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Download This PDF File ISSN 1923-1555[Print] Studies in Literature and Language ISSN 1923-1563[Online] Vol. 19, No. 2, 2019, pp. 53-58 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/11314 www.cscanada.org Comparison of Love Metaphors Between British Folk Songs and Yao’s Folk Songs YAN Jiansheng[a],* [a] Associate Professor, School of Foreign Languages in Hezhou University, Hezhou, China. INTRODUCTION * Corresponding author. Lakoff and Johnson argued that Language is not just a Supported by Comparison between British Folk Songs and Yao’s Folk system of arbitrary symbols, metaphors in language are Songs from the Perspective of Parallel Research of Humanities and not ordinary language but a strategy for poetic imagination Social Sciences Planning Fund Project of the Ministry of Education and rhetorical diversity. That is, language is people’s way in 2017 (17XJA751003) and Hezhou social science project in 2018 of thinking and cognitive means. Metaphor is the deep (GH2018YBA04) thinking of people, The mechanism of metaphor is to form Received 24 July 2019; accepted 28 September 2019 a mapping relationship by Similarity between a specific Published online 26 October 2019 concept (source domain) and an abstract concept (target domain) to achieve the goal of cognitive target domain Abstract (Lakeoff & Johnson, 2015). Metaphor may be as old as British Folk Songs and Yao’s Folk Songs are the art language, even before language because “Human beings crystallizations of oral literature, which belong to the have the instinct to imitate something since they were model of integrating personal creation with collective children (One of the differences between man and beast is creation, reflecting the inner emotional activities that man is best at imitation, and their first knowledge came and the simple way to remember things of the early from imitation), Man always feels pleasure in an imitated laboring people. Their significant characteristics work.” (Wu & Hu, 1985) In whatever a language, many are non-individualization, non-subjectivity and non polysemous phenomena are closely related to metaphors, self consciousness. Phenomena of animals, plants, and the use of metaphor adds color to a language, which colors, seasons, astronomical appearances applied to Makes the language from originally dry to fresh and full love metaphors exist in the both kinds of folk songs. of vitality. Metaphor is used for love brings the message of Findings by comparison indicate that they each have love to a high level, which prompts people think about how their own preferences in words and meanings applied to let love be in the pursuit of self-perfection as well as on to love metaphors because of the geospatial differences, the basis of constructing the happy homeland and showing manifesting their similarity, coincidence, gaining by the emotion cognition of both sexes, instead of a simple contrast and unique style, which provides a perspective psychological instinctive response to the man’s animal reference for us to understand the similarities and nature. Thus, throughout the human’s history, love has been differences between the two folk literatures. celebrated and praised by writers, artists and literary works Key words: British Folk Songs; Yao’s Folk Songs; as the most sacred subject of mankind, while “as a special Thematic Narration emotion, love is often needed to use some modifiers to understand, such as attractive, idealized, intense, jealous, faithful, exclusive, lovesick, hindered, sad, painful, even Yan, J. S. (2019). Comparison of Love Metaphors Between British Folk Songs and Yao’s Folk Songs. Studies in desperate, etc. (Zhai, 2017) Literature and Language, 19(2), 53-58. Available from: http:// Probing the description in love poems of British folk www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/11314 songs and Yao’s folk songs, we may find that language, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11314 from rough to gentle, from freshness to naturalness, the endless love themes in lines and the melodic voice in songs embody their free and unrestrained colloquial style, which 53 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Comparison of Love Metaphors Between British Folk Songs and Yao’s Folk Songs is suitable for singing in public, field and woodland. In by songs, worship by songs, narrate history by songs, terms of allegory, there are imitations of animals and plants, express feelings by songs, laws and rituals are presented a sense of the changing circumstances, observation of citing in a song form, while their love ballads reflect a fresh, the classics and looking from a strategically advantageous simple, natural, in the landscape of plants and animals position in folk songs, which shows the metaphorical unique style, and their themes are characterized mainly projection of laboring people’s attachment to herbs, birds by exchanging tokens, song courtships, festivals, sacrifice and other things. It is obvious that both nations gave full ancestor worships, love twists, etc. play to their imaginations to eulogize for a thousand year’s 1.1 Love Metaphors From Animals stories and pass on ordinary romance with enthusiasm through the joint efforts of folk collective creation, which Due to the human belief has experienced the stages of reappears working-people’s innocent and romantic nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship etc. the character and their courage of exploration. “the empty genealogies of gods are growing ever more complex. For gods, anthropomorphic animals and plants can be used as any nations, their cultural title pages are engraved with a metaphor for human emotions.” (Lakeoff & Johnson, the concept of “everything has spirit”. One of the most 2015) Just because of cultural differences, the projection of important signs that man is different from animals is that love metaphor in English folk songs and Yao’s folk songs he can think, however the original thinking of human naturally reveals their national styles and word selection beings was directed at the natural world where they preferences, even the same type of metaphor will have lived. To survive in a primitive society with extremely different meanings and meanings. Therefore, Understanding low productivity, man must rely on the natural world and mastering these differences will complement each to provide living resources. On the one hand, nature other in revealing the profound artistic and literary value of provides limited living resources; and on the other hand, British folk songs and Yao’s folk songs. it threatens the survival of human beings with merciless disasters. For “Nature began as a wholly alien, infinitely powerful and irrepressible force against man.” (Marx 1. DIFFERENT DOMAIN SOURCES Have & Engels, 1972) Now that human being evolved from animals, they have not only an instinctive desire for DIFFERENT EMPHASIS food, clothing and avoiding harms, but differences from Folk songs originated from the folk are actually a animals, they have desires from blind adaptation to combination of language and music, they exist in the form nature, trying to understand nature, explaining nature, of oral chanting, mainly used for eulogizing life, spreading and finally controlling nature. In the process of changing information, moral education and maintaining the nation’s from passive adaptation to nature to active adaptation to it pure and good characters, conforming to the emotional and avoiding harm from it, primitive people kept thinking and imaginative lives of the widest geographical range. As about everything around them, including the rules of Aristotle pointed out in Poetics, art should imitate typical animal reproduction. There are three bases for the cultural figures and events of universal significance, it should be significance of animal nouns-one is animal’s appearance, imitated according to the law of necessity. Although living including physiology, psychology, character, behavior, far apart, when narrating love themes, both British folk habit function, and the other is cultural psychology of a songs and Yao’s folk songs are used to projecting their nation include myth, religion, legend, history, literature, own emotions onto their favorite objects, it is considered art, language, geographical environment, customs, reasonable to express one’s feelings by borrowing scenes thinking mode and aesthetic taste, etc. The third is or objects, so in both folk songs, some animals, plants, association- associate animals with another things, for colors, seasons, geographical and celestial phenomena national cultural tradition, especially cultural psychology, are carefully selected as metaphor objects, while the plays a potential but important role in stimulating and domain source is different, their metaphor bodies have guiding the generation and development of association, different emphasis. First, Island life and European cultural there can be no extension of meaning without the function origins, as well as the temperate maritime climate gave of association. (Liao, 2000) the British nation a generous material benefit decided As the similarity between the source domain and the the British folk song’s love themes focus on the sea target domain, human’s cognitive understanding process adventure, family disputes, tragic events, magic, jealousy, of metaphor involves the mapping process cognition of forbidden love, murder, etc. Second, the Yao nationality is semantic features (source domain) transferred from one a typical diaspora nationality with long life of migration domain to another domain (target domain), the source
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