A Study On Metaphor From The Perspective Of Iconicity

Iconicity and metaphor are two important topics in linguistic studies. The study on metaphor has a long history which can be categorized into three traditions in general:rhetorical tradition, philosophical tradition and linguistic tradition. And the study on metaphor, from the perspective of linguistics, is mainly involved in the combination of words, change of word meanings and the structure of sentences. Iconicity, as an important concept in linguistics study, has been examined by many linguists, especially by cognitive linguistics. And the study on iconicity is mainly in lexicon level, sentence level and pragmatics level. It is obvious to find that this method is separated in a sense, while current studies on the relationship between metaphor and iconicity are limited in number. In this thesis, we attempt to provide a systematic exploration to metaphor from the perspective of iconicity.We are hopeful that this study can enhance our better understanding of metaphor and the true nature of language. In a certain degree, the study is helpful to the language teaching.This thesis first reviews the study on metaphor from rhetorical tradition, philosophical tradition and linguistic tradition. And the representative theories can be summarized as the Comparison View, the Substitution View, the Interaction View and the Pragmatic View. We find each view has its own disadvantages. In this case, we introduce iconicity. As an important concept in cognitive linguistics, iconicity refers to a natural resemblance or analogy between the form of a sign and the object or concept it refers to in the world or rather in our perception of the world. It involves the study on linguistic phenomenon from the micro-perspective. And the thesis analyzes the metaphor from the perspective of quantity iconicity, distance iconicity and order iconicity respectively. The thesis claims that metaphor is the basic characteristic of language, it enriches our language system. Without metaphor, our language and expressions are dull. Iconicity, as another important concept in cognitive linguistics, is not separated from metaphor, and the explanation of iconic meaning is limited by metaphor. In other words, there is a close relationship between metaphor and iconicity. We find that there are two commonalities between them. Both have the common philosophy foundation—philosophy in the flesh; Both are based on similarities. However, iconicity differs from metaphor in two aspects. The first one is mapping process, and the second one is conceptual nature. Then, we explore the interaction between them from two aspects. First, iconicity functions as the basis for metaphor, it is the basic principle and underlying structure of language forming. Iconicity provides the basic structure and meaning for language. Second, metaphor limits the explanation of the iconic meaning. In other words, metaphor forms a special kind of expression effect by some special conceptual structures which is the deeper development of iconicity. Therefore, metaphor, as a very common language phenomenon, transcends the traditional studies. The development of metaphor is the development of human's cognition which is not separated from the function of iconicity. Without iconicity, metaphor cannot function at all. Metaphor and iconicity are closely related, we need to understand both of them well when learning either of them. Here, we will borrow the term "metaphorical iconicity" from American semiotics C.S Pierce to conclude the nature of metaphor. Metaphor is iconic, cognitive in nature which is a kind of thought and expression mode.This thesis falls into three chapters. Firstly, the author gives a brief introduction to the origin of the present study, its theoretical bases, scope of research and significance, and the main contents of the following three chapters.Chapter 1 presents an overview of the previous studies on metaphor interpretation in the tradition of rhetorical, semantic, pragmatic and cognitive approaches. In addition, it gives metaphor classifications which focus on the classification made by Lakoff and Johnson.Chapter 2 focuses on iconicity theory. C.S Pierce's iconicity theory and Haiman's iconicity theory are emphasized in this chapter. On the basis of their theories, we give our classification of iconicity.Chapter 3, the core of this thesis, investigates the interactions between iconicity and metaphor. This chapter begins with the brief overview of the previous study on the relationship between metaphor and iconicity. Then, the commonalities and differences between them are under discussion. Later, we analyze the relationship between metaphor and iconicity from the perspectives of quantity iconicity principles, distance iconicity principles and order iconicity principles.And the last is the conclusion part which presents a summary of the previous chapters. We conclude that metaphor is the basic nature of language which enriches our language system. Without metaphor, our language will be dull. Iconicity, as another important concept in cognitive linguistics, is not separated from metaphor, and the explanation of iconic meaning is limited by metaphor. There is a close relationship between metaphor and iconicity. Here, we will borrow the term "metaphorical iconicity" from American semiotics C.S Pierce to conclude the nature of metaphor. Metaphor is iconic, cognitive in nature which is a kind of thought and expression mode. The study on the relationship between metaphor and iconicity is helpful to understanding metaphor and the nature of language. In a certain way, it benefits our language teaching.