A Prototype-Based Study Of Preferential Interpretation Of Metaphorical Mapping

Prototype theory is the study of features of category members. It states that prototype, as an abstract mental representation, most stands for key attributes and features of members in a given category. The prototype is either the typical representative of a category, namely, prototypical members with key attributes and main features of the category, or an abstract schematic representation, namely, the centralized tendency of all attributes of the category instead of specific prototypical members. Prototype theory also suggests that boundaries of categories have the characteristics of fuzziness, the statuses of category members own inequality, and categories have the levels such as the basic level category, the superordinate level category as well as the subordinate level category.Conceptual metaphor put forward by Lakoff and Johnson in1980is a cognitive construal of understanding and experiencing one kind of thing or concept in terms of another thing or concept. Its working mechanism is viewed as the mapping from source domain to target domain, in other words, a relatively abstract or strange conceptual domain (target domain) is characterized by a relatively concrete or familiar conceptual domain (source domain).The working mechanism of Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor well reveals the essence of metaphorical mapping. However, as to the phenomenon of preferential interpretation (some attributes in source domain are preferentially mapped onto target domain) in the process of cross-domain mapping, the working mechanism can not further make a relatively specific and detailed explanation. Consequently, in order to further reveal cognitive construal rules of metaphor, this thesis, based on some researchers’ previous study fruits and the working mechanism of Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor, applies prototype theory to exploring the phenomenon of preferential interpretation of metaphorical mapping.In the thesis, target domain and source domain are treated as two independent and different categories, namely, target domain category and source domain category. The metaphorical mapping is viewed as the mapping from source domain category to target domain category, that is, source domain category attributes are mapped onto target domain category. Such a study indicates the preferential interpretation of conceptual metaphor is closely connected with the prototypical features of source domain category attributes, fuzziness of source domain category boundary and graded statuses and inequality of source domain category attributes. Moreover, the phenomenon of preferential interpretation prevalently exists in human beings’ cognitive thought. In addition, the preferential interpretation is associated with the five factors:individual cognitive capacities, nature of reality, convention, context as well as cultural background. As to individual cognitive capacities, because people have a different comprehension of prototypical attributes in source domain category, the preferential interpretation will be distinct; regarding nature of reality, some experiences in target domain category leads themselves more readily to construal by a attribute or some attributes in source domain category, which results in the preferential interpretation; as for convention, some attributes in source domain category are conventionally considered as prototypical attributes, which gives rise to their preferential mappings; with regards to context, because some specific context can highlight some attributes in source domain category, these attributes will be preferentially mapped onto target domain category; finally concerning cultural background, as every country has different history, geographical conditions, religious belief, habits and customs as well as mode of thinking, people have a distinct comprehension of prototypical attributes in source domain category, which leads to different preferential interpretation.The thesis is also a further understanding of working mechanism of Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor. Meanwhile it also further ponders over the working mechanism of conceptual metaphor. Therefore, it contributes a lot to further probing into metaphorical mapping in terms of categorization.