Abstract：The last few decades witnessed a significant revival of the interest in the study of metaphor. One major stream of contemporary theory of metaphor, which gains increasing support from scholars working in several disciplines, is the conceptual metaphor theory that put forward by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This thesis attempts to investigate the application of conceptual metaphor in English automotive advertising from a cognitive aspect based on the conceptual metaphor theory. This thesis firstly reviews the previous studies on metaphor, and then discusses the application of conceptual metaphor in English automotive advertising. At last, the functions of conceptual metaphor in English automotive advertising are concluded. It is hoped to offer help to the audience and English learners of advertising and also contribute to the study of metaphors from a new sight.
Key words: English Automotive advertising; metaphor; Conceptual Metaphor Theory
摘要：近几十年来，隐喻的研究取得了极大的发展。莱考夫等人的概念隐喻理论得到了众多专家和语言学家的认同。本文基于当代概念隐喻理论和所收集的数据，试图从认知的角度系统地研究隐喻在英语汽车广告中的应用。本文首先回顾了传统以及当代对隐喻的研究状态。接着论述探讨概念隐喻在英语汽车英语广告中的应用。最后总结概念隐喻在英语汽车广中在功能。本文试图为消费者和英语学习者正确解读英语广告提供帮助，也希望能为从新的角度来研究隐喻有所帮助。
关键词：英语汽车广告；隐喻；概念隐喻理论
This paper looks back at a lot of previous works on the definition and study of metaphor in different fields. Conceptual metaphor theory is a milestone in metaphor research. Then it can be divided into three types of metaphors in English automotive advertising. They are structural metaphors, orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors. The author explores the three types of metaphors’ application in English Automotive Advertising, the common source domains in English Automotive Advertising and functions of metaphors in English Automotive Advertising. The main conclusions are as follows:
Structural metaphors in automotive advertising, construct the concepts in terms of another. People can understand features of cars by another familiar object. Constructing the concept in terms of another and influencing people’s mind covertly is just one function of conceptual metaphors, and structural metaphors have another function, that is highlighting certain features while suppressing others. The advertisers always inform people of the positive or special functions of their products while hiding their weak ones by this way.
