understood easily. based on the cognitive functions, cmt can be classified into three general kinds: structural, ontological and orientational metaphors. they play different roles during the process when people cognize their external world or the mind of themselves. the nature of metaphors is conceptualizing new things, especially abstract notions like idea, love, theory and so on. the studies of metaphors are very significant in realizing interpretation of history, myth, literature, morality, social institution, social practices and so on (z lt n k vecses, 2002:57- 65).the theoretical framework in this chapter will greatly benefit the contrastive studies in chapter iii and chapter iv. 10 chapter iii similarities between english and zhuang metaphorical proverbs 3.1 proverb and metaphorical proverb 3.1.1 proverb although proverbs are often seen in our daily speaking, it s very hard to give a clear- cut definition to them. “ what is and what is not a proverb has long been a subject of learned controver