The Mapping Analysis Of Chinese And English Bodily Words

Traditional studies usually regard metaphor as a rhetoric device, while modern studies view it more cognitively than rhetorically. Our thinking is metaphorical and most of the everyday language we use is metaphorical, too. Metaphor has become an indispensable tool for us to learn about and construe the world around us. The human body is one of the major sources, from which we obtain experiences about the world. Bodily experiences tell us what the world is like. It is really worthwhile conducting researches on words of human bodily organs, which reflect, to a great extent, the culture-bound cognitive model of a particular nation. This thesis tries to carry out the studies in metaphor and metonymy of human bodily words, which would contribute greatly to our exploration of man's cognition toward nature.Despite the pervasiveness of metaphor studies, a bird's view on them has witnessed mostly a sum-up of different theories and examples from a macro perspective. Seldom have the studies in metaphor touched upon the micro process of mapping from the source domain to the target domain. Upon the assumption that the same structure and function of the human body might be mapped differently across cultures, this paper conducts a micro-comparative analysis of metaphor and metonymy of human bodily words in Chinese and English languages, attempting to show the overlapping and divergence, so as to explore the possible cognitive models and origins behind.This paper establishes itself on the theories of metaphor, image and image schema etc. and focuses on metaphor and metonymy of (1) bodily words of extremities; (2) bodily words of the sensory system; (3) bodily words of internal organs. In each category examples are provided together with corresponding analyses. Statistical analysis is to be carried out by calculating the number and percentage of the major metaphorical and metonymic meanings of each selected bodily word under each ontological characteristic of the bodily organ such as the shape, the position and the function. Thus, a quantified comparison and contrast would be made between the two languages. The data would be collected widely from the dictionary and other everyday language sources.It is assumed that the commonalities of metaphor and metonymy of human bodily words in Chinese and English would outweigh the differences since both are based on the same bodily organs. The differences, however, would be interpreted from the perspective of both Chinese and English cultures, philosophies and thinking patterns etc. The awareness of the different culture-bound cognitive models in both nations together with their manifestations in metaphorical languages are essentially beneficial to English learning and teaching, in which metaphorical competence should be parallel to linguistic competence and communicative competence in directing language learning and teaching methodology.