A Conceptual Metaphorical Analysis Of English Polysemous Body Terms

The study of polysemy has long been with us, be it a linguistic phenomenon or a conceptual phenomenon. The current study presumes that the phenomenon of polysemy exist at both the language level and the conceptual level. This thesis presents a conceptual metaphorical analysis of English polysemous body terms based on the case study of "eye". Cognitive semantics lays the theoretical foundation for the analysis and conceptual metaphor theory is adopted as the major analytic method. With the help of data collected from both books and online resources, our analysis of polysemous "eye" is aimed to present the working mechanism in meaning construction of polysemous body terms. In addition to classical conceptual metaphor theory, both primary metaphor theory and Langacker’s theory of domains are also adopted when necessary to deepen the analysis. It is drawn from this case study that conceptual metaphor proves to be a fundamental cognitive mechanism that contributes to the generation of conceptual phenomenon of polysemy, which is reflected at language level by linguistic polysemy. Various kinds of conceptual mappings coexist in the process of polysemy generation for body terms. The many senses of a polysemous body term are represented at the conceptual level by a semantic network in which each concept is related to the central one in one way or another, forming an entire system for the specific lexical concept.This thesis can be divided into six chapters.Chapter one begins with an introduction of the main idea of this research. The objective and methodology adopted for data analysis are briefly introduced in this part. The source of data is clarified and the originality is emphasized also in this chapter.Chapter two first provides the definition for polysemy. After a survey of several traditional research topics concerning polysemy, this part reviews different approaches to polysemy, being it a linguistic phenomenon or conceptual phenomenon. The semantic features of body terms are introduced and previous studies of body terms are reviewed, too.Chapter three presents an overall introduction of the cognitive theory of conceptual metaphor. The status of conceptual metaphor as a fundamental cognitive mechanism as well as its working mechanism is introduced. Besides that, this part also provides a common-recognized way of classifying conceptual metaphors. Finally, the development of conceptual metaphor theory is also introduced at the end of this part.Chapter four is the soul of this thesis because it presents the unique theoretical framework developed within this research. This part explains in detail why and how the theory adopted is applied to the analysis. Meanwhile, the key status of the research object "eye" is also elaborated.Chapter five presents the conceptual metaphorical analysis of the polysemous "eye". Different senses of "eye" is first differentiated and described. Then the primary sense is identified, thus providing a central meaning for metaphorical extension and sense generation. The various senses of "eye" are extended from physical characteristics and spatial relations of the organs of eyes as part of human body. And metonymy also contributes partly to the sense generation as well.Chapter six draws conclusion from the case study of "eye" and summarizes the major findings and limitations of the current study.