Abstract
This research investigates the diachronic variation of the source domains in Chinese LIFE metaphor. Close examination of data from historical corpora has revealed that the source domain types evolve gradual diversified changes based on the social material and cultural life. Specifically, the results show that (1) harsh living environment and farming understanding account for Chinese ancestors’ preference for crops as the source domain in their life metaphors, (2) the territory extension and duplicate metaphysics together give reasons why the Tang Chinese favor transportation as well as natural phenomenon as the source domains in their life metaphors, (3) the increasing material enrichment and cultural diversification of modern times provide experiential motivation of the gamut of source domain types in Mandarin life metaphors. Thus, a conclusion can be reached that metaphor variation reflects social material level and intellectual level throughout the ages.
Highlights
Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) believes that metaphor comprises the source domain and the target domain
This study investigates the source domains of Chinese LIFE metaphor in The Book of Poetry, 300 Tang Poems and the Mandarin
It demonstrates that people’s choice of the source domains in different historical periods is determined by the experience focus from two aspects: one is the material level, the other is the intellectual level
Summary
Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) believes that metaphor comprises the source domain and the target domain. For the convenience of discussion, this study compares LIFE metaphor in modern Chinese with those in The Book of Poetry of the pre-Qin Period (Qin Dynasty 221 B.C.E.–207 B.C.E.) and 300 Tang Poems of the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D.– 907 A.D.). The growth process of plants from the germination to the fallen blossom is just like the passing of life time These two examples both use the decaying plum and mulberry leaves to metaphorically understand people’s fading youth. The following example (5) uses different concepts in the animal/plant domain, namely, “tarragon”, “wormwood”, and “mugwort”, to metaphorically describe different ways of life. There are many other metaphorical expressions of LIFE IS PLANTS GROWTH in The Book of Poetry. The following example (6) is a metaphorical expression of LIFE IS ANIMALS GROWTH in The Book of Poetry:. Through the LIFE IS JOURNEY metaphor, this example illustrates that no matter in good or bad times, women will always feel happy as long as they are accompanied by their love
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
