英汉“足”概念的认知对比概述

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Background or Rationale of the thesis
Since the value of human beings was found，the concept human has become a focus ofscientific studies，including linguistic study. In ancient China, the idea of anthropocentrismwas advocated，and scholars believed in “万物是人wn shi ren，man is the soul of theuniverse)，，. As an old saying in Chinese goes, “近取诸身(J/w qu zhu shen，one is inspiredby observations from the human body and the universe)". Human beings learn the worldbased on their physical experience. Therefore，the human body is regarded as the startingpoint of cognition. It is of humanistic value for scholars to integrate the element "human"into scientific studies. Since the purpose of many linguistic studies is to serve humanbeings themselves，the human body has become an object of great research value.Meanwhile，an important concept in linguistic study is semantic field. Making ageneral review of former studies on semantic fields, it is not difficult to find that there aretoo many studies on key semantic fields，such as color，number，animal, plant，etc.However, studies on others，such as the human body and emotion are so few. Studies onthe semantic field of the human body are not so popular. The most important parts, such asheart and eye have been studied once and once again, while foot，shoulder, mouth, andsome other parts are nearly neglected. In fact, foot is an indispensable part of the humanbody, without which we cannot even take a step.For centuries, semantics has been a significant branch of linguistics. Adopting acognitive research method to study linguistic issues has become a popular trend.For the reasons above，the thesis aims to conduct a comparative study of "FOOT" inEnglish and Chinese from a cognitive perspective.
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1.2 Importance
This study is of great significance. Firstly，former studies on "FOOT" in English andChinese are few in number both at home and abroad, so this study can be seen as a supplement to former ones. Next，the study involves not only Chinese expressions but alsoEnglish ones. Adopting a comparative method，the writer aims to make a morecomprehensive study. Then，the study integrates cultural factors by providing a brand-newperspective, which strengthens the cross-cultural significance of the study. Besides，，thecorpora include not only definitions in dictionaries but also words and phrases from literalworks, which is rare in former studies. In short, the thesis is innovative.
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Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Cognitive Studies of Human Body Terms
Human body terms have attracted many scholars to make detailed studies. Somepublish books to express their opinions. Feng Lingyu (2008) conducts a comprehensivestudy on human body terms in his book X Study on Human Body Terms in Chinese. Firstly,Feng reviews the historical evolution of human body system to pave way for furtherstudies. Then，Feng studies the semantic features of human body terms by analyzing thesematic relationship between morphemes and senses. Next, Feng dissects the grammaticalfeatures of human body terms, including the syntactic properties，semantics functions，andpragmatic rules. At last, Feng probes into the cognitive basis and cultural factors of thegeneration and development of human body terms. In addition，he compares similaritiesand differences of human body terms in different cultural backgrounds. Feng's bookcombines synchronic with diachronic studies to present a complete study. The Secret ofHuman Body Terms and the Human Body by Gu Jingheng (2000) focuses on head, eye, etc.to discuss the connotations behind them. He lists a large number of expressions related tothe human body. However, his analysis of the motivation and mechanism are not sointensive due to lack of a solid theoretical foundation. Huang Birong (2010) carries out amore intensive study in his book A Study on the Meaning System of Body Terms, At first，she examines the semantic features of human body terms. Secondly, she analyzes thesemantic system of key human parts, such as hand. Then, she takes a cross-culturalperspective by making a comparison between English and Chinese. Finally, she provides aconvincing explanation for the basis of human body system.
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2.2 Cognitive Studies of “FOOT”
Trying to searching for related materials at home and aboard, we are frustrated to findcognitive studies of "FOOT" are few in number. Some studies involve "FOOT" withoutexploring it in depth. General studies are so few，let alone special studies. In short, atmoment, researches on this topic are not complete.In China，there is no monograph on cognitive studies of “FOOT，，. Some scholars tryto explore the secrets behind human body terms. In The Secret of Human Body Terms andthe Human Body，Gu Jingheng (2000) not only gives an introduction of “FOOT” in words，phrases, idioms and other expressions in Chinese, but also analyzes the metaphorical andsymbolic senses of "FOOT". However，more emphasis is laid on description rather thanexplanation. Although Gu uses metaphor theory to analyze foot-related expressions, thebook lacks systematically and theoretical support.In comparison, Feng Lingjoi (2008) makes a further and deeper study. In A Study onHuman Body Terms in Chinese，Feng makes a relatively comprehensive and detailed studyof human body terms in Chinese by creatively using metaphor theory. He not only explainsrelated words (including “FOOT”)，but also searches for the psychological motivationbehind them. Although Feng takes a cognitive approach, his study only presents illustrationof theories and key body terms, failing to explore foot deeply. In addition to the two booksabove，a relatively new book is A Study on the Meaning System of Body Terms by HuangBirong (2010). From a cross-linguistic perspective，Huang makes an analysis of lexicalsystems of the human body in both English and Chinese. Huang and Feng both applyconcepts in cognitive linguistics，such as metonymy, but Huang's study is fragmentedrather than systematic.
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Chapter Three Theoretical Framework..........   10
3.1 Basic Notions.........     10
3.2 Relevant Theories.........      17
3.3 Theoretical Framework.........     26
Chapter Four Methodology......... 29
4.1 Research Questions.........     29
4.2 Research Objects and Research Corpora.........     29
4.3 Research Instruments .........     33
4.4 Research Method .........       33
Chapter Five A Comparative Study of “FOOT”in English......... 34
5.1 Lexical Meaning Extension of "FOOT" in English and Chinese......... 34
5.2 Conceptual Metaphors of "FOOT" in English and Chinese.........     37
5.3 Conceptual Metonymies of "FOOT" in English and Chinese......... 44
5.4 Conceptual Metaphtonymies of "FOOT" in English and Chinese......... 53

