A Critical Metaphor Analysis Approach To Self Identity Construction

Identity construction has become a heated topic and has drawn considerable attention from linguists in recent decades.Among various types of identity studies,this thesis concentrates on self identity construction by researching Chinese tennis athlete Li Na's autobiography.Critical Metaphor Analysis(CMA)approach proposed by Charteris-Black is adopted in order to unearth the underlying cognitive and ideological motivation which underpins her application of metaphorical expressions in the autobiographical discourse.The professional athlete identity becomes explicitly salient as the analysis develops by following the procedure of metaphor identification,metaphor interpretation and metaphor explanation.CMA draws on the essence of cognitive linguistics,pragmatic approach to metaphor as well as corpus linguistics,integrating them exquisitely with Critical Discourse Analysis.In this approach,the presence of corpus linguistics embodies great significance in reducing the subjectivity in analyzing.The present research constructs a corpus of the autobiography and incorporates qualitative and quantitative methods with the assistance of AntConc 3.4.4.Specifically,four dominant categories of metaphor are interpreted and explained in detail,that is,PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT,JOURNEY,WAR and LIVING ORGANISM.It is revealed that they play different roles in highlighting and hiding different facets of Li Na's athlete identity.Finally,two separate aspects mark their distinct significance amongst all the target scenarios,namely her profession and emotion.The identity construction is then realized fundamentally upon these two different scenarios.She is proved as tough as a warrior or adventurer in the professional life,but relatively incompetent in handling with emotional obstacles.And her rather tough identity under the spotlight involves some ideological and sociocultural factors as collectivism tradition,political belief as well as personal fulfillment.This study enriches the theoretical resources for identity study from linguistic perspective and calls for attention to the emotional world of public figures.