“头”的隐喻性及其认知解读

隐喻作为一种重要的认知方式,普遍存在于人们的日常生活中,是人类认知和思维的基础。从本质上来说,隐喻就是通过另一种事物、概念来理解和体验某一种事物、概念。人们往往参照他们熟悉的、具体的概念来认识、理解、命名那些不熟悉的、抽象的概念。人类的认知始于身体经验的物质基础,而人的身体本身就是一个很好的原型集合体,身体经验因此成为各式各样隐喻的来源模式。本文根据隐喻概念理论,以汉英身体部位词＂头＂和＂head＂为例,从认知的角度来解读其中所揭示的人类认知规律。含有＂头＂和＂head＂的汉英习语都源自人们对自己身体部位的各种体验,而隐喻在这些习语语义的形成和抽象化过程中起到了十分重要的作用。

Metaphorical"Head"and Its Cognitive Interpretation

As an important way of cognition,metaphor exists in people＇s daily life,and it is the basis of human cognition and thinking.In essence,a metaphor means understanding and experiencing of one thing or concept through other things or concepts.People often refer to concepts they are familiar with in order to understand or name those abstract concepts they are not familiar with.Human cognition is based on the physical experience as the material basis,and the human body itself is a good collection of prototypes,and therefore physical experiences become a source of metaphor models.Based on the concept of metaphor theory and with the word ＂head＂ in Chinese and English as examples,this paper tries to present a cognitive interpretation to reveal the laws of human cognition.Chinese and English idioms containing ＂head＂ are derived from various experiences of human body parts,and metaphor has played a very important role in the formation of these idioms and their abstract semantic meanings.