（英语语言文学专业论文）汉语左右方位的认知研究.pdf

descriptive chinese abstract i 摘 要 本文试图从认知语言学视角出发，对汉语左/右方位中的“空间”域和“非人类自 然体、量化近似、尊左卑右和尊右卑左”域等进行研究，揭示其身体体验性和隐喻性， 进而阐明汉语中左/右方位隐喻的经验基础和工作机制。 汉语左/ 右方位起源于人类对空间的躯体经验。在甲骨文中， “左” 、 “右”分别表现 为人的左右手的形状，随着人类的认识和智力的提高， “左” 、 “右”从表示实体的概念 逐步向既表示实体概念又表示抽象概念的方向发展。 在 levinson的空间参照系理论中，左 / 右为相对参照系；左/ 右方位最基本的参照结 构是其最简单、明晰的空间参照结构。左/ 右方位的空间参照结构也是对其进行更深层 次研究的起点。 人类思维在本质上是隐喻的，对汉语左/ 右方位概念的理解其实质也是隐喻的。同 时，空间隐喻研究在隐喻研究中具有重要的意义。为了能更好地解读空间方位关系及运 动，许多非人类自然体都被赋予了左/ 右方位。而且，这种广泛意义上的左/ 右方位又被 投射到了被称为隐喻拓展的“量化近似、尊左卑右和尊右卑左”等抽象域上。 本文从“非人类自然体”以及“量化近似、尊左卑右和尊右卑左”等方面对汉语左 / 右方位的概念化过程进行了研究，进而揭示汉语中 “左/ 右”两个概念的隐喻拓展路 径，以及空间隐喻对汉语非空间概念的构造能力。我们发现多数抽象概念都是通过空间 隐喻来表达和理解的。空间隐喻是一种意象图式隐喻，它将作为源域的空间概念投射到 抽象的目标域，在这一过程中，空间意象及其内在的逻辑都被保留了下来。 本文的研究表明：汉语左/右方位的本质是体验性的，是隐喻性的；在汉语左/ 右方 位的概念化过程中，隐喻发挥了不可忽略的作用。 关键词：隐喻；左/ 右方位；体验性；空间隐喻；隐喻拓展 english abstract ii abstract this thesis attempts to make a cognitive research on zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language, especially in the domains of “ space” and “ non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring zuo (left) and humiliating you (right) and vice versa” . the experiential grounding and working mechanisms behind the understanding and using of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language will be touched upon to throw light on the universal metaphorical thinking of human beings. accordingly, the present study will support and develop the cognitive theory of metaphor in the chinese language. zuo (left) / you (right) orientation arises from human beings bodily experience of space. “ zuo (left)” and “ you (right)” in the chinese language primarily appear in the oracle bone inscription as the figures of a left hand and a right hand respectively. with the evolution of human cognition and intelligence, the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation expresses not only the concrete concepts but also abstract ones. in levinson s spatial frames of reference, zuo (left) / you (right) orientation is the relative frame of reference. the elementary reference framework of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation is the spatial reference frame, which is quite simple, explicit and convenient, and is one of the starting points for further experience. human thinking is metaphorical in essence as well as the understanding of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. in addition, the study of spatial metaphor is important in metaphor research. many other physical and mental entities are endowed with zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in order to get a better interpretation. furthermore, such spatial sense of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language is projected onto the domains of non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring zuo (left) and humiliating you (right) and vice versa, in which the spatial implications of its abstract features will be given a relatively comprehensive analysis. this thesis studies the conceptualizing process of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language in the domains of “ non- human natural entities” , “ quantitative approximation, honoring zuo (left) and humiliating you (right) and vice versa.” the aims are to discover metaphorical paths of the two concepts of zuo (left) and you (right) orientations in the chinese language. the structural capability of non- spatial concepts through spatial metaphor is another research in the thesis. the conclusion of the study is, most abstract concepts are expressed and understood by spatial metaphor. spatial metaphor is a kind of english abstract iii schematic metaphor, among which spatial concepts of the source domain are mapped onto the abstract target domain. in this process, spatial image schemas and inner logic are reserved. the study of this thesis shows that zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language is embodied and metaphorical; in the process of conceptulization of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation, metaphor plays an indelible role. key words: metaphor; zuo (left) / you (right) orientation; embodiment; spatial metaphor; metaphorical extension 湘 潭 大 学 学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的 研究成果。除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其它个人或 集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均 已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保留 并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权湘潭大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检 索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 涉密论文按学校规定处理。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 导师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 introduction 1 introduction 0.1 zuo (left) / you (right) orientation what is metaphor? what is zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language? how is zuo (left) / you (right) orientation metaphorically extended in the chinese language? in order to answer these questions, it is necessary to review the theory of metaphor and the concept of “ zuo (left) / you (right)” orientation in the chinese language. in daily language, “ orientation” means “ direction” . space and direction are predominant and omnipresent concepts in human mind. human beings are born with the intuition of understanding space, identifying directions and applying these concepts into their language and life. all the orientations, such as qian (front) /hou (back), zuo (left) / you (right), etc are derived from the bodily experience of space. for examples, the direction which human directly faces is called “ qian (front)” and the opposite direction of “ qian (front)” in the horizontal axis is “ hou (back)” . the orientation of “ zuo (left)” is derived from human left hand, while the orientation of “ you (right)” is derived from human right hand. oxford advanced learner s english- chinese dictionary (extended fourth edition) (as hornby, 