A Comparative Study of Metaphors of Love between English and Chinese Culture英语专业毕业论文.doc

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1、A Comparative Study of Metaphors of Love between English and Chinese CultureContentsIntroduction2. Metaphor3. The sameness reflected in love metaphor in English and Chinese 3.1 The homogeneity in love conceptual metaphor-human beings the same mode of thought 3.1.1 Love is a journey3.1.2 Love is a wa

2、r3.1.3Love is a durable bond between two people.3.2 Love metaphor in love poets - the same appealing to love3.2.1 Loves philosophy3.3.2 Loves honeyed words3.2.3 Loves departure3.3 Love metaphor shown in physiological change4. The differences reflected in love metaphors in English and Chinese 4.1 The

3、 different sex concepts in love metaphors in Chinese and English 4.1.1 The different symbols for sex4.1.2 Chinese sex- implication vs. English sex -open, sexual desire 4.2 The differences caused by religious beliefs4.3 The differences caused by geography and the root of history 4.4 The different eco

4、nomy development ConclusionReferences.211. Introduction Metaphor is a common phenomenon; people use it a lot in ordinary life. Metaphor is conceptualized; it is a matter of language as well as a way of thought. Because metaphor is pervasive in our life and is based on our thought, it affects our emo

5、tions, . No matter it is in eastern countries or in western countries, love is one of human beings most fundamental and beautiful feelings. So there are many love poets and proverb. Love has become the source of poet and fiction. American poet pointed out that poets are metaphor.Metaphor is a way to

6、 probes into the world, to know the world and to express the world, and help mankind to cognize likeness and unify of nature and mankind, takingmankind from limited known realm to the infinite that hasnt been known, from the isolated points to the existent integer. Metaphor is an important tool for

7、cognition and imagery thought. The English-to-Chinese metaphor comparison can let us understand more about the cultural differences, such as the traditional customs, the concept of value, habitually thinking mode. The research on metaphor can be traced back to 2000 years, the age of Aristotle. the t

8、raditional metaphors were the regular forms of logistics, and regarded just as rhetoric . However, it has become a lot of peoples study. And some influential theories were produced, such as comparison view, incoherence view, interaction view, conceptual metaphor theory. So we can divide it two kinds

9、, one rhetoric(the traditional view) ,the other the cognition of metaphor(the modern view) In recent years, 16 passages have been written on the comparative study of the metaphor of love between English and Chinese. The following ones are their research directions: the comparative study of the metap

10、hor of feeling between English and Chinese, the comparative study of the metaphor of space, the comparative study of the metaphor of time. Feeling, especially love, is human beings most important experience. Peoples cognitive-psychology and feeling interact each other, so love metaphor has become th

11、e hot topic. In recent years, there are some scholars who have done research on love conceptual metaphor. They concentrate on the differences and the similarities between Metaphors of Love between English and Chinese Culture. Metaphor is a rather complicated matter, concerning cognitive-linguistics

12、as well as psychology. But some experts just regard it as rhetoric. Metaphor is the carrier of culture, is the mode of our thought. This paper discusses the similarities and differences between the love metaphor in English and Chinese to probe into humans mode of thinking and culture influence to lo

13、ve metaphor under the process of cognition.2. MetaphorThe word “metaphor came from Greek. “Meta” means “across” and “phor” or “pherian” means “carry”. Metaphor is not only a language phenomenon, but also a tool for people to perceptual and conceptualizes the situation around themselves. Its essence

14、is cognition, in which people use some experiences in a certain area to illustrate the others. Metaphor is human beings mode of thinking. In the thinking process, people connect the source domain and the target domain together through the imagination of the natural similarities between the two. Meta

15、phor is the product of our body, experiences, brain and mind. We often use of thought of metaphor unconsciously. (1999 6 G Lakaff & M Johnson). Seen from its structure, metaphor is the reflection of two concepts. (1999 6 G Lakaff& M Johnson).In 1980, Lakaff & M Johnson put forwards the theories of c

16、onceptual metaphor and divided it into three kinds: structural metaphors, ontological metaphors and oriented metaphors. Structural metaphor is to create anew concept through a existent one, compared the both and tried to figure out the new concept through the key words of the existent one. Ontologic

17、al metaphor offers concrete experience to help us turn abstract and obscured concept into entity. In ontological metaphor, people regard the abstract and obscured concept of thought, feeling psychology to entity. Oriented metaphors are to consult the oriented words to form a series of metaphors. Met

