Analysis of Metaphorical Meanings of Animal Terms in English-Chinese-Thai

Abstract

Animal terms are one of the important components of all societies, languages and cultures. Some animal terms may have connotations, which can vary from one culture to others. That is, the animal terms can be cultural carriers. In English, Chinese and Thai, several animal terms have metaphorical meanings. Animal-related metaphors are not only a linguistic phenomenon, but it is also a cognitive experience. It reflects how people from different cultures perceive their environments differently. Therefore, metaphorical expressions reflect metaphorical thinking of individuals. Geographical, historical and cultural differences are the factors that cause English, Chinese and Thai people to sometimes have different feeling towards the same animal, resulting in different metaphorical uses. Occasionally, different animals are used to express the same feeling and meaning. Hence, one who comes across an animal term of different country may misinterpret its real meaning. Based on cognitive and cultural perspectives, this paper will explore the factors that create similarities and differences of metaphorical meaning of animal terms in the three languages, as well as analyzing the mapping between the source domain and the target domain.