Chapter published in:
“Self” in Language, Culture, and Cognition
Yanying Lu
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 10] 2019
► pp. 83–110

Chapter 5
Chinese conceptualisations of personhood

Informed by previous cognitive linguistic studies on the conceptualisation of self among English speakers, Chapter 5 analyses a variety of linguistic constructions in Mandarin Chinese that reflect the conceptual structures of the self. The conversational data collected for the present study discloses some basic cognitive structures. Speakers associate abstract concepts with a number of conceptual domains, such as space, object possession, and exertion of physical force. This chapter adopts a conceptual approach in unpacking inner self and relationship metaphors through the lens of metaphorical mapping, metonymies or image schemas.
Keywords: inners self metaphors, relationship metaphors, Chinese, conceptual structure
Article outline
  • 5.1The split self
    • 5.1.1The controlling subject
    • 5.1.2The unbounded self
  • 5.2Image-schematic dyads
    • 5.2.1Deep-shallow
    • 5.2.2 interior-exterior
    • 5.2.3 balance-imbalance
  • 5.3Relationship metaphors in Mandarin Chinese
    • 5.3.1The interpersonal path
    • 5.3.2Interpersonal proximity
    • 5.3.3The social container
  • 5.4Conclusion