TY - JOUR
T1 - What does our face mean to us?
AU - Yu, Ning
N1 - Funding Information:
* This study was supported by a faculty enrichment grant and a junior faculty summer fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahom a. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 9th International Conference on Chinese Linguistics in Singapore, June 26–28, 2000. I appreciate the encouraging feedback and useful suggestions from the audience. I am also thankful to the Pragmatics & Cognition reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions that have led to a much-im proved version of this paper.
PY - 2001/10/1
Y1 - 2001/10/1
N2 - This study is a semantic analysis of metonymic and metaphoric expressions involving body-part terms for the face in Chinese. These expressions are discussed regarding four perceived roles of face, namely, as highlight of appearance and look, as indicator of emotion and character, as focus of interaction and relationship, and as locus of dignity and prestige. It is argued that the figurative extensions are based on some biological facts about our face: it is the most distinctive part on the interactive side of our body capable of revealing our inner states. Referring to English the study shows that the terms for the face in both languages have developed figurative meanings along similar routes with similar stops. It also shows that the concepts of “face and facework”, admittedly ubiquitous in all cultures, are manifested more richly in Chinese than in English – a reflection of cultural differences in values attached to those concepts. Finally, a hypothetical “Triangle Model” is proposed to account for the relationship between language, culture, body, and cognition.
AB - This study is a semantic analysis of metonymic and metaphoric expressions involving body-part terms for the face in Chinese. These expressions are discussed regarding four perceived roles of face, namely, as highlight of appearance and look, as indicator of emotion and character, as focus of interaction and relationship, and as locus of dignity and prestige. It is argued that the figurative extensions are based on some biological facts about our face: it is the most distinctive part on the interactive side of our body capable of revealing our inner states. Referring to English the study shows that the terms for the face in both languages have developed figurative meanings along similar routes with similar stops. It also shows that the concepts of “face and facework”, admittedly ubiquitous in all cultures, are manifested more richly in Chinese than in English – a reflection of cultural differences in values attached to those concepts. Finally, a hypothetical “Triangle Model” is proposed to account for the relationship between language, culture, body, and cognition.
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U2 - 10.1075/pc.9.1.02yu
DO - 10.1075/pc.9.1.02yu
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84989396175
SN - 0929-0907
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 36
JO - Pragmatics and Cognition
JF - Pragmatics and Cognition
IS - 1
ER -