When Embodiment Meets Generative Lexicon: The Human Body Part Metaphors in Sinica Corpus

This research aims to integrate embodiment with generative lexicon. By analyzing the metaphorically used human body part terms in Sinica Corpus, the first balanced modern Chinese corpus, we reveal how these two theories complement each other. Embodiment strengthens generative lexicon by spelling out the cognitive reasons which underlies the production of meaning, and generative lexicon, specifically the qualia structure, complements embodiment by accounting for the reason underlying the selection of a particular body part for metaphorization. Discussing how the four body part terms—血 xie “blood”, 肉 rou “flesh”, 骨 gu “bone”, 脈 mai “meridian”— behave metaphorically, this research argues that the visibility and the telic role of the qualia structure are the major reasons motivating the choice of a body part to represent a comparatively abstract notion. The finding accounts for what constrains the selection of body parts for metaphorical uses. It also facilitates the prediction of the behavior of the four body part terms in these uses, which can function as the starting point to examine whether the two factors—visibility and telicity—also motivate the metaphorization of the rest human body parts.