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Research to Generation Mechanism of Metaphor

Author: LvJinFeng
Tutor: LiuChenDan
School: Xinyang Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Metaphor Conceptual Blending Gestalt
CLC: H05
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 62
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Abstract

As a universal language phenomenon, metaphor has always been the concern of many language researchers at home and abroad. Traditionally it is regarded as a special rhetorical device. But in the nearly three decades, cognitive scientists have thought that metaphor is an important way for man to think, that is to say, metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon. Although some Chinese scholars have made some studies and classifications of metaphor, it is not enough for the discussion of its generation mechanism. Therefore, this thesis uses Conceptual Blending Theory and Gestalt Theory to find out the process of meaning construction and generation mechanism of metaphor from the view of cognition.In the thesis, we classify metaphors from different view, based on different methods and using different ideas. We also explore metaphor’s generating motivation.For the working mechanism of metaphor, there are also two kinds of theories:from the view of language and from the view of cognition. From the view of language, metaphor applies the concepts, thought and terms in one domain to another domain in order to modify essays. Therefore, metaphor is only a tool for people to express their meanings artistically and have philosophical debates. There are some theories to discuss metaphor from cognitive view, such as conduit metaphor, conceptual metaphor, conceptual blending theory, and so forth. Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory marks that the study of metaphor has turned into a new page and shafted away from the ornamental function of metaphor and the linguistic aspects of metaphor to the cognitive nature of metaphor. But there are also some disadvantages about this theory. Therefore, Fauconnier came out his famous works, Mental Space, in 1985 to develop Lakoff’s theory.Fauconnier proposed conceptual blending theory and conceptual integration network on the basis of the mental space theory. Fauconnier points out that a basic conceptual blending process includes four mental spaces:two input spaces, a generic space and a blended space. And the four spaces are connected with each other by the mapping chain. In this way, a conceptual integration network is formed. There are four basic types of networks:single-framing network, frame network, one-sided network and two-sided network. But what really happens during the process of mapping in the mind? In order to find metaphor’s generation mechanism, this paper mainly uses frame network, one-sided network and two-sided network as theoretical framework to explore how metaphor implication generates in human mind under the influence of gestalt law.Four different cases are chosen to explain to show how the meaning constructed during the process of blending with the influence of law of gestalt. They are "give one’s eyes",“种瓜得瓜,种豆得豆”, "In the business competition, Tom knocked Jack out", and "If you invest your money in the stock market, you are digging your own grave" This research is a tentative study that will, to a certain degree, supplement the study of metaphor, since combining metaphorical concept, Conceptual Blending Theory and Gestalt theory can provide a new perspective to metaphor study.

Research to Generation Mechanism of Metaphor

Abstract

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