The purpose of this thesis is to explore the systematicity of the animal metaphors in English. Based on the cognitive semantic frameworks to explain the metaphors, we try to show what characteristics animal metaphors share, how they are explained in c...
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the systematicity of the animal metaphors in English. Based on the cognitive semantic frameworks to explain the metaphors, we try to show what characteristics animal metaphors share, how they are explained in cognitive metaphor theories, whether the explanations are successful and in what respects they should be expanded or modified.
Conceptual metaphor and grammatical metaphor theories of Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) can be employed in the explanation of animal metaphors, where the animal can be mapped onto the human being himself and onto other social domains in a systematic way. Conceptual metaphor and grammatical theories can be applied to the metaphor HUMAN IS ANIMAL, and grammatical metaphor theory to the metaphor INANIMATE THING IS ANIMAL. Most animal metaphors have derogatory connotations, which can be neatly understood based on the concept of GREAT CHAIN OF BEING (Lakoff and Turner, 1989).
The cognitive linguistic explanation of animal metaphors can be highly appreciated for its systematicity and its width. However, it should be modified to extend to the connotations of animal metaphors as grammatical metaphors, which are conspicuous even if complimentary connotations are used less frequently than derogatory connotations. Further, it also should be fine-grained enough to explain why some animal terms such as lion are restricted to complimentary connotations.