英语谚语中的隐喻应用.doc

设计（论文）专用纸The Application of Metaphor in the English ProverbsA Graduation Thesis Submittedby Lu Qifento Faculty of Applied TechnologyKunming University of Science and Technologyin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofBachelor of Arts in the subject of English Language Supervisor: Yang YuDepartment of Foreign Languages Kunming, YunnanApril 15, 2013I第 页 摘要在传统隐喻研究中，隐喻是一种修辞手段。随着认知语言学的发展，隐喻成了一种认知手段，和人类体验世界的方法，也成了人类思维和生活的方式。动物谚语是最生动的语言的集合，它们经常出现在人们的日常交流中，但人们却没意识到这些动物谚语是隐喻。事实上，在 George Lakoff & Johnson 的概念隐喻框架之下，动物谚语中的源域是动物，目标域是人或与人有关的行为，人们利用人与动物之间的相似性把人类自己的感情表现出来。本研究从概念隐喻的角度对比分析了汉英动物谚语中动物形象所具有的隐喻意义的相似性与相异性，并通过汉英两种语言中的动物形象来认知人的本质与特点。关键词：概念隐喻 动物 谚语 对比分析III第 页 ABSTRACT Metaphor is seen as a rhetorical method in traditional metaphor research. As time goes by, metaphor becomes a cognitive mechanism. Metaphor is the tool that we use to think and experience the external world, which is seen as the metaphor we live byby George Lakoff and Johnson. The animal proverbs are the most vivid collection of language, which are frequently used in daily life, but we seldom consider the animal proverbs as metaphor. In fact, under the frame of conceptual metaphor, the source domain of animal proverbs is animal and the target domain is human or concerned human action. People use the similarities between man and animals to express their motions. This research contrastively analyzes the some animal of animal proverbs both in English and Chinese and tries to find the similarities and differences. The animal image can help us have cognition of the nature and features of human being in English and Chinese.Key Words: Conceptual metaphor, Animal, Proverb, ContrastIV第 页 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this thesis, I have benefited from the support of my teachers and my classmates. They generously helped me collect materials I needed and made many invaluable suggestions. I hereby extend my grateful thanks to them for their kind help, without which this thesis would not have been possible. First of all, I am extremely indebted to Prof. Yang Yu, my supervisor, for her support, patience and remarkable ideas during the course of writing. Without her thorough and constructive commentary and indispensable help, this thesis could not have become a reality. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Cun Hongbing, Prof. Li Xuefang, Prof. Shi Nianxiang, Prof. Wang Yi, and all the teachers at the College of Foreign Studies, whose wonderful lectures proved to be indispensable to my study. Thanks also go to Lu Fang, Gao Qian, Xie Rui, and all my friends and classmates who helped me in collecting the linguistic data. Their help has been essential. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their love, support, and good humor.V第 页 Table of ContentsTitle Page .i Abstract(Chinese). ii Abstract(English).iiiAcknowledgements.ivTable of Contents.v1. Introduction .11.1. Purpose, significance and methodology of this thesis .11.1.1. Purpose, significance.11.1.2. Methodology.22. Conceptual Metaphor .32.1. The traditional theory of metaphor.32.2. The contemporary theory of metaphor.32.3.Conceptual metaphor.42.4. Some basic terminologies concerning conceptual metaphor.62.4.1. Image schema.62.4.2. Domain.62.4.3. Mapping.72. 5. A Summary.93. Comparison of Conceptual Metaphor of Animals in Chinese and English Proverbs.103.1. Definition of proverbs.103.2. Comparison of conceptual metaphor of animals in Chinese and English proverbs.113.2.1. Similarities of conceptual metaphors of animals in Chinese and English Proverbs.113.2.2. Differences of conceptual metaphors of animals in Chinese and English proverbs.123.3. A Summary194. Conclusion.20References.VIIVIII第 页 1. Introduction Metaphor is seen as a rhetorical method in traditional metaphor research. As time goes by, metaphor becomes a cognitive mechanism. Metaphor is the tool that we use to think and experience the external world.The animal proverbs are the most vivid collection of language, which are frequently used in daily life, but we seldom consider the animal proverbs as metaphor. In fact, under the frame of conceptual metaphor, the source domain of animal proverbs is animal and the target domain is human or concerned human action. People use the similarities between man and animals to express their motions. This research contrastively analyzes the some animal of animal proverbs both in English and Chinese and tries to find the similarities and differences. The animal image can help us have cognition of the nature and features of human being in English and Chinese. The authors draw the conclusion: (1) The Conceptual Metaphor has universality and it is applicable to the contrastive research of Chinese and English animal proverbs; (2)For the same natural property, animal source domain in both English and Chinese proverbs has the similar understanding. But the target domain of Chinese proverbs cannot correspond to that in English; (3)Differences