A Corpus-based Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In The Economic Reports In China And America On The Belt And Road

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson firstly raised the conceptual metaphor theory in Metaphors We Live By in 1980 s.Metaphor is considered not only as a linguistic phenomenon,but also a cognitive way whose working mechanism is the mapping between the target domains and source domains.Conceptual metaphors are extremely widely used in economic discourses.However,there are few scholars who carry systematic and comprehensive comparative studies in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road from the perspective of conceptual metaphor.Therefore,the thesis aims to investigate the conceptual metaphors in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road Initiative by addressing the following research questions:1.What are the key semantic domains in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road respectively?2.What source domains are used to conceptualize the key semantic domains in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road respectively? What are the similarities and differences of their source domains in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road? If any?3.What conceptual metaphors are frequently used in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road? And what are the similarities and the differences in the use of conceptual metaphors in the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road? If any? And what factors cause these similarities and differences?The present study is based on two small self-built corpora--Chinese Belt and Road(CBR)and American Belt and Road(ABR).Both consist of the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road,and the statistics are taken from the period of May 1,2017 to June 30,2017.There are 83,832 words in CBR and 68,027 words in ABR.Economic reports in CBR are sampled from China Daily and Global Times,while texts in ABR are sampled from New York Times,Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.The thesis is based on the conceptual metaphor theory(CMT)of Lakoff and Johnson(1980/2003),and Wmatrix(3.0)(Rayson,2011)is used to identify semantic domains,and MIPVU is applied to identify linguistic metaphors.The following findings and results are drawn:1.In the economic reports in China on the Belt and Road,there are six semantic domains closely related to the economy in the top ten key semantic domains.They are “Business: Generally”,“Business: Selling”,“Money and Pay”,“Helping”,“Size: big”,and “Industry”.In the economic reports in America on the Belt and Road,there are three semantic domains closely related to the economy in the top ten key semantic domains.They are “Business: Generally”,“Business: Selling”,“Money and Pay”.The three shared semantic domains are “Business: Generally”,“Business: Selling” and “Money and Pay”.2.In the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road,the shared source domains used to conceptualize the key semantic domains are THE BODY & THE INDIVIDUAL;ARTS & CRAFTS;EMOTIONAL ACTIONS,STATES & PROCESSES;FOOD & FARMING;ARCHITECTURE,BUILDINGS,HOUSES & THE HOME;MONEY & COMMERCE;ENTERTAINMENT,SPORTS & GAMES;LIFE & LIVING THINGS;MOVEMENT,LOCATION,TRAVEL & TRANSPORT;NUMBERS & MEASUREMENT;SUBSTANCES,MATERIALS,OBJECTS & EQUIPMENT;LINGUISTIC ACTIONS,STATES & PROCESSES;SOCIAL ACTIONS,STATES & PROCESSES;TIME;THE WORLD & OUR ENVIRONMENT;PSYCHOLOGICAL ACTIONS,STATES & PROCESSES.The source domain that is specific to the economic reports in China on the Belt and Road is SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.And the GOVT.& THE PUBLIC DOMAIN source domain is only found in the economic reports in America on the Belt and Road.3.Based on the analysis of source domains,statistical analysis is conducted to identify the types of conceptual metaphors in both corpora.Ten conceptual metaphors are shared by both corpora.They are ECONOMY IS LIVING ORGANISM metaphor,ECONOMY IS MACHINE metaphor,ECONOMY IS COOPERATION metaphor,ECONOMY IS COMPETITION metaphor,ECONOMY IS BUILDING metaphor,ECONOMY IS OBJECT metaphor,ECONOMY IS ART metaphor,ECONOMY IS FOOD metaphor,ECONOMY IS A NATURAL PHYSICAL THING metaphor,and ECONOMY IS JOURNEY metaphor.Specifically,ECONOMY IS TECHNOLOGY metaphor is specific to CBR,and ECONOMY IS GOVERNMENT metaphor only exists in ABR.The similarities and differences of the types of conceptual metaphors are in correspondence with the shared domains of CBR and ABR and specific domains of each corpus respectively.Besides,ECONOMY IS LIVING ORGANISM metaphor,ECONOMY IS MACHINE metaphor,ECONOMY IS COOPERATION metaphor,and ECONOMY IS COMPETITION metaphor are the top four shared conceptual metaphors that occupy most in two corpora.4.In the economic reports in China and America on the Belt and Road,four main shared conceptual metaphors are constructed.ECONOMY IS LIVING ORGANISM metaphor,ECONOMY IS MACHINE metaphor,ECONOMY IS COOPERATION metaphor,and ECONOMY IS COMPETITION metaphor are analyzed in the three overlapped key semantic domains.Besides,the number of conceptual metaphors in the economic reports in China on the Belt and Road is more than that in the economic reports in America on the Belt and Road.5.The economic reports in China on the Belt and Road reflect that the Belt and Road is actively advocated in China and is thought highly of the great role it plays.The Belt and Road as a whole can help promote the economic prosperity of the countries along the Belt and Road and regional economic cooperation,strengthen exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations,and promote world peace and development.It is a great undertaking that will benefit people around the world.Besides,Chinese are optimistic about the prospects of economic development under the Belt and Road Initiative.However,there is no a clear and explicit attitude towards the prospects of economic development under the Belt and Road Initiative in the economic reports in America on the Belt and Road.The study broadens the academic research perspective of the “Belt and Road”,and enriches the application researches on the economic discourse analysis.This research helps people understand abstract concepts in the economic reports on the “Belt and Road”,and cultivates people’s conceptual metaphorical thinking.It also helps to grasp the differences of reports in China and America,and may better help China to improve the national image through reports.