英语习语中的隐喻现象

摘要本论文围绕英语习语中的隐喻现象展开，先介绍了隐喻的概念和习语的概念，比如隐喻的含义，从古至今，就有不同的人，不同的学派对此做过研究。

至于隐喻和习语之间存在着怎么样的关系，许多学者也对此进行了研究。

本文例举了几位比较有名的学者的研究，比如Lakoff和Gibbs这两位学者。

本文的重点是介绍习语的隐喻特征，这部分是通过3个方面来论证的：本位隐喻，方位隐喻和结构隐喻。

这三方面有其不同的特点，主要是以例子来说明。

通过举例的方式可以让读者能更直接地了解英语习语中的隐喻现象。

关键词：习语；隐喻；派别ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the metaphorical phenomenon in English idioms, firstly introducing the concepts of metaphor and idiom. Take the definition of metaphor for example, since the old times, many scholars of different schools have different ideas. In terms of relationship between metaphor and idiom, many scholars carried out their own studies. This paper cites the viewpoints of several famous scholars, like Laoff and Gibbs. This paper emphasizes the metaphorical features of idioms from the ontological metaphors, orientational metaphors and structural metaphors. These three kinds of metaphors have different characteristics, which are explained through examples. The way of citing examples enables the readers to get access to the metaphorical phenomenon in English idioms more directly.Keywords：idioms; metaphor; schoolsContents1. Introduction (4)2. The concept of idioms and metaphors (3)2.1The concept of metaphors (3)2.1.1The definition of metaphors (3)2.1.2The classification of metaphors (4)2.2The concept of idioms (4)2.2.1The definition of idioms (4)2.2.2The features of idioms (5)3.Research on the relationship between metaphors and idioms (6)3.1Lakoff's study (6)3.2The Gibbs's study (7)3.3 Other scholars’ study (8)4.Metaphorical features of idioms (8)4.1Ontological metaphors and idioms (8)4.1.1Personification (9)4.1.2 The container metaphor (9)4.1.3.A case study of ontological metaphor (11)4.2Orientational metaphors and idioms (11)4.2.1 The analysis of metaphoric meaning about UP-DOWN (12)4.2.2 The analysis of metaphoric meaning about FRONT-BACK (13)4.2.3 A case study: idioms denoting the concept of love (14)4.3 Structural metaphor and idioms (15)4.3.1 The internal systematicity (15)4.3.2 The external systematicity among the different structural metaphors (16)4.3.3 A case study (18)5. Conclusion (19)6.Acknowledgements (20)7.References (21)1．I ntroductionIn our study of English, we always come across metaphor, which is widely used in English sentences and can indicate vivid meanings. However, we don’t have a clear understanding of this rhetoric. Traditionally, metaphor is a figure in which one thing is compared to another by saying that one is the other. But according to cognitive linguistics, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain or cognitive domain in terms of another conceptual domain. The study of metaphor has attracted the attention of many scholars. In the West there have been many different approaches to the study of metaphor. In 1457, Aristotle studied metaphor as a transference of name, which was known as Aristotelian Approach.The traditional linguistic approach studies metaphor as a deviant phenomenon in language which produces either a false statement or an ungrammatical sentence. The pragmatic approach takes metaphor as a special speech act and metaphorical understanding asthe interplay between knowledge of the language system, knowledge of context, and background schematic knowledge about the world and the society, and the interaction approach understands metaphor as an interaction between two subject systems. Nietzsche, Shelly, Werner, Cassirer and Reddy all reflects on metaphor as cognitive phenomenon from the perspectives of philosophy, literary criticism, psychology, anthropology and linguistics respectively. The Knowledge and Language was writtenby Ankersmit in 1993,which briefly introduced the theories of metaphor, the research ways to metaphor. Kirsten Malmkjaer compared the constructive theory and replacement theory in The Linguistics Encyclopedia. In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy(1967), Beardsley introduced many kinds of metaphoric theories in particular. In China, the dominant approach over the centuries has been the rhetoricalapproach that studies metaphor as a figure of speech. Lan Chun once said “This approach pays a special attention to distinguishing metaphor from other figures of speech and to dividing metaphor into incessantly increasing sub-groups.” [8]49 Idioms are frequently used in our language, both in English and Chinese. Idioms are special kinds of phrases whose meaning can not be grasped from the superficial perspectives. According to the statistics, an adult uses more than 20 million idioms all over his life, which means 7000 idioms per week. It sounds unbelievable, but it is true. In this way, we may have a better understanding of the important status of idioms in the language. In 1994, the scholar