A Comparison of English and Chinese Happiness Metaphors

【Abstract】The verbal expressions of happiness metaphors may vary in different languages. This study presents the detailed analysis of happiness metaphors in Chinese pop songs and a summary of similarities and differences of happiness metaphors in English and Chinese.

【Key words】 Conceptual Metaphor; Happiness Metaphors

【作者簡介】邓欣怡(1986-)，女，汉族，广东云浮罗定人，广州工商学院，硕士研究生，助教，研究方向：应用英语语言学。

1. Introduction

As we can express happiness in diverse ways, such as dancing, jumping, laughing and even crying, we can also verbalize our happiness in a variety of metaphors.  These verbal expressions of happiness metaphors may vary in different languages. This study summarizes the similarities and differences of the happiness conceptual metaphor in the two languages, and discusses the underlying reasons.

2. Literature Review

(1)Conceptual Metaphor

According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), the conventional conceptual link between the target domain and the source domain is a conceptual metaphor, through which, we are able to understand the Abstract target domain in terms of a concrete source domain. Metaphor reflects our everyday conceptualization of the world so a specific source domain employed to understand the target is motivated by our bodily experience (Kövecses, 2002). As Liu (2002, p. 3) put it, “Metaphor not only reflects but also shapes our conceptual system”. We often conceptualize the world with the reference to metaphorical process (Liu, 2002).

(2) Emotional Metaphors

Kövecses (2000) suggested that the emotional concepts, such as anger, happiness, sadness and fear, are “prototypical emotion concepts” and are regarded as “basic-level categories in a vertical hierarchy of concepts” (Kövecses, 2000, p. 20). Most of the source domains that employed in emotion metaphors are widely applied in other concepts (e.g. NATURAL FORCE, CONTAINER), while some metaphorical source domains are specific to the emotions.

(3) Universality and Cross-cultural Variations

In Kövecsess (2002) view, there are universality and cross-culture variations of conceptual metaphors in different languages. Through the study of the emotion concepts in four very different languages (Chinese, English, Hungarian, Japanese), he (2000, p. 161) proposed that the concept of emotion is interpreted as having a universal “cause-force-expression” basic structure. Further, the cross-cultural similarity in terms of this basic structure is motivated by the similarity in the universal properties of the human body and the physiological embodiment towards the emotion. However, the diversity of characters of different culture attributes to the different perspectives and ways of perceiving and reflecting the world; thus, different specific metaphors and their elaborations are chosen for interpreting the emotion (Jiang, 2000).

(4) Happiness Metaphors in English and Chinese

1) Happiness Metaphors in English

Kövecses (2000, p. 24) presented the following list of metaphorical source domains for happiness metaphors in English summarized by Kövecses (1991) and Lakoff and Johonson (1980).

HAPPY IS UP: We had to cheer him up.

HAPPINESS IS BEING OFF THE GROUND: I am six feet off the ground. I was so happy my feet barely touched the ground.

HAPPINESS IS BEING IN HEAVEN: That was heaven on earth.

HAPPY IS LIGHT: She brightened up at the news.

HAPPINESS IS VITALITY: He was alive with joy.

HAPPY IS WARM: That warmed my spirit.

HAPPINESS IS HEALTH: It made me feel great.

A HAPPY PERSON IS AN ANIMAL THAT LIVES WELL: He was happy as a pig in shit. He looks like the cat that got the cream.

HAPPINESS IS A PLEASUREABLE PHYSICAL SENSATION: I was tickled pink.

HAPPINESS IS FLUID IN A CONTAINER: He was overflowing with joy.

HAPPINESS IS A CAPTIVE ANIMAL: His feelings of happiness broke loose. She couldn’t hold back her feelings of happiness.

HAPPINESS IS AN OPPONENT IN A STRUGGLE: He was knocked out!

HAPPINESS IS A RAPTURE/HIGH: I was drunk with joy.

HAPPINESS IS INSANITY: They were crazy with happiness.

HAPPINESS IS NATURAL FORCE: He was swept off his feet.

Generally speaking, most of the source domains applied in happiness metaphor listed above are the causes or the effects of happiness. In addition, some of the source domains are derived from the observation of the other components of our living environment, e.g. AN ANIMAL THAT LIVES WELL, NAURAL FORCE.

It is worth mentioning that the two examples “His feelings of happiness broke loose.” and “She couldn’t hold back her feelings of happiness.” might be interpreted as from the source domain A CAPTIVE ANIMAL. However, “broke loose” and “hold back” are more close to our reaction to a physical force, which is not limited to a captive animal. Therefore, I suggest these two examples should be included in the source domain FORCE.

2) Happiness Metaphors in Chinese

King (1995, p.140) and Yu (1998, p. 18-20) explored the conceptual metaphors of happiness in Chinese. The following summarized the major similar source domains of happiness metaphors in Chinese identified by them.

