On The Semantic Assignment View In Metaphors

Metaphor is one of the hottest topics in the study of language and a lot of achievements have been done in probing into metaphor. The best-known and widely-accepted theories include Substitution Theory, Comparison Theory, Interaction Theory, Mapping Theory and Blending Theory. Having investigated these theories intensively, we can find that metaphor is regarded as a kind of semantic assignment. Specifically speaking, the partial meaning of source is assigned to target in metaphors. However, their discussions on the contents and process of semantic assignment are all insufficient to different degree.The Impartment and Inheritance of Connotation and Denotation approach (IICD for short) aims at explaining how the features of connotation impart to its denotations and how the denotations inherit the basic features within the scope of type hierarchy structure. As a matter of fact, the working process of metaphors is the process of assigning the partial meaning of source to its target. Therefore, this thesis discusses the process of semantic assignment in detail within the scope of the Impartment and Inheritance of Connotation and Denotation approach. Four steps are put forward to explain the specific process of semantic assignment: (1) the type hierarchy structure of source (X) and target (Y) are built up respectively; (2)βis picked out which is assigned to target, and a new type is built up takingβas its main feature; (3) based on much more abstract relations, source (X) and target (Y) are merged into the new type; (4) according to the IICD approach,βis imparted to the sub-class entities naturally.The contents of semantic assignment in metaphors have also been discussed in detail in the light of stereotypical relations and situational context. We suppose three steps to determine the contents of semantic assignment: (1) to pick out the prominent features which hold stereotypical relations with source (Y); (2) to put the chosen features into situational context; (3) to pick out the prominent features (β) which are fit for the situational context.The present thesis not only maintains that a metaphor is a kind of semantic assignment in nature, but also investigates the contents and process of semantic assignment in detail.