A Cognitive Perspective On Metaphor And Its Implication For College English Teaching

The present thesis attempts to explore from a cognitive perspective. It also presents some analyses and discussion as to its implications for college English teaching.First, a general survey of the classical views on metaphor study is made, indicating their weaknesses and limitation. Along with the rising of cognitive linguistics, metaphor is no longer taken as a mere rhetoric device, but a matter of thought. Meanwhile, some studies on understanding meaning emerged. From then on, the literal and metaphorical meaning distinction from a new angle has come to replace the traditional false assumption. Second, the thesis discusses the meaning understanding from a cognitive perspective. In recent years metaphorization in language has attracted more and more attention so that metaphor studies from a cognitive perspective becomes the focus of linguists and language researchers. Third, a tentative study is made of metaphor from a cognitive perspective. The cognitive function of metaphor enables us to conceptualize our experience and to perceive the world from a totally new standpoint. Finally, the implication is examined of the present study on metaphor for college English teaching.In fact, in spite of its deficiencies, a cognitive study on metaphor proves to have considerable advances over the previous studies. What is more important, it has exhibited more valuable and significant implications for improving our college English teaching as well.