What Animals Reveal about Grammar and Culture: A Study of Animal Metaphors in Mandarin Chinese and English

動物洩漏了語法及文化的什麼秘密：中英文動物譬喻詞之研究

陳淑芬(Shu-Fen Chen)；陳力綺(Lee Li-Chi Chen)

動物譬喻詞 ； 名詞動化 ； 去名詞性動詞 ； 性別偏見 ； 語意貶抑 ； 語意分子 ； animal metaphors ； denominal verbs ； gender bias ； semantic derogation ； semantic molecules

師大學報：語言與文學類

56卷2期（2011 / 09 / 01）

121 - 152

英文

本文旨在探討中英文動物譬喻詞的使用方式，理論架構採用「物種關係鏈譬喻」，並應用「語意分子」的分析方式。我們的研究結果如下：一、中英文的動物詞皆可轉化成動詞使用。英文的此類動詞可同時具及物性（例：fox the people）及不及物性（例：chicken out of a fight）；對比之下，中文的名詞動化（去名詞性動詞）較少，且多為狀態動詞，常常和人際關係詞（例：雞婆）或身體部位詞（例：豬頭）並列使用。二、動物譬喻詞可反映出文化特色，且不同文化的不同動物譬喻詞可彼此對應。例如，中文跟「牛」有關的動物譬喻詞常常可對應到英文跟「horse」有關的動物譬喻詞（例：中文的「力大如牛」等同英文的「as strong as a horse」）。此外，中文跟「虎」有關的動物譬喻詞也常常對應到英文跟「lion」有關的動物譬喻詞，且多以正面呈現（例：中文的「虎將」及英文的「as regal as a lion」皆有正面之意）。三、不同文化背景的人士對動物也會持不同的看法。例如，以英語為母語的人士對狗有比較高的評價，但以中文為母語的人士則持負面評價較多（例：英文的「old dog」可用來正面呈現一個有經驗的人，但直譯成中文則含有奸詐、狡猾之意）。綜合上述的結果，可以清楚地看出動物譬喻詞具有文化殊異性，因此不同文化背景的人士會用不同的方式來理解動物譬喻詞。

This study compares the use of animal metaphors between Mandarin- and English-speaking societies. We adopt the Great Chain Metaphor as the theoretical framework, and employ semantic molecules in the analysis. The findings of this study are as follows: First, animal terms in Mandarin and English can be used as denominal verbs. In English, these verbs can be used transitively (fox the people) and intransitively (chicken out of a fight). By contrast, Mandarin has significantly fewer animal terms that can be used as denominal verbs, most of which are static verbs. Among them, many are collocated with human relations (ji1po2 雞婆 ”chicken-grandmother; to be a busybody”) or body parts (zhu1tou2 豬頭 ”pig-head; to be stupid”). Animal metaphors reflect cultural history, and different animal metaphors used in various cultures may possess the same connotations. For example, metaphors with niu2 牛 ”cattle” in Mandarin correspond to those with ”horse” in English (li4da4ru2niu2 力大如牛 ”power-big-as-cattle; as strong as an ox” vs. ”as strong as a horse”). Additionally, metaphors with hu3 虎 ”tiger” in Mandarin are similar to metaphors with ”lion” in English, most of which are presented positively (hu3jiang4 虎將 ”tiger-general; a general as brave as a tiger” vs. ”as regal as a lion”). People from different cultures may regard the same animals differently. Dogs, for example, are viewed differently by the two cultures. English speakers have a high opinion of dogs, while Mandarin speakers despise them (lao3gou3 老狗 ”old-dog; a cunning guy” vs. ”old dog; an experienced person”). In summary, numerous aspects of animal metaphors are culture-specific and are, therefore, perceived differently by people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

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