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Nanchang Institute of Technology Graduation Thesis
Chapter Two An Overview of Metaphor
2.1 The Definition of Metaphor
Metaphor is a word which comes from Greek. Its Greek etymologies are “μετ? (meta)” and “φ?ρω (phero) ” ,which means “across” and “change”. About metaphor, there are lots of definitions defined from different angles.
I. A. Richards (1986:44-63) holds a view point that “Metaphor is the use of one reference to a group of things that are related in a particular way in order to discover a similar relation in another group.”
Grammar dictionary defines it “Metaphor is the comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as.”(Shu Ding fang, 2011:43)
“Metaphor is the most important figure of speech, which points out resemblance but with no acknowledged word.”(Li Xinhua, 2000:46)
In the online dictionary, metaphor is defined as this: “A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something that is not literally applicable, in order to suggest a resemblance, as in ?A might fortress is our God.?”.
The Wikipedia says that: “A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object”.
From all the viewpoints above, it is easy to conclude that there are two factors contained in a metaphor: the noumenon (the original subject which needs to be compared) and the metaphorical objects (the final subject which the original subject is compared to). These two factors will not both exist in one metaphor, usually, the noumenon might be concealed.
In our daily life, people are always easy to mix metaphor up with simile. Indeed, similes bears similarity to metaphor, both of then belong to analogy, but they are different. The word ?like? or the word ?as? will be used when people use similes. But, the word ?like? or ?as? will not be used when they make use of metaphors. For example:
Simile: The curved moon is like a small boat.
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On Metaphors in English Advertisements
Metaphor: The curved moon is a small boat.
2.2 The Origin of Metaphor
In the Wikipedia, the introduction of the earliest textual metaphor is like this: metaphor exists in the earliest written text. Its use can date back to the epic of Gilgamesh which describes the history between 2700 B.C. and 2500 B.C.
The typical manifestation of metaphor of the primitive man is ?realization?: it means that the primitive man took human beings themselves as the standard to measure things around them.
In the origin of metaphor, the foundation of the production of metaphor is experience. First, people?s reflection about the objective world is stored in the memory, which becomes the experience of human beings. Then, people describe and comprehend the objective world on the basis of their own experience, so the metaphors appear. If a metaphor, which is received by other language users, is produced, it will become a conventional metaphor. As time goes on, this kind of conventional metaphor may develop into dead metaphor. The metaphor that comes from one generation will become the experience foundation of the next generation. From the generating process of metaphor, it can see that origin of the generation of metaphor is experience.
People?s association is the key of the production of metaphor. Association is a kind of psychological activity. When people recall another thing on the basis of the thing they perceive currently, they are associating. The association of the hominid is able to divide into three kinds: suppositional association, targeted association and totemic association. People who have more imagination may create more metaphor. They are better at using experience to find the similarities between different things and combine two unrelated things together. The process of association is the process of perceiving.
In general, the production of metaphor is an activity that humans discover the similarities between two different conceptions through sufficient association on the foundation of their experience.
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Nanchang Institute of Technology Graduation Thesis
2.3 The Development of Metaphor
In the western countries, people who research metaphor systematically in the earliest is the ancient creek philosopher— Aristotle. In Aristotle?s opinion, metaphor is the use of one word to replace another word to convey one meaning. The relation between this two words is correction. At the same time, he proposes that, when people use metaphor to make invisible comparisons they rely on analogy principle. Aristotle hold a scientific attitude towards metaphor, and his metaphorical theories is called “contrast theory” or “comparison theory”.
But, another ancient creek philosopher— Plato, he thinks metaphor belongs to plausibility. In Plato?s opinion, metaphor is just rhetorical language which can only be used to express one?s feelings. However, it is inappropriate to use metaphor in the political debate and scientific discourse. Plato?s attitude to metaphor is disparaging.
In 1936, English philosopher, I.A.Richards, put forward a famous theory— the interaction theory. This theory was perfected by M.Black later. Richards deems that metaphor is basically the borrowing and communication between ideologies. It is the trade between language contexts. The raise of Richards? interaction theory marked that the research of metaphor began to enter into cognitive domain.
The book Metaphors We Lived By (1980) written by Lakoff and Johnson marked that the research of metaphor has already entered into cognitive domain. In their view, metaphor is not only a kind of rhetorical method, but a kind of basic thinking mode of cognitive world which can be called ?Metaphorical Concept System?. Their point of view is called conceptual metaphor.
Nowadays, there are some new development results about metaphor, lots of new research tendencies have appeared. Here exist three main tendencies: firstly, to continue to theoretical exploration; secondly, to have the research with the help of the neural theory of language; thirdly, to have the research with the help of cultural anthropology.
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On Metaphors in English Advertisements
Chapter Three The Analysis of Metaphors in English
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3.1 The Application of Metaphors in English Advertisements
In the modern advertisement industry, metaphor is widely used in advertising design. To analyze the usage situation of metaphors in English advertisement is necessary.
3.1.1 The Application Actuality of Metaphors in English Advertisements
With the increasing development of social economy, the living standard of people is growing up quickly. Advertisement becomes an indispensable part of people?s life. The wide application of metaphors in English ads makes the advertisement possess more novelty and persuasion. The application actuality of metaphors in English advertisements is optimistic.
On the one hand, metaphors exist everywhere. They exist not only in our daily life but also in our language. In the daily English expression, nearly half of the utterances belong to metaphors. Metaphor is the foundation of the development of language and social culture. As a part of cognitive linguistics, the research of metaphors develops greatly in recent years. The study of metaphors has already progressed from the field of rhetoric to multidisciplinary and multi-perspective studies. The study of metaphors in English advertisements also develops quickly. This study provides stable foundation for the use of metaphors in English advertisements.
On the other hand, metaphors can be used to highlight the features of advertising language. First of all, the slogan must be neoteric and refreshing, so that the consumers? imagination can be aroused up adequately and the sale of the goods can speed up quickly. Then, the design of slogan is always concise and clear, so consumers can comprehend the advertisement easily. The last language feature of ads is that the words in advertisement are always concise and comprehensive. The utilization of metaphors in English advertisements can just let the advertisements possess all these features. Thus the utilization of metaphors in advertisement is more
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