论文部分内容阅读
【Abstract】Spatial-temporal metaphor is adopted to understand the abstract temporal concept which is the basic domain of human cognition. Lakoff has contributed to the distinction of temporal metaphor， that is， Ego-moving Metaphor and Time-moving Metaphor. Thus， with the data from the Chinese and English languages， this paper puts forward some models concerning temporal metaphors， like Moving Ego Metaphor-Front-Back Model， Ego-centered Moving Time Metaphor-Front-Back Model and Sequence-centered Moving time Metaphor. By comparing the space-time concepts of orientation words front， back in Chinese and English， the similarities and differences of Spatial-temporal metaphors are been found that both of the two languages view time within Ego-moving metaphor and Time-moving metaphor. While， Chinese prefer to view time as a stabled object which sequentially arranged， English prefer to view time as a moving object.
【Key words】space； time； space-time concept
【摘要】时空隐喻是理解时间概念这一人们认知的基本范畴的一种主要方式，Lakoff将其分为自我移动隐喻和时间流动隐喻两个子类。本文在此基础之上并结合英、汉两种语料，根据时间空间化的横向和纵向模式，提出了自我移动隐喻的“前/后”模式、以观察者为中心的时间流动隐喻的“前/后”模式、以事件先后顺序为中心的时间序列性隐喻等模式。由此进一步探讨英汉时空隐喻异同，认为英汉语中都存在自我移动隐喻及时间流动隐喻，但汉语时间认知偏向时间的序列性特征而英语侧重时间流动性。
【关键词】空间 时间 时空概念
1. Introduction
People are aware of time， but unable to make it a clear complete definition. And lots of linguists and philosophers have studied time based on various theories. Lakoff and Johnsen in their book Metaphors We Live By claim that we comprehend the world around us metaphorically base on our experiences and point out that we conceptualize and describe time through the domain of space. Metaphor has been recognized as a useful cognitive approach in explaining one thing through another. Time orientation metaphor is a basic and efficient approach to conceptualize and describe time. Therefore， spatial-temporal metaphors research becomes extremely popular and lots of achievements have been made. Now there are two different cognitive approaches of time in the metaphorical system of space and time. One is Time-moving Metaphor， under which the observer’s position is fixed， outside of time and the time is regarded as an independent moving object that moving from future to past. The other is Ego-moving Metaphor， under which the observer is treated as a traveler traveling from past to future in the long endless river of time.
2. Literature Review
In addition to the often-discussed MOVING TIME and MOVING EGO metaphors， Lakoff and Johnson （1999：140） discuss another “most basic metaphor for time”， the TIME ORIENTATION metaphor. Alverson（1994） claims to have discovered two important differences between English and Chinese. The English ego takes the front-to-the-future orientation while it is the back-to-the-future for the Chinese and that the Chinese ego remains stationary all the time facing toward the past. In contrast， Yu （1998） concludes that the Chinese data largely fall into the patterns outlined by Lakoff （1993） for English. Yu （2012） reinforced that the metaphorical orientation of time in Chinese is realized by the pair of conceptual metaphors FUTURE IS IN FRONT OF EGO and PAST IS BEHIND EGO， which happens to be the parametric setting held by most of the languages studied. He argued that it is important to make two crucial distinctions with regard to Reference Point （RP） and Referent （R） in temporal reference frames for data analysis. Zhang （2003） divided the time cognition model in Chinese into right-sight approach and left-sight approach. Ye （2012）， opposite to the theory of Zhang’s， argues that in Chinese， time is cognized only under the right-sight approach. The illusion of the existence of left-sight approach is due to the confusion of reference point of ‘前’ and ‘后’ in Chinese.
3. “Front （前）” in Chinese and English
In Chinese， ‘前’ can express three kinds of spatial concepts： the orientation that human or other things facing， position that closing to the top of a sequence line and the moving direction. In English， different words are used to express the three concepts of ‘前’ in Chinese. While in the domain of time， there exist great differences. In Chinese， ‘前’ can stand for time in the future， in the past and a relatively earlier time.
1） 前途 （future）
2） 以前 （ past）
3） 前天 （a relatively earlier time）
In English， orientation words like before， forward， ahead and forth also used to represent both space and time. When mapping into time domain， they can be used to refer to two types of time. First， they can refer to the future and a relatively earlier time.
4） from this time forward， look forward to
5） the day before yesterday
4. “Back （后）” in Chinese and English
For the time metaphors of word “Back （后）” in English and Chinese， great differences can be found. In Chinese， “后” can be used to refer time in the future， such as 我以后再告诉你； a relatively later time， such as 饭后吃药.While in English， words back， after， and behind can be used to refer time in the past or a relatively later time：
6） My school days are far behind me.
7） The train is ten minutes behind time.
5. Ego-RP vs. Time-RP and Time-R and Human-R
5.1 Ego-RP and Time-RP
Lakoff and Johnson （1980：41） note that there is an apparent contradiction in English in the metaphorical conceptualization of time， as illustrated below： a. In the weeks ahead of us…（future）
b. That’s all behind us now. （past）
c. In the following weeks… （future）
d. In the preceding weeks…（past）
Thus， in （a） and （b）， the future is in front and the past is behind us， but （c） and （d） appear to suggest that the future is behind and the past in front of us. Lakoff and Johnson （1980）， however， point out there is an actually metaphorical coherence here considering that in （c） and （d） times conceptualized as moving objects receive a front-back orientation， with the front being in the direction of motion. In other words， ‘preceding weeks’ takes place earlier in the past， whereas ‘following weeks’ takes place later in the future， both of which are independent of the ego. Thus， the reference point of （a） and （b） is the ego， but that of （a） and （b） is ‘this week’， which happens to be ‘collocated’ with the ego. Indeed， the distinction between Time-RP and Ego-RP can account for the seemingly contradictory data， such as in （a） and （b）.
