How Semantics is Embodied through Visual Representation: Image Schemas in the Art of Chinese Calligraphy

Abstract

This study aims to investigate abstract reasoning and embodied cognition through the analysis of image schemas and conceptual metaphors in the interplay of art and language. Chinese calligraphy is noteworthy due to its unique embodied characteristics and image-schematic representations of visual art and language. The art of Chinese calligraphy not only represents the visual forms of Chinese characters but also conveys meanings, emotion, and style, demonstrating the aesthetics of language and art. By analyzing image schemas and metaphors in classical works of art, this paper shows how semantics is conceptualized and embodied through visual representation of Chinese calligraphy. In this study, we examine how semantics is visualized within the topological structure of cognitive mechanisms of a CONTAINER schema, the crucial image schema that structures the conceptualization of spatial relation concepts. This paper proposes that the CONTAINER schema, the BALANCE schema, the FORCE schema, as well as the metaphors SIGNIFICANCE IS SIZE and MIND IS A BODY, which may motivate the calligrapher’s creative process, underlie the art of Chinese calligraphy.