1、 I （ 20_ _届） 本科毕业 设计 英语 文化视角下的英汉动物隐喻对比研究 A Study on Animal Metaphors in English and Chinese from the Cultural Perspective II 摘要 在日常生活中人们常常会使用隐喻来表达自己的思想。因为一些类似的生活经验，我们发现，在英汉语言中许多隐喻具有相似性。而不同的文化和思维又使得两种语言的隐喻有着这样、那样的差异性。 因此，虽然东西方文化中都有着丰富的动物隐 喻现象 , 但同一种动物的隐喻却不尽相同。 本文以英汉动物隐喻的动物形象为基础，从同形同意，同形异意，异形同意以及形象缺失四
2、个方面，分析其内在的文化差异。同时对英汉动物隐喻异同的文化内涵包括宗教信仰、生活条件、历史进程以及文学因素作出对比分析。本文旨在 帮助人们了解和认识不同民族之间的文化传统和风俗习惯，进而促进中西方跨文化交际顺利进行。 关键词： 动物隐喻；文化内涵；形象对比；文化差异 III Abstract In our daily life, metaphors are often used to express peoples implied meaning. We find out there are many similarities between Chinese and English metap
3、hors based on our similar life experience. Differences exit as well due to our different culture and thinking. Although both English and Chinese have abundant animal metaphors, the identical animal image has different metaphorical implications. Based on the animal images in English and Chinese metap
4、horical phenomenon, this paper is to analyse the cultural differences from the following four perspectives: identical animal images with similar meanings; identical animal images with different meanings; different animal images with identical meaning and animal image blanks. Meanwhile, it also discu
5、sses the different cultural connotations, which include religious beliefs, living conditions, historical processes and literary factors. This paper is aiming at helping people have a better understanding of different customary cultures and have a more successful cross-cultural communication. Key wor
6、ds: animal metaphor; cultural connotation; image contrast; cultural difference IV Contents Abstract. . 1 Introduction. .1 2 Literature Review .1 2.1 Studies on Metaphor .1 2.2 Studies on Animal Metaphor . .2 3 Images of Animal Metaphor in English and Chinese .2 3.1 Metaphor of Identical Animal Image
7、s in English and Chinese .3 3.1.1 Identical Animal Images with Similar Meanings . .3 3.1.2 Identical Animal Images with Different Meanings .4 3.2 Metaphor of Different Animal Images in English and Chinese.5 3.3 Metaphor of Animal Image Blanks in English and Chinese. 6 3.3.1 Animal Image Blanks in En
8、glish. . 6 3.3.2 Animal Image Blanks in Chinese. .6 4 Reasons of Differences in Cultural Connotation between English and Chinese Animal Metaphor. .7 3.3 Different Religious Beliefs . .7 3.4 Different Living Conditions. .8 3.5 Different Historical Processes . . . .9 3.6 Different Literary Factors . .
9、 .9 5 Conclusion. 10 Bibliography . .11 Acknowledgements. 12 毕业论文（设计） 1 1 Introduction Throughout the history of human beings, animals and human beings are interrelated so closely that animals have become an integral part of lives of human beings. There are many parallels between human beings and an
10、imals, such as gene, physical appearances, characters, and behaviors, etc. Abundant animal words have been created by human beings owing to their relationship with animals. “So many animal phrases and expressions that a book listing them all would become a small dictionary” (quoted in Degler1989:18)
11、. Human beings create many expressions related with different animals in their languages, which is reflected in animal metaphors. These animal metaphors make our languages and expressions vivid and colorful. In the meanwhile, animal metaphors also cause some difficult aspects for us to understand in
12、 the cross-cultural communication. There is no doubt that there exist many similarities and dissimilarities between English and Chinese animal metaphors. Cultural factors play a very important role in the animal metaphorical expressions both in English and Chinese. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Studies on
13、 Metaphor In classical theories, there have been three main theories of metaphor: the Comparison Theory from Aristotle, the Substitution Theory and the Interaction Theory from Black(1979). All these metaphor theories share a common feature: they view metaphor as a linguistic figurative phenomenon, a
14、nd assume a fundamental distinction between literal and figurative senses. The contemporary theory of metaphor, however, is revolutionary in many aspects. Lakoff and Johnson(1980) redefined the term “metaphor”. They argue that human thought processes are largely metaphorical, and the human conceptua
15、l system is metaphorically structured. Metaphor in their senses is no longer only a way of expression, but also a way of conceptualization. Metaphor has come to mean “a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system” (quoted in Di Feng 2006:17). China has also experienced the craze for metaphor, whic
16、h is evidenced by the proliferation of publications of papers concerning metaphor studies in Chinas major key journals of foreign language research. Shu Dingfang(1996) introduces the aims, methods and task of the modern cognitive approach. Other books centering on metaphor can also be found, such as
17、 Shu Dingfang(2000), Fan Wenfang(2001), and Hu Zhuanglins(2004). 毕业论文（设计） 2 These published monographs take the broad views to the research on metaphor rather than merely centering on its rhetorical function. 2.2 Studies on Animal Metaphor The westerners began metaphor study 2000 years ago. They als
18、o lead the world in animal metaphor research. Linguists and scholars both in China and abroad make many investigations on animal expressions. According to Guo Zhuzhang(1999)， animal expressions consist of names and phrases or idioms involving animal names. Both Chinese and English are full of animal
19、 expressions. Human beings existence and development keep very close relationship with animals. Animals might become friends, pets or enemy in the natural coexistence process. Then animals become one important part of peoples life and get gradually familiar to people. Therefore, during the process o
