A Comparative Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In English Economic News Reprots On Sino-US Trade War

As an important part of economic globalization,trade globalization has had a tremendous impact on the economic development of every country in the world.But trade interaction will inevitably lead to disputes and friction.As China's largest trading partner,the United States has built a frequent trading relationship with China,which poses constant frictions between the two countries while benefits to each other.In recent years,the Sino-US trade war has attracted worldwide attention.The media of various countries,represented by China and the United States,have made a lot of reports on this trade conflict.This paper selects 60 news reports about Sino-US trade war from the influential digital media CNN&Business Insider in the United States and the authoritative English newspapers China Daily&Global Times in China respectively.Based on the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson and previous researches on conceptual metaphors in economic discourses,the paper adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to make a comparative study of conceptual metaphors in English economic news reports about Sino-US trade war reported both by Chinese and American mass media,aiming to reveal the cognitive essence of conceptual metaphors,and attempts to explore the causes for the similarities and differences of metaphorical expressions from cross-cultural factors.The data in this paper is selected from the Chinese and American media reports about Sino-US trade war with the publication date ranging from March 2018 and April 2018,and analyzed through synchronic research.Metaphor has usually been considered a rhetorical device in the literary sense.However,Lakoff and Johnson argue that metaphor is a cognitive means and model that is ubiquitous in everyday life.In other words,the essence of conceptual metaphor is the concept stored in people's brains or the thinking pattern that people should organize in their conceptual systems.The research has found that seven types of conceptual metaphors appear in the economic news reports on Sino-US trade war.They are WAR metaphor,HUMAN BEING metaphor,JOURNEY metaphor,UP/DOWN metaphor,LIQIUD metaphor,SPORTS metaphor and CLIMATE metaphor.According to the analysis on the mapping process and metaphorical expressions of each type of conceptual metaphor,the research findings indicate that,first of all,in the economic reports about Sino-UStrade war between the two countries,have some similar metaphorical expressions.This phenomenon can be attributed to the cultural coherence of conceptual metaphor.The process of people's thinking has great similarities.They all rely on their own experience to understand abstract concepts.Therefore,conceptual metaphor is essentially a cognitive tool and is universal and systematic.Secondly,in the economic reports about Sino-US trade war reported by the mass media of the two countries,there are still some differences in the metaphorical expressions.It is the cultural differences of the two countries that lead to the differences in the preferences of these conceptual metaphors.Therefore,when conducting cross-cultural business communication activities,people ought to fully understand the cultural differences in the use of metaphors in order to achieve better communication.