A Cultural Cogntive Study Of "Loong" In Chinese Idioms

“Loong”,an image of collecting different characteristics of diverse animals,is the cultural totem of Chinese nation,containing the belief system of national unity and playing a great important role in Chinese culture and cognition,and its significance is reflected in our mysterious language.In Chinese,the expressions of “loong” with a plenty of metaphorical meanings are quite rich in quantity and meaning,which demonstrates that the expressions of “loong” are closely related to Chinese culture and cognition.Therefore,to explore the linguistic expressions of “loong” is conducive to the comprehension of cultural cognitve factors behind Chinese,and has enlightenment for groping for the complicated relationship of language,culture and cognition.In fact,a plenty of scholars have already made researches of “loong” from different perspectives,such as those studies of the meanings of the character itself,the cultural explanation and cognitive interpretation of its meanings respectively,and so on,which all did not regard the three parts--language,culture,and cognition as an integrated whole.Thus,the theoretical and analytical framework of Cultural Linguistics makes a new breakthrough for this study.In view of these,the study,at the beginning,makes a categorization of metaphorical meanings of “loong” in Chinese idioms based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory put forward by Lakoff and Johnson,and then gives a cultural cognitive interpretation of these meanings on the basis of the theoretical and analytical framework in Cultural Linguistics proposed by Farzad Sharifian.We make efforts trying to deal with following two research questions:(1)What are the metaphorical meanings of “loong” in Chinese idioms based on conceptual metaphor theory?(2)What are the cultural cognitive bases for the metaphorical meaning of “loong” in Chinese idioms? Alternatively,how did cultural cognitive factors influence the metaphorical meaning of “loong” in Chinese idioms? The major findings as follows:Firstly,the metaphorical meanings of “loong” in Chinese idioms can be divided into three types according to different target domains,namely,“HUMAN BENING”,“CONCRETE ENTITY”,and “ABSTRACT ENTITY”.In terms of the collected data,the conceptual metaphor “HUMAN BENING IS LOONG” is the most systematic and plentiful one and people employ the appearance,spiritual outlook,voice,talent,personality trait,authority,power and success of “loong” to describe the corresponding characteristics of human being.In addition,the second type “CONCRETE ENTITY IS LOONG” entails five sub-types,which are “PRECIOUS FOOD IS LOONG”,“EXQUISITE ARTICLE IS LOONG”,“ELEGANT PAINTING IS LOONG”,“GORGEOUS CALLIGRAPHY IS LOONG” and “GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION IS LOONG”.In addition,the last type “ABSTRACT ENTITY IS LOONG” contains“SUCCESS IS LOONG”,“EXAMINATION IS LOONG”,“TIME IS LOONG”,“WONDERFUL ASPIRATION IS LOONG”,“EVENT IS LOONG” and “SHAPE IS LOONG” six sub-types.It should be noted that some idioms actually have more than one metaphorical meaning,thus,which can be categorized into different conceptual metaphors at the same time.Secondly,based on analytical framework of Cultural Linguistics,the study makes a cultural cognitive interpretation of metaphorical meanings of “loong” in Chinese idioms from the three aspects,which are cultural categories of “loong”,cultural schemas of “loong”,and cultural metaphors of “loong”.Consequently,there are some findings.First,“loong” belongs to the cultural categories of CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS,and as the basic level,it has the features of inclusiveness and informativeness,and perceptual salience.These features can be explained by following cultural cognitve factors: the image or appearance of “loong”,the divinity of “loong”and the “loong” worship.Second,the cultural schemas of “loong” can be explored from role schemas,events schemas,and emotion schemas.The image of “loong” is closely related to our daily life.In Chinese culture,Chinese people regarding “loong”as the role of ANCIENT and GOD is deeply rooted.Accordingly,there are various kinds of cultural festival and custom events.Moreover,Chinese people often hold a positive emotion towards “loong”.The third is the worldview in cultural metaphors of“loong”.The value of “harmony and difference” and the history of “agriculturalcivilization” cultivate the Chinese people being hardworking,industrious,optimistic,brave,wise,unite and kind.These cultural cognitive factors influence the meanings of“loong” profoundly and are instantiated in metaphorical expressions of “loong” in Chinese idioms.What we have founded in this study has both theoretical and practical significance.For one thing,it enriches the cultural cognitive study of language,providing a new paradigm for exploring the relationship of language,culture,and cognition;for another the thorough analysis of “loong” in Chinese idioms has a great effect on acquaintance,inheritance,and transmission of Chinese culture in cross-cultural communication,and gives enlightenment to translation and language teaching as well.