AcontrastivestudyofmetaphorinEnglishandChinesecultures

1、Research ProposalTitle:a contrastive study of metaphor in English andChin ese cultures院別信息學(xué)院英語系學(xué)年（學(xué)期）2011-2012學(xué)年（第1學(xué)期）年級(jí)（班）2008級(jí)（2班）學(xué)生姓名學(xué)號(hào)2011 年11 月 11日a. Title of the project.A contrastive study of metaphor in English and Chinesecultures.b. Summary of the project.The scholars in western countries h

2、ave studied metaphors for a long time. There have been generally three periods since the Aristotle times: the first period is the rhetoric study of metaphors before the 1930s; the second period is the semantic study of metaphors from 1930s to 1970s; the third period is the multi-disciplinary study o

3、f metaphors after the 1970s. A metaphor is a figure of speech where comparison is implied. It is also a comparison between two unlike elements with a similar quality. But unlike a simile, this comparison is implied, not expressed with the word as or like. implied comparison. Metaphor has traditional

4、ly been construed as a linguistic phenomenon: as somethingproduced and understood by speakers of natural language. So understood, metaphors are naturally, metaphor is a figure of speech where comparison is implied.c. Purpose of the project.Metaphor originates from people livses, and plays a very imp

5、ortant role in people s lives. Metaphor is nowadays not onregarded as a figure of speech but also an important tool in culture communication. This thesis tries to explore some differences in metaphor between Chinese and Western culture, and thus helps in the promotion of the culture communication be

6、tween Chinese and Western countries.d. Literature review.Metaphor originates from people livses, and plays a very important role in people livses. Nowadays, the definitions of metaphor can be found conveniently in dictionaries. According to the Webster s New World Dictionary, metaphor is defined as:

7、 “ afigure of speech in which one thing is likened to another,different thing by beings spoken of as if it were the other; implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily use of one thing is applied to another. (”Webster s New World Dictionary, 1979:1132) Metaphor is used as a

8、 rhetorical device which makes comparison between two elements, unlike simile, this kind of comparison is implied not stated. Peter Newmark referred to metaphor as:“the transense of a physical word; the personification of abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what it does not lite

9、rally denote, i.e. to describe one thing in terms of another. ” (Newmark, 2001:104) Metaphor shows a resemblance between two similar things, which means image and object. In cognitive linguistics, it is defined as the target domain and source domain. Similarity is the basis of metaphor. For example,

10、“theeyes ” , the basis for the use of“ stars ” is the similaritythe tears in ones eyes and the flickering of light in oneBoth English and Chinese are abound in using metaphors. But different metaphors maybe understood in different cultures. That is to say, metaphor is culture-specific. We may have d

11、ifferent kinds of metaphors in Chinese and Western cultures. Metaphors we may feel confused in understanding of metaphors. Reasons for this can be attributed to the principle of metaphors: metaphor renders the truth of experience as the truth of knowledge to an established world. So problems may ari

12、se when people from China and the West communicate with each other.e. Significance of the project.The metaphor is far from a linguistic phenomenon. It is also a cognitive activity which can be understood by people through their mind blending. That is to say, metaphor boasts a conceptual nature. The

13、metaphor performs its persuasive funtion in the advertising to help advertising realize its own persuasive funtion on the public. Generally speaking, metaphor offers a vivid image of the product to be promoted so that the public can have a general knowledge of the product and they are even willing t

14、o know more about the product. As is mentioned earlier, there are various approachesto the analysis of metaphor. we can see that the cognitive approach is a relatively better choice than other approaches becausethe understanding of metaphor cant be separated from peoples mind blending. The ConceBlen

15、ding Theory offers a relatively clear explanation of the process of metaphor s function on the mind of people.Metaphor as a way to figures of speech or skills, a unique feature of grammar, which features make the sentence mo re flexible and constructive, but the United States. Wherev er and whenever

16、 people in their daily lives are often used metaphor. As Mr. Lin Zhuang said: The metaphor is no l onger expanding his knowledge and understanding of a pas sive process. To help us in the form of new knowledge, th e metaphor has played an active role so that we can better a better understanding of t

17、he objective world. In English and Chinese Metaphorical significance of the difference is due to cultural differences between East and West, that m ode of thinking, moral values and sense of difference. How ever, The best translation is to be able to accurately refle ct the true meaning of the autho

18、r, as well as its cultural a nd stylistic characteristics of the translation,the translation o f metaphor to make as much as possible the original langu age and to achieve the target language culture, and so on.f. Research questions or hypothesis.How to understand the cultures. what the difference b

19、etween the Chinese and the English cultures. How to study metaphor in different cultures. How to find the common sense of metaphor in Chinese and English cultures. To find the new way to translate metaphor.g. Data collectionLet ssee Chinese character first. Language as an indispensible content of cu

20、lture is closely related to culture and strongly influenced by culture. The early Chinese characters were pictures of ideas or thoughts. Each Chinese character is considered as a symbol of pictograph, ideograph and sound. People used Chinese characters to their meanings in a vivid way. For instanee,

21、月 ” “is just like a crescent, and雨” is exactly the image of rain drops. We could directly get the meaning of Chinese characters by visual presentation. Such as, 回形針” “，“百褶裙” . But their corresponding English translations can only express their meaning or functions. Since Chinese characters can embod

22、y meaning to us, thus they can be employed to express ,For example, this metaphor 蠶食” which means to nibble, make people associate the way silkworms eat mulberry leavesslowly taking small bites from leaves. 勢(shì)如破竹 ” compares bamboo to victories , which can be explained in a western way, “l(fā)ikea knife c

23、utting through butter ”Le.t seethree characters 松”， 竹” and 梅” jn Chinese culture the pine，the bamboo and the plum are called three friends in winter. When Chinese people talk about themj we immediately think about the cold winterj in which they donInsteatdw，iththeerystood defiant and proud，represent

24、ing an exemplary conduct and nobility of characterBut in western cultures，they are just three common plants and cannot give people any associationIn the followingj we will talk about another factor showing the differences in metaphor This special national condition makes China a country easy to refu

25、se the cultures in other countries. Chinese emphasize the importance of nature.h. Analysis method.metaphor in the relationship between Chinese and Westerncultures. Chinese and Western cultures in the commonmetaphor. In the metaphor of the difference betweenChinese and Western cultures. The metaphor of thecross-cultural differences between Chinese and Westerninfluence.i. Propo