A Study on Metaphor from Cross-cultural Perspective

錢易

Abstract：Metaphor is a common phenomenon in our daily communication and literary works. As an indispensable cognitive tool to human beings，it has engaged the attention of both eastern and western scholars for a long time. This paper tries to make a comparison between Chinese and English metaphor from cross-cultural perspective.

Key words：metaphor;comparative study;cross-cultural perspective

I. Introduction

Metaphor is a figure of speech that describes one thing in terms of another. In the cognitive linguistic view，metaphor is a powerful cognitive tool for people to understand the world. It helps to explain an abstract idea or object by constructing an analogy or making comparisons between two different things. It is used in poetry，literature，report，speech and common daily chat. Metaphor has already rooted deeply in our mind. It is pervasive in our language and in our thoughts as the understanding of concepts and ideas is directly based on our physical experiences and practices.

II. About Metaphor

1. Categories of Metaphor

So far，there has never been a unified standard for the classification of metaphor. Different scholars have their own classifications. Black suggests that metaphor be divided into three categories：extinct metaphor，dormant metaphor and active metaphor. Lakoff and Johnson classified metaphors into three main types：structural metaphors，orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors. Our Chinese scholars have made many other detailed and specific classifications.

2. Working Mechanism of Metaphor

In 1999，Lakoff and Johnson discussed and analyzed working mechanism of metaphor. To show how metaphor works，Lakoff adopts the term “domain” to represent the stable and systematic network behind a metaphor，including source domain and target domain. Source domain refers to the conceptual domain from which we draw metaphorical expressions. Target domain refers to the conceptual domain that is understood in terms of the source domain. Mapping is the bridge connecting source domain and target domain together. Contemporary scholars agree that understanding metaphors fully needs to take the following five elements into consideration：cognitive subject，tenor，vehicle，similarities and contexts. The five-in-one cognitive mechanism is a dynamic process in which all elements are correlated with each other.

III. The Relationship Between Metaphor and Culture

As one of the most abundant expressions of human language，metaphor is widely used in both English and Chinese. As early as 2500 years ago，the Chinese sage Confucius has discussed metaphor and pointed out its significance in analogy and association thinking pattern. In west，the study of metaphor is originated from Aristotle of ancient Greek.

Metaphor is a kind of mapping from source domain onto target domain. Although people from different countries have different cultures，there are some common knowledge and experience about the universal phenomenon. Thus，people in different cultural environments will have similar metaphorical expressions. For example，as busy as a bee（像蜜蜂一樣忙碌），as brave as a lion（像獅子一樣勇敢），to add flue to the flames（火上澆油），applause like thunder（掌聲如雷）. In different cultures，different source domain can be selected for the same target domain，or the same source domain can be mapped into different target domain. For example，westerners take dog as the best friend of human kind，while dog in ancient China is only used to watch the house. In English，expressions like “love me love my dog”，“every dog has its day”，“lucky dog” all have positive implications. But in Chinese，we have expressions like “狗腿子”，“走狗”，“狼心狗肺”，“狗仗人勢”，“狗嘴里吐不出象牙”，these expressions all have negative meanings. Different cultural backgrounds influence the application of conceptual metaphors.

IV. Conclusion

Metaphor is deeply rooted in our culture and society. It reflects peoples thinking pattern and their social and cultural characteristics. There are similarities and differences in the cultural connotation of metaphor between Chinese and English. Understanding these differences is a good way to promote cross-cultural communication.

References：

[1] Lakoff G & Johnson M. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago：the university of Chicago press，1980

[2] 王寅. 認知語言學. 上海：上海外語教育出版社，2007