The Production of Metaphor by Native Speakers of English and Chinese

Abstract

A comparative study by Yu (1995) revealed various similarities and differences between English and Chinese metaphorical expressions of anger and happiness. In order to explore additional similarities and differences between English and Chinese metaphorical expressions, the present study had English-speaking and Chinese-speaking participants produce metaphorical expressions for the psychological concepts of anger and happiness, and for the non-psychological concepts of time and status. The central conceptual metaphors of anger, happiness, time, and status are shared between native speakers of English and Chinese, with qualitative differences in their expression. The similarities between the English and Chinese metaphors are due to similarities in the source domains used to represent the various target, or conceptual, domains. However, metaphorical expressions generated by Chinese participants tended to be more concrete and specific, whereas those provided by English participants were less concrete and more generic.