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1、从文化的角度看英汉修辞中的隐喻A Cultural Approach to English and Chinese MetaphorContentsAbstract11. General Statement of The Paper 22. Definitions of Metaphor22.1 Conventional metaphor22.2 Structural metaphor33. Essence of Metaphors33.1 Structure of metaphors33.2 Metaphors in language44. A Comparison of English a
2、nd Chinese Metaphor44.1 Similarities in English and Chinese metaphors 44.2 Differences in English and Chinese metaphors44.3 More examples for readers to analyze85. Successful Application of Metaphor Translation From A Cultural Approach 106. Conclusion 12References 12A Cultural Approach to English an
3、d Chinese Metaphor摘 要：传统的隐喻研究只限于对语言内部结构的研究，如今隐喻研究已超越语言本身的范围，人们开始从文化的角度来研究隐喻的本质。在Lakoff 和Johnson (1980) 的Metaphors We Live By一书中，他们提出了一个全新的隐喻概念，即隐喻不仅是语言现象，而且是一种文化意象，是人类生存和交流的基本方式之一，它植根于语言、思维和文化中。通过对英汉两种语言中隐喻概念运用的分析比较，我们发现隐喻作为人类基本的文化认知具有其普遍性和共性。但是隐喻的主要表现形式还是语言，英汉两种语言作为不同文化的载体，反映了人们不同的思维和行为方式，不同的文化模式。由
4、于两种思维和文化模式的不同，在隐喻的生成和理解上都存在着不可忽视的一些差异。在此，我们将对由于生活环境、生活经验、风俗习惯、宗教信仰、价值观念等不同所导致的英汉两种语言中隐喻的生成和理解上存在的这些差异进行探讨。关键词: 隐喻，文化模型， 差异Abstract: Traditional metaphor study is limited to inner-language structure, now studies on metaphor have gone beyond language itself. People start to make access to the essence
5、of metaphor from a cultural approach. In Lakoff and Johnsons book (1890) Metaphors We Live by, they propose a new metaphor concept metaphor is not only a language phenomenon, but also a cultural image. It is one of the ways people live and communicate, it roots in language and culture. Through an co
6、mparative analysis of metaphorical concept between English and Chinese, we come across the commonality and mutuality of metaphor as humans basic culture. But metaphors are mainly represented by language. English and Chinese, as two carriers of different cultures, reflecting peoples varied cultural m
7、odels. Here, this paper makes an analysis of the production of metaphors under varied life experience, customs, religious belief, values etc. in English and Chinese. Key words: metaphor, culture models, differences A Cultural Approach to English and Chinese Metaphor1. General Statement of The PaperS
8、tudy onmetaphors can be traced back to Aristotles Rhetoric, metaphors have always been the main subject of rhetoric. Metaphor in culture does not refer to rhetoric metaphors in language, but refers to peoples recognition and expression of the object world. Nowadays metaphor study has gone beyond the
9、 language itself, people begin to look at the ethic of metaphors from a cultural approach. Cognitive metaphors think that peoples thought is based on metaphors, and “all languages have metaphors”.（Lakoff, 1980）Traditional metaphor theories are challenged by modern metaphor research: metaphors are fi
10、lled in our life; metaphors are “two reflections of two different meaning fields”(I.A.Richards, 1994), and are “the process and result from one culture reflection to another culture field.” In Lakoff and Johnsons(1980) book Metaphors We Live by, they present a new concept that metaphors are not only
11、 language phenomenon but also a culture communication, it has its roots in language, thought and culture. Thus, metaphor has made itself a subject of cultural study.2. Definitions of MetaphorHere are two senses of metaphor:a. A metaphor is the expression of an understanding of one concept in terms o
12、f another concept, where there is some similarity or correlation between the two. b. A metaphor is the understanding itself of one concept in terms of another.Examples (English):The following sentences illustrate how the metaphorical understanding of anger-as-fire is expressed: Your insincere apolog
13、y just added fuel to the fire. After the argument, Dave was smoldering for days. Boy, am I burned up!2.1 Conventional metaphorA conventional metaphor is a metaphor that is commonly used in everyday language in a culture to give structure to some portion of that cultures conceptual system.The underst
14、anding of time as a resource. Time is running out!The understanding of life as a journey Its time to get on with your life.2.2 Structural metaphorA structural metaphor is a conventional metaphor in which one concept is understood and expressed in terms of another structured, sharply defined concept.