Chapter Five A Comparative Study of "FOOT" in English and Chinese from a Cognitive Perspective

5.1 Lexical Meaning Extension of "FOOT" in English and Chinese
As shown in the figure above, among the ten senses of foot in Chinese, there arecertain relations between two or more of them. For instance, based on similarity in spaceand function，we get Sense 2; bases on similarity in space, we get Sense 8. According toconceptual metaphor theory，mappings occur from the source domains to the targetdomains.Similarly, in Sense 10, “FOOT，，is used in compound words or phrases referring tofoot-related physical activities. For example, in Chinese, the word “Jiao fu (poi,ter)”refersto people who make a living by carrying objects for others. These people live on their foot，and “FOOT，，is used to refer to their profession. It is a metonymic usage.

Conclusion

This thesis makes a detailed study of “FOOT” in English and Chinese from acognitive perspective. After collecting a large amount of corpora, the writer makes anelaborate analysis to study the cognitive mechanism and motivation of conceptualmetaphor and conceptual metonymy. During the process，many examples are presented toillustrate the metaphorical and metonymic meanings of “FOOT” in English and Chinese.To promote better understanding, some figures are used when necessary.There are several findings of the thesis.Firstly, conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy contribute to the basicmechanisms of "FOOT" in English and Chinese ? English and Chinese share similar basicsense of foot. Under the functions of conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy, agreat number of new senses are produced. Meanwhile, some complex foot-relatedexpressions are products of both conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy. They twoprocesses work together as conceptual metaphtonymy to promote the producing of newsenses.Secondly，there are more similarities than differences of foot in English and Chinese，and foot-related expressions in Chinese are relatively more abundant and more flexible.“FOOT” metaphors in both languages involve similar domains, including object domain,action domain，and emotion domain. "FOOT" metaphtonymies in both languages containsimilar references, including profession, human, footstep，action，and nature. "FOOT"metonymies in both languages can used to refer to actions. Meanwhile，due to linguisticand cultural factors, there are also special expressions unique to English and Chinese.
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Reference (omitted)