A Cognitive Study Of Sci-tech Neologism From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor

With the rapid development of science and technology,the concept of new science and technology as well as the new term has been emerging.The importance of neologism is obvious.It can avoid the confusion of terminology for scientific research and teaching,and can narrow the adverse influence on the economy,culture and people's livelihood,to guide and standardize the sci-tech neologism in time.Neologisms are the product of social development.Researching neologisms is very meaningful for people to understand the world.Extensive and in-depth research has been made on the composition and characteristics of sci-tech neologisms as well as the translation of scientific and technical neologisms,and the semantics.With the development of cognitive linguistics,some scholars have begun to handle the study from this new cognitive perspective,but there is still great research space.Therefore,from the perspective of conceptual metaphor,this thesis adopts the methodology of description and analysis to analyze the similarity between the source domain and target domain in detail,aiming to explore the cognitive mechanism of the metaphors of sci-tech neologisms.The findings are as follows:(1)The selected 204 sci-tech neologisms contain twelve main conceptual metaphors,which account for 37.5 percent.They are Community Metaphors,Entity and Substance Metaphors,Container Metaphors,People Metaphors,Animal Metaphors,Electricity Metaphors,Bridge Metaphors,Color Metaphors,etc.The twelve main conceptual metaphors consist of twenty-nine conceptual metaphors,such as GREEN IS HEALTHY,GRID IS A COMMUNITY,CONNECTION IS A BRIDGE,HUMAN-MADE PRODUCT IS NATURAL SUBSTANCE,ELECTRICITY IS PEOPLE,MATERIAL IS PEOPLE,INANIMATE OBJECTS ARE ANIMALS,PLANTS ARE MACHINES,ELECTRICITY IS A JOURNEY,BUSINESS IS A JOURNEY,TRANSMITTING INFORMATION IS PASSING A BALL,etc.(2)This paper analyzes the mappings between the source domain and target domain in detail,finding that sci-tech neologisms tend to use the concrete concept to express the abstract concepts.For example,using bridge to express connection,using natural substance to express human-made product,using cloud to express server,using machine to express molecular,etc.Sci-tech neologisms tend to use a familiar thing or experience to express another strange or new thing or experience.For example,using journey to express electricity,using community to express network,using material to express plant,using container to express space,etc.This thesis uses conceptual metaphor to study sci-tech neologisms,which explore the formation and meaning construction of sci-tech neologisms.It is hoped that the study of this thesis has significance in naming and expressing sci-tech neologisms and can provide an angle for scientific and technological workers.