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A Study of “Hand” Metaphors in English and Chinese—Cognitive and Cultural Perspective
School of Foreign Studies, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
- 1 School of Foreign Studies, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
Advances in Literary Study·Volume 05 (2017)·Pages 84–93·Published 10 October 2017·DOI10.4236/als.2017.54007
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Abstract
Our ordinary conceptual system by means of which we live, think and act is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Human body undoubtedly has been the most important cognitive status in human being’s cognition. This paper studies the metaphor concerning hand as a source domain on the basis of linguistic evidence. It seeks to find out the differences and the similarities between English “hand” metaphors and Chinese “hand” metaphors, then to explore the causes of the universality and variations from cognitive and cultural perspectives. This paper will, to a certain degree, be helpful to the vocabulary and rhetoric teaching in English and Chinese.
KeywordsHandMetaphorCognitive PerspectiveCultural PerspectiveEnglishChineseComparison
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