A Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In On Building A Human Community With A Shared Future

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC)in November 2012,General Secretary Xi Jinping has called for the building of a human community with a shared future(HCSF).President Xi Jinping has put forward the HCSF concept,in response to the profound changes in the international situation,on the trend of the times toward peace,development,cooperation and mutual benefits,and on an in-depth reflection of the major issues concerning the future of humanity,namely “what kind of world should we build and how should we build it”.General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered many important speeches on HCSF on various international occasions,reflecting China’s global vision and sense of responsibility as a major country that aligns its own development with that of the world.Hence,it is of great theoretical,practical and world significance to study General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speeches on HCSF.At present,scholars mostly carry out research from the historical background,value significance,theoretical connotation and realization path of General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HCSF,and very few scholars analyze it from the perspective of linguistics.Cognitive linguistics holds that the conceptual system on which people think and act is metaphorical in nature.Political discourse,as a vital part of social reality,should also be metaphorical.General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HCSF contain rich metaphors and have received wide attention from the society.Therefore,from the perspective of cognitive linguistics,this thesis intends to apply Conceptual Metaphor Theory to explore the metaphorical expressions in General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HCSF,so as to reveal its underlying cognitive mechanism and cultural connotations.This thesis selects the book On Building A Human Community with a Shared Future(《论坚持推动构建人类命运共同体》)as research data,uses the Metaphor Identification Procedure(MIP)to identify the metaphorical expressions in the data and conducts quantitative and qualitative analysis of them.The main findings are as follows:1.Through MIP,a total of eleven metaphor types are identified,namely PERSON metaphor,VILLAGE metaphor,JOURNEY metaphor,BUILDING metaphor,ENVIRONMENT metaphor,TREE metaphor,MARINE metaphor,ENGINE metaphor,GO-GAME metaphor,BRIDGE metaphor and STAGE metaphor.This thesis conducts a detailed analysis of five major types of metaphors,including PERSON metaphor(20.64%)and VILLAGE metaphor(16.51%),which account for a large proportion,as well as ENVIRONMENT metaphor,TREE metaphor and BRIDGE metaphor,which constitute the most characteristic metaphorical expressions in General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HSCF.2.Detailed analyses of the five types of metaphors show that: they have systematic metaphorical mappings,which are based on the rich traditional Chinese culture.Among them,VILLAGE metaphor has the most abundant mapping structures,and consists of four sub-metaphors,namely FAMILY metaphor,NEIGHBOR metaphor,FRIEND metaphor and PARTNER metaphor,reflecting Chinese traditional cultural connotations of “all under Heaven are of one family” and “Affinity between all people and all creatures”.In PERSON metaphor,the entire international community is compared to the whole body of a person,each individual country is a person,and the physiological or psychological quality of person is compared to the national character of the country,etc.,embodying the traditional values of “Harmony under Heaven” and “Harmony in diversity” in Chinese culture.Besides,in ENVIRONMENT metaphor,the world is regarded as the environment,the international situation is regarded as weather condition or geographical condition in the environment,a better world is regarded as a transformed livable environment,etc.,reflecting the distinct national spirit of hard-working and advancing through difficulties of Chinese people.Furthermore,in TREE metaphor,the country is compared to a tree,and the development of a country is compared to different stages of the growth of a tree,embodying the traditional Chinese cultural values of “Peace among all countries” and “Harmony in diversity”.Finally,in BRIDGE metaphor,the state relation is considered as a bridge,countries are builders,and the content of state relations is considered as the type of bridge,etc.,reflecting the Chinese national spirit of the pursuit of self-improvement and indefatigable tenacity.3.These five types of metaphors do not exist alone,but work jointly to illustrate the core ideas of General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HCSF,that is,building an open,inclusive,clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace,universal security,and common prosperity.The sub-metaphors of VILLAGE metaphor — FRIEND metaphor and PARTNER metaphor show that lasting peace can be achieved through establishing friendship and partnership.ENVIRONMENT metaphor underscores the importance of universal security,and PERSON metaphor illustrates that all countries are interdependent and no country can divorce its security from that of the world.BRIDGE metaphor embodies that countries can strengthen contacts and cooperation in different fields to achieve common prosperity.Meanwhile,BRIDGE and TREE metaphors systematically explain the importance of exchanges and mutual learning among different countries and civilizations to build an open and inclusive world.Finally,VILLAGE metaphor reveals that countries should jointly build a clean and beautiful homeland on which all countries in the world live.Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory to interpret the metaphorical expressions in General Secretary Xi’s speeches on HCSF can reveal its underlying cognitive mechanism and cultural connotations,and help people both at home and abroad better understand the global value of HCSF concept.