Nunberg divided the idioms into three kinds: decomposable idioms, abnormal decomposable idioms and nondecomposable idioms. In The Comprehensive of Idioms, Cacciari and Tabossi divided the idioms into transparent idioms, opaque idioms according to the degree of transparency. However, in the eyes of Fernando, idioms are composed of pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms. In the understanding of mechanism of idioms, two explanations have been brought up: compositional view and noncompositional view. On the basis of noncompositional view, in 1973, Bobrow and Bell put forward Idiom List Hypothesis, which means the literal meaning of idioms exists prior to the rhetoric meaning. However, Swinney and Cutler were against it, so Lexical Representation Hypothesis came up.On the other hand, on the basis of compositional view, Gibbs and Nayak put forward Idiom Decomposition Hypothesis in cognitive psychology. In China, Zhang Peiji studied the construction and meaning of idioms. In 1998,Chen Daoming issued an article in Foreign Language, talking about the development of understanding idioms. Also, there are many other scholars who contribute to the research of idiom in China, like Hua Xianfa, Lin Weiyan, etc.This study, based on the previous studies, is expected to make clear the definition of idiom and metaphor from different perspectives, what is more, the relationship between them is also the focus of the study.The use of idioms can achieve better communicative effects and are conceived to be a sign of language proficiency. This study has theoretical significance, and it may confirm the learnability of idioms through conceptual metaphor approach. In the process of learning idioms, people can not only remember and imitate, but also get access to its deep constructions, especially the metaphorical significance of the English idioms.2. The concept of idioms and metaphors2.1 The concept of metaphors2.1.1The definition of metaphorsWhen we refer to the study of metaphor, there have been many different approaches in the western countries. Aristotelian approach studies metaphor as a transference of names; the traditional linguistic approach studies metaphor as a deviant phenomenon in language which produces either a false statement or an ungrammatical sentence; the pragmatic approach takes metaphor as a special speech act and metaphorical understanding as the interplay between knowledge of the language system, knowledge of the context, and background schematic knowledge about the world and the society. In the traditional way, we always regard metaphor as a figure of speech, in which one thing is compared to another by saying that one is another. For example, He is a tiger“He”in the sentence is the target, which is the described element while“tiger”is called source, which is the describing elem ent. According to Lan Chun, this approach pays special attention to distinguishing metaphor from other figures of speech and to dividing metaphor into incessantly increasing sub-groups. [8]111The interactionist approach begins to recognize the cognitive value of metaphor, thus paving the way for the emergence of the cognitive theory. The cognitive view of metaphor can provide new insights into how certain linguistic phenomena work. It can also shed new light on how metaphorical meaning emerges. The work which marks the establishment of the cognitive approach to metaphor is Lakoff ＆Johnson’s Metaphor We Live By: metaphor means metaphorical concept. The definition then isexplained in the way: Metaphor refers to understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain. It claims that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action and our ordinary conceptual system in terms of the fact that what we both think and act is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. We often talk about life in terms of journey, about time in terms of money, about love also in terms of journey and many others. The concept of JOURNEY(the source domain) is usually used to talk about the concept of LOVE(the target domain).The reason why concept A can be understood in terms of concept B is that there is a set of systematic correspondences between the source and target domain, in the sense that constituent conceptual elements of B correspond to those of A.2.1.2The classification of metaphorsAccording to the view of Lakeoff＆Johnson, metaphor can be divided into three types:(1) Structural metaphor is known as one concept metaphorically structured in terms of another. In structural metaphors, the source domain provides a relatively rich knowledge structure for the target concept. The cognitive function of these metaphors is to enable speakers to understand target A by means of the structure of source B. For example: ARGUMENT IS WAR, in this metaphor, the target domain ARGUMENT is structured in terms of a more familiar domain WAR.