认知语言学视角下英汉基本颜色词“红”的隐喻对比研究

摘要隐喻作为一种认知手段在不同语言中都大量存在，隐喻的对比分析也是当下有关隐喻研究的一个主要方向。传统的隐喻观视隐喻为一种修辞手段，而在莱考夫和约翰逊的《我们赖以生存的隐喻》一书中首次提出了将隐喻视为人类的一种认知方式的概念隐喻理论，实现了隐喻理论研究从修辞格到认识方法的转变。颜色域作为人类基本认知域之一，以颜色词的形式记录在人类语言中并具有丰富的隐喻意义。因此通过对颜色词作为始源域的英汉隐喻的研究，可以找出英语和汉语中颜色词隐喻的认知过程以及影响认知结果的因素，使人们更好的理解并使用颜色词隐喻。根据语言中颜色词的特征及发展顺序，Kay&Berlin归纳总结了基本颜色词理论，根据基本颜色词理论，红是人类语言中首个出现的彩色基本颜色词。本文采用以概念隐喻理论为主概念转喻理论为辅的理论框架，以RED为例，从CorpusofContemporaryAmericanEnglish和CorpusofCenterforChineseLinguisticsPKU两个语料库中各随机抽取的1000条含有RED的语料，借助牛津英语词典和现代汉语词典进行定性分析，总结红在英语和汉语隐喻使用情况及隐喻含义；通过对比英语和汉语中红的隐喻含义找出差异性和共性，并找出导致英汉以红为始源域的隐喻之间存在共性和差异的因素。研究发现，红在英语和汉语中都存在着大量的隐喻。红在英语中的主要隐喻含义有警告、强度、债务、官僚等，在汉语中的主要隐喻含义有警告、喜悦、女性、政治等，其中红作为政治、警告、强度、等隐喻在英汉中都存在，这主要是由于人眼识别色彩的生理机制以及红光的物理属性决定的。而在英汉中都存在着独有的隐喻含义，例如英语中的官僚和汉语中的爱情，造成这些差异的主要原则则是中西方文化的不同，隐喻具有文化依存性，所以不同文化间的相同始源域所产生的映射也不同。除此之外，作者发现红在英汉隐喻中的映射过程并不都是一步完成的，有些隐喻的映射过程是建立在转喻基础上的。本研究旨在为其他领域对颜色词的研究如心理学提供了思路，有利于认知语言学与其他学科间互动与发展。并期待通过对红色隐喻的英汉对比分析，跨文化交际教学有一定启示。关键词：红；基本颜色词；概念隐喻；英汉对比AbstractMetaphor,asacognitivedevice,iswidelyemployedinhumanlanguage.ThecomparativestudyofmetaphorbetweenEnglishandChineseisalsoamaindirectionofmetaphorresearch.Thetraditionalviewofmetaphorregardsmetaphorasarhetoricaldevice.InLakoffandJohnson'smetaphorwelive,theconceptualmetaphortheorythatregardsmetaphorasacognitivewayofhumanbeingsisputforwardforthefirsttime,whichrealizesthetransformationofmetaphortheoryfromrhetorictocognitivemethod.Asoneofthebasiccognitivedomains,colordomainisrecordedinhumanlanguageascolortermsandhasrichmetaphoricalmeanings.Therefore,bystudyingthemetaphorsofcolorterminEnglishandChinese,wecanfindoutthecognitiveprocessofcolortermmetaphorsinEnglishandChineseandthefactorsthataffectthecognitiveresults,sothatpeoplecanbetterunderstandandusecolortermmetaphors.Accordingtothecharacteristicsanddevelopmentorderofcolorsinlanguage,KayandBerlinsummeduptheBasicColorTermtheory.AccordingtotheBasicColorTermTheory,REDisthefirstcolorfulbasiccolorterminhumanlanguage.Inthispaper,weusetheconceptualmetaphortheoryasthetheoreticalframeworkandusetheconceptualmetonymytheoryassupplement.InCorporaofContemporaryAmericanEnglishandCorpusofCenterforChineseLinguisticsPKU,1000corporawithREDwererandomlyselected.ByusingOxfordEnglishDictionaryandModernChineseDictionarytomakequalitativeanalysis,wecansummarizethemetaphoricalmeaningsofredinEnglishandChinese;bycomparingthemetaphoricalmeaningsofredinEnglishandChinese,wecanfindoutthedifferencesandsimilaritiesandthefactorsthatleadtothesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesemetaphorswithredasthesourcedomain.TheauthorfoundthattherearealotofmetaphorsofREDinbothEnglishandChinese.ThemainmetaphoricalmeaningsofredinEnglishareWarning,Intensity,Debt,Bureaucracy,etc.,whileinChinesearewarning,Enjoyment,Femininity,Politics,etc.Amongthem,redasametaphorofPolitics,Warning,Intensity,etc.existsinbothChineseandEnglish,whichismainlydeterminedbythephysiologicalmechanismofhumaneyeandthephysicalattributeofredlight.ThereareuniquemetaphoricalmeaningsinbothEnglishandChinese,suchasBureaucracyinEnglishandLoveinChinese.ThemaincauseofthesedifferencesisthedifferencebetweenChineseandWesterncultures.Metaphorsareculturallydependent,sothesamesourceofdifferentculturesproducesdifferentmappings.Inaddition,theauthorfindsthatthemappingprocessofredinEnglishandChinesemetaphorsisnotallcompletedinonestep.Somemetaphorsarebasedonmetonymy.Thepurposeofthisstudyistoprovideideasforthestudyofcolortermsinotherfields,suchaspsychology,whichisconducivetotheinterdisciplinaryinteractionanddevelopmentbetweencognitivelinguisticsandotherdisciplines.ItishopedthatthroughthecontrastivestudyofmetaphorinREDbetweenEnglishandChinese,theteachingofcross-culturalcommunicationwillbeenlightened.Keywords:RED,BasicColorTerm,ConceptualMetaphor,ContrastiveStudy

