A Comparative Cognitive Analysis Of Metaphors In English And Chinese Animal Terms

With the birth and development of cognitive linguistics in recent years, more and more attention has been paid to how language operates in people's mind. It has been found that people's conceptual system, which functions in the progress of human cognition, is metaphorical. It is the impetus of language development and mechanism of language formation. Many philosophers, linguists and psychologists have demonstrated that metaphor is a basic cognitive instrument and is pervasive not only in language but also in our thought and action, while in English teaching, metaphor is treated only as a rhetorical device and rarely touched on for the purpose of appreciation or completely ignored. Based on contemporary metaphor theories and the close relationship between animal metaphors and culture, animal metaphors and second language acquisition, this thesis is meant to prove that the development of metaphorical competence can enhance language and culture learning. And some metaphorical learning strategies are put forward for the final purpose of promoting English language learning.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.Lakoff & Johnson's Conceptual Metaphorical Theory has opened a new era for metaphor study. Ever since Conceptual Metaphorical Theory, 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.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.