(2) Orientational metaphor does not structure one concept in terms of another but instead organize a whole system of concepts with respect to one another, as they are related to spatial orientation. It concerns about up-down, in-out, on-off, deep-shallow and so on. For example, HAPPY IS UP,SAD IS DOWN.(3) Ontological metaphor is described as a way of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas as entities and substances. That is to say, our experience of physical objects and substances provide a basis for an extraordinary wide variety of ontological metaphors. For example, THE MIND IS AN ENTITY, the ENTITY refers to something concrete.2.2 The concept of idioms2.2.1The definition of idiomsNo one can give a noncontroversial answer to the question of what idiom is .That is to say, there is no clear-cut definition for the term “idiom” . The traditional view holds that idioms are semantically arbitrary. What is common in the traditional view is that idioms are essentially noncompositional and their meanings are unanalyzable and arbitrary. While the cognitive linguistics provides us a new perspective on idioms. It argues that the parts of an idiom have their individual meanings, and the relationship between the meanings of the parts and the meaning of the idiom is compositional, that is , idioms are regarded to be analyzable semantically.Different dictionaries give the different definitions about it and many linguists hold different opinions.A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.(New Oxford Dictionary of English)A special kind of phrase. It is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually.(Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms)A phrase whose meaning is different from the meaning of each word considered separately. These phrases have a fixed form―they usually cannot be changed―and they are often informal, but they can also be slang, rude slang, or even slightly formal. Many idioms are used in spoken English, but they also appear in newspapers and magazines, in books, and even in academic writing.(Cambridge Dictionary of American idioms)An idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning can not be worked out from its separate parts.(Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistic)……There are broad sense and narrow sense in defining idioms. In its broad sense, idioms in English refer to set phrases, colloquialism, proverbs and slang expressions. In its narrow sense, idioms in English refer to some special fixed phrases. But not all fixed phrases are idioms. For example, close your eyes is a common fixed phrase, but it is not an idiom because each word in it is used in its standard meaning. Keep yourshirt on, however, is an idiom, because the phrase does not mean not taking off your shirt, but means staying calm.In my thesis, I will focus mainly on the narrow sense of idiom.2.2.2The features of idiomsNow, we have discussed the definition of idioms, we have known there exist different views, as different schools or linguists define idioms from different perspectives. Some may describe it from the semantic perspective, claiming the meaning of idioms are analyzable, however, some point out the semantic properties are the most important to idioms. So, here, it is necessary for us to discuss the semantic characteristics of idioms.According to the view of Luo Shiping, there are five semantic characteristics of English idioms: [19]90(1) The meaning of an idiom is a single unit. That is to say, an idiom must be learned as a whole. Its overall meaning is not a simple combination of each component’s meaning. For example“let the cat out of the bag”means to tell somebody secret information, which seems to have nothing to do with“cat”and“dog” .(2) Most idioms have both literal meaning and figurative meaning, and they are different. For example“bread and butter”refers to two kinds of food literally, while figuratively, the idiom means something that people need in order to live, such as money and jobs.(3) The literal meaning of some idioms are apparently against thinking logic or life logic, such as“eat one’s head off”.(4) New idiomatic meanings can not be obtained by analogy or inference. Take“under the weather”for example, it is incorrect to coin a phrase“above the weather”to mean to feel well, for the phrase means to feel uncomfortable.