ChapterONEIntroduction1.1ResearchBackgroundSincethepublicationofMetaphorWeliveby,peoplehaveanewunderstandingofmetaphorandMetonym.Metaphorandmetonymyarenolongerrhetoricaldevicesoflanguagebutwaysofthinking,whichareimportantcognitivedevicesforhumanconceptualsystem.ShuDingfang(2002)pointedoutthattheessenceofmetaphorisatoolofperceptionandconceptformationforhumanbeingstounderstandtheworldaroundthem.Thedevelopmentofcognitionandlanguageisinseparablefromtheperceptionandexperienceofhumansensestotheexternalthings.Metaphorisgeneratedbymappingfromthesourcedomaintothetargetdomain.Thefunctionistoconstructorexplainanotherabstractconceptwithaspecificonewhichismorefamiliar.Inthehugecognitivesystemofhumanbeings,colorisanimportantpartofhumanvisualresultsandplaysanimportantroleinlife.Langacker(1987)pointedoutthatcolordomainisthemostbasiccognitivedomainoflanguage,whichisthesameasspacedomainandemotionaldomain.VerneF.Ray(1953)pointedoutthateachcolorsystemaimstomakethecolorsarrangedorderly,sothatpeoplecanperceiveandfeedbackthem,andthenpromotespeechcommunication.Nomatterinvisionoremotion,peoplewillrespondtocolorandgiveitspecificconnotation.Colormetaphormakesourcognitionofthingsmorerealandvivid.Accordingtothebasiccolortermtheory,redisthefirstcolorfulterm,whichismorerepresentativeandworthyoffurtherstudy.ThisthesiswilltakethebasiccolortermREDasanexampletocompareitsmetaphorbetweenEnglishandChinese,whichnotonlyfocusedonthemeaningofmetaphors,butpaymoreattentiontothedifferencesandsimilaritiesandthecausesofthem.1.2ObjectiveandSignificanceoftheStudyThroughtheanalysisof1000corporarandomlyselectedfromCOCAandCCL,itisfoundthattherearealotofmetaphorsofREDusedinbothEnglishandChinese,andmetaphorsinEnglishandChinesehavesimilaritiesanddifferences.Themainfactorsforthesimilaritiesanddifferencesarephysiologicalfactorandculturalfactors.Therearesometheoreticalandpracticalvalues:Metaphorwasstudiedasarhetoricaldeviceforalongtime.LakoffandJohnsonproposedconceptualmetaphorasawayofthinkingandcognitivemeansofhumanbeings,andmetaphorisnotaspecialwayofexpression,whichgenerallyexistsinourdailylanguages.Accordingtostatistics,70%ofeverydayexpressionsareproducedbymetaphor.Throughtheanalysisofconceptualmetaphorofbasiccolortermred,thestudyfurtherprovestheuniversalityofmetaphor,andmetaphorisinfluencedbybackgroundculture,thesamelexicalmetaphorofdifferentculturesmaybedifferent.Second,throughtheanalysisofcolortermsfromtheperspectiveofconceptualmetaphor,thethesisprovidesideasforthestudyofcolorinotherfields,suchaspsychology,whichisconducivetotheinteractionanddevelopmentbetweencognitivelinguisticsandotherdisciplines.Metaphorofbasiccolortermswidelyexistsindailylife.Peoplewiththesamebackgroundandculturecaneasilygraspandunderstandthemetaphoricalmeaning.However,forpeoplewithdifferentculturalbackgrounds,itisdifficulttounderstandmetaphorofbasiccolorwords,whichneedstoconsultmaterialstounderstanditsconnotation.Thepracticalsignificanceofthistopicliesinthat,bycomparingthedifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesecolormetaphors,foreignlanguagelearnerscanreducetheirconfusioninunderstandingmetaphorsofcolor,andcanusethecolormetaphorconnotationofthetargetlanguagetounderstandwhenencounteringcolormetaphorswithculturaldifferences,soastoreducethegenerationofambiguity.Byanalyzingthesimilaritiesanddifferencesofmetaphor,wecanunderstandculturesindepthandimprovetheinterculturalcommunicationability.1.3TheOrganizationoftheThesisThethesisconsistsofsixchapters.Thefirstthreechaptersarethebasicoftheresearch.Thefirstchapterisintroduction,includingthebackground,theobjectivesandsignificanceandthelayoutofthestudy.Thesecondchapterisliteraturereview,includingthepreviousstudyonBasicColorTermTheoryanddevelopmentofmetaphor.Inchapterthree,thetheoreticalframeworkincludesthedefinitionofconceptualmetaphor,conceptualmetonymyandtheworkingmechanismofthemareelucidatedinthispart.Thefourthchapterisresearchmethodology.Researchobjectanddataselection,researchquestionsandresearchprocedurewhichinvolvethemethodologiesareshowedinthischapter.Thefifthchapteristhemostimportantpartofthethesis.Inthispart,theauthorfirstanalyzedthemetaphorofREDinEnglishandChineseandsupportedbythesamplesfromCOCAandCCL.Besidesthemeaningofmetaphor,theprocessofmappingispresent.ThenpointoutthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineseandthecausesfromphysiologicalandpsychologicalaspect.Thelastchapteristheconclusionwhichgivesasummarytothefindings,explainsthelimitationsofthestudyandprovidessomesuggestionsforfuturestudies.

ChapterTwoLiteratureReview2.1TheDevelopmentofBasicColorTermTheoryAristotlementionedthatcolorisdifferentfromdifferentperspective,whichshowsthatcolorisnotinherentwithinorindependentfromtheobject.Instead,itistheresultoftheinteractionbetweenthehumanvisualorganandtheobject.AbstractartmasterWassilyKandinskysaidthatcolorcanaffecthumanmentalsensedirectly,thereforetheperceptionofcolorisnotsingularorfixed.Colorandhumancognitionareconnectedwitheachotherbeforetheformationofthecolorterms.AccordingtothedevelopmentofBasicColorTerms,overseasresearchonbasiccolorwordscanbedividedintothefollowingstages:First,beforeBasicColorTermtheorywasputforward:theresearchfromthemiddleof19thcenturytothebeginningof20thcentury,theresearchinthefirsthalfandthemiddleof20thcentury.Second,propositionandsupplementofBasicColorTermtheory.2.1.1BeforetheProposalofBasicColorTermTheoryThestudyofcolortermswasinitiatedbyW.Gladstone,afamousEnglishscholar.HeanalyzedthecolordescriptionsinStudiesonHomerandtheHomericAge,whichwaspublishedin1858.HefoundthattherewereonlyafewabstractwordstodescribecolorsinancientGreece,andthemeaningsofthesewordsareambiguous.Thusly,hebelievesthatsuchlanguagefactcouldbeattributedtothedefectivecolorsenseorganinancientGreek:theirabilitytodistinguishonecolorfromanotherwaslessdevelopedthanmodernpeople(Yao,1988).HisfindingsandconjecturesattractedtheattentionofGermanlinguistL.Geiger.AtaconferenceofGermanzoologistsandbotanistsin1867,Geigerexpressedagreementwiththeviewofdifferencebetweenthesensoryorgansofancientandmodernpeople.Hebelievedthatthelackofabstractwordsforcolordescriptionandtheambiguousmeaningareascribedtotheunderdevelopedability