The Meaning Construction of Idiom Based on Blending Model

Abstract

This paper studies and construes the meaning construction of idiom based on blending model, intending to use the blending model to reveal the meaning construction mechanism of idiom so as to make people understand that the meaning of idiom is constructed through the non-compositional integrated approach. The study shows that the conceptual blending is a primary means of encoding the metaphorical meaning of idiom. It blends the concepts of different cognitive frames, through the cross-space mapping and projection, to form a new concept, which is the metaphorical meaning of idiom. The process of idiom’s meaning construction is essentially a semantic leap, thus, a process of frame-shifting. Moreover, the national cognitive and cultural models play a very important role in the process of meaning construction of idiom. The cognitive model provides a guiding for the meaning construction of idiom, and this guiding become a kind of reality induced by the cultural model eventually.