汉语使用者时空隐喻手势的认知研究

A Cognitive Study of Time-Space Metaphor in Chinese Speakers' Gestures

本文通过实验诱导法研究了汉语使用者的时空隐喻手势。研究结果发现:1)汉语本族语者的时空隐喻手势主要有"过去在上,未来在下"、"过去在前-未来在后"、"过去在后-未来在前"以及"过去在左-未来在右"四种类型;2)汉语本族语者呈现出"前后"时空隐喻手势最多,"上下"次之,"左右"最少的趋势。产生趋势差异的原因可能主要与汉语使用者的身体经验以及文化因素有关。整个研究表明,考察语言使用者的手势隐喻,有利于在多模态层面验证概念隐喻理论以及"即时思维"理论。

This article examines the time-space metaphor in Chinese speakers＇ co-speech gestures by adopting the elic- itation method. The results showed that： 1 ） Chinese native speakers＇ time-space metaphor gestures include ＂PAST IS UP, FUTURE IS DOWN＂, ＂PAST IS FRONT, FUTURE IS BACK＂, ＂PAST IS BACK,FUTURE IS FRONT＂ and ＂PAST IS LEFT, FUTURE IS RIGHT＂. 2） The ＂front/ back＂ time-space metaphor gestures are the most frequent ones for Chinese native speakers followed by ＂up/down＂ with the lease frequent ones ＂right/left＂ space-time meta- phor gestures. The differences may possibly result from speakers＇ bodily experience and cultural influence. The whole research shows that the exploration of gestural met- aphors used by speakers is beneficial for testifying Con- ceptual Metaphor Theory and Think for Speaking Theory in a multimodal dimension.