1887
Volume 51, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1810-7478
  • E-ISSN: 2589-5230
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study analyzes cultural metaphors exhibited by a repository of plant-oriented proverbs in Hakka, explicitly demonstrating the intricate interplay between the universal framework of The Great Chain of Being theory and the parametric constraints of contextual factors. The salient selection of various types of plants, along with their biological traits together with factors including linguistic contexts, physical and social settings, and cultural aspects gives rise to their linguistic manifestations and conceptualization patterns. The reified virtues overlap with philosophical representations of Confucian ethics and are further consolidated into dealing with work and dealing with people. While most are universal values, some are more culturally specific, indicating a dynamic spectrum of the core virtues that may exhibit different significances in different cultures. The investigation makes empirical and theoretical contributions to metaphor and proverb studies by enhancing the explanatory power of the Great Chain of Being theory and by illustrating how various facets of contextual factors influence the conceptualization and interpretation of the cultural metaphors of plant proverbs.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24023.lai
2025-05-22
2025-06-24
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Chappell, Hilary, and Christine Lamarre
    2005A Grammar and Lexicon of Hakka: Historical Materials from the Basel Mission Library. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Charteris-Black, Jonathan
    2017 Competition metaphors and ideology: Life as a race. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Politics, ed. byRuth Wodak and Bernhard Forchtner, 202–217. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9781315183718‑16
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315183718-16 [Google Scholar]
  3. Chiu, Hsiang-Yun
    2018 A study of the metaphorical metaphor in Hakka folk songs. NCUE Journal of Chinese Studies361:1–32.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Deignan, Alice
    2005Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/celcr.6
    https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.6 [Google Scholar]
  5. Etkin, Nina L.
    2006Edible Medicines: An Ethnopharmacology of Food. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Fan-Chiang, Shu-Yun
    2012 Folk Culture and Metaphor: Plant’s Image of Taiwan’s Hakka Folk Songs. MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Gibbs, Raymond W.
    1999 Taking metaphor out of head and putting it in the cultural world. Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics, ed. byRaymond W. Gibbs, Jr and Gerard J. Steen, 146–166. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/cilt.175.09gib
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.175.09gib [Google Scholar]
  8. Hackett, Rick D., and Gordon Wang
    2012 Virtues and leadership: An integrating conceptual framework founded in Aristotelian and Confucian perspectives on virtues. Management Decision50.51:868–899. 10.1108/00251741211227564
    https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211227564 [Google Scholar]
  9. Hrisztova-Gotthardt, Hrisztalina, and Melita Aleksa Varga
    2014Introduction to Paremiology: A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Huang, Yong-Da
    2005Táiwān Kèjiā Yànyǔ Yǔdiǎn: Zǔxiān de Zhìhuì [Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka Proverbs: The Wisdom of Ancestors]. Taipei: Quanwei Creative Media.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Hunn, Eugene S., and Cecil H. Brown
    2011 Linguistic ethnobiology. Ethnobiology, ed. byEugene N. Anderson, Deborah M. Pearsall, Eugene S. Hunn and Nancy Turner, 319–334. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118015872.ch19
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118015872.ch19 [Google Scholar]
  12. Kochman-Haładyj, Bożena, and Robert Kiełtyka
    2023 Paradigm shift in the representation of women in Anglo-American paremiology — A cognitive semantics perspective. Studies in Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric68.11:41–77. 10.2478/slgr‑2023‑0003
    https://doi.org/10.2478/slgr-2023-0003 [Google Scholar]
  13. Kövecses, Zoltan
    2002Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780195145113.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195145113.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  14. 2005Metaphor in Culture: Universality and Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511614408
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614408 [Google Scholar]
  15. 2015aWhere Metaphors Come from: Reconsidering Context in Metaphor. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190224868.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190224868.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  16. 2015b The “container” metaphor of anger in English, Chinese, Japanese and Hungarian. From a Metaphorical Point of View: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Cognitive Content of Metaphor, ed. byZdravko Radman, 117–146. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. 2020Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108859127
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108859127 [Google Scholar]
  18. 2021a The importance of context in CMT. Cognitive Sociolinguistics Revisited, vol.481, ed. byGitte Kristiansen, Karlien Franco, Stefano de Pascale, Laura Rosseel and Weiwei Zhang, 107–116. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110733945‑009
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733945-009 [Google Scholar]
  19. 2021b Standard and extended conceptual metaphor theory. The Routledge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, ed. byWeichu Xu and John R. Taylor, 191–203. London: Routledge. 10.4324/9781351034708‑14
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351034708-14 [Google Scholar]
  20. Lai, Huei-ling
    2008 Understanding and classifying two-part allegorical sayings: Metonymy, metaphor, and cultural constraints. Journal of Pragmatics40.31:454–474. 10.1016/j.pragma.2007.04.011
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.04.011 [Google Scholar]
  21. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson
    1980Metaphors We Live by. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Lakoff, George, and Marl Turner
    1989More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  23. Langacker, Ronald W.
    1987Foundation of Cognitive Grammar, vol.11. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Lauhagangas, Outi
    2014 Categorization of proverbs. Introduction to Paremiology: A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies, ed. byHrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Melita Aleksa Varga, 49–67. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Lewandowska, Anna, and Gerd Antos
    2014 Cognitive aspects of proverbs. Introduction to Paremiology: A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies, ed. byHrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Melita Aleksa Varga, 162–182. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Liao, Tien-Te
    (ed.) 2001Kèjiā Shīfùhuà [Hakka Masters’ Sayings]. Taipei: SMC Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Mieder, Wolfgang
    1996 Proverbs. American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, ed. byJan Harold Brunvand, 597–621. New York, NY: Garland Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Norrick, Neal R.
    1985How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110881974
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110881974 [Google Scholar]
  29. 2014 Subject area, terminology, proverb definitions, proverb features. Introduction to Paremiology: A comprehensive Guide to Proverb studies, ed. byHrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Melita Aleksa Varga, 7–27. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Pang-White, Ann. A.
    2021 Virtues and the Book of Rites. Journal of Chinese Philosophy48.11:56–70. 10.1163/15406253‑12340004
    https://doi.org/10.1163/15406253-12340004 [Google Scholar]
  31. Peterson, Christopher, and Martin. E. Seligman
    2004Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, vol.11. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Rainey, Lee Dian
    2010Confucius & Confucianism: The Essentials. London: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781444323597
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444323597 [Google Scholar]
  33. Stiegler, Christopher D.
    2016 Linguistic Ethnobotany as a Measure for Plant Food, Plant Medicine, and Asteraceae Cultural Salience among People of the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains. Doctoral dissertation. University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR.
  34. Thao, Bui Thi Phuong
    2011 Proverbs related to Plants in English and Vietnamese: A Contrastive Analysis and Teaching Implication. MA thesis, University of Pedagogy, Ho Chi Minh City.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Yu, Ning
    2008 Metaphor from body and culture. The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ed. byRaymond W. Gibbs, Jr, 247–261. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511816802.016
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816802.016 [Google Scholar]
  36. Yuan, Li, Robert Chia, and Jonathan Gosling
    2023 Confucian virtue ethics and ethical leadership in modern China. Journal of Business Ethics182.11:119–133. 10.1007/s10551‑021‑05026‑5
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-05026-5 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24023.lai
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24023.lai
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error