概念隐喻视角下的法律词汇应用分析.pdfVIP

Abstract As a hot issue of linguistics in recent years, the research on conceptual metaphor has become more and more diversified. And as a means of absorbing knowledge from other areas, the research scope of conceptual metaphor has expanded from linguistics to the natural sciences and other disciplines. The legal lexicon, as an important part of the legal language, is not only the basis of comprehending legal concepts, but also the basis of comprehending legal nexus and the study of legal discourse. The legal lexicon could be compartmentalized into the legal terminology (words of art) and the common words which have legal meanings. Legal terminology is part of the legal lexicon that possesses the legal meaning merely in the legal context, which does not exist in the common context; while the common words which have legal meanings belong to polysemic words and have multiple meanings. The meanings of a word in the common context are different from its meanings in the legal context. On one hand, the meanings of certain words in the legal context and their meanings in the common context are interrelated, which means the meanings of certain words in the legal context would be extended from their meanings in the common context. On the other hand, the meanings of certain words in the legal context would be entirely different in contrast with their meanings in the common context. There has been a variation from the meaning in the common context to the meaning in the legal context. The main question of this study is to figure out how conceptual metaphors make the meaning of the words in the common context extend and change into the lexical meaning in the legal context via the mapping process.