On Metaphorical Cognition Of English Conundrums From The Rhetorical Perspective

The thesis applies an important cognitive theory—Fauconnier's Conceptual Integration Theory—to exploring how readers interpret English Conundrums, aiming at revealing the dynamic and cognitive process of interpreting English conundrums by analyzing the two typical rhetoric forms—Pun and Oxymoron. Conceptual Integration Network, the basic operation unit of Conceptual. Interpretation Theory, involves four metal spaces:two input spaces, one generic space, and one blending space. These four spaces are connected through mappings and selective projections, and form emergent structure in the blend through composition, completion and elaboration. Thus, the novel meanings are generated.English conundrum, as an interesting quiz show, has penetrated into human's life and learning. However, the understanding of the inherent law between making and guessing riddles should be based on the comprehension of its relation to metaphorical cognitive system as well as readers'cognitive process.So far, a multitude of studies have been implemented by scholars from the aspects of folklore, rhetoric, history and culture, but most of them are mainly focused on the objective observation and static description of the form and contents of conundrums, which can not give a clear picture of internal mechanism of English conundrums. Therefore, both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis of 140 pieces of English conundrums that are collected by the author are made on the basis of previous researches. The two types of English conundrums—pun-based English conundrums and oxymoron-based English conundrums can be expounded combined with the basic conceptual integration network. Accordingly, the meaning construction of English conundrums can be fully presented. This can contribute a lot to the existing researches of English conundrums in cognitive linguistics. By analyzing this specific language phenomenon, abstract cognitive process is externalized.The thesis consists of five chapters. In chapter one, several questions are elicited and a general introduction to the framework of the research, including objectives, methods and significance, is presented. Chapter two introduces English conundrums in detail both from home and abroad. Chapter three provides concepts relevant to Conceptual Integration Theory and studies at home and abroad. Chapter four, the core of the whole thesis, explores how to interpret the internal mechanism of English conundrum through CIT. Chapter five concludes the thesis, raises the limitations of the study and offers suggestions for the further study.