从认知角度看中医语言的容器隐喻

Container Metaphor in Language of Chinese Medicine from Cognitive Perspective

认知语言学概念隐喻理论认为,人类普遍利用容器隐喻去认识、理解一些抽象概念。本文以中医经典古籍为研究语料,举例说明中医语言在容器图式抽象结构的基础上,普遍运用了容器隐喻来表达身体及其部位、器官、腠理汗孔、藏府、经络等较为抽象和复杂的中医概念,从而建构了解释人体生理现象和病理机制的中医理论体系。本研究不仅证实了认知语言学容器隐喻理论在一定程度上的普遍性,也印证了中医语言具有概念隐喻的认知特征。

In Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Cognitive Linguistics, it is considered that container metaphor has been commonly used by human to understand and describe some abstract concepts. In this paper, we use Chinese ancient classics as research corpus and examples. It is found that container metaphor, which is based on the structure of abstract container schema, is widely used to describe, express and understand the abstract and complex concepts in Chinese medicine such as body, body parts and organs, skins and pores, depots and palaces, meridians, etc. It has constructed the theoretical system of Chinese medicine that can interpret physiological phenomena and pathological mechanisms. This study not only confirms a certain degree of universality of container metaphor theory of cognitive linguistics, but also proves that Chinese language has cognitive characteristics of concept metaphor.