Conceptual Metaphors Of "Jin" In Chinese Idioms

Metaphor,which has been very popular in linguistic studies,is ubiquitous in life.From cognitive perspective,metaphor is not only a rhetorical device but also a thinking model and basic tool of human beings to understand the world.Chinese idioms are the quintessence of Chinese language,the treasure rooted in Chinese culture,and also the generalization of Chinese thinking,which contain numerous metaphorical expressions.“Jin” serves as one of the most fundamental elements in nature,which has carried the Chinese culture for thousands of years.Therefore,metaphors of “Jin” are very common in Chinese idioms.However,the previous researches have not given a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms.Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory in Cognitive Linguistics,this thesis carries out a research by the linguistic data collected from both Chinese Idiom Dictionary and The Great Chinese Dictionary(http://www.hydcd.com/)with the aims of analyzing,generalizing,and studying the categories,the experiential bases,and the cognitive functions of metaphor revealed by conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms.This thesis will try to answer the following questions:(1)What are the major categories of conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms?(2)What are the experiential bases of conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms?(3)What cognitive functions of metaphor are revealed by conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms?After identifying,classifying and analyzing the collected linguistic data,it has been found that(1)there are six major categories of conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms,namely VALUABLE OBJECTS ARE JIN,GOOD OBJECTS/PHENOMENA ARE JIN,HUMAN BEINGS ARE JIN,HIGH SOCIAL STATUS IS JIN,WEALTH IS JIN,and STANDARD IS JIN.(2)The experiential bases of the major conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms contain two aspects: the bodily experiential basis and the cultural experiential basis.The bodily experiential basis mainly refers to people's interaction with the physical properties of “Jin”,including hardness,color,melting point and quantity.The cultural experiential basis comprises Chinese metal currency culture,ancient Chinese metallurgy culture,Chinese feudal monarchy and ancient official seal system.(3)the conceptual metaphors of “Jin” in Chinese idioms explored in this study reflect the cognitive functions of metaphor—facilitating the understanding of abstract concepts,generating new knowledge and creating new perspective to view things.Significances of this study can be summarized into four points.Firstly,“Jin” serves as a model in this study for some most fundamental concepts in Chinese culture.Therefore,this thesis will be a supplement to the study of metaphor in Chinese,providing reference for researches on similar linguistic phenomena.Secondly,this thesis will help foreign learners of Chinese language better understand idioms including “Jin” character and improve their competence to avoid cultural shocks effectively.Thirdly,this thesis will help translators eliminate the misunderstandings of “Jin” in Chinese-English translation.Finally,this thesis will help people comprehend the relations among Chinese people's thinking model,Chinese language,and Chinese culture.