WATER metaphors and metonymies in Chinese: A semantic network

This paper studies how the concept WATER is metonymically and metaphorically extended to six super-domains: NATURE, LIFE SUSTAINER, MOVEMENT, POWER, PURITY, and WOMAN. We demonstrate that these six target domains are related to each other in intricate ways and within each are a number of sub-domains. This complicated semantic network of WATER is formed via speakers’ embodied experience with their physical as well as cultural environment. We believe that our detailed discussion of the WATER network will contribute to the current research on the relationship between metaphor and metonymy.