| Chinese idioms are the essence of Chinese language and the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese nation.They are concise in form and profound in meaning as well as reflecting the way of thinking,values,cultural connotation,and aesthetic taste of the Chinese nation,so they have always been an important topic for scholars to study.In terms of meaning,most Chinese idioms do not just express literal meaning,but extensively use rhetorical devices to show their extended meaning.Apart from metaphor,hyperbole,as a frequently-used figure of speech in language,is also common in Chinese idioms,poems,advertisements,and literary works.However,we find that there are a few systematic studies on Chinese idioms with hyperbole,and the previous studies have not comprehensively explained them from the perspective of Embodied Cognitive Linguistics.Therefore,this thesis takes Chinese four-character idioms with hyperbole(shortened for hyperbolic idioms)as the research object,and exhaustively collects 469 pieces of items from the Chinese Idioms Dictionary(Cihai Edition)and previous studies to establish a closed corpus,which tries to expound the productive mechanism of hyperbolic idioms and the emergence of hyperbolic meaning from the perspective of Embodied Cognitive Linguistics by means of constructing the Embodiment-based Conceptual Blending Theory Model(ECBT).Meanwhile,the syntactic,semantic,and pragmatic features will also be analyzed in detail.The study shows: 1.Chinese hyperbolic idioms are formed through people’s cognitive processing based on the embodiment of the objective world.Hyperbolic idioms contain a large number of figurative images(62.90%),numerals and quantifiers(35.82%),which is the reflection of figurative thinking of Chinese nation and also reflects the embodiment of language.People are also more likely to select relevant words that express the large or small quantitative feature to blend based on their own experience and cultural background in order to form hyperbolic idioms and achieve the hyperbolic effect.2.The integration process of hyperbolic idioms cannot be finished in one-time blending,and many hyperbolic idioms require two-time blending(22.60%)and three-time blending(40.72%).3.Hyperbolic idioms have striking features in syntactic,semantic and pragmatic aspects.In terms of syntax,most hyperbolic idioms of one-time blending are subject-predicate pattern(44.19%)and modifier-head pattern(27.33%);in two-time blending,the front blending first is also in majority of subject-predicate pattern(42.62%)and modifier-head pattern(45.90%),and the back blending first is mainly subject-predicate pattern(42.22%)and verb-object pattern(26.67%);however,coordinate pattern accounts for a large proportion(85.86%)in three-time blending.As for semantics,the overwhelming majority of hyperbolic idioms(81.24%)express expanded meaning,and most of them(68.87%)show distinct commendatory and derogatory meaning.With regard to pragmatics,hyperbolic idioms can be embodied in the following aspects: strong emotional colouring,positive,figurative and vivid,striking culture,economic and so on.The significance of this study lies in:To begin with,this thesis puts forward the ECBT model from the perspective of Embodied Cognitive Linguistics and carefully explains the formation mechanism and features of hyperbolic idioms in syntactic,semantic and pragmatic aspects.Then,this study not only enriches the examples and data of Embodied Cognitive Linguistics,and provides strong support for the localization of Cognitive Linguistics,but also makes up for the Conceptual Blending Theory to a certain extent.Finally,this research on Chinese hyperbolic idioms can help us better understand these idioms,and also give some inspiration to the learning and teaching of Chinese idioms. |
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