On English And Chinese Metaphors From The Perspective Of Cultural Identity

This thesis is an attempt to investigate into the relationship between metaphor and culture from the cognitive perspective. Metaphor in traditional theories is taken only as a rhetorical device, or a figure of speech, which is only a matter of language. However, the cognitive view claims that metaphors are pervasive in language and mind, that is, they are not only a matter of language, but also a means to structure human thinking and action. Metaphor is closely related to human experiences which are a product of our interactions with the physical and cultural environments. So it is universally acknowledged that metaphor and culture are inseparatable.With the above understanding, the thesis begins to study the English and Chinese metaphors concerning eating as a source domain on the basis of linguistic evidences. It seeks to point out the similarities and differences between English eating metaphors and Chinese eating metaphors, and the causes responsible for the universality and variation from cognitive and cultural perspectives, and lastly answers the question that what eating metaphor can tell us about cultural differences. The thesis has five chapters.Chapter 1 presents an overview of traditional theories of metaphor and the cognitive view of metaphor. It lays emphasis on Lakoff s theory of conceptual metaphor, which paves the way for the following study.In chapter 2, the study expounds the relation between culture and metaphor, where culture plays a role in shaping metaphor and metaphor plays a role in constituting culture. Moreover, this section goes further to explore how metaphorical conceptualization reflects cultural models of thinking.Chapter 3 gives an analysis of the universality and cultural variation in English and Chinese metaphors, as well as the reasons responsible for them. The author attributes the university to the common human bodily experience. On the other hand, the differences of our physical environment, social and cultural context, personal history and interests bring about the variations in our metaphorization.With the theoretical frame established, chapter 4 presents a case study of English and Chinese eating metaphors, which explores the universality and cultural variation in metaphorical expressions and the reasons behind them.Chapter 5, therefore, comes to the application of this study in understanding cultural differences. Due to the different roles of eating metaphor in each culture, we can find that American people and Chinese people have different cultural values.The study reveals that metaphor and culture are closely related. There exists a cultural universality as well as cultural variations in the formation and understanding of metaphors. On the one hand, some metaphors are the same in different cultures due to common experiences. On the other hand, there exist metaphorical differences as a result of differences in the physical and cultural environments. The study of the relationship between metaphor and culture is of great importance for the teaching and learning of languages, as well as for better understanding of cultural similarities and differences.