Interpretation Of Transferred Epithet By Means Of Conceptual Integration Theory

Transferred epithet is one of the figures of speech frequently used in our expression. A better understanding of this seemingly illogical modification is undoubtedly of great benefit for common readers. Most of the traditional study of this rhetoric device focused on its aesthetic function. Unfortunately they failed to scientifically illustrate the concrete cognitive process of its meaning construction.In this dissertation, the conceptual integration theory advanced by Fauconnier and Turner is applied to the interpretation of transferred epithet. The purpose is to test the adequacy and descriptive power of the blending framework, and this study is also expected to come up with new insights to widen the wealth of data that is necessary to verify the generality of conceptual integration.Based on its definition and characteristics, ten English transferred epithets were chosen as data of this cognitive study. Mappings across cognitive domains play central role in language and thought. All blending depends upon cross-space mapping. Mapping between domains and blending are at the heart of meaning construction. Conceptual integration must follow five optimality principles, under whose constraints we can build up four types conceptual integration whose classification is based on the projection of organizing frame. After careful study I find that, on one hand, the meaning construction in transferred epithet involves four types of mapping. They are analogical mapping, metaphorical mapping, metonymical mapping and mapping with the phrase as one input. On the other hand, the analysis of the four types of integration networks in the ten transferred epithets, that is, single-framing networks, frame networks, one-sided networks and two-sided networks, to some degree, revealed the production, transference and process of meaning in transferred epithet. At last, it's worth noticing that context and the writer's intention are very essential in the understanding and interpretation of transferred epithet.