and similarities are brought by different cognition mode, cultural values and so on.1.1. Purpose, significance and methodology of this thesis 1.1.1. Purpose and significanceThe purpose of this study is to prove conceptual metaphor theory allows the development of human understanding of the proverbs to a deeper level. More important in the study of proverbs, conceptual metaphors can become a new research point of view, to help us understand a proverb to produce the effect. This topic is based on the following considerations: first, the proverbs are cultural accumulation and circulation. What it reflects is by no means obvious literal meaning, so users of the native language is perceived to have a difficulty in understanding. The difficulty of conceptual metaphor theory can help us tap the latent meaning of proverbs in, thus this Institute Value is in doubt. Second, the study of proverbs there are many, but most is from the culture, language. Semantic research and teaching perspective, people paid little attention to the level of conceptual metaphors and, therefore, the research must contribute to enrich the study of proverbs.1.1.2. Methodology(1). Contrast methodology This article main utilization contrast methodology, through contrast, in order to discover the differences, similarities and the reasons of the concept metaphor in the Chinese-English animal proverbs. All the important conclusions of this article are based on comparison of proverbs instance, and, most of the corpus of this article come from the corpus of commercial Press book Dictionary of proverbs and, therefore, the conclusion has a certain persuasive power.2. Conceptual Metaphor 2.1. The traditional theory of metaphor Traditionally, metaphor is viewed as a linguistic phenomenon. Lakoff and Johnson summarize the main ideas of the traditional theory of metaphor as follows:1. Metaphor is a matter of words, not thought. Metaphor occurs when a word is applied not to what it normally designates, but to something else.2. Metaphorical language is not part of ordinary conventional language. Instead, it is novel and typically arises in poetry, rhetorical attempts at persuasion, and scientific discovery.3. Metaphorical language is deviant. In metaphor, words are not used in their proper senses.4. Conventional metaphorical expressions in ordinary everyday language are “dead metaphors,” that is, expressions that once were metaphorical, but have become frozen into literal expressions.5. Metaphors express similarities. That is, there are preexisting similarities between what words normally designate and what they designate when they are used metaphorically. (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999: 119) Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourisha matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language and as a matter of words rather than thought or action (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 3). The classical view of metaphor had been taken for granted over centuries until it was challenged in the late 1960s, a time when cognitive metaphor research began to flourish and the contemporary theory of metaphor came into being.2.2. The contemporary theory of metaphor The contemporary theory of metaphor can be summed up as follows: 1. Metaphor is the main mechanism through which we comprehend abstract concepts and perform abstract reasoning. 2. Much subject matter, from the most mundane to the most abstruse scientific theories, can only be comprehended via metaphor. 3. Metaphor is fundamentally conceptual, not linguistic, in nature. 4. Metaphorical language is a surface manifestation of conceptual metaphor. 5. Metaphor allows us to understand a relatively abstract or inherently unstructured subject matter in terms of a more concrete, or at least a more highly structured subject matter. (Lakoff, 1993: 202-251) The contemporary theory of metaphor that metaphor is primarily conceptual, conventional, and part of the ordinary system of thought and language can be traced back to Michael Reddy (see Reddy, 1979). Whereas Lakoff and Johnsons book Metaphors We Live By (1980) is widely acknowledged as a significant landmark in the cognitive approach to the study of conceptual metaphor. It is in this book that Lakoff and Johnson initiate the key concept “conceptual metaphor” (or short for “metaphor”)and persuasively claim, “We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 3). In a word, human beingsconceptual system is structured and defined via metaphor.2.3.