A Cognitive Study Of Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia, traditionally a term of rhetoric, refers to the mixing of sensations in which terms relating to one kind sense-impression are used to describe sense-impression of other kinds. Originally, synaesthesia is a term used in the field of rhetoric and the former researches study it as a rhetorical method. Fauconnier's Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) provides a new way for the research of figures of speech. Some scholars study synaesthesia from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and have obtained great achievements. Even though, theses researches are not systematic and profound.This paper is a study of synaesthesia from the perspective of cognition. It probes into the dynamic meaning construction process of synaesthesia within the framework of Conceptual Blending Theory. According to Conceptual Blending Theory proposed by Fauconnier, construction of meaning is a dynamic conceptual blending process, in which the input mental spaces are perceptual. Elements or structures in input spaceⅠand input spaceⅡare selectively projected onto the blended space, which has its own emergent structure. Then, through composition, completion and elaboration, the blended space develops its own emergent content which is different from that of the inputs, thus producing new meanings.Through the study of synaesthesia, we find out that synaesthesia is a subject of thinking as well as a subject of language just as metaphor. More importantly it is a cognitive tool for human beings to understand the surrounding world and form conceptions. Synaesthesia has its own objective psychological and physiological basis. Synaesthesia is based on human bodily experience and achieved by psychological associations. The understanding and application of synaesthesia has a close relationship to human beings'culture. The application of synaesthesia is popular in social life. Therefore, the study of synaesthesia from the perspective of cognition has not only theoretical significance, but also important social significance.