Metaphors in Chinese Accompanying Gesture Modality and Cognition

Abstract

Chinese accompanying gestures are a common phenomenon in life, and native speakers of Chinese use gesture modality to express metaphors. This study analyzes metaphors in Chinese accompanying gesture modality from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and cognitive neuroscience rather than the multimodal metaphor theory. Both spoken language and accompanying gesture modalities of metaphors are integrated into discourse, indicating that metaphor creation is based on general cognitive rather than linguistic features. The case study of Chinese accompanying gestures shows that conceptual metaphors can be cognitively activated when they are not expressed in oral modality. The close interaction between modality and language indicates that metaphors are a dynamic attribute rather than a static in the physical and interactive context. The study of metaphors in accompanying gesture modality provides a specific case for further studies on metaphors and offers support for creating a non-literal language cognitive model.