5. The Chinese conceptualization of the heart and its cultural context

Implications for second language learning

Ning Yu

From the perspective of cultural linguistics, this study investigates (a) the Chinese conceptualization of the heart, based on a linguistic analysis, and (b) the cultural context for this conceptualization, based on a survey of ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine. As found, the heart-mind dichotomy traditionally held by Western cultures does not exist in traditional Chinese culture, which regards the heart as the thinking and behavior guiding organ, as well as the organ that stores feelings and emotions. It then discusses the importance of studying cultural conceptualization, including conceptual metaphor, behind linguistic expression in the context of second language learning and teaching. Such study should facilitate the acquisition of conceptual fluency and metaphorical competence of the L2 learner.

Published online: 11 April 2007
https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.7.06yu

Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

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2020. AN EVALUATION OF VISUALS IN IRANIAN DOMESTICALLY DEVELOPED ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS: A CULTURAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE. i-manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching 10:2 ► pp. 13 ff.

Ma, Qing & Zhichang Xu

2017. In Researching Chinese English: the State of the Art [Multilingual Education, 22], ► pp. 189 ff.

Prodanović Stankić, Diana

2017. In Advances in Cultural Linguistics [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 29 ff.

Zhu, Lin

2019. In Current Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse [Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse, 10], ► pp. 199 ff.

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