A Cognitive Study Of Northern Shaanxi Folk Songs From Conceptual Metaphorical Perspective

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor is a basic way of human cognitivemechanism and metaphor is “cross-domain mapping between a concrete domain andan abstract domain”. The idea and a detailed examination of the underlyingprocesses of conceptual metaphor were firstly explored by George Lakoff and MarkJohnson in their famous work Metaphors We Live By. Lakoff and Johnson (1980:5)described metaphor as follows:“The essence of metaphor is understanding andexperiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” Mapping is the most essentialof conceptual metaphor theory (CMT). The mapping between source and target isconstrained by what cognitive linguistics called the invariance principle. Theemphasis on “experiential motivation” is another of the central principles of CMT.Metaphor is not simply a matter of language, but reflects “deep” correspondences inthe way our conceptual system is organized.NSFS usually refers to those folk songs distributing in northern Shaanxi and havingthe local style, and Xin Tian You has been taken as the representative of NSFS. Being the combination of songs and poetry, the structure of its lyrics is free and flexible, andthe language is very vivid. The lyrics material of NSFS analyzed in this paper are mainlyfrom the following works:1. Chinese Folk Songs Shaanxi Volume—Northern ShaanxiPart which includes594pieces of songs.2. Complete Collection of Northern ShaanxiFolk Songs which includes1427pieces of songs.3. Wear Red Shoes in Dew—Collectionof Xin Tian You by Yang Cui includes415pieces of songs.4. Library of Sui De· FolkSongs Volume including3947pieces songs.From the perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the author plans to analyzesome lyrics of NSFS. In the end, the author aims to answer the following three questions:(1) What types of conceptual metaphors are mainly adopted in the lyrics of NSFSselected by the author?(2) In the local cultural background, how did these metaphors inNSFS form? What kind of features of the conceptual metaphors in NSFS?(3)Through the analysis of these types of conceptual metaphors in NSFS, can theconclusion support Lakoff’s major claims in the conceptual metaphor theory? Assolving these problems, each metaphor phenomenon will be explained one by one.In the process of data collection, the methodology adopted to identify themetaphor in this thesis is the five-step procedure proposed by Steen (2002). Afterthe analysis, the author mainly conclude as follows: Although conceptual metaphortheory was proposed by Lakoff&Johnson in the English background, through theanalysis of many conceptual metaphors in NSFS by the author, the universality ofLakoff’s conceptual theory was proved to some extent.From the perspective of Chinese and through the classification and analysis of manylyrics of NSFS, the author offers some proofs of Northern Shaanxi for the conceptualmetaphor theory, and it also sheds light on the studies of Classical Chinese folk songs.Furthermore, it can give the study and translation of NSFS a new approach.