A COMPARISON OF ANALOGICAL MAPPINGS IN IGBO AND CHINESE SHEEP IDIOMS

Abstract

Research on idioms and cognition has revealed that cross-cultural perspectives and cultural models shape our thinking. Idioms reflect conceptual structure with high communicative and cross-cultural value. The current study undertakes a cross-cultural cognitive study of some sheep idioms in Igbo and Chinese. A comparison of the analogical mapping of Igbo and Chinese Sheep idioms is carried out to show how they share common conceptualization, while they reflect different cultural beliefs. The main aim is to explore the socio-cultural influences upon conceptual domain mapping characterizing the human behaviour is animal behaviour conceptual metaphor in the metaphoric use of animals in the idioms of the two languages and cultures. In order to achieve this aim, we refer to both the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the Cultural Cognitive Theory (CCT). The data were extracted from a number of Sheep idioms both in Igbo and Chinese. The idioms were collected from books, internet sources, personal communication and intuitive knowledge. We compare the analogical mappings and the characterization of animals in the Sheep idioms involved in animal metaphors in the idioms of the two languages. The findings of the study show that analogical mappings vary in the two languages and cultures due to cultural influence. Also, culture-specific features shape the metaphoric use of animals in idioms. These results reveal that both CMT and CCT are adequate in the study of metaphoric idioms of Igbo and Chinese. Further researches requiring broader database and theories are recommended herewith to ascertain cross-cultural variation across languages and cultures.