On The Conceptual Metaphors In President Xi's Speeches From Cultural Perspective

Public speeches delivered by state leaders in the international occasions usually contain national policies and diplomatic philosophy,which are quite politically significant.President Xi Jinping,as the new leader of China,is unique in making speeches,since he prefers to use simple and fresh language which is popular and easy to understand,instead of employing the obscure governmental discourse.In the book Metaphors we Live By,Lakoff and Johnson propose the conceptual metaphor theory.They believe that people's conceptual system,in terms of which we both think and act,is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.Therefore,applying conceptual metaphor theory to the analysis of President Xi's speeches is feasible and maneuverable.Meanwhile,although a lot of researchers have paid much attention to the study of speeches made by state leaders,most of them take western public speeches as their research subjects and Chinese public speeches haven't been given enough attention.Therefore,based on MIP(Metaphor Identification Procedure by Pragglejaz Group)and quantitative and qualitative methodologies,metaphorical expressions appearing in President Xi Jinpin's ten speeches downloaded from the official website will be identified,which in turn makes it possible to summarize the corresponding conceptual metaphors from those recognized metaphorical expressions.Then through the introduction of cultural dimension,the metaphorical expressions are interpreted within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory,aiming to work out the background cultural values,as well as the traditional Chinese philosophy based on which our party's policies are constructed.Major research findings are as follows: firstly,twelve metaphorical types are finally selected and summarized from the research material,mainly including marine metaphor,farming metaphor,disease metaphor,building metaphor,engine metaphor,journey metaphor,body metaphor,go-game metaphor,neighbor metaphor,rivermetaphor,war metaphor and stage metaphor.Secondly,it has been found that unconscious construction of certain metaphorical types is rooted in Chinese culture and the cultural root deeply influences people's metaphorical construction and cognition,which echoes Kovecses' s ideas in his book Metaphor in Culture(2005).Thirdly,with reference to the employment of main metaphorical types and the analysis of research corpus,we can find that China's primary task at present is still to try to create peaceful external and internal environment,to develop economy and constantly raise people's standard of living;and in this way China is going to make contributions to the construction of a harmonious world together with other countries.Through combining conceptual metaphor and culture,the thesis is expected to help foreign friends better interpret and understand China government's policies and guideline and more importantly help carry forward Chinese cultural spirits.