Analysis of Animal Metaphorical Expression

姜晴川

【Abstract】Animal metaphor， as a kind of metaphor， refers to a cognitive process in which some aspects of human beings are understood or experienced through the aspects of animals. The meanings of animal metaphor are based on peoples experience， cultural background， custom and the ways of thinking. Animal metaphorical expression is an important part of humans language expressions and communication.

【Key words】animal metaphor； cognitive instrument； expression

I. Introduction

As a kind of figure of speech， metaphor is used in humans expression. Metaphor is transfer of name based on the association of similarity and in fact a hidden comparison （Wang 18）. As the most important cognitive instrument in human languages and lives， metaphor has deep influence for human to understand the world （Zhang 124）. Cognitive linguistics believes that people's way of thinking， in a large extent， is metaphorical. It has an important impact on people's daily thinking， reasoning and imagination （Ungerer， Schmid 150）. People often use animal metaphorical expressions to express abstract emotion and the expression can be understand easily and vividly.

II. The analysis of animal metaphorical expression

1. Dog metaphorical expression

In Chinese culture， dog related words often have the derogatory meanings. First， dog stands for the low person， so there are many expressions can be found in honorifics. For example， people often use “quan+_” to introduce their own things to show modest， “quan zi”（犬子） “quan mv”（犬女）etc. Second， it express dislike and hate， such as， “gou zhang ren shi”（狗仗人势）“gou yan kan ren di” （狗眼看人低） and so on. Third， it reflects a fierce and cruel characters， such as “gou yao gou” （狗咬狗）.

2. Cat metaphorical expression

Cat is often used to describe something related with woman. People call the women model as “catwalk” because of the same straight line trace of their footprints and both of them are slim and graceful. The “Persian cat” usually can be found in the song lyrics， which is used to stands for a beautiful girl who is naughty and mysterious. As for the eyes of cat， they are often used to describe the diamonds， “この宝石は猫の目のようです”（水谷45）. People can easily perceive and feel how beautiful the diamonds are.

3. Horse metaphorical expression

In Chinese culture，horse stands for the national sprite of advocating the struggling and the constantly strive to become stronger， so horse have a high position since ancient time （Wang 52）. People often use the expression of “long ma jing shen”（龙马精神）. The expression of “lao ma shi tu”（老马识途） refers to the elder person who possess the rich wisdom and experience. In ancient time， horse was used as a kind of transportation for their fast speed such as the expression “ma bu ting ti”（马不停蹄）. People use “bai ju guo xi”（白驹过隙） to convey the pity of time flies.

4. Fish metaphorical expression

In Chinese culture， most fish metaphors are good symbolic. Fish can live freely in the lake or sea. People often say “li yu tiao long men” （鲤鱼跳龙门） to show good wishes to a student before they take an important examination which may change his life. Fish is a kind of ability. The expression of “ru yu de shui” （如鱼得水） is to describe a persons career goes very well.

While， there are also some idioms which have negative meanings. Because of the dead fish eyes totally lost its soul， and the smell itself. So people use “si yu yan” （死鱼眼） to describe a person without any energy. “yu long hun za ” （鱼龙混杂） “yi tiao chou yu jiao yi guo xing ” （一条臭鱼搅一锅腥） and so on.

III. The function of animal metaphor

People can get it without much efforts and confusions for expressing or understanding the things and thoughts easily， just by eliciting the connections with the subjective experience and experiential feelings about one kind of animal.Based on the different attitudes to different kind of animals， using animal metaphorical expression can express the abstract emotions easily. The positive meaning or negative meaning or implied meaning can be expressed by uncounted forms.

Lipka thought that lexicalized metaphors imposes a multiple categorization on the entities in the world： one word refers to several categories（Xiao 85）. Every kind of animal has its own special characteristics on their appearances， natures， behaviors， habits， and so on. So each kind of animals can have many metaphorical meanings based on the different contexts. Animal metaphor not only can strength the expression of feelings and thoughts ， but also can make the expressions vividly.

IV. Conclusion

Animal metaphor， as a kind of metaphor， refers to a cognitive process in which some aspects of human beings are understood or experienced through the aspects of animals. Through the brief analysis of animal metaphorical expressions in the paper， people often use animal metaphors to express abstract emotions. People use the animal metaphorical expressions because the implied meanings can be understood easily and vividly. While the meanings of animal metaphors are determined by culture. Because it is based on human experience， the cultural backgrounds which include the influence of history， religion， geography， custom， and the way of thinking（Wang 17）， there may be some differences about animal metaphor. All in all， it is an important part of human communication and expressions. And it is a necessary tool for which has lots of potential and deep affect for human to understand the world.

Reference：

[1]王琼.马的隐喻认知文化内涵.17 Jun.2011：52.Print.

[2]王亮.the Comparison of Animal Metaphors in Chinese and English.21 Aug.2014：17.Print.