18、aphor is not a language expression but a reflection from one concept to another. Besides the metaphors that structure the ordinary conceptual systems of our culture, Lakaff & M Johnson turned to metaphors that are outside our conventional conceptual systems, metaphors that are imaginative and creati

19、ve. Such metaphors are capable of giving us a new understanding of our experiences. Thus they can give us new meaning to our past, to our daily activity, and to what we know and believe. Lakaff & M Johnson gave us a example LOVE coherent. But new metaphors make sense of our experience in the same wa

20、y conventional metaphors do. Entailments of LOVE IS A COLLABORATION WORK OF ART arise from our beliefs about, and experience of.Many experts at home and oversea have done a lot of analysis and research on love using the theories of conceptual metaphor. In 1986, Kovecses concluded the conceptual syst

21、ems of love metaphor through neurons analyses. in Metaphor of Anger, Pride and Love, and put forward prototype theoretical analysis and doing research on human beings cordial emotion. Domestics scholar ZhangHui (2001)thought that there were many differences and similarities between the love metaphor

22、 in English and Chinese , such as“爱情是整体。爱情是战争”。Peoples thought has the mutual regulars, which have been shown in language. Human beings cognitive process is from concrete to abstract, from a known area to a unknown areas. So metaphor and thought are closely related. The word “love” has rich informat

23、ion. 3. The sameness reflected in love metaphor in English and Chinese 3.1 The homogeneity in love conceptual metaphor-human beings the same mode of thought Love has rich symbolic meanings. Without metaphors, the abstracted concept of love is hard to be fully illustrated. There are surprising simila

24、rities in love metaphor in Chinese and English. And these metaphors come from the same source domain. Cognitive linguists (Lakoff & M Johnson, 1980; Johnson, 1987; Lakaff &Turner, 1989) thought that almost all the metaphors are conceptual metaphor. This is to reflect one cognitive domain or conceptu

25、al domain structure to another. In this way, people reflect the known experience to the unfamiliar ones. We gain a new experience based on our former similar experience. The following metaphors are the conceptual metaphors. 3.1.1 Love is a journey The conceptual metaphor has some entailments, such a

26、s the following(1)It is been a long , bump road(爱情是一条曲折漫长的道路)用括号。下面的都这样。(2)We cant turn back any more./我们在也回不过去了.(3)We are at the crossroad./我们在十字路口.The conceptual metaphors are also reflected in love poems. For example, in LOVE AT SEA:“We are in loves land today,Our way lies where God know.Our seam

27、en are fledging loves.”The following one is a Chinese love poem, from Li Shangyin: 逢山此去无多路， 青鸟殷勤为探？All the metaphors shown above come from the same conceptual metaphor. The conceptual metaphor is that love is a journey. As we know, a journey is not always smooth. A journey may be bump. But we and？ o

28、vercome all the difficulties with our struggling. If two people work together, they will conquer everything. A journey may be a crossing. It needs our serious consideration. In that case, the lovers should think over it carefully or we need other things to help us to get out of difficulties. In the

29、love metaphors in the above poems, “love” is “seaman” or “青鸟” to help the lovers to get to their destination. So in all these love metaphors, “love” is the target domain, and “journey” is the source domain.3.1.2 Love is a warIn the conceptual metaphor, “love” is the target domain and “war” is the so

30、urce domain. The conceptual metaphor has some entailments, which are also metaphorical. For example:(1)He is known for his many rapid conquests.(2)She is fought for him, but his mistress won out .(3)He fled from her advances(4)She pursued him relentlessly.(5)He won her hand in marriage. He over powe

31、r her.(6)He made an ally of her mother.In Chinese, there are also some conceptual metaphors for love. “大学生向她进攻,求爱”, “爱情战胜一切”. These Chinese metaphors are the entailments of the conceptual metaphor, which is that love is a war. In the ancient time or the modern time, even in the future, love is the e

32、ssential feeling in human beings life. Without it, peoples life is just like a dead well. So usually in that case, love is snobbish. The nature of love is the same with “war”. That is barbaric and cold. So the conceptual metaphor shows peoples mutual nature3.1.3Love is a durable bond between two peo

33、ple.In the poem of A March, the author likened the relationship between himself and his lover to the relationship between the rose and green leaf. That shows the love between him and his girl, because the stem of the rose combines the rose followers and leave together. Love is embodied in the bond o

