A Cognitive Semantic Study Of Personification Metaphors In Aesop's Fables

Traditionally,metaphors as a kind of language phenomenon are analyzed as a form of language rhetoric and an embellishment of language.In recent years,due to the rise and development of cognitive linguistics,people have begun to make deep cognitive studies of metaphors.Like other metaphors,personification metaphors also contain embodied cognition and thinking features,waiting for thorough and systematic explorations from different angles.However,traditional explanations of personification metaphors from the rhetorical perspective fail to reveal the cognitive insights into such kind of language phenomenon.This thesis,therefore,attempts to conduct a more systematic and scientific research on personification metaphors in Aesop s Fables within the framework of cognitive semantics,in particular,Conceptual Metaphor Theory.With 217 animal stories selected from Aesop's Fables published by Tsing Hua University Press as the data of observation,this thesis first explores the features that display personification metaphors,ranging from the fox to the seagull,so as to reveal the cognitive foundations and tendencies.In the meantime,the major linguistic characteristics of those personification metaphors mainly involving nouns,verbs,pronouns,adjectives and adverbs are thoroughly explored.Their different frequencies in Aesop's Fables are calculated to further reveal the usage basis of embodied cognition for these personification metaphors.While verbs in these personification metaphors,with the highest frequency,explain the conceptual mapping features from human beings to animals,the pronouns with the lowest frequency of usage indicate both the linguistic features of limited English pronouns and the tendency or nature of embodied cognition in which animals are recognized as humans themselves.Furthermore,the thesis,while carrying out a comprehensive investigation into meaning-construction process and cognitive mechanism of these personification metaphors in Aesop's Fables,holds that ANIMALS ARE HUMANS functions as a major conceptual mapping mechanism.In a nutshell,the similarities between human and animals serve as the cognitive basis or motivation of personification metaphors in Aesop s Fables,in which such major characteristics of human beings as actions,manners,and emotions and so on are transferred or mapped to the animals.Personification metaphors in Aesop's Fables not only make the stories more vivid and interesting,but also contribute to the comprehension and psychological acceptance of the stories among the readers.In conclusion,personification metaphor is an effective cognitive tool for both meaning construction and meaning understanding.The analysis of personification metaphors in Aesop's Fables from the perspective of cognitive semantics,especially Conceptual Metaphor Theory can not only reveal the conceptual mapping mechanism that governs meaning construction and understanding of these figurative languages but also shed some light on the studies of other literature works.