Classification and Categorization: Linguistic and Cultural Conceptualization of Time in the YiJing

Abstract

This paper investigates how concepts of time in the YiJing (here易经 YiJing refers to the 经文Jing text in the ancient Chinese work The Book of Changes) are organized and expressed in terms of language structure and cultural practice, especially with regard to the lexicalization of time intervals and temporal landmarks. The way in which time is conceptualized in the YiJing is very special. The purpose of this study is to explore the cognitive and cultural construals of time with the language of real-world experience. With reference to the Cognition-Culture interface, the YiJing text has been used as a corpus to investigate the encoding of time, and the following categories of temporal conceptualization are found according to the different kinds of usages: 1. Metaphoric temporal usage, which is a metaphoric expression of time, such as “a long time” or “quasi-calendar time”; 2. Concepts of time, involving quantification of time: for example, the processes of waxing, waning, declining and growing of the moon that illustrate the quality of alteration associated with time; 3. Event-based intervals, such as “巳日 Siri Day Si” “先甲三日three days before Day Jia and 后甲三日three days after Day Jia”; 4. The propitious or opportune time, which is the notion of time as the right time to do something, or the right time which gives a chance to engage in the activity at the right time once it brings good luck. What is more interesting is that from all of these examples in the YiJing, the concepts of time are directly or indirectly linked with either metaphor or the event-based time concept, such as celestial bodies (the sun, moon and stars) or the ritual system, which is specific to a particular culture of the YiJing in ancient China.