15、Examples (English):Here are some examples of the argument-as-war structural metaphor Your claims are indefensible. He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target. I demolished his argument. 3. Essence of Metaphors3.1 Structure of metaphorsMetaphors are formed of thr
16、ee parts: body (本体), object （喻体）and the mutual feature connecting the first two parts. Metaphors are the most commonly seen figurative use of speech, in the sentence “ He is a pig”, he is the body and pig is the object, the characteristics they share are sleep, dirty, lazy, food-desire and fat etc.
17、The utterance may be associated with the speakers awful feeling about pigs. The first two parts show the similarity they share, metaphors use one concept to express another concept, and always rely on words that used for specific description to fulfill abstract concepts. In the book “ Metaphors We L
18、ive by”, metaphors are divided into three categories: Structural Concept, Orientational Metaphor and Ontological Metaphor. In our daily life, people use those knowledge that they can really experience to understand the abstract and complex things, to refer to their familiar and concrete concept for
19、recognition. Our thoughts, experience are invisible and hardly can be defined, however, they form a common understanding ground. The often heard “甘为人梯”（为他人垫底，让别人踩在自己肩上往上爬），“他很会走后门”（通过非正常渠道解决问题，达到自己的目的）sentences have become the most commonly used language in our life, whose metaphors are often ignore
20、d. Besides, people are tend to reflect or pull those body parts onto some similar abstract concept, for example: “茶壶嘴”、“山脚”、“山腰”、“没面子”、“首领”、“桌子腿”、“火山口”，“脚注”, etc. We have “eye of a needle”, “mouth of a volcano”, “bottle-neck”, “head of department”, “arm of a chair”, “footnote” in English. These lang
21、uage forms have been accepted by people and are commonly used. We can generally see how metaphors are related to culture.3.2 Metaphors in languageMetaphor concepts form a systematic and consistent unit in a certain culture, the associated meaning and cultural image between one concept and another in
22、 different cultures represents different cultural connotations, some may vary greatly. Sometimes even when we have come to find the equivalent words in the target language, they may refer to tremendously different things or concepts in practice. Lets take this sentence as an example: “瞧这对鸳鸯”, “鸳鸯” m
23、eans a husband and wife who loves each other, if we translate it into “mandarin duck” according to its facial meaning, how can those foreigners who dont know much about Chinese culture associate mandarin duck with husband and wife? If we translate it into “lovebirds” according to its meaning, we los
24、t the cultural connotations that are involved in. Words like “梅、松、荷、竹” in Chinese are rich in special cultural meaning, it is then impossible to understand whats involved without relative Chinese national culture knowledge and psychological associations. R.Gibbs points out that the way the metaphors
25、 expressed are systematic, which is not only a mirror of the minds psychological structure, but also a combined function of mixed cultures. As the existing fact that the thought model and cultural forms are different, its hard to relate the body to the object in metaphors. The formation and understa
26、nding of metaphors in both two languages are obviously varied, thus cognition and research on metaphors have to combine cultural factors in order to develop. 4. A Comparison of English and Chinese Metaphor4.1 Similarities in English and Chinese metaphors4.1.1 Of directionsMetaphors are irrelevant to
27、 culture to a large extent, while they often are similar to each other between different nations. But how the cultures in common are formed? Children in their early age have developed their sense of direction, in the language transplantation process, sentences taking the form of direction-relevant a
28、re always easy to understand, among them there are much metaphorical direction expression, as is illustrated in Lakoffs example to describe abstract concepts like a persons social statue, health situation, motions, etc, using direction words (up, down) as an effective device: Happy / good is up; Sad
29、/bad is down. Similar sentences are not hard to find in Chinese: “听说大米的价格又要上涨了，很多人发疯似的去抢购”，“随着社会地位的提高，他离群众越来越远了”，“最近他的视力下降很快”，“得知因山洪暴发不能去九寨沟了，孩子们个个情绪低落”。4.1.2 Of lifeCultures developed from peoples own life experience and daily experience contribute in a large part to the growth of metaphors. People
30、 imagine and create images on the base of their body experience, here body experience means any part of the body or even the organs. For example: “他是我们的头”，“他这两个儿子简直就是他的左右手”，“娇娇是她妈妈的心肝宝贝”，“He is the head of our department”，“You are my sweetheart”，“He is the backbone of this team”. Despite the fact th
31、at English and Chinese are two different languages, they do share some common points in expressing people who are important to them. 4.1.3 Of emotionsThe two languages are rich in similarities of emotional metaphor expressions. Emotions are most experienced for a person. In order to present these ab
