A Cognitive Approach To Metaphors In English And Chinese Advertisements

Metaphor has become a heated topic in recent years not only in the linguistic field, but also in psychological, philosophical, educational, sociological and many other fields. In the linguistic field, there are various theories on metaphor, such as comparison theory, substitution theory, interaction theory, relevance theory, conceptual metaphor theory and so on. Cognitive approach to metaphor is favored by linguists in recent years because it is more systematic and convincing. Metaphors are widely used in advertisements. In modern society, advertisements aiming at informing and persuading the audience are pervasive. They play a more and more important role around the world today.Based on the conceptual metaphor theory and blending theory, this thesis studies metaphors in both English and Chinese advertisements from the perspective of cognition. The purposes of this study are: (1) to test the universality of conceptual metaphor theory and blending theory; (2) to explore the cognitive functions of metaphors in both Chinese and English advertisements; (3) to analyze the similarities and differences between metaphors in English and Chinese advertisements. This thesis analyses more than 100 English and Chinese advertisements from magazines and books by adopting a descriptive, qualitative and comparative research methodology.By applying conceptual metaphor theory, three kinds of conventional metaphors in both English and Chinese advertisements and their cognitive functions are explored. Different kinds of metaphors in advertisements have different bodily bases and cognitive functions, which are in accordance with the basic functions of advertisements. With the framework of blending theory, the cognitive interpretation of novel metaphors in both English and Chinese advertisements is demonstrated. Novel metaphors are employed by advertisers to evoke great imagination and stir potential customers'desires to purchase. This testifies the universality of these two theories in both English and Chinese. Finally, the author explores the differences and similarities of metaphors in English and Chinese advertisements with the findings that culture plays an important role in metaphorical advertisements. Due to limited resources, the research is a qualitative one, so subjectivity is unavoidable in this thesis.