Publications

Publication details [#47955]

Chen, Rong and Yaning Nie. 2008. WATER metaphors and metonymies in Chinese: A semantic network. Pragmatics & Cognition 16 (3) : 492–516.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/pc

Annotation

This paper studies how the concept WATER is metonymically and metaphorically extended to six super-domains: NATURE, LIFE SUSTAINER, MOVEMENT, POWER, PURITY, and WOMAN. It demonstrates that these six target domains are related to each other in intricate ways and within each are a number of sub-domains. This complicated semantic network of WATER is formed via speakers’ embodied experience with their physical as well as cultural environment. It is believed that this detailed discussion of the WATER network will contribute to the current research on the relationship between metaphor and metonymy.