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Part of
Visual Metaphors
Edited by Réka Benczes and Veronika Szelid
[Benjamins Current Topics 124] 2022
► pp. 263–282

Viewpoint and metaphor in culture

A Cognitive Linguistic analysis on a selection of Chinese eulogistic idioms used in Taiwan

| Masaryk University

The chapter presents an in-depth analysis of the language of death in Chinese and discusses the relation between language and occupation as a social factor in analyzing the language of death. In this chapter, I address in what specific ways Cognitive Linguistics may serve as a useful analytical framework in studying Chinese idioms used in funerals, in an attempt to uncover cultural elements and viewpoint structure in communicating death. The study introduces basic constructs in Cognitive Linguistics which could be used for such an analysis, and applies this CL machinery to analyzing three selected groups of four-character eulogistic idioms used at funerals in Taiwan. The analysis shows that, in addition to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, which has been considered the classic CL tool for studying abstract concepts like death, the subjectivity/objectivity distinction in Cognitive Grammar may also be employed as a complementary and useful theoretical construct in studying the language of death, as it helps identify the special characteristics of the eulogistic idioms for teachers as a special profession in the Chinese culture.

Keywords: allusion, cultural metaphor, cultural conceptualization of death, eulogistic idioms, funeral, viewing arrangement
Article outline
  • 1.Language of death as a cultural product
  • 2.Metaphor and viewpoint in discourse
  • 3.Previous studies of the cultural conceptualization of death and Chinese funeral discourse
  • 4.Data and method
  • 5.Mandarin eulogistic idioms for teachers, media workers and legal experts
    • 5.1Ritual idioms used in funerals of teachers (師長喪）
    • 5.2Ritual idioms used in funerals of media workers (媒體喪）
    • 5.3Ritual idioms used in funerals of legal experts (法界喪）
  • 6.When the mourner becomes the object of conceptualization
  • 7.Culture in discourse and vice versa: What Cognitive Linguistics can reveal about occupations in society
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Glossary
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 9 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.124.11lu
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