Abstract
This study focuses on the body-part hand in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish with the majority of the data taken from Chinese Mandarin Online Dictionary and Web edition of Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage. The Spanish data were obtained from Corpus de Referenda del Español Actual de la Real Academia Española and Lanbridge Diccionario Manual Español-Chino. The research questions are: (1) What meanings do the hand expressions in both languages convey? (2) What are the meanings based on? (3) Is there a cognitive model behind them? The answer of the third question is based on that of the first two. We found that (a) +people, +action, and +power are the most frequently occurring semantic molecules for hand expressions, (b) the favorite underlying conceits that generate hand expressions are 'behavior' and 'function', (c) BODY IS FUNCTION proves true, and (d) we propose that BODY IS STATIC is more fundamental based on the observation in hand expressions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13-31 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | RLA |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 Jan 1 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Language and Linguistics
- Education
- Linguistics and Language
Cite this
}
What does hand express in Chinese and Spanish? / Hsieh, Shelley Ching-yu; Lu, Hui-Chuan.
In: RLA, Vol. 51, No. 1, 01.01.2013, p. 13-31.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - What does hand express in Chinese and Spanish?
AU - Hsieh, Shelley Ching-yu
AU - Lu, Hui-Chuan
PY - 2013/1/1
Y1 - 2013/1/1
N2 - This study focuses on the body-part hand in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish with the majority of the data taken from Chinese Mandarin Online Dictionary and Web edition of Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage. The Spanish data were obtained from Corpus de Referenda del Español Actual de la Real Academia Española and Lanbridge Diccionario Manual Español-Chino. The research questions are: (1) What meanings do the hand expressions in both languages convey? (2) What are the meanings based on? (3) Is there a cognitive model behind them? The answer of the third question is based on that of the first two. We found that (a) +people, +action, and +power are the most frequently occurring semantic molecules for hand expressions, (b) the favorite underlying conceits that generate hand expressions are 'behavior' and 'function', (c) BODY IS FUNCTION proves true, and (d) we propose that BODY IS STATIC is more fundamental based on the observation in hand expressions.
AB - This study focuses on the body-part hand in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish with the majority of the data taken from Chinese Mandarin Online Dictionary and Web edition of Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage. The Spanish data were obtained from Corpus de Referenda del Español Actual de la Real Academia Española and Lanbridge Diccionario Manual Español-Chino. The research questions are: (1) What meanings do the hand expressions in both languages convey? (2) What are the meanings based on? (3) Is there a cognitive model behind them? The answer of the third question is based on that of the first two. We found that (a) +people, +action, and +power are the most frequently occurring semantic molecules for hand expressions, (b) the favorite underlying conceits that generate hand expressions are 'behavior' and 'function', (c) BODY IS FUNCTION proves true, and (d) we propose that BODY IS STATIC is more fundamental based on the observation in hand expressions.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84921850581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
VL - 51
SP - 13
EP - 31
JO - RLA, Revista de linguistica teorica y aplicada
JF - RLA, Revista de linguistica teorica y aplicada
SN - 0033-698X
IS - 1
ER -