A Study Of Discourse Coherent Function Of Conceptual Metaphor In The Joy Luck Club

The publication of The Metaphor We Live By(1980),written by Lakoff & Johnson,symbolizes a cognitive shift in metaphor studies.The conceptual metaphor theory proposed in this book holds that metaphor is a way of cognition and thinking,the theory overturns the traditional metaphorical view which metaphor is only a rhetorical means.Conceptual metaphor has the characteristics of systematicity and coherence.Therefore,discourses which are rich in single or complex conceptual metaphors are coherent to some extent(Fan,2018).Previous studies on discourse coherence from the perspective of conceptual metaphor are limited to economic and political discourse.Few scholars have systematically studied the discourse coherent function of conceptual metaphor in literary works,especially novels(Xu,2016).In order to make up this deficiency,this thesis systematically analyze the discourse coherence function of conceptual metaphor in Amy Tan's novel----The Joy Luck Club on the basis of the conceptual metaphor theory.Combining with Van Dijk's classification method of coherence,the thesis conducts a qualitative research based on the conceptual metaphor theory.The study focus on two questions: 1.How does metaphorical systematicity and coherence contribute to the local coherence of The Joy Luck Club from the perspective of conceptual metaphor theory? 2.How does metaphorical systematicity and coherence contribute to the global coherence of The Joy Luck Club from the perspective of conceptual metaphor theory? To answer the above questions relying on corpus analysis.Firstly,the author picks up 122 conceptual metaphors with the help of Pragglejaz Group's method on metaphorical identification.Secondly,according to different target domains,the author makes a meticulous classification and divides the conceptual metaphors into 13 categories.Among them,HUMAN metaphor is superior in quantity.Finally,typical conceptual metaphors are selected from HUMAN metaphors to analyze the local and global coherence of the novel.The content of the research includes two parts.Firstly,the author discusses three types of coherence when interpreting how conceptual metaphor construct novel's local coherence based on its systematization and coherence.These three types are: 1.one single metaphor is constructed by its internal systematicity and internal entailment.2.two metaphors is constructed by external systematicity and inter-metaphorical entailment.3.complex metaphors is constructed by their overlapping purposes.Secondly,in terms of explaining how metaphor construct the novel's global coherence,the author introduces four different mother-daughter relationship to show four different forms of maternal love.Therefore,these conceptual metaphors which are seemingly scattered and unrelated construct the theme of the novel and achieve the global coherence of the novel.The study finds that conceptual metaphor not only contributes to constructing the local and global coherence of The Joy Luck Club but also helps to understand the theme of the novel.These findings confirm the function of the conceptual metaphor in achieving coherent discourse and extend the scope of conceptual metaphor in analyzing literary discourse.In addition,these findings develop a new approach to the study of the novel and inspire scholars to study Amy Tan's works from different angles.