A Contrastive Study Of "Snake" Metaphors In English And Chinese From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

The study of metaphors has undergone more than two thousand years,which is a special product along with the development process of human language.It covers many aspects,including natural culture,historical background,values and so on,and occupies a decisive position in human?s life.In the traditional study,it is always regarded as a kind of figures of speech.However,since George Lakoff and Mark Johnson put forward conceptual metaphor theory in the book,Metaphor We Live By,the study of metaphor has achieved a great leap.In their opinions,metaphors are not only a language phenomenon,but also a cognitive phenomenon of human being.This thesis selects snake metaphors as a research object,for snakes are invested with mysteries,and makes an attempt to make a comparative study of snake metaphors in English and Chinese from the view of conceptual metaphor theory,as well as explores causes for the similarities and differences in both cultures.According to conceptual metaphor theory,this study divides snake metaphors collected from English and Chinese corpus into three categories,including orientational metaphors,structural metaphors and ontological metaphors,and takes snake images as clues to analyze the similarities and differences of metaphorical mappings in English and Chinese as well as their causes.Through these analyses,we can better understand the important roles of metaphors in language expression and thinking patterns so as to better understand the similarities and differences in both cultures and achieve cross-cultural communication.In addition,this thesis makes a comprehensive study on snake metaphors so as to improve and deepen people?s overall understanding on “snake” images,thus elevating the research value of this thesis.The method of comparative analysis and qualitative analysis is used in this research.From the perspective of the conceptual metaphor theory,we have also explored the similarities and differences of cultural connotations of snake metaphors in English and Chinese cultures.Additionally,it helps English learners better understand the mechanism of animal metaphors and enhances them to understand rich connotations of metaphors.