1 Introduction
1.1 Background and Significance of the Present Study
Synaesthetic Metaphor is not only a figure of speech in traditional rhetoric, but also a kind of metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. The English word Synaesthesia comes from ancient Greek, which means a mixing of different sensory categories. “Metaphoric expressions of the unity of the sense evolve in part from fundamental synaesthetic relationships but own their creative impulse to mind’s ability to transcend these intrinsic correspondences and forge new multisensory meanings”(Maks 1978:103) . That is to say, if a stimulus occurs in one sensory, it will also occur in another later. Then cross-space mapping happens among the sensory and new blended meanings will be established with the help of human beings’ mental association. Li Guonan (1996:39) points out that “Synaesthetic phenomena lie in hierarchical distributions, and in linguistic expression, the words expressing the lower-level sense, while in contrast the instances are obviously less.” That is to say, Synaesthetic Metaphor has a sensory-ranking. The low-level perception can be projected into the high-level perception. In other words, words in lower perceptual domain can modify those in higher perceptual domain. Conceptual Integration Theory is also called Conceptual Blending Theory which developed by Fauconnier and Turner on the basis of mental space theory. Fauconnier (2002:46) put forward four-space theory including input space I, input space II, generic space and blending space. Each space makes the corresponding connection through the cross-space mapping. “Conceptual integration theory(CIT), also known as conceptual blending theory, has been recognized as a powerful model of language processing and a potential solution to a number of problems in cognitive theory” (Gardy 2000:335). Conceptual Integration Theory is not only a significant but also a foundational theory of Cognitive Linguistics and it is always used to solve different kinds of problems. Gibbs (2000:347) points out “it promises an integrated model of cognitive activity that will combine explanations of linguistic creativity with explanation of other language behavior, as well as of various products of human imagination.” Conceptual Integration Theory has three basic processes which are composition, completion and elaboration. Elaboration will refine the structure in blend based on some principles, logic and imaginative features.
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1.2 Research Questions
We all know that Cognitive Integration Theory has been studied for a period time, this paper focuses on the application of CIT to the English translation of new space of Synaesthetic Metaphor, by analyzing the English translation of Rice, trying to find out the proves for:
1.
