Metaphorical motion in Chinese

Abstract

This paper focuses on metaphorical motion in the Chinese language by investigating how various abstract concepts are construed in terms of spatial motion. The claim that the primary metaphor, change is motion, is central to metaphorical motion is confirmed, and we further examine sorts of target domains that are structured by spatial motion, the corresponding mappings in metaphors of entity-location pairs and orientational metaphors. Moreover, we explore how systematicity and complexity have structured the whole system. Through systematicity, coherence between different mappings and within one mapping are analyzed, and two concepts of “event” – event in “event-structure concepts” and in “motion event frame” are observed and are shown to be interrelated. By means of complexity, the specific issue of entity-location duality in metaphorical motion is discussed, and experiential bases – including physical, social and cultural basis for metaphorical motion is also considered.