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Metaphorical Study Of Xin In Chinese Philosophical Discourse

Posted on:2009-12-27Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J HeFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360242992776Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Metaphor is not only a particular rhetoric device, but also a way of thinking --- metaphorical concept system. As the basis of human cognition, thought, experience, language and behavior, metaphor is a fundamental way for human being to live by. (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) As a basic cognitive structure, metaphor allows us to comprehend a relatively abstract concept by virtue of a more concrete concept. The metaphorical pattern refers to a proposition or an image scheme which is formed by mapping a certain concrete domain onto the corresponding structure of another complex abstract domain. It is used for the generalization, understanding and inference of the abstract things. The metaphorical cognitive structure of human beings is a foundation of language and culture, and is in turn influenced by the language and culture.The human thought derives from the biological body of human being, and the bodily experience and the natural condition of surroundings, on the basis of which the experiential structure of the human basic image schema is formed, namely the source domain. By virtue of the metaphorical pattern, the concrete basic concept is mapped onto the target domain which is more abstract concepts. Xin, as the important organ of human body, without doubt is the object which attracts the most attention of human beings.This thesis intends to apply the metaphor theory in the cognitive linguistics to analyzing xin metaphors in the philosophical discourse, aiming to find out the features of xin metaphor in Chinese philosophical discourse and explore the syntactic and semantic traits, the types, ways and the function system of xin metaphor in Chinese philosophical discourse, and tries to discover the characters in its cognitive strategies and ways of encoding. The target is to grasp the construction rules of Chinese xin metaphor accurately and disclose the function of metaphor in human cognition in order to deal with the surrounding more successfully.This thesis consists of four chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction briefly reviews the status quo of studies on metaphor, and points out the cognitive law that man cognizes things from the near to the far, from entity to non-entity, from the simple to the complex, from the concrete to the abstract determines the basic role of human body in cognizing the world. So, as an important part of human body, xin metaphor is in nature a main cognitive method of human beings and people often form metaphorical concepts of xin by means of their familiar body part---xin, so as to know about, experience and feel about the metaphorical concepts of other domains. Then it makes a brief review of the study on xin and xin metaphor in Chinese language and philosophical discourse and points out that xin is one of the most basic categories in Chinese traditional philosophy and a master line through the Chinese philosophy, whichever school of Chinese philosophy carries on no discussion with straying from the subject related to this category, and the significance and organization of this thesis.Chapter One provides a general statement of the theoretical framework of this thesis, in which metaphorical mechanism, metaphorical mapping, conceptual metaphor, and image schema are introduced. This chapter paves the way for the study of xin metaphor in Chinese philosophical discourse from the cognitive point of view.Chapter Two firstly introduces the definition of philosophical discourse which derives from and differs from daily discourse with the features of generality, rationality and logicality, and then analyzes the role of xin metaphor in Chinese philosophical discourse as well as its mechanism and cognitive features. The cognition linguistics stresses that the meaning does not come from the correspondence with the external objective world, but originates from human's bodily experience and social experience. And the metaphorical cognition of xin with the social experience mainly manifests in the productive labor, the daily life and social life.Based on theories presented in Chapter One, the following three chapters approach xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse from three aspects: metaphorical mapping, conceptual metaphors and image schemata.In Chapter Three, metaphorical mapping theory is applied to analyzing xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse.The general idea of metaphorical mapping is that, in order to talk and think about some domains (target domains) we use the structure of other domains (source domains) and the corresponding vocabulary. The source domain is a sphere that is more concrete and consequently we get mostly familiar with, while the target domain is one that is more abstract. Therefore, according to the theory, this chapter analyzes the mapping models of xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse with examples out of Chinese philosophical texts. Although the mapping models concerning xin metaphors are different, there are some common features in terms of the mapping of xin metaphor: asymmetric; partial; based on bodily experience.Chapter Four points out that xin metaphor is also a kind of conceptual metaphor. As xin is considered as the basic part to perceiving the outside world, xin metaphors are always treated as the central part of things, the seat of mentality and emotion in Chinese philosophical discourse.Chapter Five studies xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse from the perspective of image schema. Image schema is an in dispensable part in constructing human thoughts, and a fundamental way to form new associations and new experience, whose physical bases are derived from gestalt and dynamic experience based on interaction between human body and outside world. According to image schema theory, the formation of our concepts tends to be realized by means of image schema, including container schema and part-whole schema. And all these image schemata derive from bodily experience of the human beings and thereout obtain their meaning, on the base of which, this thesis puts forward the balance schema and other human body schema of xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse. With quite a few examples, the chapter analyzes the different image schemata of xin metaphors in Chinese philosophical discourse.Finally, the thesis stresses that the analysis of xin metaphor in Chinese philosophical discourses, which derive from the daily discourses with a higher level of generality, rationality and logicality based on metaphorical mapping, conceptual metaphor and image schema, are conducive to human beings'better cognition of the outside world and dealing with the environment more successfully.
Keywords/Search Tags:xin metaphor, philosophical discourse, metaphorical mapping, conceptual metaphors, image schema
PDF Full Text Request
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