A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Conceptual Metaphor Of Light

Since 1970's, there has been a growing interest in metaphor not only in linguistics, but also in some other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology and sociology. A contemporary theory, Lakoff Conceptual Metaphor theory, views metaphor not merely as a matter of language but of thinking and cognition. Metaphor is defined as a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system. Metaphorical expressions in language are the surface realizations of such a mapping. This thesis makes use of the Conceptual Metaphor theory to analyze the metaphorical extensions of the conceptual domain of light in both English and Chinese languages. 212 expressions in English and 131 expressions in Chinese are collected. They are classified into eight categories and therefore eight major conceptual metaphors of light are discovered. It is found out through the research that there are a large number of metaphorical expressions with light serving as the source conceptual domain in both Chinese and English languages. A number of abstract concepts such as publicity, intelligence, hope and happiness are metaphorically understood in terms of light through mappings across conceptual domains. Moreover, people in Chinese and English cultures share a similar system of cross-domain metaphorical mappings. It is suggested that metaphors of light are motivated by human physiological and psychological responses to light. And the similarity is a result of the general cognition and conceptualization of light based on the pervasive bodily experience.