(5) Figurativeness is an obvious feature of the idiomatic meaning as well as a significant figure of speech employed in idioms. In this sense, they include simile idioms such as“as blind as a bat”,“feel like a fish out of water”and metaphorical idioms ,such as“an old flame”,“carry a torch”.3. Research on the relationship between metaphors and idiomsIn the previous sections, this thesis has discussed the definition of metaphor and idiom from various perspectives. However, they are not independent of each other. The next part is to clarify the relationship between metaphor and idiom, which enables the readers to understand, firstly, what is the relationship between metaphor and idiom, secondly, to what extent the research on the relationship between metaphor and idiom has reached. The thesis elucidates this part by citing the researches made by two important linguists.3.1 Lakoff’s studyIn L akoff’s book Metaphor We Live By, a large amount of idioms were frequently taken as examples of conventional metaphors, implying the facilitating role of conceptual metaphor in the comprehension of idioms. According to the view of Lakoff, the link between conceptual metaphors and idioms was established with the proposition of the conceptual metaphor theory, language is metaphorically structured, idioms, as a constitutive part of language, are supposed to be metaphorically structured. Lakoff criticized the traditional view that the meaning of idioms are arbitrarily formed, and stated“when idioms have been associated with conventional images, it is common for an independently-motivated conceptual metaphor to mapthat knowledge from the source to the target domain.” [16]Lakoff’s analysis also shows conceptual metaphor is helpful in distinguishing idioms similar in meaning. For example,“crack up”and“break down”,both are used to describe people’s psychological state, but it is still confusing to distinguish. “C rack up”is governed by the metaphor THE MIND IS A MACHINE, as if the mind has an on-off state. That is to say, when a machine breaks down, it simply ceases to function. If someone is unable to function for psychological reasons, we would like to say“crack up”,while“break down”is governed by the metaphor THE MIND IS A BRITTLE OBJECT, that is to say, when a brittle object shatters, it flies into pieces that may cause dangerous consequences, such as hurting people around. When someone goes crazy, wild and violent, he or she may hurt somebody else, then we would like to say“break down”.3.2 Gibbs’ studyGibbs’research contributes greatly to the psychological studies on idiom comprehension and offers us valuable inspiration for the study of idioms. Gibbs’ view is similar to Lakoff’s. His research proves that idioms are not dead metaphors and they have more complex meanings that are motivated by conceptual metaphors linking the idiomatic phrases to their figurative interpretations; the meanings of idioms are not arbitrary but motivatedly people’s tacit knowledge of conceptual metaphors as suggested by Lakoff. Gibbs has carried out a series of experiments, the feature of which is the use of mental imagery. The subjects were asked to form and describe their mental images for different idiomatic expressions and then they were asked a series of detailed questions about their images regarding the causes and effects of different events within their images. The result showed that the participants demonstrated great consistency in their responses to the questions for the idioms with similar figurative meanings despite the differences in their surface forms.3.3 Other scholars’ studyLakoff and Gibbs have made great contribution to the studies on the relationship between metaphors and idioms. Also based on Lakoff’s study, Kovecses and Szabo summed up the conceptual metaphors on FIRE, which contributes to the construction and comprehension of the idioms related to fire. These conceptual metaphor serveas a bridge linking two independent domains, a domain of fire and a domain of an abstract concept.ANGER IS FIREHe was spitting fire.LOVE IS FIREThe fire between them finally went out.IMAGINATION IS FIREThe painting set fire to the composer’s imagination.CONFLICT IS FIREThe killing sparked off riots.ENERGY IS FUEL OF FIREHe was burning the candle at both ends.4. Metaphorical features of idioms4.1 Ontological metaphors and idiomsOntological metaphor is one of the three types of metaphors, and is usually described as “ways of viewing events, activities, ideas, emotions, etc, as entities and substances”. [16]As long as we are able to identify our experiences as identities or substances, then we can refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify them, and, by this means, reason about them. The most important characteristics of ontological metaphor is to view abstract things as concrete things. For example:(1)we need to combat inflation (2)That was a beautiful catch. In (1), the abstract noun inflation is regarded as concrete person. In (2), the