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Textual Functions of Metaphor in "Selected English Articles for Reciting" and "Housekeeping"

Author: LiaoYu
Tutor: LiaoMeiZhen
School: Central China Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: metaphor metaphor and form metaphor and theme
CLC: H315
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 114
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Abstract


In traditional studies metaphor is viewed as a kind of rhetoric device, however, as time goes by, scholars grow interested in how metaphor functions and also in nature of metaphor. In 1980, Metaphors We Live by written by Lakoff & Johnson demonstrates a landmark in the study of metaphor, after which metaphor is no longer considered as a rhetoric device, but a way in which people think and behave. Although in western countries some scholars have begun to analyze functions of metaphor, yet most of the analysis is done on the basis of fragmental English texts. In China, the textual functions of metaphor have aroused interest of some scholars, yet most of the analysis is done on basis on Chinese texts. The present paper sets out to analysis textual functions of English metaphor through different genres and different lengths of English texts. The data for analysis are mainly chosen from Selected English Articles for Reciting and the novel Housekeeping, both of which have never been observed before.In this thesis, conceptual metaphor theory is applied to the exploration of textual functions of metaphors in Selected English Articles for Reciting and the novel Housekeeping. It seeks to find:(1) if the writer sticks to one metaphor or changes metaphors when writing; (2) what are the effects of metaphorical change on the text, (3) How does the surface organization by metaphors contribute to the theme of texts or discourse such as poems, novels or stories? The analysis carries on two levels—meaning and form, the latter of which is further divided into microscopic and microcosmic level. In this research it has been found out that in the book Selected English Articles for Reciting there are four kinds of textual functions of metaphor for these short articles, namely, illustration of the text; extension of the text; repetition of the text and as a transitional means of the text. In this four functions, only illustration concerns with the meaning of text, and the other three deals with form of the text. Apart from modifying a specific image, metaphorical change is used to illustrate the theme. Because the texts Selected English Articles for Reciting is not long enough for explaining the relationship between textual functions of metaphor and the theme of the text, the author chooses a novel and analyzes it from microscopic and microcosmic point of view. The author finds out overlapping entailment, extension and repetition between different metaphors in the whole text; the author also finds out systematicity of the use of metaphor which contributes to the theme of the novel and also verifies conceptual metaphor theory; this kind of systematicity can be further divided in to three aspects in which metaphor of water acts as the core theme-- water itself, water and death, water and life.

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CLC: > Language, writing > FOREIGN > English > Writing,rhetoric
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