A Cognitive Approach To The Study Of Animal Words And Their Meaning

Animals play an important role in the life of human beings. So do animal words in language. We choose animal words as our object and hold that there exists a conceptual metaphor HUMAN IS ANIMAL With this viewpoint we apply Lakoff & Johnson's Conceptual Metaphorical Theory (CMT) to studying animal words and their meaning.Animal words can be categorized into three levels: basic-level category, superordinate category and subordinate category. The basic level is the most direct and basic level at which human beings get to know about the world and a powerful cognitive instrument to conceptualize the world. Animal words at this level are applied in conceptual metaphors most frequently.This thesis divides meaning into two types: conceptual meaning and cultural meaning. Conceptual meaning of animal words is the primary and integral part of meaning network, and constructed on the cognitive framework and experience. Cultural meaning of animal words is constructed on conceptual meaning through metaphor.CMT has opened a new era for metaphor study. Ever since CMT, metaphor has been seen as pervasive in our thought, action and language, and an important cognitive instrument, by which human beings perceive, categorize and conceptualize the world. Animals, with their rich categorical attributes and delicate relationship with human beings, are widely and constantly used as a source domain in metaphors. There exists a conceptual metaphor HUMAN IS ANIMAL. The attributes of animals are mapped onto those of human beings. Animal metaphor is rife in our thought and language and become conventional.By frequent use, these metaphors are lexicalized and many animal words are loaded with cultural meanings.One of the most important functions of metaphor is that it is the mechanism, motivation and channel for meaning construction. By frequent use in conceptual metaphor, many animal words get a second conventional meaning and find its way in the dictionary or other media.The polysemy of animal words results from the various categorical attributes of animals and the adequate mapping from the domain of animals onto that of human beings. Therefore, in addition to their conceptual meaning, animal words can denote physical appearance, behaviors and actions, characteristic quality, group, school or phenomenon of human beings. This has brought about the lexicalization and construction of cultural meaning of animal words.The difference in cultural meaning of animal words in different languages results from the influence of people's experience, social practices and culture, as conceptual metaphor is under strong impact of cultural models. Careful research and interpretation of culture will do well to the interpretation and application of conceptual metaphor. The study of animal words from the angle of cognition may help to deepen our research in language and at the same time guide our language teaching and study.