Time Metaphors in Thai: A Comparative Analysis with Chinese and English and Suggestions for Chinese Language Teaching
Keywords:
time metaphor; horizontal spatial concept; comparative study; Chinese language instructionAbstract
Chinese, English and Thai based on horizontal spatial concepts to describe time. Specifically, all three use the temporal metaphor of the directional terms, ‘front’ and ‘back’. Previous studies found that Chinese leans towards a past-oriented "moving time" metaphor, while English tends to adopt a future-oriented "moving ego" metaphor. In comparison, Thai time expressions are more complicated, involving various linguistic forms, however studies of Thai temporal metaphors remain limited.
This study utilized authentic corpus data to investigate the spatial metaphor of temporal expressions in Thai, analyzing and comparing the temporal metaphorical patterns in Chinese, English, and Thai, taking into account temporal cognition, metaphorical usage, and sentence structures. The findings reveal that Thai only employs horizontal spatial metaphors for time, lacking vertical concepts. The usage of หน้า/nâː/ (front) and หลัง /lǎŋ/ (back) in Thai leans towards "moving time" metaphor, with the observer positioned outside the timeline.
In terms of teaching Chinese temporal metaphors, English speakers, accustomed to the "moving ego" metaphor, may perceive the Chinese metaphor as cognitively conflicting. In the case of Thai speakers, the absence of vertical spatial metaphors for time in Thai, a feature present in Chinese, combined with the divergence in language branches between Chinese and Thai, may pose challenges for learners. To assist English and Thai native speakers in gaining a better understanding of metaphorical use of spatial concepts in Chinese temporal expressions and to alleviate the negative transfer of the learners’ native languages, this study concludes by offering teaching suggestions for Chinese temporal metaphors.
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บทความที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์เป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของวารสารภาษาและวัฒนธรรมจีน มหาวิทยาลัยหัวเฉียวเฉลิมพระเกียรติ
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