A Study Of Metaphors In Economic Discourses And Their Cultural Roots

Based on the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson, the statistical data of thirty discourses from The Economist and thirty discourses from China Securities Journal have been gathered, and after analysis this thesis attempts to excavate cultural roots in economic metaphor. The metaphors in economic discourses are classified into eight types, namely, spatial metaphor, war metaphor, building metaphor, human being metaphor, water metaphor, weather metaphor, animal metaphor, and dinner metaphor. Firstly, that some of the economic metaphors are produced by the perceptions of common human beings has been researched, whether the Chinese or the Westerners who have the common physical and material experiences generally. Secondly, although the metaphors appeared in economic discourses constantly, these metaphors are gradually formed in different cultural accumulations. Thirdly, some different expressions of economic metaphors are affected by different cultures, and these expressions of economic metaphors have less importance of ratio than other economic metaphors. Thus, the expressions of economic metaphors are caused by the common thinking modes between the Chinese and the Westerners. Because of the differences of cultural traditions, the expressions of economic metaphors are different to some extent.