| Synaesthetic metaphor is a favored subject in the field of linguistics.Researchers study synaesthetic metaphors in light of nero-psychology,rhetoric and semantics.With the development of cognitive linguistics,synaesthetic metaphors is not only considered as a pattern of language but also a pattern of our thought and action.Synaesthetic metaphors are mainly used in artistic style,like poetry and prose(Peng,2005).However,few studies pay attention to laws and meaning construction of synaesthetic metaphors in poetry,and contribution of synaesthetic metaphors to poetic beauty.Li Ho,a very outstanding Chinese poet in Mid Tang dynasty,is known as“poem ghost”.His poems abound in the use of synaesthetic metaphors(Zhang,2009,p.243),which provides a possibility for the data collection of this thesis.Embodied cognitive theory(Lakoff & Johnson,1999)is philosophical basis of cognitive linguistics,and conceptual blending theory(Fauconnier,1997;Fauconnier& Turner,2002)is of explanatory power for innovative thinking of man and formation of new concept.This thesis aims to answer the following questions in light of embodied cognitive theory and conceptual blending theory:(1)What are the general transfer tendency,predominant source and predominant target of synaesthetic metaphors in Li Ho's poems? Do Ullmann's hypotheses of the cognitive universals of synaesthetic metaphors apply for synaesthetic metaphors in Li Ho's poems?(2)How is synaesthetic metaphor in Li Ho's poems constructed?(3)How is poetic beauty in Li Ho's poems embodied by synaesthetic metaphor ?This thesis takes complete poems of Li Ho as linguistic data.151 synaesthetic metaphors in total are collected.Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are employed in the present research.Findings are as follows:(1)The general trend of synaesthetic transfer in Li Ho's poems is from lower sensation to higher sensation;predominant source domain of synaesthetic transfer in Li Ho's poems is touch;predominant target domain of synaesthetic transfer in Li Ho's poems is vision.Ulllmann's hypothesis of the cognitive universals of synaesthetic transfers apply for synaesthetic metaphors in Li Ho's poems except predominant target.(2)Meaningconstruction of synaesthetic metaphors is blending network of synaesthetic metaphor by activating multiple spaces.(3)Through highlighting poet's will and creating novel beauty,synaesthetic metaphor embodies poetic beauty of Li Ho's poems i.e.“beauty is not self-beauty”.This thesis makes a contribution to cognitive studies of synaesthetic metaphors in Li Ho's poems.It not only deepens the understanding of synaesthetic metaphors in Li Ho's poems to a certain extent,but also enriches the application scope of embodied cognitive theory and conceptual blending theory. |
PDF Full Text Request