A Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And American University Mottos Based On ECBT Model

University mottos reflect the educational philosophy,the mode of personnel training,and the characteristics of the university,which are unique identities.University mottos are deeply rooted in traditional culture,and they are cultural marks.Since the21^st century,university mottos have attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad,who have carried out relevant studies in the fields of culture,linguistics,translation,and pedagogy.The previous studies mainly focused on interpreting university motto education concepts and exploring the university motto culture,ignoring the cognitive mechanism of university mottos.Although some scholars mention that some university mottos would change with the development of the times and the change of educational ideas,they lack a systematic theoretical framework and corpus support.At the same time,the comparative study of university mottos is less.Given this,281 Chinese and 281 American University mottos were selected from the ARWU ranking list and the U.S.News ranking list in 2021,and the self-built Chinese American university mottos closed corpus was constructed.And Embodied Conceptual Blending Theory（ECBT）model is constructed based on the core principles of Embodied-Cognitive linguistics and Conceptual Blending Theory.（1）What are the phonetic,syntactic,and semantic features of Chinese and American university mottos based on ECBT model?Are there similarities and differences?（2）What is the cognitive mechanism of Chinese and American university mottos?Are there similarities and differences in the cognitive mechanism?（3）Why are there similarities and differences between Chinese and American university mottos?Research Findings are as follows.1.Based on the ECBT model,this thesis finds that the Chinese and American university motto features syllable symmetry and prosodic symmetry at the phonetic level.The proportion of syllable symmetry in Chinese and American mottos is 96.4%and 7.8%,respectively.The proportion of prosodic symmetry in Chinese mottos is60.5%,and that in American mottos is 27.4%.At the syntactic level,the structure of Chinese mottos is relatively fixed,mainly including noun phrases and verb phrases.In contrast,American mottos,such as noun phrases,verb phrases,propositional phrases,and sentences,are diversified.The proportion of symmetry in Chinese mottos is 96.7%,while that of American mottos is 32.2%.At the semantic level,the Chinese and American university mottos are experiential,metaphorical,and prominent.2.The analysis found that the cognitive mechanism of university mottos in China is mainly multiple blending,87.3%.Mirror Network is 0.7%,and there is no Simplex Network,while the double-scope network in America is the largest,71%.Mirror Network is 0.7%,and Simplex Network is 6%.3.It is found that both Chinese and American university mottos emerge with the educational ideas of knowledge pursuit and moral perfection,discipline characteristics,and social service ideas.Still,university mottos are different in highlighting historical and cultural traditions.The Chinese mottos highlight the Chinese traditional culture,while the American mottos highlight the religious and European classical cultural traditions.3.There are similarities and differences between Chinese and American University mottos.The similarity is that both university mottos have similar educational ideas.There are three main reasons for the difference between the two.First,Chinese and American university mottos differ in reality.Chinese mottos are rooted in Chinese traditional culture,and most are derived from Chinese classics,while American mottos are rooted in religious culture and European classical culture,and most are derived from the Bible.The second difference is cognition.Chinese believe symmetrical structures are integrity and pursue balance.American think subject-predicate structures are the integrity.The third difference is language.Chinese and English belong to different language symbol systems,which are restricted by different language structures and form different mottos.The significance is as follows:firstly,ECBT model emphasizes the crucial role of background information in the process of conceptual integration and highlights the experiential role in the process of conceptual integration,which makes up for the conceptual integration theory to some extent;Secondly,the study further proves that symmetry is a cognitive way,which can be reflected in the phonetics and syntactic structures;Thirdly,the construction of the model explains the meaning construction mechanism of the university motto,further explains the meaning of the university motto,and provides a new perspective for the study of the university motto.