Sadness Metaphorical Cognition in English��and Chinese

Sadness Metaphorical Cognition in English��and Chinese Sadness Metaphorical Cognition in English??and Chinese 卡盟平台 Abstract: The cognitive function of metaphor enables people to conceptualize human experience. And emotion is one of the most central and pervasive aspects of human experience. This paper mainly analyzes sadness metaphorical cognition in English and Chinese. Key words: cognition; conceptual metaphor; emotion; sadness I. Introduction It is well acknowledged that the study of human emotions constitutes one of the essential components in people’s probe into human cognition. According to George Lakoff’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory， metaphor is not only a matter of rhetoric language but a matter of thought. Human emotions， abstract in nature， are to a great extent conceptualized and expressed via metaphors grounded in bodily experience. Sadness， as one of the basic human emotions， its conceptions cannot be adequately studied without reference to language of it. II. Sadness Metaphors in English The first major sadness metaphor makes use of the orientation as its source domain. It is generally acknowledged that the erect posture typically goes with positive emotions and the drooping posture is often applied to negative emotions. As is to be expected， in contrast with HAPPY IS UP， the conceptualization of sadness is characterized by the metaphor SAD IS DOWN: He fell into a depression. Her spirits drooped. As no replies came， they began to feel downhearted. Next， turn to the metaphor SAD IS DARK for the conceptualization of sadness in English， which also stands in sharp contrast with HAPPY IS LIGHT/BRIGHT. Note the following examples: She is in a dark mood. The future looks pretty dismal. The news of defeat cast a gloom over the city. The above linguistic expressions are motivated by psychological experiences associated with sadness. It is common knowledge that when people feel sad， everything around them seems shrouded in darkish mist and their complexions often lose brightness and turn dark. Like the other basic human emotions， the container schema is applicable in the conceptualization of sadness in English， namely SADNESS IS A SUBSTANCE (in most cases A FLUID) IN A CONTAINER. The conventionalized linguistic expressions realizing the conceptual metaphor include: They were full of sorrow. His feelings of misery go out of control. Her heart is overflowing with sadness. Besides， in English， there is a conceptual metaphor SADNESS IS BLUE， which cannot be found in Chinese. Under this conceptual metaphor are generated some conventional expressions: She looks blue today. He was in a blue mood. III. Sadness Metaphors in Chinese Chinese matches English in the use of some major metaphors in the conceptualization of sadness. First， like English， Chinese abounds in lexical expressions for sadness instantiating the orientational metaphor SAD IS DOWN: 他的心情非常沉重。 这几天她情绪很低落。 Evidently， English and Chinese are very similar in using UP to map onto HAPPINESS while using DOWN to map onto SADNESS. And the metaphor in which SADNESS is depicted in terms of DARK is also present in the Chinese conceptual system. Consider the following metaphorical expressions in Chinese realizing the conceptual metaphor SAD IS DARK: 她脸上好像忽然蒙上了一层乌云。 得知噩耗他觉得自己跌入了黑暗的深渊。(SADNESS IS BOTH DARK AND DOWN) The above examples represent convincingly that both the Chinese-speaking and English-speaking peoples have the same physical and psychological responses when in the emotional state of sadness: feeling dark in sadness. In Chinese， sadness， as an important emotion， is also tied to the general metaphor AN EMOTION IS A SUBSTANCE IN A CONTAINER. That is， SADNESS IS A SUBSTANCE (in most cases A FLUID) IN A CONTAINER， by which many conventional expressions are governed: 她满腹惆怅。 他沉浸在悲伤之中。 一阵阵哀愁涌进他们心中。 It is obvious that the CONTAINER metaphor is equally applicable to English and Chinese in the conceptualization of sadness. There is another conceptual metaphor that is very commonplace in Chinese， but rarely exists in English， namely SADNESS IS PAIN IN HEART， from which instances are derived: 这个不幸的消息令人心如刀绞。 他们被一种撕心裂肺的痛苦折磨着。 This metaphorical concept， to some degree， reflects the Chinese is characterized by introversion and pessimism， in contrast with extroversion and optimism embodied in western people’s character. Generally speaking， when Chinese people come across something unhappy， they seldom take them slightly. Sadness is often pent up inside， which results in pain in the heart. Additionally， Chinese， different from English， tend to use body part terms， such as intestines， eyebrows， faces， etc to conceptualize sadness， as shown in the following: 妹妹愁肠郁结。 古道，西风，瘦马。断肠人，在天涯。 他们这些天一直都愁眉苦脸。 In a word， emotion concepts in Chinese just as in English are largely conceptualized through the metaphorical process that goes from the more abstract to the more physical. IV. Conclusion Metaphors play an important role in the conceptualization of emotion. The similarities strongly support the claim that there exist cognitive universals as well as linguistic universals since some basic bodily experiences should be common among all human beings. As far as the differences between the English and Chinese emotion metaphors， they reflect cultural relativity of conceptual metaphors and hence should be accounted for by different cultural perceptions. References [1] Kovecses， Zoltán. 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