(1). HAPPINESS IS A PHYSICAL FORCE

(a). 樂 不 可 支                      (b). 喜不自勝

Le bu  ke zhi                        Xi bu zi sheng

joy not can bear                     happy not self win

‘To be overwhelmed with joy.’          ‘To be overjoyed.’

In these metaphors, HAPPINESS is mapped onto PHYSICAL FORCE to our body. When we are very happy, the strong emotion is like the physical force to our body, which cannot be easily controlled by ourselves. It is worth mentioning that King’s (1995) literal translation of example (b) above is not precise: 勝sheng has the meaning “to win” but it means “to bear” in this phrase. Therefore, 喜不自勝 Xi bu zi sheng means “cannot restrain one’s joy”, or “be overcome with joy”.

(2). HAPPINESS IS INSANITY:

欣喜若狂

Xin xi ruo kuang

happy like crazy

‘To be wild with joy.’

In King’s (1995) view, the source domain WILD ANIMAL is not mapped onto HAPPINESS that is found in English, but the word “狂kuang ‘insane’ is classified with ‘animal’ radical” (King, 1995, p.140), the observation of rabid animals is the experience basis of this conceptual metaphor.

(3). HAPPINESS IS LIGHTNESS (AS OPPOSIT TO HEAVY):

如  釋   重     負

ru  shi   zhong  fu

like remove heavy burden

‘To feel relieved.’

King (1995) did not give any elaboration to this example, while I argue that “to feel relieved” is a comfortable physiological and mental feeling, but it doesn’t necessarily mean to be happy. Through the sentence我的心情很沉重 wo de xinqing hen chenzhong, ‘my mind is weighted down’, the conceptual metaphor SADNESS IS A BURDEN can inferred, but if the burden is relieved, a sad person may become calm or peace, rather than happy. Therefore, 如釋重負ru shi zhong fu is not an indication of happiness. Since I cannot provide any evidence to support or refute the metaphor HAPPINESS IS LIGNTNESS proposed by King (1995), hopefully future research can deal with it.

(4) HAPPINESS IS UP:

他 很  高興。

Ta hen gao-xing.

he very high-spirit

‘He is very high-spirit.’

When we are happy, we tend to be up, or even jump up, instead of down. However, the metaphor BEING OFF THE GROUND, which is closely related to UP, is not found in Chinese metaphor of happiness. To the contrary, it is mapped “negatively onto complacency and pride” in Chinese (Yu, 2009, p. 18). The term 飄飄然 piaopiaoran ‘tread on air’ in Chinese means to be puffed up with pride, which is regarded as a negative feeling or attitude in Chinese culture. Therefore, BEING UP is applied while BEING OFF THE GROUND is not in happiness metaphor in Chinese.

(5). HAPPINESS IS LIGHT:

他  容 光    煥發，喜氣洋洋。

Ta rong-guang huanfa, xi qi yangyang.

he  face-light  glow happy-air vast-vast

‘He has a glowing face, and a strong air of happiness.’

(6). HAPPINESS/ JOY IS FLUID IN A CONTAINER:

他  心中    充滿  喜悅。

Ta xin-zhong chongan xiyue.

he hear-inside  fill  happiness

‘His heart is filled with happiness.’

Quite apart from discussing the similarity in the two languages, Yu (2009) also pointed out the culture specific happiness metaphor in Chinese:

(7). HAPPINESS IS FLOWERS IN THE HEART.

他 心裏 樂開了花。

Ta xin-li le kai le hua.

He heart-inside happy bloom PRT flower

‘He’s so happy that flowers are blooming in her heart.’

According to Yu (1998), FLOWER, which is the source domain of this conceptual metaphor, is a symbol of happiness in Chinese culture; moreover, the heart is highlighted as the container of the flower/happiness, which reflects the introverted character of the Chinese.

3. The Study

King (1995) and Yu (1998) mainly discussed several source domains for happiness metaphors which are similar to those in English, while in fact, there are some other source domains for happiness metaphor in both languages. In this study, I will discuss happiness metaphors found in Chinese songs, and then compare those previous identified and I found in Chinese with those metaphors in English summarized by Kövecses (1991) and Lakoff and Johonson (1980) in order to find the similarities and differences of happiness conceptual metaphors applied in the two languages. (I apply Yu’s (1998) grammatical abbreviations: PRT= particle; MOD= modifier marker; COM= compliment marker)

(1) Happiness Metaphors in Contemporary Chinese Pop Songs

1). HAPPY IS WARM: That warmed my spirit. (English)

打從   心裡  暖暖   的 ( from the song“暖暖的” nuannuan-de)

Dacong xin-li nuannuan de.

From heart warm warm PRT.

‘Warmness/happiness comes from the heart.’

