ThappinessMetaphoricalCognitioninEnglishandChinese

郭巧懿

Abstract：

The cognitive function of metaphor enables people to conceptualize human experience. And emotion is one of the most central and pervasive aspects of human experience. This paper is mainly concentrated on happiness metaphorical cognition in English and Chinese.

Key words： cognition； conceptual metaphor； emotion； happiness

I. Introduction

According to the cognitive approach， metaphor is not only a matter of rhetoric language but a matter of thought， a point that is fully developed and construed in George Lakoffs Conceptual Metaphor Theory. It is well acknowledged that the study of human emotions constitutes one of the essential components in our probe into human cognition. Human emotions， abstract in nature， are to a great extent conceptualized and expressed via metaphors grounded in bodily experience. Happiness， as one of the basic human emotions， its conceptions cannot be adequately studied without reference to language of it.

II. Happiness Metaphors in English

Lakoff & Johnson and Kovecses propose a major metaphor characterizing the conceptualization of happiness in English is orientational： HAPPY IS UP， which is exemplified in the following expressions：

We were in high spirits.

They are feeling up.

Humans have upright bodies and thus up generally carries a positive valuation of emotional states as well as physical states. Connotations of enjoyment and liveliness may be found in high spirits， high life， etc. A strong correlation can be found between HAPPY IS UP and the metaphor of upward orientation HAPPINESS IS BEING OFF THE GROUND. Examples of the latter：

He was flying high.

She was leaping with joy.

Furthermore， HAPPINESS IS BEING OFF THE GROUND may be partially concerned with birds， which are usually thought of as symbols of freedom， and therefore associated with happiness. Then turn to the case where the conceptualization of happiness is characterized by the metaphor HAPPY IS LIGHT/BRIGHT， for which the metaphorical linguistic expressions include：

She was shining with joy.

She has a sunny smile.

The above expressions can be considered to have been motivated by bodily experience associated with the emotion of happiness. When one becomes happy， his or her complexion and eyes become brighter. The brightness is thus an assumed expressive response observed in happiness.

Besides， HAPPINESS IS A SUBSTANCE （in most cases A FLUID） IN A CONTAINER is often adopted in the conceptualization of happiness. The conventionalized linguistic expressions realizing the metaphor include：endprint

They were full of joy.

My heart is overflowing with joy.

III. Happiness Metaphors in Chinese

Chinese seems to share the major conceptual metaphors with English. First， there are a large number of Chinese metaphorical expressions for happiness employing the orientational metaphor HAPPY IS UP. Most of these expressions are in fact so conventionalized that they may not be taken as metaphorical by native speakers. For example： 他很高興 （the literal interpretation of 高 is “high” and the original meaning of 興 is “up”）. In the opinion of Chinese， 高， the upward orientation， also denotes a positive evaluation， such as 高見， 高質(zhì)量. Since happiness is a positive emotion providing people with more vitality， it often goes hand in hand with “up”.

Next， the CONTAINER metaphor is equally applicable to English and Chinese in the conceptualization of happiness， which entails a large group of conventional expressions in Chinese. For example： 喜悅之情如泉水般流入她的心田.

The conceptual metaphor HAPPY IS LIGHT/BRIGHT also participates in the conceptualization of happiness in Chinese， which is illustrated by such examples as follows：

他滿面生輝。

她容光煥發(fā)，喜氣洋洋。

In Chinese culture， brows and eyes are regarded as significant indicators of internal feelings like喜上眉梢， 眉開眼笑. It is worth noticing here that in expressing the emotion of happiness in terms of facial expressions， although both English and Chinese highlight eyes， English focuses on the increase of brightness of eyes while Chinese also gives preference to the change in the physical shape of eyes as in他樂得眼睛瞇成一條縫.

As to the English metaphor HAPPINESS IS BEING OFF THE GROUND， it does not seem to be applicable in Chinese owing to our Chinese conventional mode of thought. Chinese adhere to the sayings， such as腳踏實(shí)地. Being off the ground is regarded as being out of self-control and is not good. It is not mapped positively onto happiness， but negatively onto complacency. For instance， 他飄飄然起來， which indicates that the person so preens himself that he has lost his senses.

In addition， there is HAPPINESS IS FLOWERS IN THE HEART in Chinese， which is， however， not applicable in English. This metaphor is manifested in Chinese by心花怒放， 心里樂開了花etc. The metaphorical concept is deeply grounded in the Chinese culture， in which flowers， especially big red flowers are traditionally regarded as symbols of happiness.

IV. Conclusion

Metaphors play an important role in the conceptualization of emotion. They are cognitive instruments that offer ways of thinking about things around us， not just semantic extensions of one isolated category to another category in a different field， but the connections and relations between categories. With the common human bodily experience， in the conceptualization of emotion， there is a considerable degree of similarity in their expressions in English and Chinese， both languages sharing the underlying conceptual metaphors.

References

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（作者單位： 沈陽理工大學(xué)， 遼寧 沈陽 110159）endprint