An Analysis Of Conduit Metaphors Embodied In Chinese Idioms: From The Source To The Destination

Verbal Communication has always been one of the focuses of linguists,so scholars have put forward a variety of models,such as Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication(1948),Osgood-Schramm Model of Communication(1955),Lasswell Model of Communication(1948),etc.Based on these models,Reddy(1993)proposed the conduit metaphor to conceptualize the metalanguage of verbal communication.In the conduit metaphor,Reddy treated English language as a container that is transmitted to the listener through a conduit or space,and the listener extracts the thoughts from it.So,whether Chinese verbal communication can be conceptualized by the conduit metaphor? Besides,are there any other conceptual metaphors in Chinese verbal communication? To understand how the Chinese conceptualize verbal communication,the author collects Chinese idioms and idiomatic expressions about verbal communication from dictionaries.When analyzing collected Chinese expressions,the author finds that some expressions can be explained by the conduit metaphor.Firstly,as two important concepts in the conduit metaphor,Repertoire Members and Signals can be either explicit or implicit.Secondly,as the most important part of verbal communication,linguistic expressions are metaphorized to containers,which have a variety of characteristics,in the conduit metaphor,such as LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE COLORED CONTAINERS,LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE CONTAINERS THAT HAVE TEMPERATURE,LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE WEIGHABLE CONTAINERS and so on.However,due to the differences between Chinese and English,expressions with Chinese characteristics do not lend themselves well to the conduit metaphor,which can generally be divided into three types of metaphors: 1)VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS COOKING;2)VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE,and 3)VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS A WAR.While observing these idioms and idiomatic expressions,the author also finds that xin(heart)plays an important role in the process of communication,that is,the heart is both the source of information and the destination of information.The discovery of the role of xin(heart)in communication in the process of observation,to some extent,proves the cognitive nature of metaphor and the metaphorical nature of human thinking.