From The Mold Due To The Perspective Of Metaphor

Memetic theory or memetics is a new theory aiming at synchronically and diachronically explaining the general relations of things and the laws of cultural transmission based on Darwin's evolutionary theory. There exists an evolutionary process in the development of metaphors, which are regarded as the rhetorical means as well as tools to get the cognitive concept of the world and bring cultural implications. Thorough examination of metaphors as the object of research, the thesis analyzes the transmission mechanism of metaphors from the memetic perspective. The effects of strong memes on the transmission of metaphors are under study, resulting in the amplification or narrowing of the word's meanings and the changes of human activities. From the memetic point of view, the transmission of metaphors presents a dynamic evolutionary process, and it's the result of the cooperation of meme and gene. Replication of the metaphorical thinking leads to the transmission of metaphors, and it can be considered as the impulse of the transmission of metaphors. Together with memetics, a survey of metaphors can provide not only a new insight into metaphor researches, but also an inspiration to reveal the relationship among language, thinking and culture.