What is "meta-" for?
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
外国语言文学 = Foreign Language and Literature Studies
Publication Date
2008
Volume
97
Issue
2008(3)
First Page
145
Last Page
152
Publisher
外國語言文學編輯部
Keywords
Qian Zhongshu, two handles and several sides theory of metaphor, metaphor study, cognitive linguistics, rhetoric
Abstract
This paper revisits Qian Zhongshu's theory of vehicular diversity and multivalency in an attempt to question the plausibility and necessity of postulating conceptual metaphors that have dominated so much of our contemporary discussions of metaphor. Using examples from both Chinese and English,it tries to show that conceptual metaphors are nothing more than linguists' meta-metaphorical constructs whose number could proliferate towards infinity due to the polysemic nature of figurative expressions.It also argues that lower-level semantic associations between the vehicle and the tenor are sufficient for explaining the existence or the emergence of a metaphor.
Print ISSN
16724720
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Ding E. (2008). What is “meta-” for? 《外國語言文學 Foreign Language and Literature Studies》, 2008(03), 145-152.