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Metaphors shape thoughts : an investigation on the extent of embodied experiences, cultural grounding and contextual factors on the processing of conceptual metaphors
Author
Liau, Jesselyn Chern Chern
Supervisor
Seilhamer, Mark
Abstract
The study of conceptual metaphor presents the notion that metaphors shape thoughts. Lakoff’s (2008) research in Neural Theory of Metaphor highlights that our metaphor system is embodied and grounded in experience and thus, many conceptual metaphors are universal. Kövecses’ (2005, 2015, 2020) research in cultural metaphor, however, focuses on presenting the variations in metaphor conceptualization. My study aimed to firstly, investigate the extent of the influences of embodied experiences, cultural grounding and contextual factors on my participants’ metaphoric processing, and secondly, to investigate whether people in a multicultural and multilingual context would conceptualize metaphors differently from English speakers from Western cultures. Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Theory of Metaphor Variation were used as frameworks and the context of study was Singapore. The participants recruited were mostly locals who reported themselves to be bilinguals or multilinguals. Findings showed that embodied experiences, cultural grounding and contextual factors interplayed to enable the participants to process the metaphorical domains with no distinct differences between Singaporeans and participants from Western and Southeast Asian cultures. It was only when the Singaporean participants read the conventional metaphors with clear influence from languages other than English that the variation in metaphor conceptualization was the most evident. The findings supported both notions of universality and variation in metaphorical thought. The results of this study also showed that new neural bindings could be created and mapped as new domains in the process of metaphor conceptualization. The implications of these results are further discussed in the areas of political discourse and pedagogical discourse.
Date Issued
2021
Call Number
PN228.M4 Lia
Date Submitted
2021