TY - JOUR
T1 - A corpus-based study on animal expressions in Mandarin Chinese and German
AU - Hsieh, Shelley Ching yu
N1 - Funding Information:
The author would like to thank the anonymous referees for their insightful comments and advice. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 10th International Conference on Cognitive Processing of Chinese and Other Related Asian Languages at National Taiwan University, Taipei, Dec. 9–11, 2002. The study reported here is partly supported by a research grant from the National Science Council in Taiwan (NSC 91-2411-H-218-003).
PY - 2006/12
Y1 - 2006/12
N2 - This study is based on the Corpora of Animal Expressions in Mandarin Chinese and in German. I first apply Goddard's (1998) approach of semantic molecules to examine Cat expressions for the purpose of exploring the semantic interaction and the cultural backgrounds within the form of society. Various acts of speech in the form of animal expressions then reveal people's thoughts. The salient semantic molecules of cat are 'weak' in Mandarin Chinese and 'weak, false, small, unimportant, flattering, quick, shrill' in German; those of tiger are 'powerful, courageous, fierce' in Mandarin Chinese and 'powerful, fierce' in German. It is found that there is an interconnection and interaction between semantic molecules and these animal names serve as semantic contributors in distinct domains, e.g., cat for 'woman' in German. Furthermore, animal expressions demonstrate different mentalities as well as the Mandarin speakers' group-centric and German speakers' individualistic modes of thought.
AB - This study is based on the Corpora of Animal Expressions in Mandarin Chinese and in German. I first apply Goddard's (1998) approach of semantic molecules to examine Cat expressions for the purpose of exploring the semantic interaction and the cultural backgrounds within the form of society. Various acts of speech in the form of animal expressions then reveal people's thoughts. The salient semantic molecules of cat are 'weak' in Mandarin Chinese and 'weak, false, small, unimportant, flattering, quick, shrill' in German; those of tiger are 'powerful, courageous, fierce' in Mandarin Chinese and 'powerful, fierce' in German. It is found that there is an interconnection and interaction between semantic molecules and these animal names serve as semantic contributors in distinct domains, e.g., cat for 'woman' in German. Furthermore, animal expressions demonstrate different mentalities as well as the Mandarin speakers' group-centric and German speakers' individualistic modes of thought.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.08.007
DO - 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.08.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33750689488
VL - 38
SP - 2206
EP - 2222
JO - Journal of Pragmatics
JF - Journal of Pragmatics
SN - 0378-2166
IS - 12
ER -