| This thesis intends to explore the interaction between language andculture thIough a study on American po1itical and economic metaPhors,with Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and metaphorical concept theory as itstheoretical basis. By analyzing the linguistic data, the political andeconomic metaphors that appea-r in contemporary American majorpublications, this thesis illustrates the intrinsic interaction betweenmetaphors and contemporary American political and economic culture.Chapter one introduces the theoretical basis of the thesis. First of a1l,metaphors are defined and the previous study on metaphors is surveyed.Metaphors have long been the object of study of linguists. However, due toits y'agueness and ambiguity, metaphors have got different definitions andopinions around it. This paPer takes metaphor as "a displacement and anextension of the meaning of words', (Ricocur, 1978), and views metaphor asa cross-subject phenomenon concerning both linguistics and cognitivescience. In l980, George Lakoft and Mark Johnson pointed out the deepstrLlcture lying beneath various metaphors, metaphorical concept, and itsinf1Llence on shaping human conceptual system, but they did not dwell onits cultural coherence. Chinese scholars in the first half of 1980's began thecomparative study of Chinese and western cu1tural impact on metaphors,yet their linguistic data were mainly confined to proverbs and old sayings,which are on1y part of living languages and somewhat oatdated. This paPeremploys contemporary American live metaPhors as linguistic data,including metaPhors employed in academic works as well as in literaryworks, to explore the interaction between metaphors and their cuIturalcontexts. In the 20th century, B.L.Whorf was among the first to propose theinteraction between language and culture. Although SaPir-Whorfhypothesis aroused heated discussions among linguists about its validityand credibility, this thesis takes its right point, that language p1ays asignificant role in shaping the cognitive system and ideological backgroundin a speech community. Furthermore, the thesis also emphasizes thecOunteraction of cu1ture against language. In addition, this chaPter gives abrief introduction to the sources of linguistic data employed in the thesis.ChaPter tvvo deals with the interaction of metaphors and contemporaryAmerican political culture. The first part dwells on the functions ofmetaphors in contemporary American politics. Politics is inseparable withmetaphors, and American politics is particularly associated with metaphors.Metaphors play an important part in American political discourses anddebates f through the use of metaphors, a political discourse may easily stirpeople's emotions; the routine political discourse consistently employsmetaphors to caPture an otherwise eIusive reality; shared metaPhorsconsolidate peop1e in the same speech community, metaPhors serve as apersuasive device in political discourses and debates. And Americanpolitical metaPhors are employed as a means to evoke people's involvementin politics and help people filter information. Particularly, metaPhors playedan important role in mobi1izing people to go to the Gulf War. The secondpart explores the cultural traits in contemporary American politicalmetaphors. Political metaPhors are fundamentally con-nected with politicalideo1ogy, revealing to a great degree the psychological state and preferenceof the ordinary people on political issues as well as the aspirations andstruggles of the political world. In other words, the deep cultural structurehas immense influence on the creation of political metaphors. ThIoughana1ysis of some examples, this thesis sums up the fol1owing contemporaryAmerican cultural traits revealed in political metaphors. (l) politicalmetaphors display a strongly ironic tone against politicians and politicalworld. My study of metaphors that are used in contemporary Americanpublica... |