34、f punt-pole and oar. The bong is very hard to be separated. That is the exact mutual nature for the lovers in.3.2Love metaphor in love poets - the same appealing to love3.2.1 Loves philosophyIn Robert Herricks one poem, To The Virgins, To Much of Time: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is s

35、till a flying: And this time: flower those smiles today Tomorrow will be dying;”The author likened the lover to rose and told us that we should set high value on time and catch the opportunity to gain your lovers heart. If not , you will get nothing with the time flying away , because your lover may

36、 alter her mind or she will have grown old. It has the same connotation as that in the Chinese poem:“劝君莫惜尽缕衣,劝君须惜少年时.有花堪折直须折,莫待无花空折枝.”Both of the poems contain the metaphors that almost have the same meanings. We should set out to chaste our lovers as soon as possible and make our lovers stay with u

37、s. If not, our lovers will wither like a flower, and we will feel regretted.3.3.2 Loves honeyed wordsIn Robert Burns one of famous poem-A Red, Red, Rose:“Tilla the seas gang dry, my dear,And the rocks melt wi the sun;And I will love you still, my stear,While the sandso life shall run.”In the poem, t

38、he author used the way of symbols. The concrete rocks, sea, land, sun and sandso were symbolized as loyal and constant love. In 西楼曲:“海枯石烂两鸳鸯，只合双飞便双飞。” In Wang Shi Pus 西厢记：“这天高地厚情，直到海枯石烂日”。 We can see that no matter it is in the western countries or in the eastern countries, the lovers swearing to ea

39、ch other is surprisingly similar. It shows to us that human beings are after the most beautiful and permanent love.3.2.3 Loves departureLove is beautiful. But loves departure may cause sadness or missing to the lovers. What does loves departure mean here? It doesnt mean breaking up. It mean though b

40、odies are separated for a short time, the lovers love each other deeply, or spiritually for ever. John Donne is one of the most English outstanding Metaphysical poet. In his famous poem - A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning: “ Moving of th earth brings harmes and feares, Men reckon what it did and me

41、ant , But trepidation of the sphere, Though greater farre , is innocent Our two souls therefore, which are one Though I must gve endure not yet A breach, but an expansion Like gold to ayery thinness beat”The author likened the damage from the earthquake to the separation of the commonplace love. Tho

42、ugh the departure of him and his wife was bitter, the love between them was not damaged at all, because their souls are one. Until here, it seems it is the end. But the author uses another metaphor: “ If they be two, they are two so, As stiffe twin compasses are two, Thy soul the fixed foot, makes n

43、o show, To move, but doth ,if the other doe . And though it in the center sits, Yet when the other far doth rome, It leaves, and hearbens after it , And grows erect, as that comes home.”The author likened the movement of compasses to the departure of lovers. If two people love each other deeply, a t

44、ransient departure for their bodies , one will move around the other as the compasses move. Their souls are one and their love is faitful and constant. They will have a good ending.In one of Chinese poems-Qin Guans 鹊桥仙： “ 纤云弄巧， 飞星传痕， 银汉迢迢暗度。”Here in the poem, the meteors in the sky shuttle forth and

45、 back between the herd-boy star and the weaving-girl star to transmit the missing for them. Magpies fly there early and build up a bridge over the Milky Way. So the lovers also have waited for a year can meet each other.3.3Love metaphor shown in physiological changeIt is an important way to construc

46、t the mutual love concept by the way of describing human beings physiological change. For example:1)Temperature I felt hot all over when I saw her. / 牵着情人的手,一股暖流涌上心头.2) Heart rate changeHis heart was throbbing with love一看到心中的她,他的心就开始狂跳了3) BlushThere was a glow of love in her face.你的一封情书,看到我的脸红心儿跳.Al

47、normalarityHe was blinded by love.我被她的美迷得神魂颠倒.Human beings the same physiological characteristic and similar experiences make the same love metaphors in English and Chinese. The cognition and the expression of love that are based on physiological phenomena show the languages general characteristic.4

48、. The differences reflected in love metaphors in English and Chinese Though many the same love conceptual metaphors appear in English and Chinese, the they own their respective cultures. Different kinds of cultures bear different kind modes of thought, which cause different love metaphors4.1 The different sex concepts in love metaphors in Chinese and English 4.1 .1 the different symbols for sex1)ArseIn western countries in ancient time,