Abstract Metaphor, one of the most important and pervasive semantic phenomena across languages, is the word having metaphorical meanings by means of human cognition from a central meaning or basic meaning to the other extended meanings。 Metaphor as the most difficult and charming part of meaning is fundamental to the way human beings conceptualize and extend their knowledge about the world。 It has been studied for long from the perspectives of rhetoric and linguistics, with its sign character untouched。 Therefore, this paper aims at discussing the formation of it basing on its two static basis, similarity and iconicity, from the perspective of semiotics。 Semiotics as the research methodology in social disciplines has large explanatory power。 In the frame of semiotics, the formation of metaphor will be better understood。76310

Key words: metaphor；semiotics; similarity; iconicity

摘要隐喻是语言间最重要最普遍的语义现象之一，由于人类对从中心意义或基本意义到其他延伸意义的各种认知，它具有比喻意义。作为最复杂最有魅力的意义之谜，隐喻在语言的形成与发展过程中以及在人类对世界进行概念化和表达中都起着重要作用。前人的隐喻研究视角主要局限在修辞学与语言学，却很少从符号学角度探讨。因此，本文致力于从符号学理论角度以相似性和象似性为静态基础探讨隐喻的形成。利用最具有学术张力和解释力的符号学理论，隐喻将会被更好的理解。

毕业论文关键词：隐喻；符号学；相似性；象似性

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

2。 Literature Review 1

3。 Introduction of Semiotics 2

3。1 Saussure and semiotics 2

3。2 The metaphor research towards semiotics 4

4。 The Static Basis of Metaphor 5

4。1 Similarity between signs 5

4。2 The sign iconicity 6

5。 Literal Meaning and Metaphorical Meaning from the Semiotic Perspective 7

5。1 Literal meaning and metaphorical meaning 7

5。2 The semiotic perspective of metaphor formation 9

6。 Conclusion 10

Works Cited 11

1。 Introduction 

Being a most pervasive and important language phenomenon, metaphor has always attracted the attention of linguists of different schools。 The development of cognitive science offers a thorough and systematic way to the analysis of metaphor。 Some linguists believe that metaphor is a result of human cognition and assert that a word meaning is an open system which is subject to change and evolution。 Ullmann insists that metaphors are the main motivation of the senses。 Metaphorical mappings can occur between one source domain and multiple target domains。 This kind of mapping may be located in the knowledge structure of the source domain。 Therefore, the normal and ordinary lexicon of source domain is not always normal and ordinary。 If the ordinary word in the source domain cannot find its normal counterpart in the target domain through mapping, a new sense will pop up and the process of polysemization begins。 While metaphor is one of the most important instruments to recognize the world, studies of the formation of metaphor are of most significance。论文网

 In addition, people have been studying for long from the perspectives of rhetoric and linguistics, with its sign character untouched。 Therefore, this paper aims at discussing how metaphor comes into being with the static basis of similarity and iconicity and how their literal meanings are extended based on the theory of semiotics, which will promote the cross of semiotics and linguistic。