A Comparative Study Of Metaphors In Chinese And Englishi Tree Words

Tree words are the basic words in Chinese and English.In Botany,tree words are used to refer to specific trees.In linguistics,tree words can reflect the thinking patterns and cognitive characteristics of different nationalities,which is an important way to study language and thinking.Under the guidance of etymological theory and conceptual metaphor theory,this paper collects data from Peking University Modern Chinese corpus(CCL)and English speaking countries corpus(BNC).Based on various kinds of etymological dictionaries,ancient classics and literary works,this paper investigates etymology,analyzes the data,and makes a comparative study of metaphors of tree words between Chinese and English,and analyzes their similarities and differences.This paper mainly solves three problems: 1.what are the metaphorical types of Chinese and English tree words? 2.What are the similarities and differences between Chinese and English metaphors of tree words? 3.What are the reasons for these similarities and differences?In this paper,the general terms of trees in Chinese and English "shu" and "tree" are taken as the research objects.By analyzing the metaphorical change process from the original meaning to the extended meaning,it is found that the metaphorical ways of trees are mainly image and association.Image metaphor means that people project their intuitive perception of the external form of "tree" onto things similar to its image.Associative metaphor is based on human emotional experience and projects it onto similar abstract things.This provides a way for the study of metaphor of specific tree words.By studying the metaphors,we can find that there are a large number of tree metaphors in both Chinese and English,and the metaphorical projection patterns have something in common.The common ground mainly comes from the common physical experience and cognitive model of human beings.The differences are mainly manifested in five aspects: the differences between Chinese and western regional civilization,myths and legends,religious culture,traditional folk customs and thinking characteristics.Starting from the etymological comparison,this paper explores the similarities and differences of metaphor between Chinese and Western tree words,and reveals the thinking and cultural characteristics of Chinese and English nations.For example,the East pays attention to "realism",while the West likes "freehand brushwork";the Chinese respect nature,while the West advocates freedom.These studies may have some reference value for intercultural communication and TCFL.