Cognitive Study of Building Metaphor建筑的隐喻认知研究

【Abstract】Metaphor is a universal phenomenon. Traditionally metaphor is seen as as a means of rhetoric， but now it is seen as a cognitive phenomenon. In our life most of the everyday language is metaphor， our mind is also the metaphor. Metaphor has become an indispensable tool for understanding the world. There are a lot of “building” metaphorical expressions in life， as construction is an important component of people’s lives. But the studies of building metaphors have not been systematic and comprehensive. This thesis gives a contrastive study of building metaphors to deepen people’s understanding of building metaphors and enrich the cognitive studies of metaphor.

【Keywords】metaphor，cognitive phenomenon，building metaphor

1. Research method

1. 1 Data collection

In this thesis a method of corpus qualitative analysis will be adopted. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary； Oxford Advanced Learner’ English-Chinese Dictionary of Current English； International dictionary of English， concrete programs and measures to be taken are as follows： （1） Professional tools to identify the basic terms and concepts on “building” in English and Chinese. （2） Basic terms and concepts on “building” in English as keywords of the corpus above， and retrieving the expression corpus relating to these terms and concepts. （3） Selecting the corpus collected to find out metaphorical expressions on “building” in English. There are many approaches to metaphor： philosophical approach， pragmatic approach， cognitive approach， etc. In this paper， the author mainly applies cognitive approaches to study the process of understanding metaphors.

1.2 Data analysis

There are many metaphorical expressions about building metaphor “Life is building， theories are buildings， relationships are buildings，” to get a clear analysis about them， the author chooses some typical building metaphors that people are familiar with， by summarizing these metaphorical expressions， identifying the conceptual metaphors which were hidden behind them， and comparing and studying these conceptual metaphors. In next section， the author will analyze these metaphorical expressions.

2. Building Metaphor

2. 1 Life is a building

Life is a building. We depend on hard-work and sweat， as a brick and watts， to build. When we were still children， we have to foster ideals and firm objectives. Russian writer Lev Tolstoy once said： “ideal is beacon. Without ideals， there is no firm direction； there is lack of direction， there is no life.” In fact， it is the same with construction. Before we can have the basic architectural model， we need to have the fundamental form of it. A great building derives from its design， only then there is a comprehensive envisage and plan， and development of the drawings. Later we can begin the construction.

2. 2 Theories are buildings

Theories are buildings. the metaphor is possible for us to use expressions （construct， foundation） from one domain （Building） to talk about corresponding concepts in the metaphorically defined domain （Theories）. What foundation， for example， means in the metaphorically defined domain （Theory） will depend on the details of how the metaphorically concept “Theories are buildings” is used to structure the concept “Theory”.

Fig. Hypothesized correspondences between attributes of the concepts ‘‘theory’’ and

‘‘building’’.

As critical thinkers， however， we should be equipped with the necessary intellectual skills to test the strength of a theory to see where it collapses. Critical thinking helps us build a complex case， especially in those situations where more than one answer is plausible. Theory comes from practice， the practice also has great guide. Looking back the formation of building， the architectural design creation， a structure ergonomically environment and so on. The number of expressions “theories are building” is used in English and Chinese.

2. 3 Friendships are buildings

In our life common bridge is to need a wide range of materials for the construction， then the bridge of friendship between people？ In fact， it is also the same as other bridges， as required “building materials.” These materials （common goal， in line with the character and also listen to the talk） are indispensable， With the lack of them， this bridge is not very strong.

2. 4 Society is a building

Social groups are buildings. People are based on the common material production activities， in accordance with a code of conduct with each other and form an organic whole. Constitute the basic elements of the society are the natural environment， population and culture. Through the relations of production derived all kinds of social relations， formed a community and conduct activities under the control of a certain code in order to continue normal operations and development in the community.

First， establish a harmonious concept. Thinking decides actions， concepts guide the development. To build a harmonious society， we must establish the start of harmonious concept. Our party has put forward the concept of scientific development and built strategic thinking of a harmonious socialist society， it is the succession， enrichment and development of scientific socialism theory， it is also deepen understanding of the Communist ruling Party law， socialist construction law， and the development law of human society， we must firmly establish the concept of development， a harmonious concept.

Adhere to the people-centered. The masses of the people are the fundamental force of building a socialist harmonious society， and are the true owner of a harmonious society. The essence of social development is human development. Study the progress of human society， we use productivity to measure the level of development， but also to evaluate by the degree of realization of the masses interests of the people， the two are unified.

Adhere to coordinated. Building a socialist harmonious society is a complex project， involving economic， political， cultural and social construction， in which all aspects of the party and the country are involved. This requires us to coordinate urban and rural development， regional development， economic and social development， the harmonious development of man and nature， and for domestic development and opening to the outside world， in order to adapt the mutual development of all aspects， coordinate between the various development sectors.

3. Discussion of the Results

As we know metaphor is a means of conceptualizing the foundation， framework， pillar， door， window of building understanding the life， theory， social groups， relationships， through which we can comprehend abstract concepts and perform abstract reasoning. Construction is an universal phenomena， “society， theory， civilization…” would experience such as construction， lay foundation， make a framework， train the talents， build relationship， open the door and window， since the construction is so pervasive and universal that we can easily gather the metaphors for the construction in English.

4. Conclusion

This paper presents a study of construction metaphors in English within a cognitive linguistic framework. Through the qualitative analysis， we have obtained such findings as First， “life， theory， friendships， social group” as basic abstract concepts which are important to our thinking and actions， are conceptualized through the metaphorical mapping from construct ontological and relatively concrete and highly-structured concepts. For example， “Life is building， theory is building， relationships are building， social groups are building.” These construction metaphors partially structure the concepts “life， theory， relationships， social group”， enrich our understanding “life， theory， relationships， social group” and consequently influence our reasoning and actions towards these concepts. This illustrates that our abstract experiences and reasoning are at least partially metaphorical.

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