A comparative study of metaphorical expressions for “Fear” in English and Chinese
英汉“恐惧”隐喻习语表达对比研究

摘要

情感作为人类主观经验中不可或缺的一环，居于个体内在体验的核心位置，具有普遍性与中心性。恐惧作为人类的第五种基本情感，是一种典型的负面情绪，是对未知危险产生的畏惧与担忧。由于情感本身往往表现为抽象、模糊且不易言传的内在感受，隐喻便成了将这些抽象概念具体化的常用手段。本文以认知隐喻理论为核心框架，聚焦英汉两种语言中“恐惧”情感的习语表达，系统探究其概念隐喻的共性与个性及成因。英汉习语在恐惧隐喻上既共享“恐惧是容器中的液体”这一基本认知，也表现出鲜明的个性特征：汉语中“恐惧”习语的概念隐喻，集中体现在传统文化、中医脏腑认知与历史典故方面；英语“恐惧”习语的概念隐喻个性，主要源于西方宗教神话、航海文化、民俗传统与解剖学认知。

Abstract

Emotions, as an indispensable component of human subjective experience, occupy a central position in an individual’s inner life, characterized by universality and centrality. Fear, as the fifth basic feeling in humans, is a typical negative emotion, arising from apprehension and concern about unknown dangers. Since emotions themselves often manifest as abstract, vague, and ineffable internal feelings, metaphor serves as a common tool to concretize these abstract concepts. Grounded in cognitive metaphor theory, this paper focuses on idiomatic expressions of ‘fear’ in both English and Chinese to systematically explore the commonalities and individualities of their conceptual metaphors, as well as their underlying causes. The paper reveals that English and Chinese idioms not only share the basic cognition of “Fear is the fluid in a container,” but also exhibit distinct individual characteristics. Specifically, the conceptual metaphors of fear idioms in Chinese are mainly reflected in traditional culture, the visceral cognition of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and historical allusions. In contrast, the individualities of English fear metaphors primarily stem from Western religious mythology, seafaring culture, folk traditions, and anatomical knowledge.