A Contrastive Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In Chinese And American Sitcoms

With the development of globalization,economic and cultural exchanges among countries are becoming more and more frequent,and people pay more attention to the communication between different cultures.In recent years,sitcoms in both China and the United States have become more popular,and attracted much more audiences than before.Its popularity is closely related to a large number of verbal humors.Humor reflects different ethnic features and communicating techniques.Different cultural origins,linguistic structures,and thinking modes created the heterogeneity and diversity among languages,which also made it difficult for people who speak different languages to understand and communicate with each other.The expression of abstract thinking in both English and Chinese is also partially achieved through metaphor.English and Chinese conceptual metaphors are rooted in different cultures.There are also noticeable differences in English and Chinese metaphor systems.Therefore,it is of profound significance to analyze the causes of differences and similarities in metaphors between English and Chinese,and exploring how to enhance the understanding of metaphors to avoid cross-cultural communication barriers has become a worthy researched issue.Conceptual metaphor is a key concept proposed by Lakoff and Johnson.Differing from traditional metaphor theories,they think that metaphor is not merely a rhetorical figure.Conceptual metaphor considers metaphor as the cognitive way of people'sthinking,behavior and expression.Metaphor exists in all aspects of human beings' daily life and plays a crucial role in helping people to organize the concept of ideas(Lakoff,1980).According to its cognitive function,metaphor can be divided into Structural Metaphor,Orientational Metaphor and Ontological Metaphor.Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory,this paper takes the dialogues and the narrations of Home with Kids and Modern Family as the research material,compares and analyzes the dominant conceptual metaphors in both English and Chinese from a cognitive perspective.The similarities and differences in the expression of conceptual metaphors,and the causes of it are also explored.This paper attempts to answer the following three questions: 1.What are the dominant conceptual metaphors in Home with Kids and Modern Family? 2.What are the similarities and differences of conceptual metaphors between Chinese and English in the two sitcoms? 3.What are the main factors that cause these similarities and differences?The research results show that people from different social backgrounds have similarities and differences in using conceptual metaphors.Although Chinese and Americans have different cultural backgrounds and speak different languages,human body structure and perception organs are the same and the understanding of certain concepts such as space have common points.And because of the universality of human thoughts,similar structures are used when people express concepts.At the same time,there are also differences between English and Chinese conceptual metaphors due to the differences of different cultures.This paper analyzes these differences from the perspective of thinking patterns,traditional customs,and religious beliefs.