A Cognitive Comparison on "shallow" in English and “Qian”(浅) in Chinese Abstract Cognitive linguistics is a new branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts. It puts forward that the creation, study and use of languages can be explained by human cognition on the whole, since the ability of cognition is the root of human knowledge. George Lakoff, a founder of cognitive linguistics, thought that metaphor was an essential cognitive ability in daily life.48191

Cognitive linguistics suggests that metaphor is not only a rhetoric figure, but also an important cognitive mode. People make use of one thing to realize another through by means of metaphor. Therefore, metaphor makes it easier for people to understand the world better. Spatial metaphor is a significant type of metaphors. Space is a basic concept in our lives, which is also the first concept that human can understand directly. People comprehend and explain some abstract concepts through spatial metaphor. Space dimensional adjectives are often used to manifest the spatial orientation through measurement. As the increases of people's experience and perception of the world, spatial dimension adjectives are endowed with more meaning. The earliest research of space dimensional words can be traced back to Bierwisch’s study in 1967. Metonymy is a rhetorical device which means the act of referring to something by the name of something else that is closely connected with it. 

Based on previous researches, this paper probes into the collocations and meanings of “shallow” and “Qian”(浅) supported by spatial metaphor and metonymy theory, and tries to discover characteristics of Chinese and American cognition hidden in these linguistic expressions. In order to enhance the credibility of this study, we randomly choose 500 expressions about “shallow” from COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) and another 500 expressions about “Qian”(浅) from CCL (Center for Chinese Linguistics). Meanwhile, we also take advantage of the Internet and dictionaries to make comparative analysis of conceptual meanings, metaphorical meanings and metonymic meanings of space dimensional adjective "shallow" and “Qian”(浅). We intend to seek out the similarities and differences in forms and meanings, especially, their metaphorical extensions as well as try to reveal the reasons of differences. This study also found out the proportion of each metaphorical extension through data extraction. 

    Metaphorical mapping of these "shallow" and “Qian”(浅) happen between source domain and different target domains. Through investigating their expressions, the research indicates the target domains in the metaphorical extensions of "shallow" and “Qian”(浅) could be classified into several domains, including color domain, extent domain, knowledge domain, social relationships domain and human mental states domain. The research data shows most of usages and meanings of "shallow" and “Qian”(浅) are similar. However, because of distinct Chinese and American cultures and experiences, there are some differences in some target domains and collocations. Both "shallow" and “Qian”(浅) have their unique metaphorical extensions. These differences are worth paying more attention to in the process of translation and teaching.

Key words: shallow; Qian; comparison; metaphorical meanings.

英语“shallow”和汉语“浅”的空间隐喻对比分析

摘要认知语言学是语言学的一门新的分支学科。针对生成语言学天赋观，它提出语言的创建、学习及运用，基本上都必须能够透过人类的认知而加以解释，因为认知能力是人类知识的根本。认知语言学创立者之一乔治·雷可夫（1980）认为隐喻是日常语言活动中的必须认知能力。     英语“shallow”和汉语“浅”的空间隐喻对比分析:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_50577.html