Metaphor And Metaphorical Competence

Metaphor has been studied for more than two thousand years. The representative theories are as follows: the Comparison Theory, the Substitution Theory, the Interaction Theory, and the Cognitive Theory. The representatives of the Comparison Theory and the Substitution Theory are respectively Aristotle and Quintillion, both of whom restricted their study of metaphor to the field of rhetorics. The Interaction Theory was first put forward by Richards and later developed by Black. Although it touched metaphor study in a somewhat cognitive way, it was limited on the level of language. The cognitive study of metaphor that has been carried out for more than two decades is gaining in recognition. The Cognitive Theory is represented by Lakoff and Johnson, who historically proposed the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, which in width and depth broke through the limitations of traditional metaphor theories. Gardner and Winner defined metaphorical competence as "the capacity to paraphrase a metaphor, to explain the rationale for the metaphor's effectiveness, to produce a metaphor appropriate to a given context, to evaluate the appropriateness of several metaphoric expressions" (Gardner & Winner, 1979:126-127). But their study was confined to the development of children's metaphorical comprehension capacity and their renaming ability, not involved in its pragmatic dimension or the relationship between metaphorical competence and foreign languageteaching.Based on various metaphor theories, this dissertation explores the classification of metaphor, its cognitive functions, cognitive cultural differences of metaphor between English and Chinese and two major characteristics of metaphor, which lays solid theoretic foundations for the analysis of metaphorical competence and the relationship between metaphorical competence and English teaching and learning. In addition, this dissertation furthers its systemic study on metaphorical competence in various aspects, analyses linguistic and non-linguistic factors affecting metaphoric comprehension, and makes a deep exploration into the development of metaphor production, its acquisition and the ability to use metaphors appropriately. On the basis of the former studies combined with my own teaching experience, implication on English teaching and learning has naturally come by. On the one hand, the improvement of metaphorical competence will enable students to improve their English learning capacity, especially their vocabulary learning ability, conceptually fluency and cross-cultural communication competence. Therefore, it helps students decide what learning strategies to be utilized in learning English. On the other hand, teachers should focus on increasing students metaphor awareness and intercultural communication awareness and using appropriate teaching strategies to guide their teaching practice.Chapter One briefly introduces the findings, the current situation and the trend of studies on metaphor and metaphorical competence.Chapter Two surveys the four theories on metaphor research. They are the Comparison Theory, the Substitution Theory, the Interaction Theory, and the Cognitive Theory.Chapter Three analyses the classification of conceptual metaphor, its cognitive functions, cognitive cultural differences of metaphor between English and Chinese and two major characteristics of metaphor.Chapter Four deals with metaphorical competence. It analyses linguistic and non-linguistic factors affecting metaphoric comprehension, and makes a deep exploration into the development of metaphor production, its acquisition and the ability to use metaphors appropriately.Chapter Five discusses the relationship between metaphorical competence and foreign language teaching. It examines the relationship between metaphoricalcompetence and vocabulary acquisition (including polysemies, phrasal verbs and idioms), between metaphorical competence and cross-cultural communication, between metaphorical competence and English systemic study, and between metaphorical compete...