Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

摘要

Chapter one Introduction-1

1.1 Significance of the Study-1

1.2 Background of the Study-1

1. 3 Methodology of the Thesis-2

1. 4 Organization of the Thesis-3

Chapter two Literature Review-4

2. 1 Comparison Theory of Metaphor-4

2. 2 Substitution Theory of Metaphor-4

2. 3 Interaction Theory of Metaphor-4

Chapter Three Contrastive Study of Love Metaphors-6

3. 1 Love Metaphors-6

3. 2 The Similarities of Love Metaphor in English and Chinese-7

3. 3 The Differences of Love Metaphor in English and Chinese-11

3.3.1 Special Love Metaphor in English-12

3. 3. 2 Special Love Metaphor in Chinese-13

3. 3. 3 The Cognitive Differences of Love Metaphor in English and Chinese-14

3. 4 The Reasons for Similarities and the Differences-16

3. 4. 1 The Reasons for the Similarities-16

3. 4. 2 The Reasons for the Differences-17

Chapter Four Conclusion-19

4. 1 Major Findings-19

4. 2 Limitations of the Present Research-19

References-20

Abstract

Metaphor is previously employed in people’s daily life. Traditionally, metaphor is only regarded as a figure of speech. As the time goes by, more and more scholars begin to take interest in metaphor from different angles, including linguistics, social science and so on. After 1970s, contemporary cognitive linguistics emerged. Since then, the understanding of metaphor has been improved gradually. Metaphor is considered as a significant way of thinking, which has a great influence on human cognition. In fact, metaphor is a cognitive tool that man uses to better understand the changing world, especially the abstract world. On the other side, love, as one of human being’s daily feeling, is too abstract to describe directly. So, with the bodily and life experiences, people always use metaphor to help them to better understand and express love. But because of the influence of different culture background, metaphors, originated in different nations, have both similarities and differences.  

This thesis mainly aims to deal with the similarities and differences of love metaphors between English and Chinese. Then after the study of different culture background, this study also finds out the causes for the universalities and differences. Through using the combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, this thesis seems to be more valid, and could provide a better understanding of love metaphors.

Keywords: love metaphor  contrastive study  cognitive linguistics