An Analysis Of Conceptual Metaphors In Cyber Buzzwords

With the development of cognitive linguistics, it is realized that metaphor is not merely a rhetoric manner, but also a thinking pattern, a cognitive method. Metaphor makes it possible for people to understand one kind of thing, which is unfamiliar and abstract, through another kind of thing which is familiar and concrete. Cyber buzzwords are the conventional expressions which are used widely among Internet users and are abundant in metaphorical expressions. The cognitive study of metaphor in cyber buzzwords and the analysis of these metaphorical expressions will guide people better understand and apply cyber buzzwords.Based on previous studies carried out by scholars, this thesis will apply conceptual metaphor theory to analyze the metaphors in cyber buzzwords, animal metaphor, plant metaphor, body metaphor, military metaphor, spatial metaphor, building metaphor, navigation metaphor and container metaphor. Lakoff and Johnson think that the metaphor is realized through the mappings of the slots in source domain schema, the relations, the properties, and the knowledge in source domain onto that of the target domain. Through the above analysis, this thesis will further reveal the experiential basis, generative motivations and interpretation mechanism, and analyze the cognitive functions and effects of these metaphors.As a unique language type, cyber buzzwords pervades on the Internet. The study of metaphor in cyber buzzwords will further confirm its universality in human life. Besides, the analysis of metaphors in cyber buzzwords and the analysis of cross-mapping between source domain and target domain. From the study in this thesis, the author hopes to guide the users to apply them better in online communication.