A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English
This study is based on the data obtained from the Modern Chinese Corpus compiled by the Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University (CCL Corpus) and the British National Corpus (BNC). Via exploring snake metaphors across the two languages within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory an...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit UKM
2012
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/1/pp_311_324.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848810136934547456 |
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| author | Wei, Lixia Wong, Bee Eng |
| author_facet | Wei, Lixia Wong, Bee Eng |
| author_sort | Wei, Lixia |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This study is based on the data obtained from the Modern Chinese Corpus compiled by the Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University (CCL Corpus) and the British National Corpus (BNC). Via exploring snake metaphors across the two languages within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the GREAT CHAIN METAPHOR,
this study aims to identify the existence of both universality and individuality of metaphors cross-linguistically when the snake is mapped onto human beings. It investigates the snake metaphors from three aspects. The findings show that, first, the metaphorical expressions in Mandarin Chinese and British English are both mainly
generated from the snake’s characteristic and appearance. Second, in terms of the conceptual metaphor of HUMAN BEINGS ARE ANIMALS, Mandarin Chinese and British English share the same metaphor of HUMAN BEINGS ARE SNAKES. However,
when the gender of human beings is taken into consideration, the specific conceptual metaphors generalized for the man and the woman from these two languages are different. This provides evidence to show that cross linguistically, like other kinds of conceptual metaphors, the universality of snake metaphors exists at the generic level and the individuality of these metaphors exists at the basic level. Third, in terms of evaluation, the snake metaphorical expressions have a much more derogative meaning for the man in Chinese but a more derogative meaning for the woman in English. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T23:25:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:3277 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T23:25:43Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Penerbit UKM |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:32772016-12-14T06:34:10Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/ A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English Wei, Lixia Wong, Bee Eng This study is based on the data obtained from the Modern Chinese Corpus compiled by the Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University (CCL Corpus) and the British National Corpus (BNC). Via exploring snake metaphors across the two languages within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the GREAT CHAIN METAPHOR, this study aims to identify the existence of both universality and individuality of metaphors cross-linguistically when the snake is mapped onto human beings. It investigates the snake metaphors from three aspects. The findings show that, first, the metaphorical expressions in Mandarin Chinese and British English are both mainly generated from the snake’s characteristic and appearance. Second, in terms of the conceptual metaphor of HUMAN BEINGS ARE ANIMALS, Mandarin Chinese and British English share the same metaphor of HUMAN BEINGS ARE SNAKES. However, when the gender of human beings is taken into consideration, the specific conceptual metaphors generalized for the man and the woman from these two languages are different. This provides evidence to show that cross linguistically, like other kinds of conceptual metaphors, the universality of snake metaphors exists at the generic level and the individuality of these metaphors exists at the basic level. Third, in terms of evaluation, the snake metaphorical expressions have a much more derogative meaning for the man in Chinese but a more derogative meaning for the woman in English. Penerbit UKM 2012-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/1/pp_311_324.pdf Wei, Lixia and Wong, Bee Eng (2012) A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 12 (1). pp. 311-324. ISSN 1675-8021 http://www.ukm.my/ppbl/Gema/gemacurrentissues.html |
| spellingShingle | Wei, Lixia Wong, Bee Eng A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title | A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title_full | A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title_fullStr | A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title_full_unstemmed | A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title_short | A corpus-based study on snake metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and British English |
| title_sort | corpus-based study on snake metaphors in mandarin chinese and british english |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3277/1/pp_311_324.pdf |