Face In The Mind:a Survey Of Face Metonymies And Metaphors In The Chinese And English Cultures

A key notion in the Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that human mind is essentially embodied. Given the fact that people of all cultures are endowed with similar——if not the same—physiological features, they must share similar bodily experiences that motivate the emergence of similar metaphors. On the other hand, as social beings, people’s thinking is inevitably shaped by their individual cultural settings, which gives rise to metaphors distinctive to their own cultures. Following these tenets, this thesis explores the productivity of different face metaphors in relation to cultural factors.The diachronic study on different senses of "mian"(face) in this thesis indicates that the semantic extension is motivated by such metonymies and metaphors as FACE FOR PERSON, FACE FOR FEELING, SIDE OF OBJECT IS FACE and SURFACE OF OBJECT IS FACE. These metonymies and metaphors are grounded directly on bodily experiences, and therefore highly productive in both Chinese and English. Additionally, the widening of meaning of "mian" is a gradual process, in which metonymies are transitional links between metaphorical mappings from one domain to another.Results of the synchronic study on the abstract concepts of POLITENESS, CONSCIENCE, SHAME, PRIDE, VANITY and PRESTIGE show that there is a set of complex face metaphors highly productive in Chinese. Each of these metaphors is motivated by several basic metaphors and metonymies that are directly grounded on bodily experiences. Although the basic metaphors are universal, in the formation of complex metaphors, Chinese culture as a filter selects the handy basic metaphors and metonymies to elaborate the unique understanding of abstract concepts in Chinese. And this explains the poverty of these complex face metaphors in English.As concluded, bodily experiences are fundamental in motivating the emergence of basic face metaphors and metonymies. These metonymies and metaphors tend to be less culture-specific and therefore more productive in both languages. Highly abstract concepts such as PRESTIGE are based on complex metaphors which are motivated by the blending of basic face metaphors and metonymies. Because different cultures select different underlying metaphors and metonymies to highlight their cultural uniqueness, a complex face metaphor may be highly productive in one culture but less elaborated in others.