A Cognitive Study On “Leaf” Metaphors In Song Lyrics

Traditional linguistics views metaphor as a rhetorical device to increase the rhetorical effect of linguistic expressions,and therefore studies of metaphor tend to analyse its linguistic features from a literary and rhetorical perspective.Cognitive linguistics regards metaphor as a basic way of human cognitive thinking,and considers metaphor as a cognitive tool for conceptualizing the world around us.In recent years,under the guidance of modern metaphor theory,scholars have continued to search for factual bases that can support the universality of metaphorical thinking from the linguistic materials of different nationalities,and have continued to enhance people’s understanding of the nature of metaphorical thinking.Among the many literary works in China,poetry is an important vehicle for metaphor.Metaphor is the logic of poetry,reflecting the poet’s cognitive way of thinking.The richness of metaphors in poetry provides a rich corpus for the study of conceptual metaphor theory.Song Lyrics,as the shining jewel of ancient Chinese poetry,are of great linguistic research value.This paper uses conceptual metaphor theory to search for the word “leaf” in the first three volumes of the series Quan Song Ci,and study the metaphorical phenomenon of leaf as the source domain.In addition,the cognitive working mechanism of the Leaf Metaphors was analyzed through the mechanism of conceptual metaphor generation.The following findings emerged from this study:(1)In the analysis of Leaf Metaphors,it was found that the Leaf Metaphors in Quan Song Ci are divided into two main categories according to their different target domains.The first is the target domain of human beings,and the other is the target domain of non-human things.These two target domains can also be subdivided.The metaphors with the human target domain can be divided into five groups: PEOPLE IS LEAF,LIFE IS LEAF,APPEARANCE IS LEAF,EMOTION IS LEAF and LOVE IS LEAF.The target domain of non-human things can be divided into two groups: DRINKING CUP IS LEAF and BOAT IS LEAF.A total of 269 poems were found to contain the metaphor of leaf as the source domain.Among them,the three metaphors with the highest percentage are: EMOTION IS A LEAF,BOAT IS LEAF and LOVE IS LEAF.In addition,Leaf Metaphors with people as the target domain were more common;there are 183 metaphors related to people,accounting for 68% of all metaphors,and 86 metaphors related to non-human things,accounting for 32% of all metaphors.(2)Research has found that various types of leaves are used as source domains,including jade leaves,willow leaves,peach leaves,flower leaves,double leaves,red leaves,banana leaves,and others.Interestingly,the “other leaves” category accounts for the largest proportion(56%),indicating that Leaf Metaphors are common in Song lyrics and not limited to specific types of leaves.In addition,red leaves(N=27),peach leaves(N=24),and willow leaves(N=22)are also commonly used as source domains,suggesting that certain specific types of leaves may have special symbolic meanings or associations in Song lyrics and warrant further study.(3)For the analysis of the causes of the Leaf Metaphors in Quan Song Ci,I have found two main factors,one being culture and the other being similarity based on life experience.All of these metaphors come from the poet’s real-life experience and traditional culture.The study has found that the construction of Leaf Metaphors in Song Lyrics is more based on the similarity between the source domain leaves and the target domain.Thus,this study further reinforces the idea that similarity is an important basis for metaphor.Moreover,by extending the scope of the study from traditional literature to cognitive linguistics,this study provides a new perspective and a good attempt to study Quan Song Ci.Through the research and analysis of Leaf Metaphors in Song Lyrics,this paper,on the one hand,enriches the theory of metaphor and reflects the universality of conceptual metaphor theory by supporting the cognitive theory of metaphor from the cultural perspective of Chinese language,and on the other hand,provides a new perspective for understanding and appreciating Song Lyrics,complementing to a certain extent the study of metaphor in Song Lyrics.