Differences in Metaphor between Chinese and Western Culture英语毕业论文.doc
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1、Differences in Metaphor between Chinese and Western CultureAbstract: Metaphor originates from peoples lives, and plays a very important role in peoples lives. Metaphor is nowadays not only regarded as a figure of speech but also an important tool in culture communication. This thesis tries to explor
2、e some differences in metaphor between Chinese and Western culture, and thus helps in the promotion of the culture communication between Chinese and Western countries.Key words: metaphor; Western culture; Chinese culture 1IntroductionMetaphor originates from peoples lives, and plays a very important
3、 role in peoples lives. Nowadays, the definitions of metaphor can be found conveniently in dictionaries. According to the Websters New World Dictionary, metaphor is defined as: “a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another, different thing by beings spoken of as if it were the other;
4、implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily use of one thing is applied to another.” (Websters New World Dictionary, 1979:1132) Metaphor is used as a rhetorical device which makes comparison between two elements, unlike simile, this kind of comparison is implied not stated
5、. Peter Newmark referred to metaphor as: “the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what it does not literally denote, i.e. to describe one thing in terms of another.” (Newmark, 2001:104) Metaphor shows a resemblance bet
6、ween 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, “the stars in his eyes”, the basis for the use of “stars” is the similarity between the tears in ones eyes and the
7、flickering of light in ones eyes. Both 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 different kinds of metaphors in Chinese and Western cultures. Metaphors we use are deter
8、mined by our life experience, so metaphorical expressions arise from our physical and culture experience. Thus speakers of one language may find it difficult to understand the metaphors of another language, or even the speakers of the same language living far away from each other may feel confused i
9、n 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 arise when people from China and the West communicate with each other. 2. Differences in metapho
10、r between Chinese and Western cultureThe nature of metaphor is not only a matter of language,but a matter of mind. Different cultures have different influence on metaphor. Because of the different cultural background, Chinese and Western cultures have their own specific metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson
11、(1980:12)said, “a culture may be thought of as providing, among other things, a pool of available metaphors for making sense of reality”, “to live by a metaphor is to have your reality structured by that metaphor and to base your perceptions and actions upon that structuring of reality”. People of a
12、 given culture use language to reflect their attitudes towards the world in general and the life of the community they live in particular. Because of the cultural differences, understanding another language is often very difficult. For example,if you say a man has a “big head” in English, it means “
13、he is arrogant”, whereas in Chinese it means “he is clever”.Language of a society is crucial to its culture, and different meaning of words can reflect the contemporary features of the traditions, habits in which the language is used. Even for the same word, different cultural background give people
14、 different associations. Since in metaphor one thing is described in another, this reflection finds the strongest manifestation in metaphorical words.There are two categories of reasons for the differences in metaphor between Chinese and Western culture. One is at the macro level, which is the whole
15、 cultural background. The other is at the micro level, meaning some inner factors that cause the differences.2.1 At the macro levelMarx once said that religion was the guiding principles of the world, covering all the phenomena of the universe. Religion has a great effect on human society, including
16、 languages, customs, values, etc. This thesis would like to talk the religious differences on metaphor.Christianity and Taoism are two main influential religions in these two cultures. Because they are rooted in different cultures, there are different ideas between them. In China, nature is the supr
17、eme thing; everything must be in accordance with it. While in the west, objectives are emphasized. Science, law and religion are the prime things. Thus these differences cause great influences on the using of metaphors.Firstly, we would like to discuss the Western religious culture. Christianity is
18、the main religion in Western countries. There are many metaphors related to Christianity. For example, church is a crucial place for westerners, so there are many metaphors about church, for example “he is a church mouse” is used to say some one is very poor. Dog is also an important character in we
19、stern religion. Westerners take dog as Mans best friend, but its hard for Chinese people to understand, because dog in China is traditionally used to watch a house. In English, expressions like “love me, love my dog”, “every dog has its day”, “lucky dog” and “like a dog with two tails” all have comm
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