A Comparative Study Of Chinese And English Metaphorical Representation Of Time

Metaphor is not only a rhetoric way but a way for thinking and cognition. The metaphorical representation formed by the projection or mapping of concepts from familiar and concrete semantic domains onto abstract and intangible time concept is even more basic and essential way of time thinking and time cognition. Thus the study of the metaphorical representation of time is theoretically very important for revealing the nature of time thinking as well as thinking in other domains and for understanding the process of time cognition as well as the cognition process of other concepts. Since the first time when J.A.Michon, a Dutch psychologist, put forward the notion of metaphorical representation of time in 1990, there have been very few researches especially devoted to the systematic exploration of metaphorical representation of time.This thesis falls into five parts: In chapter one, the historical development of metaphor study will be reviewed after discussing the definition of metaphor. In general, metaphor is viewed as a deviant rhetoric way by traditional linguists and as a cognitive and thinking mode by modern cognitive linguists. In the second chapter, the feature, Lakoffs classification of metaphor, and the university and variation of metaphor will be unfolded. The following chapter focuses on special study on time metaphor. Firstly historical development of measuring and defining time will be reviewed. Then the main two approaches to express time will be analyzed and studied through illustrations. Through conducting a survey among 150 undergraduate students, majoring in English, Chinese and philosophy, several structural dimensions of metaphorical representation of time will be explored. Lastly, four typical dimensions will be further examined in detail. In the fourth chapter, Chinese and English Metaphorical representation of time will be compared to find out their similarities as well as some differences. Related explanations for the existence of differences will be discussed. And further more, the implication of the study on lexicology, translation and FLT will be briefly talked about. In the last chapter, general conclusions about the study, as well as the significances and limitations of the research will be illustrated.Metaphor is pervasive, and human language is filled with various metaphors, thus study on metaphor is significant. Trough special study on time metaphor, this thesis proposes twelve structural dimensions underlying Chinese and English time metaphors. In addition, several typical metaphorical dimensions are further illustrated with examples in Chinese and English. The result of this thesis is vital for revealing and proving modern metaphor theories. It will also be helpful for understanding the process of time cognition and thinking. The special study on metaphor will provide a new angle for general metaphor study as well as systematic research. This study shed new light on understanding the relation between metaphor and culture, as well as metaphor and thought, which will be significant for understanding the process of human cognition.