2002) defines “ zuo (left)” as “ of, on or towards the side of the body, which is towards the west when a person faces north” , and defines “ you (right)” as “ of, on or towards the side of the body, which is towards the east when a person faces north” . these are typical cases of the embodied sense of human cognition. this thesis will focus on the spatial sense and metaphorical sense of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. it seems that there is an embodied reference system, which serves as an effective methodology in human beings understanding of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. furthermore, as a kind of metaphorical projection, such an embodied understanding of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language is projected onto other domains, such as non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring “ zuo (left)” and humiliating “ you (right)” and vice versa and is endowed with the corresponding implications in the respective domains. human beings understanding of orientations is metaphorical in nature, that is to say, orientations are understood in terms of human bodies, furthermore, they are employed to interpret other related concepts. therefore, the discussion of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation introduction 2 should undoubtedly be based on the premise of the understanding of bodily orientation. 0.2 literature review cognitive linguistics, the general cognitive approach to the study of language, is a new branch of linguistics. lakoff and johnson s (1980) metaphors we live by symbolizes the appearance of cognitive linguistics. from then on, it has developed so rapidly that it has begun to gain a dominant position in linguistic theory and will become an influential field in the linguistics of the 21st century. most european philosophers and linguists have been anticipating the cognitive theory of metaphor (j? kel 1997, otabe 1995). it is the conceptual metaphor theory framed by lakoff and johnson (lakoff and johnson 1980, lakoff 1987,1993) that makes full use of the cognitive approach to study metaphor. one of the basic principles of conceptual metaphor theory is that metaphor is motivated by human bodily experience. langacker (1988) has most forcefully articulated it. kvecses (1995, 2000a, 2000b), nu ez and sweetser (2001), niemeier (2000), yu (1995), li (1995), alverson (1994) and shinohara (1998) also provide evidence in emotional and temporal metaphors to support this principle and explain such phenomena in details. boers (1997) examines the experiential motivation to metaphor in a highly abstract domain - - social- economics by quantitative data analysis. spatial metaphor study is a topic in metaphor research. many scholars have made researches on spatial metaphors. though with almost absolute focus on spatial prepositions, they have made some researches, such as lakoff (up /down /over, 1987), john o keefe (beside /by /below /under /down /beneath /beyond, 1990), john taylor (over, 1995). terry regier (1996) makes study on spatial terms (in /on) in english with comparison to mexican and japanese. tao wenhao (1997) analyzes how these prepositions affect the relation between trajector and landmark from the angle of cognitive grammar. lakoff and johnson (1980) claim that such kinds of metaphors are pervasive in language and they generate plenty of linguistic expressions. many studies show that time is understood by spatial metaphors (lakoff and johnson 1980, pedesen 1998, nu ez and sweetser 2001, niemeier 2000, yu 1995, li 1995, alverson 1994 and shinohara 1998). some emotional expressions are also understood through spatial metaphors (lakoff and johnson 1980, lakoff 1993, yu 1995, kvecses 1995, 2000b ). researches on the spatial terms in the chinese language are also carried out: cai jianping (beyond, 1997), nie yaning (beyond, 2001), tao wenhao (over, 1997; up, 2000). zhang yu (1999) discusses spatial prepositions from the perspective of different dimensions (zero- , one- , two- , and three- dimension). lan chun (1999) studies the image schema and metaphorical introduction 3 extensions of “ shang” (up) and “ xia” (down). qi huyang (1998) expounds the spatial system in the chinese language, and illustrates the usages of “ shang” (up), “ li” (in), “ zai ” (in /on). cui xiliang (2001) analyzes “ zaili” (in) and “ zaishang” (on) in his book language understanding and cognition from the perspective of syntax and semantics. furthermore, many scholars have done researches on spatial metaphors by using real- life data in the chinese language integrating modern theories of metaphor, such as lan chun(1999), zhou rong (2002), etc. yu (1995), li (1995) and alverson (1994) have also studied chinese spatial metaphors from the aspect of comparative linguistics. there exist some weaknesses in these studies: western scholars studies just focused on the questions such as how and why these abstract concepts - - time and emotion - - are conventionally expressed in terms of space. chinese scholars have found quantities of linguistic evidences to support cognitive theory of metaphor. but they did not systematically study how chinese spatial terms are metaphorically extended to other concepts. these studies were simply based on the research of lakoff and johnson s and focused on spatial terms shang(up) / xia(down) and qian(front) /hou(back). they did not discuss other spatial terms metaphorically used in the chinese language. they did not do further research in this field so as to find an effective way to explain metaphor. even some of them have given incomplete interpretations to chinese spatial metaphors. on the other hand, some of the chinese scholars (e.g. hu youzhang, 2001), especially those with chinese background, are suspicious of the new theories that are being constantly generated by their western counterparts. they still adhere to traditional rhetoric