act of catch is regarded as a concrete thing. The following are the most obvious types of ontological metaphors.4.1.1 PersonificationThe most obvious ontological metaphors are those where the physical object is further specified as being a person. Personification is considered to belong to ontological metaphors.First, let's look at the two examples.A: Life has cheated me.B: Anger has pinned us to the wall.If we look closer to the above two sentences, we are able to find out that both of the two sentences enable us to see nonhuman as human. It allows us to understand a wide variety of experiences with nonhuman entities in terms of human motivation, characteristics and activities. The most obvious ontological metaphor are those where the physical object is further specified as being a person. In the second sentence, anger is personified. It gives us a vivid picture about how anger acts. In this sentence, anger seems to hurt us, attack us and kill us. So we can understand that personification is a general category that covers a wide range of metaphors, which allows us to make sense of phenomena in the world in human terms. This kind of sentences are: Disease finally caught up with him; His religion tells him that he cannot eat pork; Inflation has given birth to a money-minded generation.4.1.2 The container metaphorThe container metaphors are the other representation of ontological metaphors. As we know, rooms and houses can be considered to be containers as they have boundaries, moving from room to room or house to house is moving from one container to another, that is, which is also true to our physical beings. Each of us is a container, with a bounded surface and in-out orientation. A clearing in the woods is seen as having a boundary surface, and we can view ourselves as being in the clearing or out of the clearing, in the woods or out of woods. There are different kinds of boundaries: concrete or abstract; definite or indefinite, surface, line or point.1) The boundary of the tenor is a surface.a. The boundary is clear and concrete.This kind of tenor, which can be understood as the target in a sentence, is concrete, such as the human body, which we can actually see with our eyes. Let's look at the following examples:(1)I was filled with anger.(2)He poured out his hatred on us.(3)She is a warm and caring person inside.The human body can be regarded as a container, so can every part of human body:(1) Her eyes filled with tears.(2) My stomach is empty.(3) Your head is full of good ideas.b. The boundary is obscure or abstract.In this way, the boundary of the tenor is generally unseen or untouchable, such as water, light and air; a type of society or culture; the ideas or feeling of a human. There are some phrases in English, such as "in the air", "jump into water" and "read in the sun".(1) He was lost in thoughts.(2) He fell into depression.(3) I didn't t ake this responsibility into account.2) The boundary of tenor is a line.Some objects with plane structure can also be mapped onto containers, for they also have boundaries which are made of lines.(1) There is a lot of land in Kansas.(2) What can you see in this picture?(3) The boundary of tenor is two points.The concept of container is pervasive. It can be mapped into a three-dimensional space, two-dimensional plane and even one-dimensional line. The concept of one-dimensional is mostly seen in the concept of time, for the time is durable and going to the future constantly. The time can be viewed as container because time has the boundary, that is ,the beginning and ending. The beginning and ending are definite in special times.(1) He is trapped in his past.(2) He did it in three minutes.4.1.3. A case study of ontological metaphorBoth Lakoff and Johnson paid attention to the role of the body in Linguistic expressions and maintained that these expressions reflect and influence our thought in many ways. A group of English idioms containing "finger" contribute to different meanings, and the finger in English is frequently conceptualized as the actual "doer of thing". If one is doing something or participates in something, one's fingers must be "IN" the matter, or one's fingers should function and make contact with the matter:(1) get one' s finger into something(participate in something)(2) have a finger in something(take part in something)(3) get one's finger burnt(suffer after a foolish act or mistake)(4) work one' s finger to the bone(work very hard)(5) cross one's finger(wish for good luck or success)(6) twist somebody around one's finger(persuade somebody without difficulty; dominant somebody completely)(7) get one's fingers out(begin work in earnest; hurry up)Ontological metaphor deals with the physical experience in the