The Comparative Study of Anger Metaphors between English and Chinese

Abstract

Conceptual metaphor is an important theory of cognitive linguistics, and the essence of it is to construct one concept by another, and human cognition cannot be separated from metaphor. Using this theory, this paper studies the metaphorical thinking of anger expression in English and Chinese based on the analysis of anger metaphor by Lakoff and Johnson, sums up the similarities and differences of anger expression in English and Chinese, and analyzes the reasons for differences. The study found that in the metaphor of anger, both English and Chinese are represented by natural forces, animals, fire, substances in containers, etc. But the difference is that Chinese use viscera, animal names, gas and so on to conceptualize angry emotions. These similarities are derived from the same physiological basis and similar cognitive style, and the difference between the two languages in expressing anger is due to their different cultural backgrounds. This study contributes to language teaching, language research, and cross-cultural communication, and promotes language learners’ learning of metaphor as well as language culture.