从汉英语言对比看隐喻与文化模式的关系

On the Relationship Between Metaphor and Culture Modes

隐喻与文化模式的关系问题一直是隐喻认知研究领域比较关注的一个问题。有的观点认为隐喻是文化模式的构成要素,二者之间是从属关系;有的观点则认为隐喻仅仅反映文化模式,二者之间是形式与内容的关系。事实上,在汉语和英语中,大量文化模式概念,尤其是抽象文化模式的概念,其形成都是隐喻性的,如借用空间概念和金钱概念表达时间,借用对容器加热的生活体验来描述情感等。同时,文化模式也起着过滤器的作用,它在选择隐喻及其具体的表现形式。正是文化模式的过滤作用使隐喻一方面表现了文化的共通性,另一方面则更多地表现了不同文化的独特性和差异性。此外,部分隐喻,特别是新奇隐喻,具有创生新文化现实的能力,而这种新的文化现实又会进一步催生新的隐喻。综而论之,隐喻和文化模式之间并不是一种非此即彼的关系,而是一种相辅相成、相互影响、互为共生的关系。

The relationship between metaphor and cultural mode has been one of the focuses in cognitive linguistics, and there have been diverse opinions on it. From examples in both English and Chinese, it can be found that on the one hand, a large number of culture modes are metaphorically rooted, e.g., to express time through the concept of space or money, or to describe emotions with the experience of heating a container; on the other hand, however, culture modes also act as filters through which, appropriate metaphors are chosen to rep- resent specific culture modes. It is through culture mode＇s filtration that metaphors reflect the uniqueness and diversity of different cultures as well as their commonness. Moreover, some metaphors, especially those novel ones, can create new culture modes which can further produce new metaphors. In a word, metaphors and culture modes are mutually dependent, influenced and symbiotic.