objective world. We have mentioned above that ontological metaphors allow us to “view events, activities, emotions, etc as entities and substances. In (1), we can view get one’s finger into something as an activity, what can be figured out is more than that. Just as the idiom conveys “if one is doing something or participates in something, one's fingers must be "IN" the matter, or one's fingers should function and make contact with the matter”.4.2 Orientational metaphors and idiomsAccording to Lakoff and Johnson, orientational metaphors give the concept of a spatial orientation by "mapping a spatial structure onto a non-spatial concept". Most of them have to do with spatial orientation:up-down,in-out,front-back,on-off,deep-shallow,central-peripherical.These spatial directions arise from the fact that we have bodies of the sort we have and that they function as they do in our physical environment. Metaphorical orientation is not arbitrary. They have a basis in our physical and cultural experiences. This section will focus on the directions of up-down and front-back.4.2.1 The analysis of metaphoric meanings about UP-DOWNIn English we usually use up, above, over, and the verb rise, climb to denote the concept of UP. The adjectives are upper, high, superior, etc. On the other hand, the prepositions denoting the concept DOWN are down, under or below; the verbs are drop, sink, fall, etc.1) More is up; Less is down .If you add more of a substance or of physical objects to a container or pile, the level goes up―Lakoff [16](1) If you are too hot, turn the heat down.(2) Now he has realized that he's already up to his ears in debt.2) Good is up; Bad is down .Happiness, health, life, and control―the things that principally characterize what is good for a person―are all up―Lakoff[16](1) We hit a peak last year, but it's been downhill ever since.(2) Things are looking up.(3) High status is up;Low status is down.Status correlated with social power and physical power is up.―Lakoff[16](1) He's climbing the ladder.(2) He has a lofty position.(3) They work under a kind leader.(4) Having control or force is up; Being subject to control or force downPhysical size typically correlates with physical strength, and the victor in a fight is typically on top.―Lakoff [16](1)I am on top of the situation.(2)He is low man on the totem pole.(3)The director presides over the meeting.5)The metaphors about time in English are expressed by up and down.Normally our eyes look in the direction in which we typically move(ahead, forward).As an object approaches a person(or the person approaches the object),the object appears larger. Since the ground is perceived as being fixed, the top of the object appears to be moving upward in the person's field of vision.―Lakoff [16](1) What's up?(2) I'm afraid of what's up ahead of us.But there are exceptions in English. TOWARD A LATER or TIME IS DOWN is also seen in English. For example, this story was handed down to him by his father.4.2.2 The analysis of metaphoric meaning about FRONT-BACKThe words and expressions denoting the concept of "FRONT-BACK" are frontand back, before and after, in front of and behind, forward and backward, etc…1) THE OPEN IS FRONT and THE HIDDEN IS BACKAccording to the normal condition, the front persons in a line are easier to be seen and the back persons are blocked and not easier to be seen.-----Lakoff(1) He is behind the plan.(2) The case is now before the judge.2) THE IMPORTANT IS FRONT and THE LESS IMPORTANT IS BACKThe important person is always in the front of a line and the important thing is firstly dealt with.----Lakoff(1)I think quality must come before quality.(2)The prince is before his brother in the line of succession.3)THE DEVELOPED IS FRONT and THE LESS DEVELOPED IS BACKThe fast runners will be in the front and the slow runners will be in the back.----Lakoff(1) The child was backward in learning to walk.(2) You company is ahead in developing the new technology.4) The concept of FRONT-BACK is complex in denoting time. When the observer is standing at the road of time, the conceptual metaphor is:a. THE FUTURE IS BACK and THE PAST IS FRONTwhile the observer is marching facing the future, the conceptual metaphor is:b. THE FUTURE IS FRONT and THE PAST IS BACKAs for (a) let's look at the examples:(1) The plane was behind schedule.(2) Let's move the appointment forward from Friday to Thursday.The above metaphor views time as a road with different points and judges from the perspective of the road, thus the past is in front and the future is at the back.As for (b) Let's look at the examples:(1)I am looking forward to seeing you again.(2)He looked backwards forty years.4.2.3 A case study: idioms denoting the concept of love(1) LOVE IS A JOURNEY。