A Contrastive Study On The Spatial Metaphors And Cultural Connotation Of "Qian前/Hou后" In Chinese And English

By means of collecting and analyzing a large amount of authenticlanguage material about “qian” and “hou” in both Chinese and Englishsystematically, this thesis carries out a thorough contrastive study onthe mapping features of the spatial metaphors of “qian/hou” in theaspect of time, social status and state based on the theory of cognitivemetaphor. By comparing the similarities and differences of the spatialmetaphors of “qian/hou” in these two languages, the present studyexplores the reasons behind the differences from the culturalperspective thus provides some practical and constructive suggestions onTeaching Chinese as a Second Language, Cross-cultural communication,Chinese-English Translation and lexicography.This thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One introducesthe theoretical basis, the significance and innovative points, theresearch approaches and the sources of language materials; Chapter Twoexplores the original and spatial meanings of “qian/hou”; thefollowing three chapters, the essential part of the paper, focus on thecontrastive study on the spatial metaphors of “qian/hou” in Chineseand English in the aspect of time, social status and state respectively;Chapter Six discusses about the causes of the differences in thecultural respect and put forwards some valuable proposals; Chapter Sevendraws a conclusion and expresses the expectation for future research.