5.2 Time-R and Human-R
Yu （1998
【Key words】space； time； space-time concept
【摘要】时空隐喻是理解时间概念这一人们认知的基本范畴的一种主要方式，Lakoff将其分为自我移动隐喻和时间流动隐喻两个子类。本文在此基础之上并结合英、汉两种语料，根据时间空间化的横向和纵向模式，提出了自我移动隐喻的“前/后”模式、以观察者为中心的时间流动隐喻的“前/后”模式、以事件先后顺序为中心的时间序列性隐喻等模式。由此进一步探讨英汉时空隐喻异同，认为英汉语中都存在自我移动隐喻及时间流动隐喻，但汉语时间认知偏向时间的序列性特征而英语侧重时间流动性。
【关键词】空间 时间 时空概念
1. Introduction
People are aware of time， but unable to make it a clear complete definition. And lots of linguists and philosophers have studied time based on various theories. Lakoff and Johnsen in their book Metaphors We Live By claim that we comprehend the world around us metaphorically base on our experiences and point out that we conceptualize and describe time through the domain of space. Metaphor has been recognized as a useful cognitive approach in explaining one thing through another. Time orientation metaphor is a basic and efficient approach to conceptualize and describe time. Therefore， spatial-temporal metaphors research becomes extremely popular and lots of achievements have been made. Now there are two different cognitive approaches of time in the metaphorical system of space and time. One is Time-moving Metaphor， under which the observer’s position is fixed， outside of time and the time is regarded as an independent moving object that moving from future to past. The other is Ego-moving Metaphor， under which the observer is treated as a traveler traveling from past to future in the long endless river of time.
2. Literature Review
In addition to the often-discussed MOVING TIME and MOVING EGO metaphors， Lakoff and Johnson （1999：140） discuss another “most basic metaphor for time”， the TIME ORIENTATION metaphor. Alverson（1994） claims to have discovered two important differences between English and Chinese. The English ego takes the front-to-the-future orientation while it is the back-to-the-future for the Chinese and that the Chinese ego remains stationary all the time facing toward the past. In contrast， Yu （1998） concludes that the Chinese data largely fall into the patterns outlined by Lakoff （1993） for English. Yu （2012） reinforced that the metaphorical orientation of time in Chinese is realized by the pair of conceptual metaphors FUTURE IS IN FRONT OF EGO and PAST IS BEHIND EGO， which happens to be the parametric setting held by most of the languages studied. He argued that it is important to make two crucial distinctions with regard to Reference Point （RP） and Referent （R） in temporal reference frames for data analysis. Zhang （2003） divided the time cognition model in Chinese into right-sight approach and left-sight approach. Ye （2012）， opposite to the theory of Zhang’s， argues that in Chinese， time is cognized only under the right-sight approach. The illusion of the existence of left-sight approach is due to the confusion of reference point of ‘前’ and ‘后’ in Chinese.
3. “Front （前）” in Chinese and English
In Chinese， ‘前’ can express three kinds of spatial concepts： the orientation that human or other things facing， position that closing to the top of a sequence line and the moving direction. In English， different words are used to express the three concepts of ‘前’ in Chinese. While in the domain of time， there exist great differences. In Chinese， ‘前’ can stand for time in the future， in the past and a relatively earlier time.
1） 前途 （future）
2） 以前 （ past）
3） 前天 （a relatively earlier time）
In English， orientation words like before， forward， ahead and forth also used to represent both space and time. When mapping into time domain， they can be used to refer to two types of time. First， they can refer to the future and a relatively earlier time.
4） from this time forward， look forward to
5） the day before yesterday
4. “Back （后）” in Chinese and English
For the time metaphors of word “Back （后）” in English and Chinese， great differences can be found. In Chinese， “后” can be used to refer time in the future， such as 我以后再告诉你； a relatively later time， such as 饭后吃药.While in English， words back， after， and behind can be used to refer time in the past or a relatively later time：
6） My school days are far behind me.
7） The train is ten minutes behind time.
5. Ego-RP vs. Time-RP and Time-R and Human-R
5.1 Ego-RP and Time-RP
Lakoff and Johnson （1980：41） note that there is an apparent contradiction in English in the metaphorical conceptualization of time， as illustrated below： a. In the weeks ahead of us…（future）
b. That’s all behind us now. （past）
c. In the following weeks… （future）
d. In the preceding weeks…（past）
Thus， in （a） and （b）， the future is in front and the past is behind us， but （c） and （d） appear to suggest that the future is behind and the past in front of us. Lakoff and Johnson （1980）， however， point out there is an actually metaphorical coherence here considering that in （c） and （d） times conceptualized as moving objects receive a front-back orientation， with the front being in the direction of motion. In other words， ‘preceding weeks’ takes place earlier in the past， whereas ‘following weeks’ takes place later in the future， both of which are independent of the ego. Thus， the reference point of （a） and （b） is the ego， but that of （a） and （b） is ‘this week’， which happens to be ‘collocated’ with the ego. Indeed， the distinction between Time-RP and Ego-RP can account for the seemingly contradictory data， such as in （a） and （b）.
5.2 Time-R and Human-R
Yu （1998