Metaphor and thought
Conceptualization of time in Chinese
The paper focuses on the issues within the paradigm of Contemporary Metaphor
Theory, concerning significant differences in the ways time is conceptualized in
Chinese and English. Although it is still true that time is understood through space
via metaphor, the paper provides evidence that time and space in Chinese present
a blended form, rather than what is widely assumed to be conceptualization
of one dimension in terms of another one. For instance, the Chinese word for
the universe, conventionally referred to by the form entailing both space and
time in its Chinese morphology, is now blended into one. Furthermore, the
paper will argue that time, as a culturally sensitive entity, is more distinctly
conceptualized as water in Chinese.
References (32)
References
Ahrens, K., & Chu-Ren H. 2002. Time Passing is Motion. Language and Linguistics 3(3), 491–519.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Boroditsky, L. 2000. Metaphoric structuring: Understanding Time Through Spatial Metaphors. Cognition 75(1), 1–28. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Boroditsky, L. 2001. Does Language Shape Thought? Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conceptions of Time. Cognitive Psychology 43(1), 1–22. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Boroditsky, L. 2011. How Language Construct Time. In S. Dehaene & E. Brannon (eds.), Space, Time, and Number in the Brain: Searching for the Foundations of Mathematical Thought (pp. 333–341). London: Elsevier. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bowerman, M. 1996. The Origins of Children’s Spatial Semantic Categories: Cognitive vs. Linguistic Determinants. In J.J. Gumperz & S.C. Levinson (eds.), Rethinking Linguistic Relativity (pp. 145–176). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bowerman, M., & Choi, S. 2003. Space under Construction: Language-specific Spatial Categorization in First Language Acquisition. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (eds.), Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought (pp. 387–427). Cambridge: MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chan, W. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chatterje A. 2001. Language and Space: Some Interactions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5(2), 55–61(7). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, J.-Y. 2007. Do Chinese and English Speakers Think About Time Differently? Failure of Replicating Boroditsky (2001). Cognition 104, 427–236. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dong, W. 2004. The Chinese Conceptualization of Time Revisited. Contemporary Linguistics 6(2), 110–115.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fang, Th. H.1957. The Chinese View of Life. Hong Kong: The Union Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gentner, D. 2001. Spatial Metaphors in Temporal Reasoning. In M. Gattis (ed.), Spatial Schemas and Abstract Thought (pp. 203–222). Cambridge: Massachusetts University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gentner, D., & Imai, M. 1992. Is the Future Always Ahead? Evidence for System-mappings in Understanding Space-time Metaphors.
Proceedings of the 14th
Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
, 510–515.
Henderson, J.B. 2006. Premodern Chinese Notions of Astronomical History and Calendrical Time. In Ch. Huang & J.B. Henderson (eds.), Notions of Time in Chinese Historical Thinking (pp. 97–113). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang, Ch. 2006. “Time” and “Supertime” in Chinese Historical Thinking. In Ch. Huang & J.B. Henderson (eds.), Notions of Time in Chinese Historical Thinking (pp. 19–41). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang, Ch., & Zurcher, E. 1995. Cultural Notions of Space and Time in China. In Ch. Huang & E. Zurcher (eds.), Time and Space in Chinese Culture (pp. 3–16). Leiden; New York: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kant, I. 2014/1788. The Critique of Practical Reason. Trans. by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott. Project Gutenberg E-book of Kant’s 1788 book.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, G. 1990. The Invariance Hypothesis. Cognitive Linguistics, 1 (1). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lakoff, G. 1993. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In A. Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed, (pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lin, L. 1995. The Notions of Time and Position in the
Book of Changes and their Development. In Ch. Huang & E. Zurcher (eds.), Time and Space (pp. 89–113). Leiden; New York: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, S. 1990. On the Functional Unity of the Four Dimensions of Thought in the Book of Changes
. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 17(3), 359–385. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, S. 2006. On the Formation of a Philosophy of Time and History Through the Yijing
. In Ch. Huang & J.B. Henderson (eds.), Notions of Time in Chinese Historical Thinking (pp. 75–94). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lucy, J.A. 1997. Linguistic Relativity. Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 291–312. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McGlone, M.S., & Harding, J.L. 1998. Back (or Forward?) to the Future: The Role of Perspective in Temporal Language Comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 24(5), 1211–1223. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Radden, G. 2003. The Metaphor TIME AS SPACE Across Languages. In C.B.N. Baumgarten, M. Motz & J. Probst (eds.), Uebersetzen, Interkulturelle Kommunikation, Spracherwerb und Sprachvermittlung. Das Leben mit mehreren Sprachen Festschrift fuer Juliane House zum 60. Geburtstag. Vol. Zeitschrift fuer Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 8 (2/3), 226–239.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Richards, I.A. 1936. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Cambridge: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shinohara, K. 1999. Epistemology of Space and Time: Analysis of Conceptual Metaphors in English and Japanese. Tokyo: Kwansei Gakuin University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slobin, D. 1996. Two Ways to Travel: Verbs of Motion in English and Spanish. In S. Masayoshi & S. Thompson (eds.), Grammatical Constructions: Their Form and Meaning (pp. 195–219). Oxford: Clarendon.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sun, Q. 2013. Confucian Educational Philosophy and Its Implications for Lifelong Learning and Lifelong education. In W. Zhang (ed.), Conceptions of Lifelong Learning in Confucian Culture: Their Impact on Adult Learners, (pp. 60–79). Oxford: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tai, J. H-Y. 1989. Toward a Cognition-based Functional Grammar of Chinese. In Functionalism and Chinese Grammar, Monograph Series of the Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 1, 187–226.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.