On Conceptual Fusion And Semantic Transfer In Meaning Construction Of Metaphor

Within the framework of cognitive semantics, with reference to the dominant modem interpretative theories of metaphor and in a method of combining conceptual structural analysis with semantic componential analysis, the thesis intends to probe into how meaning is arrived at in metaphor.With the influence of the objectivist view of meaning, metaphor has been regarded as a purely linguistic phenomenon for ages and people traditionally think that metaphorical meaning is based on truth condition. With the introduction of cognitive science into linguistic research and the development of cognitive semantics, more and more linguistic scholars find that metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a way of thinking which influences a good deal of how we think, reason and imagine in everyday life. A number of experiments by psychologists and linguists prove that meaning cannot be independent of the consciousness of human beings and meaning is constructed. With the prerequisites, the thesis holds that metaphor is both linguistic and conceptual and metaphorical meaning should be constructed at conceptual and semantic levels.Modem interpretative theories, like IT, CMT and CBT center on metaphorical meaning construction in their respective models by stressing the interplay of the source and the target. The thesis finds that conceptual fusion and semantic transfer embody the interplay of the source and the target at conceptual and semantic levels. Conceptual fusion emphasizes the integration of the partial structures extracted from the two conceptual domains in a metaphor while semantic transfer stresses the projection of semantic features of one lexical item onto another in a metaphor. Conceptual fusion mainly deals with conceptual structures that are organized diachronically and synchronically and are analogous to the continuous layout of perceptual world while semantictransfer mainly handles linguistic information and organizes discrete linguistic units into higher-order sequential structures. Hence, the thesis hypothesizes a model in which conceptual fusion and semantic transfer are closely rotated yet distinctive mental operations for metaphorical meaning construction at conceptual and semantic levels respectively.Based on physical and psychological similarities and on images and image schemas, conceptual fusion can be dynamic and relatively static in different kinds of metaphors. What's more, conceptual fusion varies from culture to culture, from period to period and from person to person. Motivated by semantic span between lexical items, semantic transfer can be unidirectional and bi-directional in the process of metaphorical meaning construction. By investigating the running of conceptual fusion and semantic transfer in metaphor, we find that both of them help language users shake off the bonds that language imposes on them and reorganize structure within their experience or obtain novel perspectives on already interpreted experience.