Cognitive-Semantic Mechanisms Behind Heart Idioms

Abstract

本論文從認知語意學的角度來探討英文中 “Heart” 成語所牽涉到的認知語意機制，並以Lakoff (1993)所提出的當代隱喻理論、Kövecses & Radden (1998)從認知語言學角度針對換喻所做的研究以及Ruiz de Mendoza (2003)所提出來的隱喻和換喻的三個交互模式為基礎，進一步探討 “Heart” 成語的字面語意如何透過這些機制衍生出其象徵語意。此外，本論文也對收集到的七十七個 “Heart” 成語進行重新分類以修正Niemeier’s (2003)在 “Heart” 成語分類上所產成的謬誤。\n 研究分析發現七十七個 “Heart” 成語所牽涉的認知語意機制包括Lakoff (1993)提出的五種隱喻類型以及Kövecses & Radden (1998)提出的十五種換喻類型其中的六種，而七十七個 “Heart” 成語的字面語意與其象徵語意之間的連結則無法僅僅透過Ruiz de Mendoza (2003)所提出來的隱喻和換喻的三個交互模式進行建立，而必須加上本研究另外發現的四個新的交互模式才能完整建立起七十七個 “Heart” 成語的字面語意與其象徵語意之間的連結。

Based on the contemporary theory of metaphor by Lakoff (1993), a cognitive view toward metonymy by Kövecses & Radden (1998), and models of how metaphor can interact with metonymy by Ruiz de Mendoza (2003), this thesis makes an effort in exploring the cognitive-semantic mechanisms behind the 77 heart idioms collected for this research. Although Niemeier (2003) has tried to explore the metaphorical and metonymic bases for the heart idioms in English, her analysis is not satisfactory and can not meet the goal of this current research. A recategorization of heart idioms is therefore performed to encompass all the features exhibited by them before the cognitive-semantic analysis is proposed.\nThe analysis of heart idioms discovers that a full explanation of their figurative meanings requires the activation of all the five types of metaphor proposed by Lakoff (1993) and six out of the 15 types of metonymy-producing relationships proposed by Kövecses & Radden (1998). Furthermore, to fully account for the figurative meanings of heart idioms, the analysis also proposes six interaction models of between metaphor and metonymy, two of which are proposed in Ruiz de Mendoza (2003) and four of which are discovered by the current study.