The historical characteristics of the source domains in Chinese LIFE metaphor

Abstract

This research investigates the diachronic variation of the source domains in Chinese LIFE metaphor. Close examination of data from historical corpora has revealed that the source domain types evolve gradual diversified changes based on the social material and cultural life. Specifically, the results show that (1) harsh living environment and farming understanding account for Chinese ancestors’ preference for crops as the source domain in their life metaphors, (2) the territory extension and duplicate metaphysics together give reasons why the Tang Chinese favor transportation as well as natural phenomenon as the source domains in their life metaphors, (3) the increasing material enrichment and cultural diversification of modern times provide experiential motivation of the gamut of source domain types in Mandarin life metaphors. Thus, a conclusion can be reached that metaphor variation reflects social material level and intellectual level throughout the ages.