Conceptual Metaphor And Discourse Analysis

Metaphor is pervasive in our life. It has drawn much attention from scholars both at home and abroad and has been studied from various perspectives. Metaphor had traditionally been considered an elegant rhetorical device. Since the publication of Lakoff and Johnson's work Metaphors We Live By, metaphor is no longer taken as a matter of language but a kind of thought. It is a cognitive mechanism that helps people to construct a conceptual world with its own principles.In recent years, with the development of cognitive linguistics, the focus of metaphor study has been shifted from a strictly linguistic plane to a cognitive-based stance. Cognitive linguistics has broadened the scope of metaphor study and the metaphors in it are called conceptual metaphors. Although much research on metaphor has been done at the rhetorical, lexical and syntactical levels, the study of metaphor at discourse level has been neglected by many scholars. In the past few years, more and more scholars began to pay attention to the relationship between conceptual metaphor and discourse.This thesis consists of four chapters besides the introduction and conclusion. The introduction is about the significance of conceptual metaphor and the organization of the thesis. Chapter one introduces the traditional views as well as the nature and working mechanism of metaphor. Chapter two discusses conceptual metaphor in detail. The definition, experiential basis, classification, features as well as the basic functions of conceptual metaphor are presented. Chapter three touches upon the concept of coherence and cohesion and their relationship. Chapter four is the core of the thesis. It points out that conceptual metaphors exist almost everywhere in discourse. Conceptual metaphors play an irreplaceable role in achieving the coherence of a discourse. The mapping and interactivity of cognitive features, the systematicity and extensibility of semantic features, the intentionality and negotiability of pragmatic features are favorable to discourse-organizing and discourse coherence. Besides, coherence may exist within a single conceptual metaphor or between two conceptual metaphors. The discourse functions of conceptual metaphor should not be neglected as it can make a discourse vivid, concise, objective and precise. Cohesion is an important factor of discourse analysis and conceptual metaphor in discourse can help to guarantee discourse cohesion. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis, which points out the limitations of the study and the suggestions for further study.