Comparative Study Of English And Chinese Body-part Idioms Based On Conceptual Metonymy

Idioms are pervasive in language,a form that has been studied from the perspective of traditional approach and compositional approach before.And now cognitive linguists view the idioms at the conceptual level beyond the scope of a matter of language.According to Lakoff and Johnsen(2003)'s proposal that metaphor and metonymy is not only a rhetorical device,but also a conceptual mechanism which can be explained by "Idealized Cognitive Model(ICM)",it provides a brand-new method to analyze the metaphors and metonymies in the idioms.This thesis adopts the angle of cognitive linguistics to study the metonymy involved in the nine body-part idioms that are proved to be of high frequency.The method employed in the study is built upon the Radden and Kovecses(1990)'s definition of conceptual metonymy and the systematic classification of metonymy mechanisms under the framework of Lakoff s ICM.The first step is to elicit nine body-parts idioms(422 entries and 337 entire in English and Chinese in totality)from authoritative dictionaries as main sources including Oxford Dictionary of Idioms,A Comprehensive Chinese and English Idioms with English and Chinese Translation and A Chinese and English Dictionary of Idioms and then to identify idioms involving metonymy(187 entries and 153 entries in English and Chinese)on the basis of reexamination of two groups of native speakers of English and Chinese.Following that,every entry is studied thoroughly from motivation for idioms based on conceptual metonymy and a comparison is made between English and Chinese idioms.Lastly,the similarities and differences reflected in the motivation for English and Chinese idioms are analyzed on the basis of cognitive and communicative principles.Through the analysis of differences and similarities in the light of Langacker(1993)'s theory that communicative and cognitive principles govern the selection of vehicles and targets,some findings can be obtained:1)Body-part idioms involving metonymy makes up a large proportion of body-part idiomatic expressions both in English and Chinese,with around 44.3%and 45.4%respectively,which serves as evidence that conceptual metonymy is a pervasive phenomenon in language worth studying;2)As to the body-part idioms,the metonymies PART FOR WHOLE,CONTAINER FOR CONTENS and INSTRUMENT FOR ACTIVITY exist in both English and Chinese idiomatic expressions but the study of conceptual meanings leads to the conclusion that there is no single source of motivation and that a combination of conventional knowledge,metonymic mechanisms and contexts can be resorted as a way to interpret the meaning of an idiom;3)Cognitive and communicative principles apply to the body-part metonymic idioms in general but some subcategories under the framework of cognitive principles play a relatively more important role in the interpretation of metonymic concepts.With regard to the communicative principle,clarity principle provides an explanation for the contradictions in metonymic motivations while relevance principle proposes a suggestion to take the culture into consideration in the interpretation of idioms.The thesis has implications both in theory and in application.The comparative study has provided some findings to reinforce the theory of conceptual metonymy and proved the reliability of it.Practically,the study proposes a suggestion that "metonymic competence"equally important as grammatical and communicative ones,should also be emphasized by Second Language Teaching.