.Geigerbelievesthatwithimprovedrecognitionabilitiesforcolors,humanswillbeabletodistinguishandnamemoreandmorecolors.HewasthefirsttoproposethehypothesisaboutthegeneralorderofoccurrenceofcolorsandreachedtheconclusionintheContributionstotheHistoryoftheDevelopmentoftheHumanRacein1880(Yao,1988).Thehypothesisisthattheorderinwhichpeopleperceivecolorsissimilartotheorderinwhichtheyarearrangedinthenaturalspectrum.Therefore,theappearanceofcolortermsrequiresatleastsixstagesinagivenlanguage.Stage1:Thereisonlyonewordtodescribethemixingofblackandredconcepts;Stage2:Blackandredconceptsdiverge,resultinginthenamesofblackandred;Stage3:Yellownamesappeared,sodidgreen;Stage4:Whitenamesappeared;Stage5:Greennamesappearedanditpossiblyindicatesblue;Stage6:Bluenamesappeared.Inthesameyear,GermanophthalmologistH.MagnusfoundtheevidencetorefutetheconclusionsofGeigeretal.andpublishedsuchevidenceinUndersuchungenüberdenfarbensinndernaturvölker.Becauseofthegroundbreakingcross-culturalresearch,Magnusprovidedamodelformodernanthropologicalresearch.Intheresearch,hereachedthefollowingconclusions:1.Colornamingisnotnecessarilyrelatedtothelevelofperception,andtheirdiscriminationofcolordependsonwhethersuchcolorisnecessaryindailylife;2.Thefirstidentifiedcolorwasred,followedbyyellow,green,andblue;3.Itiseasytoconfusetheexpressionofadjacentcolorsinthespectrum,suchasgreenandblue;4.Inlanguageswithonlytwoorthreecolorterms,redrepresentscolorswithrelativelylongwavelengths,suchasred,orange,andyellow;whileblackrepresentsrelativelyshort-wavelengthcolors,suchasblue,green,andpurple.Hissurveywasthelargestatthattime.BerlinandKayevaluatedthemainconclusions,exceptforitshouldbecorrectedthatyellowappearedbeforegreen.AfterMagnus,intheearly2000s,althoughafewscholarshavediscussedtheuniversalityofthewordsforcolorintheorderofoccurrence,thisaspectofresearchhasbeenignoredduetotheemergenceofAnthropologicallinguistics.BecauseEdwardSapirandB.L.WhorfputforwardtheSapir–Whorfhypothesiswhichstressesuponthenotionthatdifferentlanguagesmakedifferentclassifications.Thestructureofthelanguagecanaffectthethinkingmodeandbehaviorofthespeakers.Thestudyofcoloratthattimewasmainlycarriedoutundersuchbackground,especiallyinthe1960s.Ittakesthetheoreticalframeworkofthishypothesisandfocusesonspecificlanguagenamesinaveryspecificway.Conklin(1955)investigatedadialectofPhilippinesandfoundthattheyusedfourcolortermstoexpressdifferentcolors.GriséncomparedEnglishwithanativelanguageofRhodesiaandanativelanguageofLibyatodividechromatographicexpressions.BothConklinandGrisénagreedthatthevisualphysiologiesofcolorperceptionbetweenhumansarenodifferent,althougheachlanguagehasitsownwayofrecordingcolor.2.1.2TheBasicColorTermTheoryInthe1960s,foreignscholarsbegantostudythecolorwordsindifferentlanguages.AnthropologistsBerlinandKayexperimented98languagesandpublishedbasiccolorwords:theiruniversalityandevolutionin1969.Accordingtotheirdefinition,thebasiccolortermsshouldfulfilthefollowingcriteria:Basiccolortermshaveonlyonemorpheme,andthemeaningofwordscannotbeinferredfromthepartsofthisword.Thusly,wecanruleoutbluish,lemon-coloredorblue-green,andsoon.Basiccolortermsrefertoonecolorthatisindependentoftheotherandthereforeexcludesscarletandcrimson.Basiccolortermsarenotlimitedindescribingacertaincategory,justlikeblondeisnotabasiccolorterm,becauseitgenerallyrefersonlytothecolorofhairandskin.Basiccolortermsaresignificantandstableinpsychologicalsubjects,becausetheirviewofcolorwillnotbechangedindifferentcontexts.Therecanbedifferentjudgmentsduetopersonalusage.BerlinandKayarguedthatthesefourcriteriaaregenerallysufficienttojudgethebasiccolorwordsinalanguage,andthefollowingfourcriteriacanbeusedinthesituationwithoutclarity.Thesamedistributionpotentialandderivationability,suchasRed,WhiteandGreen,canformreddish,whitishandgreenish.Whilechartreuse,whichisnotfromEnglish,cannotbetransformedintoanewwordofasimilarform.Ifacolorwordderivesthemeaningfromaphysicalobject,andisthenameofthatobject,thenitisnotabasiccolorterm.Forexample,goldreferstoboththecolorandthepreciousmetal.Accordingtothisrule,orangemaybeexcluded,becauseitmeetsonetofourmaincriteriaabove.Itstillbelongstothebasiccolorterm.Thenewcolorwordsfromforeignlanguagesshouldnotberegardedasthebasiccolorterm.ThebasiccolortermsinEnglishareformedbyasinglemorpheme.InsomeAmericanIndianlanguages,thebasiccolortermsareformedbyreduplicatedwords.BerlinandKay(1969)reachedthefollowingconclusionsthroughtheirstudyonbasiccolorterms:Intermoftheuniversalityofbasiccolorwords,thehumanlanguagescommonlyshareauniversalbasiccolorcategory,includingwhite,black,red,green,yellow,blue,Brown,purple,pink,orange,andgray.Allthebasiccolorwordsindifferentlanguagesbelongtotheabove11categories,andallofthemhavecentralmeanings.Asforthedistributionofbasiccolorwords,anylanguagehasatleasttwobasiccolorwordsforblackandwhite.Iftherearethreebasiccolorwords,thethirdonemustbeacolornameforred.Iftherearefourbasiccolorwords,thisbasiccolorwordcaneithermeangreenoryellow.Ifthefifthbasiccolorindicatesgreenoryellow,thenthesixthbasiccolorwordwouldindicateblue.Theorderofoccurrenceofthebasiccolorwordssuggeststhattheappearanceofthebasiccolorwordsinvariouslanguagesisinaccordancewiththerespectivestagesofuniversaloccurrence.Itwasfoundthatthefocusedcolorsindifferentlanguageswereremarkablyconsistent,regardlessofthetoneofthesamelanguage.In1978,KayandMcDanielrevisedandsupplementedtheprevioustheorybystressinguponthelinguisticimportanceofthebasiccolorwords.Theyusedthetheoryandmethodbasedonambiguitymathematicstofindoutthecauseoftheuniversalityinthesemanticsfromtheperspectiveofphysiologicalstructure,therebyredefiningthecategoryandsequenceofthebasiccolorterms.BerlinandKayarguedthattherewasaclearboundarybetweentwocolorcategories,withonetonebelongingonlytoonecategory.Intheirsurvey,thesubjectswereaskedtochoosethecategorytowhicheachtonebelongs,ratherthanaskingthemabouttheextentofonespecificcolorfittowhichitbelongstosuchcategory.Obviously,theclassificationofcolortermsissimplifiedandclarified,thankstotheireffort.KayandMcDaniel’snewtheoryholdsthatthecategoryofcolorsshouldbeconsideredasafuzzyset,inwhichthebelongingnessofonetoneisamatterofdegree.Moreover,therepresentativeandtypicalcolorshavethehighestlevelofconformity,andviceversa.Bycomparison,thetonebetweentwocolorcategorieshasthelowestdegreeofconformity,makingitpropertodescribetheentirecolorrangefromtheedgetothecenter.Consequently,suchdescriptioncanbemoreaccuratetodepicttheassociationbetweenthevarioustonesandthestatusoftheintermediatecolor.Humanbeingshaveaspecialphysiologicalstructureandacumenforperceivingthevariouscolors.TheTrichromaticTheoryofcolorvisionassumesthattherearethreedifferentkindsofconuscellintheretina,eachofwhichservetoperceivered,greenandbluelight,respectively.Whenthethreekindsofconuscellsfeelthesingularlightstimulationwithintherangeofcorrespondingwavelength,theywouldfunctiontoproduceasinglered-green-bluecolorperception.Whenthecompoundlightwaveshedoneachconuscellwithdifferentintensityratio,yellow,orange,purpleandothermixedcolorwillbeperceivedaccordingtotherulesofColorMixing.Whenthewavelengthisofthesameintensity,itwillproducetheperceptionofwhiteandnoothercolors.Trichromatictheoryofcolorhasbeensubstantiatedinseveralphysiologicalexperiments,yetitsmaindrawbackisthatitfailstoaccountfortheroleofneuralpathwaysfromtheeyetothebrain.In1966,deValoisetAl.demonstratedthathumanshavefourtypesofcellstoperceivethecolorsinlight,including1)+red-green;2)+green-red;3)+yellow-blue;and4)+blue-yellow.Forexample,theopponentcell+red-greencanperceiveredcolorwhilerejectgreencolor.Theseopponentcellsservetocharacterizethecolorsenseofhuman.Physiologicallyspeaking,peoplecannotformared-greenorblue-yellowcombination,buttheycancombineredwithyelloworbluewithgreen.Inaddition,theothertwonon-oppositereactiontypes,blackandwhite,servetoformthebasisofcolorperception,andtodeterminethesemanticstructureofcolortermsinvariouslanguages.KayandMcDanielcombinedthetheoryofModuluswiththetheoryofvisualneuralresponsetoestablishanewsystemforthecategorizationofbasiccolorterms.Theypointedoutthatthetheoryin1969cannotlogicallydistinguishthe11basiccolorcategories.Asamatteroffact,thereareatleast15basiccolorcategoriesinthehumanlanguages,andthatthese15termscanbedividedintothreecategoriesfromtheperspectiveofOpticnerveresponse,including1)maincategory;2)comprehensivecategory;and3)too-ascendingcategory.Moreover,thesequenceofbasiccolortermscanstillbedividedintosevenstages,yetthecontenthasbeenadjustedaccordingly,asshowninFigure.SemionticianA.Wierzbicka(1990)cameupwithanewinterpretationoftheevolutionofbasiccolorwordsfromtheperspectiveofsemantics.Theresearcherheldthathumanbeingsperceivecolorinthesamemechanism,regardlessofrace,sex,ageandotherphysiologicalfactors.Additionally,thedifferenceintheconceptofcolorindifferentlanguagesshouldbeascribedtoculturalandreligiousreasons.Thatistosay,differentlanguageusershaveformeddifferentviewsaboutcolorandtheworld.2.1.3DomesticResearchofColorThebasiccolorwordtheorywasfirstintroducedintoChinain1981byFuHuaiqinginBasicColorTerms:UniversalityandDevelopment,whichisthetranslationworkofBerlinandKay.YaoXiaoping(1988)summarizedtheevolutionhistoryofChinesebasiccolorwordsandanalyzedtheirinfluence.Fromtheperspectiveofsemantics,WuTieping(1986)researchedandclassifiedcolorwordsfromtheperspectiveoffuzzylinguistics.LiHongyin(2004,2007)analyzedcolorwordsfromthelexicallevelandthesyntacticlevel,includingthefunctionsofdistinguishingcolors,referringtocolors,anddescribingcolors,andfurtherexploredthesemanticaspectsofcolors.Fromtheperspectiveoftranslationtheory,PengQiurong(2001)studiedtheculturalconnotationofEnglishandChinesecolorwordsandtheirtranslation.Fromacross-culturalperspective,YangYonglin(2003)exploredthedeficienciesandproblemsinthetheoreticalresearchofbasiccolorwordsandtriedtocomplementeachotherinfunctionandform.Fromtheperspectiveofrhetoric,JinFunian(2004)studiedtherhetoricaluseofmodernChinesecolorwordsofdifferentgenders.Inrecentyears,researchoncolorwordshasbecomemorevigorous,andmoreinterdisciplinaryresearchmethodshavebeenintroduced.ZhangJijia(2015,2012)provedtheinteractionbetweencolorwordsandcolorcognitionfromtheperspectiveofpsychologyandlinguistics,andexploredthecolornamingandclassificationofdifferentagegroups.XuXia(2016)comparedtheidiomscontainingcolorwordsatthecross-culturalandsemanticlevels,withaviewofhelpingEnglishteachingtoacertainextent.Therefore,thestudyofcolorwordmetaphorshasafurtherunderstandingofcultureandsemanticswithgreatresearchvalue.2.2StudiesonMetaphorMetaphorhasalwaysbeenahottopicinlinguisticresearch.Thetraditionaltheoryofmetaphorregardsmetaphorasalinguisticphenomenonandarhetoricaldevice.In1980,LakoffandJohnsonfirstputforwardthetheoryofconceptualmetaphor.Thestudyofmetaphortheoryhasrealizedthetransformationfromrhetorictocognitivedevice.2.2.1TheDevelopmentofMetaphorBeforethetheoryofconceptualmetaphorwasputforward,thestudyofmetaphorwentthroughthreestages:SubstitutionTheory,ComparisonTheoryandInteractionTheory.Onthebasisofconceptualmetaphor,ConceptualBlendingTheoryisputforward.SubstitutionTheoryAccordingtocurrentlyavailablereferences,Aristotleistheancientphilosopherwhostartedthesystematicresearchonmetaphorandthereforeheisconsideredasthepioneerofmetaphoricresearch.Thebackgroundatthattimewasthatallphilosophicalproblemswereregardedaslinguisticproblems.Aristotleappliedphilosophicalapproachtostudymetaphorasarhetoricaldevice(Li,2004:5).TheviewofAristotlehasprofoundlyinfluencedtheresearchesintometaphorinthewestinthe2000yearsthatfollowed.Heproposedthatrhetoricanddialecticswerecompatiblethatpeopleusethesetwomethodstodiscusswithoneanotherandestablishtheirstatement.Astheessenceofmetaphor,thetheoryofsubstitutionwasproposedbyQuintillianm,oneresearcherontherhetoricinancientRomanlanguage.Healsoarguedthatmetaphorisalinguistictermdescribingthereplacementofonewordwithanothertoexpressthesamemeaningandthatthetwowordsjointlyconsistacontrastiverelationship.Therefore,metaphorandsimileareofthesameinnature.Hefurtherpointedoutthatmetaphorismoresuccinctthansimile(Shu,2000:3).However,thesubstitutiontheoryemphasizesthesubstitutabilitybetweenthesourcedomainandthetargetdomain.Wordsthatrepresenteachothercancompletelybereplacedbyanotherword,andbothtwowordsaregatheredfromthesynonymousdomain.Thus,thesubstitutiontheoryusheredinmetaphorstudyandsetsupthefirstmilestone,inspiteofitsobviouslimitations.ComparisonTheoryComparisontheory,alsocalledsimilaritytheoryorAnalogytheory,emphasizesuponthecharacteristiccomparisonbetweenthesourcedomainandthetargetdomain.Thesubstanceistherelationshipwhichisbuiltuponthecomparisonofthemeaningsbetweenthetwowordsfromdifferentsemanticdomain.Intheotherwords,metaphorisconsideredasastatementwithsimilarityoranalogy.Inviewofsuchnotion,thecomparisontheoryismerelyaderivativeofAristotle’sview.Theinfluenceofcomparativetheoryisjustasenormousassubstitutiontheoryinmetaphorstudy.Abram(Hu,1993)providedavividexampleof‘HeistherockofGibralter’toclaimthatmetaphorreferstoonethingbecomingthecomparisonoftheother.Attheturnofthe21stcentury,hestillclaimedthatmetaphorservestotransferthecharacteristicsofonethingtoanotherwhichisnotsimilar.Unlikesimilesandanalogies,metaphorsaffirmthatonethingisnotjustliketheother.Whatthesetwoscholarshaveincommonisth