32、stract feelings in a more effective, precise and lively way, they are often metaphorized. For example about love we have: “爱情为旅程”，“爱情没有回头路可走”，“情长路更长”，“分道扬镳”，“Love is a journey”，“We cant turn back now”，“You go your way and Ill do mine”, etc. Vice verse, metaphors help people enrich their knowledge an
33、d culture system. What is love? Love is an abstract feeling; there is scarcely any exact code to match this feeling in our mankind word base. According to the “Economic Principle” in linguistic, it uses the minimum code to express the maximum information, metaphors are produced in such a way that, t
34、o use a simple and clear word to present a concept or to replace the concept with a relative thing, so that there will be no ambiguous understandings. People use their travel concept to realize the abstract love concept, thus a kind of culture is produced, while the metaphors embedded will help to e
35、nlarge their cultural system.4.1.4 Of natural recognitionAs the natural laws are relatively united, people from different cultures recognize the nature on the same experience. Culture in the two languages shares a big amount of nature recognition as metaphors. Therefore, some metaphors in the two cu
36、ltures might be the same, especially in short but meaningful expressions: at lightning speed 迅雷不及掩耳之势，a thunder/ storm of applause 雷鸣/暴风雨般的掌声，a heart of gold 金子般的心，star-studded 星罗棋布的，a drop in the ocean 沧海一粟，golden saying 金玉良言，a wolf in sheeps clothing 披着羊皮的狼，a castle in the air 空中楼阁，to swim with th
37、e stream 随波逐流，to fish in troubled waters 浑水摸鱼，to pour oil on fire 火上加油，to fish for compliments 沽名钓誉，go through fire and water 赴汤蹈火。4.2 Differences in English and Chinese metaphorsMetaphors are the way people know the world, they are reflections of cultures. In different cultures of nations, the comm
38、only distributed metaphors on one hand exemplify commonality and mutual points between deferent nations; on the other hand, under different culture affections, metaphor concept grows in itself cultural differences too. To understand metaphors, we have to understand the social cultural background. An
39、 overall knowledge of the target social culture is a preliminary condition of correct metaphor understanding. 4.2.1 Regional differenceMetaphors perfect itself in the growth of society. Culture affects language profoundly, metaphor performances are carried out in a culture environment of different n
40、ations and people with different culture background. Thus, language materials are inevitably affected by semantic environment, and carrying with them features of national culture, presenting themselves as mirrors of historical national cultures. As a matter of fact, culture differs as region differs
41、, people who live in different regional cultures perform and act differently in social practice. The English famous poet Shelly says in his Ode to the West Wind: “thou breath of autumns being”, “drive my dead thoughts”, “to quicken a new birth”, “The trumpet of a prophecy! If Winter comes, can Sprin
42、g be far behind?” Britain lies on the west sphere, ocean climate, west wind brings the English people warm and wet, spirit of spring, this poem is a worship song of spring. What west wind indicates in Chinese? Famous poet of Yuan dynasty Ma zhiyuan writes in his poem 天净沙秋思: “古道西风瘦马。夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。” Mao
43、 zedong s娄山关: “西风烈，长空雁叫霜晨月。” West wind here represents chill, cold and a desert feeling. In Chinese culture, east wind is springs wind, warm wind. For example, in Xin qijis 青玉案元夕: “东风夜放花千树，更吹落，星如雨。” East wind represents revolutionary power in the unstable 10 years of China, while west wind represent
44、s reactionary power, thats why people often say “东风压倒西风”, “东风吹，战鼓擂”. How do people suppose to understand these metaphors without the culture knowledge?4.2.2 Natural and social differenceDifferent languages carry different culture characteristics and information. Proverbs and slams are the fruits of
45、life experiences and history culture of different nations, they serve best for reflecting those varied culture values. Different kinds of metaphors happen because of factors such as the affection of climate, geographical environment, natural products and regional cultures. England is an island count
46、ry, surrounded by sea, and English people like sailing, there are a great many of words in English that are related to boats, fish, water, sea and other natural organism. For example: to drink like a fish (牛饮)，to fish in the air (水中捞月)，to spend money like water (挥金如土)，neither fish nor fowl (非驴非马)，al
47、l at sea (不知所措), between the devil and deep sea (进退维谷) Time and tide wait for no man. (岁月不待人) There are other fish in the sea. (天涯何处无芳草) All is fish that comes to ones net. (抓到篮子里的便是菜), etc. While China is a land country, she is an agricultural country, proverbs in Chinese are mostly related to agriculture. For example: 众人拾柴火焰高 (Many hands make light work.)， 留得青山在，不怕没柴烧 (Where is life, there is hope.)， 巧妇难为无米之炊 (Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.)。Whats more, Chinese have been used to plough with cattle, thus these animals are common to Chinese people. While Engli
