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The Study of Meaning Transference in Metaphor

Author: LiaoZhengGang
Tutor: YangZhong
School: Northeast Normal University
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: metaphor meaning transference study
CLC: H05
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2002
Downloads: 427
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Abstract

Since Aristotle, studies in metaphor have stimulated the enthusiasm of research of many scholars. The studies in metaphor involve the world of philosophy, psychology and linguistics, etc. The main theories are Aristotle’ s comparison theory, Quintillion’ s substitution theory, Richard and Black’ s semantic interaction theory, Lakoff s cognitive theory, and Halliday’ s systemic functional theory. All the theories reflect the understanding of the essence of metaphor and lay a solid foundation for the further exploration of the mystery of metaphor.Aristotelian theory holds that metaphor is a word replaced by another to express the same meaning. The relation between the two words is comparison. The main function of metaphor is rhetoric. Aristotle’ s definition of metaphor and the discussion of its function have influenced the interpretation of the western rhetoric theory of the metaphorical phenomenon.Quintillion thinks that in fact, metaphor is a rhetoric phenomenon, which is a word replaced by another. Black believes the comparison theory is a special case of the substitution theory. Both theories picture metaphor as rhetoric means on the word level. The function of metaphor is ’supplementary’ and ’ornamental’ . Considering the metaphorical structure and form, they are deviation of linguistic rules.Richard and Black believe metaphor is a process of creatingnew meaning, which is a result of the interaction between two subjects. Their studies are beyond the traditional rhetoric studies confining the studies of metaphor to the word level and viewing metaphor as the rhetoric phenomenon of meaning comparison and substitution. However, Richard and Black regard metaphor as the semantic phenomenon and bring the study of metaphor on the sentence level.With the further study of metaphor, people have made a qualitative change on metaphor. It is not only the rhetoric means, but also ways of conceptualizing things. It exists in people’ s mind in which we use one realm of concepts to conceptualize another.Lakoff thinks metaphor, which is pervasive in our daily life, is the conceptual system of thought and action we live by.llalliday holds that meaning is the whole complex of functions of which a linguistic form may have. Metaphor is the variation in the expression of meanings. What he studies is the same ’signified’ but different ’signil’ier’ . Then, what is the essence of metaphor? The essence of metaphor is the transference of meaning.What is the definition of transference of meaning? According to Leech, it is that from the existing word, the new word will be derived.The metaphorical transference involves two different kinds of conceptual domains. At present, the most influential theories are conceptual metaphor theory and blended theory. Conceptual metaphor theory centers on the study of conventional mode ofmetaphor. In metaphor, there is an image-schema, and it also obeys the invariance principle. Blended theory centers on the description of on-line construction of concepts of transference of meaning. The common features of the two theories answer the question how the meaning is transferred in metaphor. According to Lakoff and Johnson, there are three types of metaphorical transference of meaning: they are meaning transference of structure metaphors, ontological metaphors and orientational metaphors.Actually, the construction of western theory of metaphorical transference of meaning can be traced back to the thinking mode of Aristotle: the study of substance and accidents.The general principle of metaphorical transference of meaning should be unity of opposites of contraction and identi ty. The base of metaphorical transference of meaning should be the unity of similarities and differences. Metaphorical transference of meaning has the following semantic features: the transference of systematization, partiality, ambiguity, clearness, finiteness, infiniteness, and variety, etc.Great attention has been paid to how meaning is transferred in the past. But this thesis is c

The Study of Meaning Transference in Metaphor

Abstract

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