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1、TheMetaphoricalNatureofLanguageandThoughtEarlierinthischapter,weconsideredthelinguisticrelativityhypothesis,whichistheclaimthatlanguagedeterminesthewaywelookattheworld.Thosewhomakethisclaimtendtooverlookthefactthatlanguageitselfisconstantlychanging.Inthissection
2、,wewilldiscussoneaspectoflanguagechange:thewayinwhichalanguageexpandsitsmeaning.Wewillarguethatitisthehumaninteractionwiththeworldthatisultimatelyresponsiblebothforchangesinourwaysofthinkingandfortheexpansionandgrowthoflanguage.Akeyconcepthereisthatofametaphor.S
3、implyput,ametaphoristhedescriptionofonethingintermsofanother.Forexample,considerthephrase,AmightyfortressisourGod.Here,thespeakerisnotsayingthatGodisliterallyaphysicalfortressmadeoutofstoneorwood.Rather,theveryabstractnotionofGodisbeingdescribedintermsofsomethin
4、gmuchmorephysical,concreteandfamiliartothelistener.Manylinguistssaythatlanguageisfundamentallymetaphoricalinnature.Theyareright,buttheyhaven’tgonefarenough.Thereasonthatlanguageismetaphoricalisbecausethewaywethinkismetaphorical.Ashumans,weconstantlyencounternewt
5、hingsandexperiencesintheworldaroundusanditisinournaturetotrytointerpretandunderstandthem.Anaturalstartingpointincomprehendingwhatwedonotunderstandistomakeuseofwhatwealreadyknow.Sowealwaystrytointerpretthenewphenomenaintermsofthefamiliar.Thisiswhatwemeanbysayingt
6、hathumanthoughtismetaphorical.Sincelanguageisatoolofthought,whenweuseourknowledgetoexplainnewphenomenaitisnaturalforustoborrowtermsfromtheexistinglanguageandapplythemtothenewthingsorsituations.Asaresult,languageisalsometaphorical.Wordsgenerallyhaveabasicmeaning,
7、whichoftenreferstothephysicalworld.Throughtheprocessofmetaphor,webuildonthisimagetodescribethingsthatarenotsoeasytoseeorunderstand.Thetwousesofthewordclearinthefollowingsentenceillustratethispoint:Theskyisclear.Theideaisclear.Theuseofclear,inthefirstsentencerest
8、sonthebasicmeaningoftheword:“freefromdarkness,obscurity,orcloudiness.”Itisameaningweallknow,andonewereadilyestablishbyassociatingthesoundofthiswordwithamentalpictureo
