Cloud-related Conceptual Metaphors In English And Chinese And Their Comparative Analysis

Metaphor has long been considered as a rhetorical device ornamenting expressions without due attention given. As research about metaphors carries forward, researchers gradually find that metaphor constitutes one part of our cognitive mechanism, serving as a useful tool facilitating the understanding of more abstract and sophisticated concepts. With the publication of "Metaphors We Live By" co-written by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980, studies revolving around conceptual metaphors came into the limelight.This thesis, adopting a corpus-based approach covering a wide range of data collected from British National Corpus, literature review on cloud-related studies, Chinese-English dictionaries as well as authoritative translation works, aims to figure out the types of cloud-related metaphors in Chinese and English under the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphors. Also, the thesis intends to reveal the underlying cognitive operation process of conceptual metaphor when construing sophisticated concepts correlated to the image cloud. Meanwhile, this thesis attempts to carry out a cross-cultural comparative study including similarities and differences when construing the cloud-related metaphor in English and Chinese, further delving deep into the reasons behind and offering implications on the construction and construal of cloud-related conceptual metaphors.Through extensive data collection and attentive analysis, this thesis drew the following conclusions:Firstly, through careful categorization, comparison and analysis, we identified up to five aspects of cloud-related conceptual metaphors in Chinese, they are:(1) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning emotions such as NOSTALGIA IS CLOUD, DEPRESSION IS CLOUD, etc.; (2) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning large numbers such as MASSIVENESS IS CLOUD, etc.; (3) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning events, such as OMINOUS OMEN IS CLOUD, EVIL POWER IS CLOUD (4)cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning humans such as YOUNG WOMEN’S HAIR IS CLOUD; (5) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning quick mobility such as CONSTANT CHANGE IS CLOUD, THE ELAPSE OF TIME IS CLOUD, etc. In addition, we also identified four aspects of cloud-related conceptual metaphors in English, they are:(1) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning emotions such as DEPRESSION IS CLOUD, HAPPINESS IS CLOUD and CONFUSION IS CLOUD, etc.; (2) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning large numbers such as MASSIVENESS IS CLOUD;(3) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning events such as OMINOUS OMEN IS CLOUD. (4) cloud-related conceptual metaphors concerning attitudes such as SUSPICION IS CLOUD;Secondly, the construal of cloud-related conceptual metaphor is achieved following the four steps:firstly, we categorize concepts bearing internal links into a certain domain; secondly, we identify the source domain and the target domain respectively; thirdly, we identify the corresponding similarities in either domain; finally, we establish relevance and correspondence between the source domain and the target domain.Finally, both similarities and differences between the cloud-related conceptual metaphors in English and Chinese are identified via a comparative study. Generally speaking, cloud-related conceptual metaphors based on physical features are identical in Chinese and English while metaphors in terms of feature description of people, emotions and attitudes differ much. Meanwhile, there are richer cloud-related conceptual metaphors in Chinese than in English while English features in more flexible use of cloud-related conceptual metaphors like class shift. We further find that identical cognitive mechanisms and bodily experience largely contribute to the similarities while different meteorological conditions and cultural patterns are responsible for differences between Chinese-English cloud-related conceptual metaphors.