A Study Of Novel Metaphors In Advanced English Based On Conceptual Blending Theory

Advanced English is a compulsory course for senior students of English majors which can cultivate the comprehensive English language skills of English major students.For advanced English learners,fully understanding the textual connotation in Advanced English texts is conducive to improve their English language ability.However,the large number of metaphorical expressions in Advanced English texts especially those innovative and expressive novel metaphors make obstacles to understand the texts to some extent.In order to help English majors better understand the novel metaphors,it is important to analyze the meaning construction process of novel metaphors.To fully and effectively explain the meaning construction of novel metaphors,Conceptual Blending Theory(CBT)as a dynamic on-line language processing mechanism is of great help.In this study,the textbooks of the third edition of Advanced English edited by Zhang Hanxi and Wang Lili that was published in 2017 were used as the corpus.In accordance with the various types in the textbooks of Advanced English,30 texts will be categorized into four general types,namely description,narration,exposition and argumentation.In addition,since narrative texts are relatively large in number,in order to ensure the adequacy of the interpretation of novel metaphors in the texts of Advanced English,narrative texts are further divided into four sub-types: novel,essay,feature story and biography.Then,using the upgraded metaphor identification procedure MIPVU extracts the novel metaphors in each text.This thesis further selects one text respectively from seven discourse types and analyzes the novel metaphors with the framework of four mental spaces structure of CBT.On the one hand,this thesis hopes to help English learners better identify and understand novel metaphors,deeply understand the text and the author’s intention,and grasp the textual thinking mode and cultural background knowledge.On the other hand,this thesis hopes to further explore the functions of novel metaphors in different types of discourse.The major findings of this study are as follows: firstly,in Advanced English,the on-line meaning construction ability of CBT is extremely strong in the interpretation of novel metaphors and is applicable to the analysis of novel metaphors.Secondly,novel metaphors in Advanced English can promote the theme and realize different functions of different genres.Moreover,novel metaphors can promote cohesion and coherence of texts.Finally,the analysis of this thesis has the following implications for the teaching and learning of Advanced English: 1)popularize the basic knowledge of the theories of metaphors to advanced English majors;2)encourage students to consciously use CBT to analyze the metaphorical construction process in the text;3)expand the cultural background knowledge of English majors and emphasize the role of context;4)stimulate students’ subjective initiative in the teaching process and encourage them to actively produce metaphorical expressions.