A Contrastive Study On Japanese And Korean Idioms Of Human Body

Language is closely connected to culture. It carries culture, and different languages reflect different culture, conventions and national psychology. Therefore, we can learn a nation's conventions, culture and psychology through the language they use. Human share common in their body, no matter what nations and what races they belong to. Instead of this, generally speaking, idioms of human body of different languages have different metaphorical meaning. It is of great meaning to make sure the features and habits to grasp a language. This thesis intends to find out how culture underlies and influences language, by a study on Japanese and Korean idioms of human body.It consists five parts. The first part is introduction, which elaborates purpose, methods and present accomplishments. The second part is about conceptions, classes and features of idioms, and the third part narrates the conceptions, classes and features of idioms in details. The fourth part is a contractive study on Japanese and Korean idioms of body on "stomach" and "waist", trying to find out difference of two cultures. The last part is conclusion.Idioms of human body do not stand for physical functions only, they show a lot of conceptions and motions, which are already beyond their word meaning. They take large proportion in Japanese idioms, and are greatly used in daily life and literature. It is very important for Japanese learner to correctly grasp those idioms of human body.