A Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphors Of Water In English And Chinese

The study of metaphor has a long history of more than 2000 years. Traditionally,metaphor is considered as a kind of rhetoric device or the most basic figure of speech,which is commonly used for modifying or embellishing words in literary works.Nowadays, metaphor is not only a common linguistic phenomenon, but also a modeof thinking and cognition. As a condensed linguistic form, it influences humanactivities and is also affected by human activities. Being the most fundamental sourceof life, water nourishes and maintains all the living things on the earth. It is often usedby people to conceptualize the world, which also derives many metaphoricalexpressions in languages. The thesis contrasts and analyzes conceptual metaphors ofwater in English and Chinese comprehensively, under the direction of ConceptualMetaphor Theory. It probes into the similarities and differences of conceptualmetaphors of water in English and Chinese and proposes the reasons which cause thedifferences.The thesis consists of five chapters. In chapter one, the author gives a generalintroduction of the thesis, which comprises of the background of the study, thepurpose of the study and the overall structure of the thesis. In chapter two, the authorreviews metaphor studies abroad and in China. Metaphor studies abroad mainlyinclude comparison approach, substitution approach, interaction approach, pragmaticapproach and cognitive approach. Moreover, previous studies on water metaphors andtheir limitations are presented. In the third chapter, the author accounts Conceptual Metaphor theory in detail, on which the study is based, aiming at constructing thetheoretical framework for the following comparative study. The fourth chapter is theprincipal part of the whole thesis. It probes into the similarities and differences ofconceptual metaphors of water in English and Chinese. In all, the thesis abstracts andsummarizes seven universal conceptual metaphors of water, three unique conceptualmetaphors of water in English and four unique conceptual metaphors of water inChinese. From the findings, the author finds and proposes the reasons which cause thediversities of conceptual metaphors of water. The reasons are different geographicalenvironments and different cultural patterns, which include different world views anddifferent time views. Finally, the author concludes the findings and significance of thestudy and presents the limitations of the present study and gives some valuablesuggestions for further study.The thesis gives a support to the cognitive metaphor theory and demonstratesthe significance of cross-lingual and cross-cultural metaphor study. Meanwhile, thecomparative study of conceptual metaphors of water is helpful for English andChinese learners to study the semantic development of water-related words andexpressions. It also facilitates foreign language teachers with an effective way ofteaching water-related vocabulary.