A Comparative Study Of Color Metaphors In English And Chinese

Color terms are omnipresent in both English and Chinese and they are rich in metaphorical uses.Hence research on color terms and metaphor can be well combined.Conceptual Metaphor Theory believes that metaphor is the systematic mapping from source domain to target domain.It is a cognitive mechanism based on bodily experience and is ubiquitous in people’s daily lives and language uses.Consequently,Conceptual Metaphor Theory can be well employed to explain the working mechanism of color metaphor.Based on an English corpus and Chinese corpus respectively,taking Conceptual Metaphor Theory as its theoretical frameworks,this thesis makes a systematic comparison of red metaphor between English and Chinese,trying to improving the study on color terms from cognitive perspective.After analyzing the linguistic data collected from the two corpora,the author finds that"Red" in both English and Chinese are rich in metaphorical uses and can be mapped onto other cognitive domains to express ideas and concepts.Meantime,there are both similarities and differences of red metaphors between English and Chinese.Although they can be mapped onto certain domains,their metaphorical meanings are quite different or even contrary.Generally speaking,red metaphors in Chinese are much richer and red metaphors in English are mostly derogatory.Taking the corpus-based approach,the thesis makes a relatively detailed comparison of red metaphors between English and Chinese and finds out the similarities and disparities between their metaphorical uses.It also summarizes and analyzes the target domains that"Red" in English and Chinese can be mapped onto and probes into reasons which can account for these differences and similarities.The study contributes to further understanding of metaphors and color terms and is also helpful in English learning and understanding of culture and society of English-speaking countries.