A Cognitive Comparative Study Between Chinese And English Catchwords In Recent Decade:Based On The Conceptual Metaphor Perspective

Catchwords refer to the language which is widely popular and spread in a certain period of time.Its strong popularity makes this phenomenon of vocabulary attracts much attention.Studying and analyzing catchwords can help people understand the dynamic development and the change of human societyIn the field of cognitive linguistics,metaphor is no longer just a matter of vocabulary.It refers to a way of cognitive thinking and the means of human existence.Although metaphor is abstruse,it permeates all aspects of life Language activity is one of them.As the most representative vocabulary phenomenon,the emergence,development and dissemination of catchwords are inseparable from metaphor.As a result,conceptual metaphor theory is a good breakthrough point to explore and analyse the essence and connotation of catchwordsTaking the Chinese and English catchwords released by the Oxford,Merriam-Wechsler,Collins,Global Language Monitor,National Language Resource Monitoring and Research Center of China,YAO WEN JIAO ZI magazine and some other mainstream media from the year 2008 to 2018 as the main research objects,the thesis makes a comparative analysis from the conceptual metaphor theory perspective.Through analyzing the structural metaphor,orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor in Chinese and English catchwords,the thesis aims to answer the following research questions:(1)How is conceptual metaphor theory manifested in Chinese and English catchwords respectively?(2)What are the similarities and differences of metaphorical phenomena between Chinese and English catchwords?(3)What actually causes the differences and similarities of metaphorical phenomena between Chinese and English catchwords?Research findings of the present study indicate that there are both similarities and differences in Chinese and English catchwords.The similarities are as follows:(1)Both of them contain three basic types of metaphor,including structural metaphor,orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor.Moreover,in these three typical metaphor types,they all follow a unified working mechanism,that is,the cross-domain mapping from the source domain to the target domain.(2)In terms of the expressive effect of language,to a certain extent,the existence of metaphor fills in the gaps of expressions,strengthens the intuitiveness and accuracy of the language and enhances the diversity and vividness both in Chinese and English,thereby greatly promotes the effectiveness of the interpersonal communication.(3)Metaphorical phenomena is pervasive in Chinese and English catchwords.They are all based on human life experience and closely related to their body experience.In terms of the differences,they are demonstrated as follows:(1)The proportion of the three types of metaphor in Chinese and English catchwords are totally different.Specifically,the distribution of three metaphor types in Chinese catchwords is more balanced,while the proportion of ontological metaphors in English catchwords is more abundant.(2)The metaphorical differences between Chinese and English catchwords reflect the different cognitive thinking styles of Chinese and Western people as well as the different cultural backgrounds between China and the West.