A Comparative Study Of Metonymic Thinking Salience In Chinese And English

This is a comparative study of metonymic thinking salience including both similarities and differences concerning the experiences of the highlighted part(s) of body in English and Chinese. As we all know, the mapping of metonymy takes place within the same domain. In recent, with the development of the study of the cognitive linguistics, people have paid great attention to the contiguity of metonymy, while another property of metonymy, salience, has not been put much stress on yet. Langacker believes that metonymy is a reference-point phenomenon and is a representation of prominence in nature according to his cognitive reference point model proposed in1991. It coincides with our study. In this thesis, it attempts to study and explore the similarities and differences of metonymic thinking salience between English and Chinese from the view of the cognitive reference point model with some metonymic examples.At first, this thesis reviews the background of metonymy, and analyzes the definitions in the traditional way and the cognitive way. Subsequently, this thesis points out that there are two bases called physical base and psychological base to produce metonymic thinking salience. Based on these two bases, it expounds the producing ways of metonymic thinking salience in English and Chinese concerning the conceptual integration theory developed by Fauconnier&Turner. Then, according to the cognitive reference point model, it finds that metonymic thinking is percepted and formed relying on the part(s) of body, spatial relations as well as strength movements. And because of the similar experience, different people tend to use the same structure of knowledge as the cognitive reference point to understand and express the objective world. Meanwhile, people also have different perceptions and experience for the same entity due to their various experiences. Just for these reasons, it presents the similarities and differences between both English and Chinese languages in metonymic thinking salience respectively. Finally, this thesis discusses the wide application of metonymic thinking in lexicon, sentences and discourses.As a result, this study finds:(1) metonymic thinking has a firm physical base and psychological base and it has been produced by space mapping and conceptual integration;(2) as for metonymic thinking salience in English and Chinese, on one hand, there are four similarities, namely the same cognitive prototype, the same cognitive principles, the same producing ways and the same embodiment;(3) on the other hand, there are three differences, called different cognitive subject and cognitive object, different thinking models as well as different embodiment. This thesis is a cross-cultural study, which provides a new perspective for promoting the understanding and communication between the English and Chinese culture.