摘要

隐喻是认知语言学中一个重要的研究内容，它是人类认知世界的一种思维方式。动物词语的意义是复杂的，它不仅有字面上的意义，往往还有内涵意义，即词语所隐含的附加的联想意义或带有感情色彩的褒贬义。本文从介绍隐喻及众多学者对隐喻进行的全方位、多学科的研究入手，指出文化差异性的两个方面：（1）广泛的文化背景；（2）自然环境和物理环境。通过细致的比较，动物隐喻中隐藏的认知共性和文化差异被挖掘出来。本文比较研究的目的在于丰富概念隐喻的研究，并且有助于提高英语学习者增强跨文化交际意识。

关键词：文化差异；动物隐喻；比较

Abstract

Metaphor, one of the important research topics in cognitive linguistics, is a way of thinking of human’s cognition to the world. Animal words are complex, they have not only the literal meaning, but also connotation, which implies the additional words associative meaning or emotional derogatory. This paper begins with a brief introduction of metaphor and metaphors that domestic scholars have studied in a full range and multi discipline, pointing out two aspects of the cultural variation: (1) Broader Cultural Context; (2) Natural and Physical Environment. Through detailed comparison, cognitive universality and cultural differences of animal metaphors that are hidden is excavated. The study of comparisons in this paper purposes to offer sufficient evidences for the study of the comparison of animal metaphors in English and Chinese as well as to enhance learners’ awareness of cross cultural communication.

Key words：cultural variation；animal metaphor；comparison