The source domain WARM, which is applied in both Chinese and English, comes from our universal physiological experience about happiness. That is when we are happy, we tend to be exited and the blood flows quicker in our body so we feel warmer. In addition, happiness and warmth are both comfortable and pleasant feelings.

However, while in English, body is a whole that feel warm, while specific body parts (heart) is used as containers to be filled with warmness/happiness in Chinese. Yu (1998) indicated that more body parts are used in emotional metaphors in Chinese than in English, and this variation comes from different cultural backgrounds of the two languages. According to Jiang (2000), Chinese rationalism tends to be concrete so people perceive the world directly through the senses, while western rationalism tends to focus on 【Abstract】 analysis.

2) HAPPINESS IS BEING IN HEAVEN: That was heaven on earth. (English)

從天堂到深海   ( from the song“快有愛”kuai you ai)

Cong tiantang dao shenhai.

From heaven to abyssal sea.

‘From happiness to sadness. ‘

In this example, the target domain HAPPINESS is described in terms of the source domain BEING IN HEAVEN. “Heavenly Palace” is the traditional Chinese representation of forever happy place, while “Heaven” represents the forever happy place in the western culture. The term “Heaven” occurs very frequently in contemporary Chinese pop songs, especially love pop songs while “Heavenly Palace” is seldom found. It seems introducing western cultural or using concepts from English can make the song more updated and popular among youth.

3) HAPPINESS IS SWEET.

你笑得甜蜜蜜。( from the song“甜蜜蜜” tian-mimi)

Ni xiao de tian-mimi.

You smile COM sweet honey honey.

‘You smile happily. ‘

Happiness is perceived as sweet especially in love relationships. Sweet is a pleasant taste sense in our experience, especially during childhood.

4) HAPPINESS IS INSANITY: They were crazy with happiness. (English)

你的到來使我欣喜若狂 ( from the song “血色嫁妝” xue se jiazhuang)

Ni de daolai shi wo xinxi ruo kuang.

Your arrive make me happy like crazy.

‘Your arrival makes me as happy as crazy. ‘

5) HAPPINESS IS A RAPTURE/HIGH: I was drunk with joy. (English)

幸福讓我沉醉。(from song “我會在這裏等你” wo hui zai zhe-li deng ni)

Xingfu rang wo chen zui.

Happiness makes me deep drunk

‘Happiness makes me drunk heavily. ‘

(2) Similarities and Differences of Happiness Metaphors in English and Chinese

According to Kövecses (2000, p. 69), there are “generic-level” and “specific-level” metaphors. Metaphors in different languages may show the same general structure but the specific-level one may be more complex and differ in specific content. Hence, the generic-level metaphors are more universal among diverse cultures while the specific-level metaphors are less universal and vary among different languages and cultures (Kövecses, 2000).

In Table 1, I identified mainly six types of generic-level metaphors, into which I classified specific-level metaphors.

As we can see in the above table, English and Chinese share all the generic-level happiness metaphors but there are some specific-level happiness metaphors are employed in only one of the two languages. HAPPINESS IS FLOWER IN THE HEART and HAPPINESS IS SWEET are not found in English, and some occur in English are not found in Chinese.

Besides, even though some happiness metaphors exist in both languages, the elaboration of them in the two languages may be different (Kövecses, 2000). Specific body parts, such as heart, face are high-lighted in some of the happiness metaphors in Chinese, while happiness tends to be perceived in the whole body instead of specific body parts in English.

4.Conclusion

In this article, I compared the happiness conceptual metaphors in English and Chinese. After analysis of the data, I classified the metaphors into generic-level and specific-level, and summarized the similarities and differences of happiness metaphors betwee

n these two languages. The similarities in their source domains result from the universal human physiological experience about happiness and the impact of western culture on Chinese language; their variations are from different choice of their physiological experience representation, and different cultural backgrounds.

Limitations

There are some limitations of this study. Firstly, this study mainly employed the source domains of English happiness metaphors collected by previous research: K

övecses (1991) and Lakoff and Johonson (1980). It is possible that there are some source domains that are not identified by them. However, no new source domain is found in idiom dictionaries, e.g. Renton, (1992), Urdang and Hunsinger (1985). Moreover, no contemporary English song is collected to be analyzed in this study. Besides, the data I collected from contemporary Chinese songs may not be enough to reflect all the possible source domains for happiness metaphors in Chinese. Hopefully future research will be able to deal with these limitations.

References：

[1]Jiang, L. (2000). A Survey of Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese Idioms. Wuhan University Press.

[2]King, B. Michigan. (1995). The Conceptual Structure of Emotional Experience in Chinese. Michigan: UMI.

[3]Kövecses, Z. (1991). Happiness: A definitional effort. Metaphor and Symbolic Activitiy, 1, 215-225.

[4]Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and Emotion. New York: Cambridge University Press.