A Contrastive Study Of Textual Metaphors Between Chinese And English Novels

Metaphor study has a long history,but its large-scale applied research has occurred in cognitive linguistics,especially after the birth of cognitive semantics.At present,the main extension of the applied study of metaphor is from vocabulary,through syntax to text,mainly including lexical metaphor,cognitive construction grammar,and textual metaphor.Compared with the former two,textual metaphor research is less and not very full.Textual metaphor refers to the situation in which the whole text is mapped to the target domain.In fact,there are quite a few literary works which use metaphor to organize the structure and the plot of the works.The novel is one of the most representative genre of literary works and artistic expressions,so it is very representative and typical of the metaphorical use in this respect.The present thesis will adopt a combined model of the Cognitive Metaphor Theory(especially Conceptual Metaphor Theory),the constructive function of metaphor,and the relationship between metaphor and culture as the theoretical framework,with the two novels A Dream in Red Mansions and Gone with the Wind as research objects,to deeply study the metaphors embodied in the two novels.The study aims to discuss how metaphor as a key way to organize the structure and plot of the whole novel,and what are the similarities and individual differences of metaphor used in the two novels,as well as the cultural implications they reflect.The innovation of the thesis is to study textual metaphor from literary works,to conduct a more detailed study of metaphor from the perspective of cross-culture,and to specifically summarize the cultural implications of Chinese and Western cultures mapped in metaphors in the two novels.The thesis attempts to answer the following questions:1.How does the textual metaphor organize the structure and plot of the two studied English and Chinese novels?2.What are the similarities and differences of textual metaphor used in the two studied English and Chinese novels?3.What cultural implications does the textual metaphor in the two studied Chinese and English novels reflect?The thesis will take A Dream in Red Mansions and Gone with the Wind as the corpus,using the metaphors of the two novels,especially conceptual metaphors,as the research objects,to make quantitative studies of the metaphors appearing in the two novels,as well as a detailed analysis of the similarities and differences of metaphors appearing in the two novels.Through the study,we find that both the two novels use the conceptual metaphor of LIFE IS A JOURNEY to organize the text structure,promote the development of the plot and reveal the theme of the novel.At the same time,the use of metaphors in the two novels has individual differences.The use of metaphors in A Dream in Red Mansions has an implicit meaning of certainty and destiny,while the use of metaphors in Gone with the Wind has an implicit meaning of uncertainty and instability.The thesis then analyses and summarizes the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures from a cross-cultural perspective,revealing that different nationalities have the same life experience,the use of metaphor has similarities,and the use of metaphor has differences due to the different ways of thinking and values.Then it further explores the cultural implications reflected by metaphors.Based on the above research and demonstration,the paper provides support and supplement for textual metaphor in literary works,and has certain reference value.