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 & Johnson, 1980:3). In the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain. Examples of this include when we talk and think about life in terms of journey, about arguments in terms of war, about love also in terms of journey, about theories in terms of buildings, about ideas in terms of food, about social organizations in terms of plants, and many others. A convenient shorthand way of capturing this view of metaphor is the following: CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (A) IS CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (B), which is what is called conceptual metaphor. (Zltn Kvecses,2002:4) As stated above, a conceptual metaphor can literally be modeled in the form of “A is B”. In practical applications, conceptual metaphor can be varied in many different metaphorical linguistic expressions. The following are some classic examples from Lakoff and Johnsons Metaphors We Live By.(1) Conceptual metaphor: AN ARGUMENT IS A WAR.Some related metaphorical linguistic expressions(see italics):1) Your claims are indefensible.2) He attacked every weak point in my argument.3) His criticisms were right on target.4) He shot down all of my arguments.(2) Conceptual metaphor: LOVE IS A JOURNEY.Some related metaphorical linguistic expressions(see italics):1) We are at a crossroads.2) Our marriage is on the rocks.3) I dont think this relationship is going anywhere.4) This relationship is a dead-end street.(3) Conceptual metaphor: THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS.Some related metaphorical linguistic expressions(see italics):1) Is that the foundation of your theory?2) The theory needs more support.3) We need to construct a strong argument for that.4) So far we have put together only the framework of the theory.(4) Conceptual metaphor: IDEAS ARE FOOD.Some related metaphorical linguistic expressions(see italics):1) There are too many facts here for me to digest them all.2) I just cant swallow that claim.3) Let me stew over that for a while.4) Thats food for thought.(Zltn Kvecses,2002:5-6) Although I only listed four metaphorical linguistic expressions for each of the four conceptual metaphors above, we can state the nature of the relationship between the conceptual metaphors and the metaphorical linguistic expressions in the following way: the linguistic expressions are manifestations of the conceptual metaphors, and they make the conceptual metaphors explicit. To put the same thing differently, it is the metaphorical linguistic expressions that reveal the existence of the conceptual metaphors; after being rearranged, most metaphorical expressions can be returned to the form of “A is B”.2.4. 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 & Turner, 1989:136), its necessary to make clear some related terminologies like image schema, source domain, target domain and mapping, which will be dealt with in the following section.2.4.1. Image schema Image schema has ever been discussed by Lakoff (1987), Johnson (1987), Lakoff and Turner (1989). Lakoff and Johnson argued that metaphors are based on some certain image schemas, which are derived from the external world and stored in fixed structures in the mind of human being. Image schemas are some imaginable clear structure or framework that have been created, developed, highly conceptualized and then conventionalized in minds of human beings. They are powerful tools and shortcuts for people to cognize their mysterious outer world or themselves. When to think or act, people employ similar image schemas to comprehend the abstract matters like life, love, theory, ideas, social organizations and so on. According to Lakoff (1987), image schema can be summarized as structural schema and special schema, the former includes Container Schema, Path Schema, Part-Whole Schema, Link Schema, Forces Schema and Balance Schema, and the latter involves Up-Down Schema, Front-Back Schema, Part-Whole Schema, Center-Periphery Schema, Starting-Path-Ending Schema, and so on.2.4.2. Domain According to Zltn Kvecses, CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (A) IS CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN(B) (Zltn Kvecses,2002:4) is the structure of conceptual metaphor. Domain is an essential terminology concerning the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. In a conceptual metaphor, there are two domains, one of which is named source domain (concept B), and the other is target domain (concept A). According to important generalization that emerged from conceptual metaphors, people tend to employ a more concrete or physical concept as the source domain, and a more abstract concept as the target. The source domain is usually simple and familiar to us, and used as an aid to understand the target domain, which is invisible, elusive, complex, and unfamiliar to us. In the conceptual metaphor Life is a journey, life is the target domain, and a journey is the source domain. Life is inclusive and abstract, which actually can be comprehended as a career or a span of time by people. Seen from the angle of a specific career, life can be understood by a soldier as to fight, by a teacher as to teach, or by a farmer as to cultivate and so on. Seen from a span of time, life can refer to a long time when we mention the whole lifetime of a person, and it also can refer to a very short period when we mean the blossom of