论隐喻的功能-精品文档

论隐喻的功能

1. [ ntroduction

Metaphor has a long history and it Ctin be dated back

to 300B.C,so many people have done researches on it,like Aristotle.And metaphor plays a major role in our daily life,it is important to understand metaphor more detailed.

As to [his lopic,lots of scholars have discussed in the past,and all of them made a great contribution.Some discussed the classificatio n of metaphor.Zha ng Shuhui insists metaphor can be divided into structural metaphors,orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors (2010:208-209).A nd some make a research to the sig nifica nces of it.Lv Jua n describes the sig ni fica nee of metaphor to adva need En glish teach ing (2011:101-103).Besides,a great number of researches about metaphor are sprung out.But those works just discuss the fun cti ons are not so many.

What arc the functions of metaphorical expressions

in the level of com mon? The answer is

con fusi on .Therefore,it is n ecessary to make research of the fun cti ons of metaphor on new perspectives .In order to clear that,this paper is fini shed based on the researches of predecessors ' and with some other new points.

2-Functions of Metaphors

Metaphors are so familiar to language users; they are employed freque ntly and play an esse ntial role in lin guistics and in social relati on ships.

2.1 The function on linguistics

The linguistic function is its rhetorical one* As EI figure of speech,metaphor can fill the blanks of words,make expressi ons more precise and the n satisfy people more.Polysemy is a typical phenomenon in Ianguage.And the more a word is employed in daily life,the more complicated its meaning is.Except the conceptual meaning it in cludes,the other meanings of a word of polysemy are gen erated by the rhetoric,metaphor.Tak ing “ mouse" as an example,except its literal meaning,it can be taken as a small object conn ected to a computer,which can be moved with hands and pressed to give commandsto the computer.The reas on for that is the laz in ess of huma n being to create a new word,but the most crucial cause is the two objects are similarity to some exte nd.

Besides, in literciry, metaphor is used to build up the

gorgeous beauty of articles.Chi nese poets favor the

metaphor especially whe n creati ng poems.The first two lines in the poetry 《静夜思》of Li Bai ' s: 床

前明月光，

疑是地上霜.

Comparing th^ moonlight and frost, it mak ES a mood of cold and then modifies the last two lines.lts simple words with metaphor create a circumstanee of imagery.So does his some other poetry.

2.2 The function on social relationships

Tn COHiniLinicating with others,the metaphor is always used.That is because using metaphor can make conversations more iconi c,more humorous and more polite.

2,2.1 The function to express iconically

2.2. 2 The function to express humorously

IIimiOF is the 1 ubricant in our life.lt can be used to speak out matters with funny to make others to accept them with pleasure.A nd emplo ying metaphor is one method to express humorously.

The short sketch Hat cl; up （策划）of Zhao Be nshan' s:

赵本山：你嘴咋跟棉裤腰一样。

宋丹丹：怎么了？

赵本山：那么松呢！

1L uses nieltiphor lo compare Song Dcindan? s gossipy

to belt of cott on-padded trousers,to make the effect of fun.And it made it,because the audie nces laughed.