Classifier/Measure word proverbial expressions in Taiwanese Hakka: metaphor and metonymy

• Main Authors: Peng, Xiao Zhen, 彭曉貞
• Other Authors: Lai, Huei Ling
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/56020872332998757520

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 語言學研究所 === 99 === This thesis aims to explore how the cognitive mechanisms are operated in the classifiers and measure words in Taiwanese Hakka proverbial expressions, in particular metonymy, the interaction between metaphor and metonymy, idiomaticity, and cultural constraints. Since human conceptual system is fundamentally metaphorical in nature, classifiers, representing conceptual classification of the world, are found to manifest metonymically and metaphorically. First, based on the metonymic relationships proposed by Kövecses and Radden (1998), cases involving metonymy are carefully spelled out. Then, cases involving the interaction between metaphor and metonymy are elaborated. The metaphors activated in these cases are generally grounded in metonymy, which evidences that metaphors generally have a metonymic basis (Radden 2003). Apart from displaying cognitive mechanisms, the classifier/measure word proverbial expressions in Taiwanese Hakka exhibit Taiwanese Hakka-specific cultural constraints and near universality in conceptual metaphors (Kövecses 2002). Cases which are more specific to Taiwanese Hakka are semantically more opaque whereas cases which are more near universal are semantically more transparent (Gibbs 1995). Furthermore, through the GREAT CHAIN METAPHOR proposed by Lakoff and Turner (1989), we know that all the proverbial expressions are ultimately concerned about human beings. Moreover, proverbial expressions tend to carry pragmatic-social functions, conveying exhortations. In brief, the cognitive mechanisms of metonymy as well as the interaction between metaphor and metonymy are pervasively found in classifier/measure word proverbial expressions in Taiwanese Hakka. Through unraveling the conceptual mechanisms associated with classifiers and measure words in Taiwanese Hakka proverbial expressions, this study betters our understanding of human cognition in general and Taiwanese Hakka culture in particular.