20、f linguistic development, people certainly associate their feelings and emotions, natural phenomena or social events with animal images. Liao Guangrong(2000) makes a comprehensive contrast between cultural loaded animal metaphors in English and Chinese. He suggests that many English and Chinese cult
21、urally-loaded animal words differ in meaning owing to different cultural content, tradition and psychology. Di Feng(2006) put forward a new way to classify the relations of metaphorical meaning between English and Chinese: a perspective of animal images to classify the animal metaphors. 3 Images of
22、Animal Metaphor in English and Chinese In order to discern the differences and similarities between English and Chinese animal metaphors in an all-around way, we may make a contrastive analysis from the perspective of animal images and their connotation. “We find the relation of metaphorical meaning
23、 between the two languages may be divided into three kinds, that is, corresponding kind, semi-corresponding kind and non-corresponding kind” (Ji Yizhi 1993:16-23). And we can classify the relations of images between English and Chinese animal metaphors into three groups: “same animal images, differe
24、nt animal images and image blanks” (quoted in Di Feng 2006:16). 3.1 Metaphor of Identical Animal Images in English and Chinese As the increasing interaction of the global civilization, there are certainly more identical 毕业论文（设计） 3 animal images among languages and cultures. Similar or identical meta
25、phorical meanings may appear though different meanings are also characterized by them within a same animal image. 3.1.1 Identical Animal Images with Similar Meanings Some expressions containing animal words in English and Chinese are identical in both form and meaning. The expressions in this catego
26、ry are the result of either coincidence or translation loans from one language to the other. They are not hindered by national boundaries or cultural barriers; instead they have taken on some universal significance. The following are examples with identical animal images. In English, “donkey” is use
27、d to describe a person who is simple, foolish and stubborn, as in “foolish donkey” and “as stubborn as a donkey”. In Chinese, “donkey” is also used to express that meaning, as in, “蠢驴 ”， “笨驴 ”， and “有子不教如养驴 ”. In English, “fox” has the metaphorical meaning of “a crafty, sly, or clever person”. For e
28、xample, “He is as sly as a fox.” And in Chinese, we also use “老狐狸 ” (an old fox) to describe that kind of people. “Parrot” means to repeat or imitate, especially without understanding. In English, for instance, “He doesnt have any idea of his own. He just parrots what other people say.” Similarly, t
29、here is an idiom in Chinese“鹦鹉学舌 ”, means to repeat the words of others like a parrot. The metaphorical meaning of “wolf” in both English and Chinese is “fierce”, “greedy” and “cunning”. For example, “wolf in sheeps clothing”, “wolf down”, “cry wolf” are always used in English. In Chinese, “wolf” us
30、ually can be expressed in such idioms as: “狼子野心 ”， “豺狼当道 ”， “如狼似虎 ”， etc. Many factors have contributed to the emergence of fully corresponding pairs in English and Chinese. Although different nations live in varied natural environments and diversified geographic conditions, they still share quite a
31、 lot in common. They have more or less the same species of animals. And the common ground of human cultures is larger than the individual features of each culture. Although peoples concrete ways of life are varied in different places, the fundamental ways of living and thinking are the same for the
32、whole human race. As a result, some expressions with identical form and meaning come into existence in different languages. 3.1.2 Identical Animal Images with Different Meanings Some English and Chinese expressions share almost the same form and image, and people 毕业论文（设计） 4 take it for granted that
33、they should have the same connotation, but actually, they contain different or even opposite meanings. Lets consider the following examples. In the west, “dog” is one of the peoples favorite pets. Dog is seen as peoples best friend. So in English, most metaphorical expressions with “dog” refer to a
34、kind of people, such as “lucky dog”. In addition, “dog” also refers to the goods with low quality, for instance, “he said the old car was an absolute dog to drive”. However, in Chinese, “dog” usually has a derogatory meaning, which can be illustrated by these examples： “狗腿子 ”，“狗仗人势 ”， “狗血喷头 ”， “狼心狗肺
35、 ”， “狗嘴里吐不出象牙 ”, etc. Bat has ugly and dreadful appearance, and it is always associated with evil in western countries. So its metaphorical meaning in English is negative, as in “as blind as a bat”, “crazy as a bat”, and “have bats in the belfry”. However, bats connotation in Chinese is totally diff
36、erent from that in English. Bat symbolizes “health, happiness and auspiciousness” in Chinese, for it is pronounced in the same way as the Chinese character “福 ”， which means “happiness and auspiciousness”. Dragon is a mythical monster traditionally represented as a gigantic reptile having a lions cl
37、aws, the tail of a serpent, wings, and a scaly skin in English. It is also a symbol of evil, and sometimes it refers to violent woman, i.e. “his wife is an absolute dragon”. (Li Xiaoqiang it cannot fly but can run very fast. In English culture, “ostrich” refers to a person who is stupid, evading or
38、having a good appetite. Several examples may show its figurative meaning in the following: “ostrich belief(鸵鸟信念 )” refers to deceptive idea. “To bury ones head ostrich-like in the sand” is used to describe a person who prefers to ignore problems rather than try and deal with them. In addition, there exists such figurative expressions as “have the digestion of an ostrich (胃口好如鸵鸟 )”. However, to most
