A Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphor In English And Chinese Advertising Slogans From Cross-cultural Perspective

In recent years, metaphor has become a popular research field in linguistics. Metaphoris not only a language phenomenon but also a tool of human cognition and thoughts. It isdeeply influenced by culture. Metaphors are widely applied in advertising slogans.In combination with Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions, the thesis appliesconceptual metaphor theory and conceptual blending theory to conduct comparativeanalysis of metaphors in English and Chinese advertising slogans from cross-culturalperspective. The purposes of this thesis are:(1) to test the universality of conceptualblending theory and conceptual metaphor theory in both English and Chinese language;(2)to demonstrate the operations processes of metaphors in Chinese and English advertisingslogans;(3) to test the applicability of Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions and explore thecultural influences on metaphors used in both Chinese and English slogans. The author hascollected100advertising slogans from the internet;50English slogans and50Chineseslogans.84slogans, including41English ones and43Chinese ones are selected foranalysis according to two criteria:1) the slogans must contain at least one metaphor;2) themetaphors in both Chinese and English slogans can be comparable in cross-culturalperspective. The thesis carries out the research in a descriptive, qualitative way withcomparative research methodology.The dimensions of “uncertainty avoidance” and “masculinity/femininity” are notreflected in the data collected, so three dimensions are used in this thesis. They are“individualism versus collectivism”,“power distance” and “long/short-term orientation”.After the analysis, the thesis finds that (1) the conceptual metaphor theory and conceptualblending theory can be applied to analyze both English and Chinese metaphors.(2)Different kinds of metaphor (structural metaphors, orientational metaphors, ontologicalmetaphors and novel metaphors) in advertising slogans have their own operation processes.(3) The three value dimensions used in this thesis are all applicable in conductingcomparable analysis of conceptual metaphors in English and Chinese advertising slogansfrom cross-cultural perspective. Culture has a significant influence on metaphors inadvertising slogans. In English advertising slogans, the source domains of the metaphorsalways emphasize being unique, personal feelings and satisfaction, equality, pragmatismand the future, etc. While in Chinese advertising slogans, the source domains of metaphorsemphasize group, filial piety, the adoration of authority, high quality and credit of theproduct and the importance of history. Meanwhile, because of the universality of humanthinking and the phenomenon of cultural blending, there are also similarities in the use ofmetaphors in both English and Chinese advertising slogans. However, due to the limited resources and qualitative research methodology, subjectivity in this thesis is unavoidable.