認知機制: 中文『銀』字及其譬喻用法

Abstract

As many scholars have stated metaphors are not only a piece of literary work but also represent the experiences and cognitions in a human’s mind (Lakoff, 1992; Gibbs & O’Brien, 1990; Goatly, 2000; Gibbs, 2002; Kovecses, 2002). To connect with the recent hottest topic in the world, this thesis studies the metaphorical expressions in daily life, especially focusing on the Chinese word yin2 銀 ‘silver’. We will further compare and contrast our results with Huang’s (2009) study of jin1 金 ‘gold’. The study uses Lakoff and Turner’s (1989) Great Chain Metaphor and Fauconnier & Turner’s (1998) Conceptual Integration Network as the theoretical frameworks to answer the following research questions: (1) How is yin2銀categorized in fixed expressions? (2) How is yin2 銀categorized in metaphor clusters? (3) Are the categorizations of yin2 銀 in fixed expressions and metaphor clusters similar to each other or mutually exclusive? (4) What are the similarities and differences between yin2 銀and jin1 金 on cognitive viewpoint? Through dictionary sources, Web edition of Ministry of Education Chinese dictionary, Great Dictionary, and the database source, Newspapers in Taiwan, yin2 銀 metaphorical expressions within the current decade are used to conduct the research. The results demonstrate that (a) there are five basic categories of yin2 銀 fixed expressions as YIN IS A PERSON, YIN IS AN ANIMAL, YIN IS A PLANT, YIN IS AN OBJECT and YIN IS NATURAL THING. (b) There are also five basic categories in yin2 銀 metaphor clusters. They are YIN IS A FARMER, YIN IS A BIRD, YIN IS A FLOWER and TREE, YIN IS A BULLET and YIN IS A STAR. (c) The categorizations of yin2銀fixed expressions and metaphor clusters are similar to each other. Via frequency test, the five categories of yin2 銀 fit within the model of the Great Chain Metaphor which entails that living beings, things and literary works in this world follow certain rules. (d) The results show that yin2 銀 and jin1 金 are similar to each other on their solid concept, such as YIN IS A OBJECT and JIN IS MEDICINE. On the other hand, both terms are different from each other on their abstract concept as YIN REPRESENTS NUMBER TWO but JIN REPRESENTS NUMBER ONE. These metaphorical similarities and differences between yin2 銀 ‘silver’ and jin1 金 ‘gold’ reflect our relationship, cognition and judgment with the world.