to study metaphor. so their studies still linger at the linguistic level. in a word, the interpretations given in these studies cannot solve the problems existing in chinese metaphorical expressions. furthermore, besides time and emotion, these studies have touched little on other fields in which the spatial concept is also metaphorically used. thus, it is necessary for us to apply the new western linguistic theories to the research on the chinese language. by doing so, we can also contribute to the universal theory of language, because our new findings with the chinese language will enrich the borrowed theories. it will also be of great help for us to have a better understanding of the characteristics of our mother tongue. zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language is one of the fundamental concepts of the human being and is one of the cases that have not been investigated. in this study, after giving a comprehensive understanding of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language, we will analyze the spatial dimension of zuo (left) / you introduction 4 (right) orientation and try to find out how they are metaphorically extended. furthermore, this thesis will try to explore the implications in the domains of non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring “ zuo (left)” and humiliating “ you (right)” and vice versa. 0.3 problems to be solved in the research through a cognitive study of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language, this thesis attempts to answer the following three questions: (1) what are the underlying cognitive mechanisms of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the domain of space? (2) what are the underlying cognitive mechanisms in the formation of zuo (left)/ you (right) orientation behind their corresponding usages in the domains of non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring “ zuo (left)” and humiliating “ you (right)” and vice versa? (3) are orientation words in the chinese language metaphors by nature? 0.4 components of the thesis this thesis is composed of five parts. introduction is an overview of this study, including some basic concepts, significance, problems to be solved in the research and components of this thesis. chapter 1 makes a comprehensive view of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language arises from human beings bodily experience of space. the most important character of orientation will be discussed in this chapter, that is, the embodied sense. this concept is one of the fundamental principles of human thinking and is significant in identifying bodily orientations. “ zuo (left)” and “ you (right)” in the chinese language primarily appear in the oracle bone inscription as the figures of a left hand and a right hand respectively. with the evolution of human cognition and intelligence, the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation expresses not only the concrete concepts but also abstract ones. in order to get a better understanding, people have endowed many other physical and mental entities with zuo (left) / you (right) orientation. chapter 2 is the cognitive resolution to zuo (left)/ you (right) orientation in non- human natural entities. the original understanding of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation is derived from human embodied cognition. in this chapter, we claim that the elementary reference framework of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation is the spatial reference frame, which is quite simple, introduction 5 explicit and convenient, and is one of the starting points for further experience. then we will take the non- human natural entities, such as a frog, a car, rivers and a house for examples to illustrate the image schemas of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. chapter 3 explains how contemporary metaphor theory provides a cognitive resolution to zuo (left)/ you (right) orientation in abstract concepts. human thinking is metaphorical in essence. so is the understanding of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language. in the developing process of the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation, metaphor plays an indelible role. the metaphorical extensions, to a great extent, are projected from the domain of space to the other domains, including non- human natural entities, quantitative approximation, honoring “ zuo (left)” and humiliating “ you (right)” and vice versa. zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language has various implications in each of these aspects. in the last part, the focused issues of the present study are summarized. two specific limitations of this thesis are described. finally, the suggestions for the future study are concluded. chapter 1: the concept of zuo (left)/you (right) orientation in the chinese language 6 chapter 1: the concept of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the chinese language 1.1 introduction in human cognition and experience, space and direction are such predominant and omnipresent concepts that it is redundant to mention their significance. it seems that human beings are born with the intuition about understanding space, identifying directions and applying these concepts into their language and life without much difficulty and consciousness. this thesis focuses on the narrow sense of embodiment, that is to say, representing entities or categories in terms of human body. spatial orientations are just typical of this understanding. so the research of zuo (left) / you (right) orientation, one of the most important and fundamental spatial concepts for human beings, is quite necessary and beneficial. 1.2 embodiment and zuo (left) / you (right) orientation in the cognition of human beings, body always serves as a frequent source of cognition, language and metaphorical thought. many basic concepts h