隐喻的具身性与文化性

The Embodiment and Culture of Metaphor

自从Lakoff和Johnson在《Philosophy in the Flesh—The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought》一书中将认知科学划分为第一代认知科学与第二代认知科学以来,隐喻成为了心理学家、语言学家和哲学家研究的热点领域之一。隐喻的构造基于我们的具身体验,基于我们的文化背景。隐喻的具身性与文化性是相互融合、不可分割的。

Lakoff and Johnson （1980,1999） put forward the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, which has been completely different from the traditional sense of metaphorical concepts. According to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, there is both embodiment and culture in metaphors, and neither of them can live without each other. Hence, it is important for us to understand how embodiment and culture works for metaphors, and how embodiment and culture affect metaphors through their close and seamless cooperation. The construction of Metaphor is based on our physical experiences; the physical experience is not only closely related with our state of mind, but also shapes the nature of metaphor. In the process of metaphorical mapping, its ＂source domain＂ comes from our sensorimotor system, and the sensorimotor system plays a more crucial role in shaping the concepts than the other systems; it is the involvement of the sensorimotor system in the conceptual system that keeps the conceptual system very much in touch with the world. The production of conceptual metaphors is a process of the metaphorical link, which is formed in the human body by neurological contact; each metaphor concept based on the experience of the body is a kind of neural structure and it is the neural structures that form the metaphorical links in the process of metaphor production. Based on our cultural background, metaphors are an integral part of the world of culture. Most of the time, how we understand of the concept of a metaphor will be influenced by the culture we live in. Metaphor is the reflection of culture in language and a heritage of cultural through language. Different nationalities and different regions may share cultural traditions but may have different forms of metaphor. The relationship of embodiment and culotte of metaphor is inseparable .There is always a participation of culture in the process of metaphor and experience of our body. Culture is involved in all of the things we experience. Embodied experiences and metaphorical thinking are conditioned by culture all the time; culture affects how embodiment experiences metaphorical thinking. The embodiment and culture of metaphor is not only a mutual fusion, but also inseparable. Culture is responsible for the preparation work before a physical experience, and the embodiment is responsible for the process of a physical experience. We can hardly take apart the embodiment of metaphor from its cultural foundation, and which embodied foundation will be chosen is closely linked with the cultural coherence. Our physical and cultural experience provides many possible foundations for metaphors, but our culture determines which metaphors we give priority to. Different cultural background will not only produce same metaphorical concepts but can also produce different ways of understanding and experience metaphor.