A Study Of Plant Metaphors In Li Qingzhao’s Ci

Conceptual metaphor theory was first proposed in Metaphors We Live By written by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980. Different from the former theories, conceptual metaphor theory studies metaphor from a cognitive perspective. According to conceptual metaphor theory, metaphor is more than a linguistic phenomenon, but a cognitive phenomenon based on our physical experiences and a cognitive tool to help us construct the world. Through conceptual metaphor, one thing is understood and experienced in terms of another by mapping from the source domain to the target domain. Plant metaphors, as a kind of conceptual metaphor, offer people a new way to better understand the world. At the same time, the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson provides people a scientific method to correctly understand and use plant metaphors.This thesis makes a cognitive analysis of plant metaphors in Li Qingzhao’s Ci which amounts to 60 pieces within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory and tries to find a systematic criterion to classify these plant metaphors and explain their working mechanism based on the similarities between the source domain and the target domain. Furthermore, special attention is paid to the metaphorical expressions and their actual realizations in Li Qingzhao’s CiThe study shows that plants in Li Qingzhao’s Ci mainly take the role of source domain, so all the subjects in this thesis are plant metaphors with plants as the source domain. And in terms of different target domain, the plant metaphors in Li Qingzhao’s Ci can be classified into two broad groups, human as the target domain and non-human things as the target domain. The human target domain can be further classified into three categories:physical appearance, character and morality, and psychological condition. The generations of metaphors are rooted in the similarities between the source domain and the target domain and are influenced by the other factors, like people’s ways of perceiving the world, knowledge level and personalities and characters. Two different concepts from different fields are associated and compared, and then some characteristics of source domain are found and mapped onto the characteristics of target domain, so the meaning of metaphor, to a large extent, depends on the characteristics of the source domain. In order to reflect the life experience of the poetess, Li Qingzhao employs different plant metaphors in different context, which, to some degree, help people better understand her Ci.The author hopes that, for one thing, this study will enrich the cognitive theory on plant metaphor, and support the cognitive view that metaphor is pervasive in life; for another thing, this study could offer a new perspective to understand and appreciate Li Qingzhao’s Ci, which also could enrich and supplement the study of plant metaphor in Li Qingzhao’s Ci.