Abstract: Plants have a very close relationship with human beings and have affected our life in many aspects for a long time. Therefore, there are plenty of plant expressions in English and Chinese idioms, and most of which have metaphorical meanings. By now, many linguists have studied plant metaphors from different perspective. However, the former contrastive studies on plant words mainly focused on the differences of the cultural meanings. But Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory extends the trend into the cognitive study of metaphor. Under the framework of the theory, the essay is intended to analyze the plant metaphors in English and Chinese idioms. Chinese is rich in plant metaphors about characters and moralities, while English tends to use plants to denote gods and goddesses.  And flowers and trees have rich metaphorical meanings in Chinese, while in English, vegetables, fruits and grains are more commonly used to denote concrete and abstract things. The contrastive study of plant metaphors in English and Chinese idioms as well as the analysis of their differences can not only help to overcome the obstacles of communication, but also promote the mutual communication and integration between two cultures. 

Key words: plant; idiom; mapping; conceptual metaphor; contrastive study 

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Idiom-1

2.1. Definition of Idiom-1

2.2. Characteristics of Plant Idiom-2

3. Theoretical Foundation-2

3.1 Definition of Conceptual Metaphor-2

3.2 The Universality and Cultural Relativity of Conceptual Metaphor-4

3.3 Classification of Conceptual Metaphor-4

3.4 Previous Study of Plant Metaphor-5

4. Analyses of Conceptual Metaphors in Chinese and English Plant Idioms-6

4.1 Cognitive Working Mechanism of Plant Metaphors-6

4.2 Classification of Plant Metaphors in Chinese and English-6

4.2.1 A PLANT IS A HUMAN BEING-6

4.2.1.1 Target Domains of People-7

4.2.1.2 Domains of Characteristics and Moralities-8

4.2.1.3 Domains of Human Organs.-9

4.2.2 A PLANT IS A THING-9

4.2.2.1 From Plant Domains to Concrete Things-9

4.2.2.2 From Plant Domain to Abstract Things-10

4.3 Analyses of Similarities and Differences-11

4.3.1 Similarities of Plant Metaphors between English and Chinese-11

4.3.2 Differences of Plant Metaphors between English and Chinese-12

5. Conclusion-13

Bibliography   -14

Acknowledgements-15