A Cognitive Study of “Rabbit”in English Idioms

湯穎

【Abstract】This paper adopts a cognitive linguistic approach and especially draws on conceptual metaphor and metonymy theories to analyze linguistic forms concerning the concept of rabbit in English with an aim to find out what attributes of rabbit are especially emphasized in English linguistic form so as to shed some light on how people perceive the same animal differently.

【Key words】rabbit； English idioms； cognitive study

1. Introduction

Rabbit is a very common mammal known to people of almost every culture over the world. Unlike that in Chinese， there are not so many idioms concerning rabbit， and some of which cannot be simply explained by conceptual metaphor theory and metonymy theory but might be better explained by another theory in cognitive linguistics – Conceptual Blending Theory. In this paper， we will only deal with those that can be explained by the former while those that may be explained by conceptual blending theory are set aside for future study.

2. Cognitive Study of “Rabbit” in English Idioms

From Oxford Dictionary of ENGLISH SECOND EDITION and THE ENGLISH-CHINESE DICTIONARY SECOND EDITION by Lu Gusun et al， weve listed the following idioms which can be explained by conceptual metaphor theory and metonymy theory.

a. breed like rabbits

b. like rabbits in a warren

c. as mad as a March hare

d. kiss the hares foot

Idiom a is used to refer to a person who gives birth to a lot of children and often in a relatively short period. Why does English use rabbit to describe a person like this？ The reason lies in one characteristic of rabbit i.e. it breeds a lot. It is estimated that a grown female rabbit can breed up to 60 baby rabbits a year， and every month 6 – 7 can be born. Thus the similarity between the concepts gives motivation to this metaphor. A woman who gives birth to many children is a rabbit. What worth mentioning is that， traditionally， metaphor is restricted to linguistic form as A is B. Linguistic forms as A is like B or A looks like B are not said to be metaphor but simile. But according to the definition of metaphor in cognitive linguistics， in cases above， since A is understood in terms of B， it can also be classified as metaphor. In terms of idiom b， it is used to describe a situation that is crowded with people. That is because， rabbit is a gregarious species. We often see a lot of rabbits appearing at the same time. Australia， for instance， once suffered from a huge population of hares， which brought about a devastating economic and environmental loss. As a result， in the case of idiom b， the underlying mechanism is also metaphor. c is used to describe people who are mentally ill or very silly， that is because， in March， which is always the mating season for hares， the behaviors of those animals are quite strange. And as people who are mentally ill or silly also have a strange behavior， the mapping is established between the two concepts. If we say someone has kissed the hares foot we mean someone is late for something， especially a feast， which means the person arrives at the site only to find that all food has been eaten. Rabbit or hare， as just mentioned， is always the prey of carnivores， so kissing the foot a hare means failed to catch the prey. Obviously， there is a metaphor in operation here.

When applying the conceptual metaphor to analyze English idioms concerning rabbit， it is a little bit far-fetched. Adopting conceptual blending theory may prove to be a better alternative. But metaphor and metonymy is especially powerful when explaining Chinese idioms concerning rabbit.

3. Conclusion

Both English and Chinese idioms of rabbit are mainly used to describe people or concepts about peoples daily lives. As a result， we find that animal as source domain can be conceptualized on the target domain of human or more abstract concept. As our lives are very closely related to animals， they are concrete concepts to us. As a result， we can use these concrete concepts to help us understand more abstract concepts. In metaphorical use of the concept rabbit， some attributes of rabbit are mapped onto target domains whose certain attributes are thus highlighted. This is one major power of metaphor， which help us to better conceptualize the world.

The idioms of rabbit in Chinese are much more than in English. Overall， the metaphorical and metonymic use of the concept rabbit in Chinese is much more than that in English. This might because those Chinese idioms are all created in ancient times in which China was a self-sufficient agricultural country. As a result， people have more relation with animals such as rabbit. Also， as rabbit is a member of Chinese zodiacs， its status in Chinese culture is indisputable. Third， there is a very famous folklore about Chang-Ngo and Jade Rabbit which adds to the importance of rabbit in Chinese culture. On the other hand， in English culture， rabbit is not as significant as in Chinese culture. As a result， we may hypothesize that the more significant an animal is in a culture the more metaphorical or metonymic use of linguistic forms standing for that will be.

References：

[1]Gibbs，R.W.& Steen，G.J.（1999）.Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics.Amsterdam：John Benjamins.

[2]Lakoff，G.& Johnson，M.（1980）.Metaphors we live by.Chicago：University of Chicago Press.