A Cognitive Study Of Chinese Idioms

As common phenomena of fixed expressions, idioms are important linguistic parts inChinese. In recent years, new directions of research on idioms within the framework ofcognitive linguistics have been explored.This thesis aims to examine Chinese idioms from the theoretical perspectives ofconceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and the interaction between metonymy andmetaphor. Cognitive linguistics emphasizes the bodily and experiential basis of meaningwhich states that human mind and language cannot be investigated in isolation from humanembodiment. The centrality of the human body, human-specific cognitive structure andorganization can affect the nature of human experience. Mental and linguistic categoriesare created on the basis of our concrete experiences and under the constraints imposed byour bodies. Some Chinese idioms present the interaction between human bodily experienceand language meaning. These idioms metonymically and/or metaphorically conceptualizeverbal behavior, which provide wonderful source material for linguistic studies. Bothmetonymy and metaphor give much contribution to the formation and comprehension ofidioms.The data of this study is collected from Chinese four-character idioms related toverbal behaviors. The present study adopts a source domain oriented analysis of thosewhich are related to vocal organs口、嘴、唇、舌、齿、牙(mouth, lips, tongue and teeth)and言、语(the verbal behaviors). The chosen idioms are examined under conceptualmetonymy, conceptual metaphor, and the interaction between the two conceptual processes.Conceptual metonymy of verbal behaviors is CAUSE FOR EFFECT metonymy, and majorconceptual metaphors of verbal behavior are VERBAL BEHAVIOR AS PHYSICALACTION, SPEECH AS CONTAINER, and ARGUMENT AS WAR. The interactionbetween metonymy and metaphor of verbal behavior related idioms mainly works in thepatterns of metaphor from metonymy and metonymy within metaphor. It is revealed thatmetaphoric and metonymic mappings may be interacted in the semantic extension of Chinese idioms.The findings of the present study help to confirm the thesis of bodily and experientialbasis of cognition, and to provide evidence on such cognitive mechanisms as conceptualmetonymy, metaphor, and interaction between metonymy and metaphor in explaining themeaning of idioms in language. It is also of help in the understanding of Chinese idioms.