摘要

  作为热门的研究课题，一词多义和隐喻一直都受到语言学家们的关注，特别是致力于认知语言学研究的语言学家们。一词多义展现了语言的经济原则和灵活性原则。斯威特(尹小敏: 2010)说过若词义没有经过一词多义这一阶段，它就不可能发生历史性转变。同样的，作为认知语言学中重要的一部分，隐喻与一词多义联系在了一起，并作为解释一词多义现象的重要手段。因此，隐喻和一词多义的关系，隐喻是如何解释一词多义现象等问题深受语言学家们的关注。在该论文中，基于国内外对隐喻和一词多义的研究，我们试着用隐喻思维来解释几个具有一词多义性的单词以说明隐喻和一词多义的关系。

关键词：一词多义，隐喻，隐喻思维，分析

Abstract

As research topics of much concern, both polysemy and metaphor have been and are still enjoying much popularity with linguists, especially those specializing in cognitive linguistics. Polysemy shows the economic and flexible principles of language. Sweeter (尹小敏: 2010) once insisted that historical shift in sense cannot take place without an intervening stage of polysemy. Metaphor, as one of the important cognitive instruments, has been connected with polysemy and it has been studied to explain the phenomenon of polysemy. In this thesis, we have discussed the relationship between metaphor and polysemy in English based on the researches from linguists at home and abroad. We also have analyzed some polysemous words in metaphoric way in order to further understand the relationship between metaphor and polysemy..

Key words: polysemy; metaphor; metaphorical thinking; analysis

1    Introduction
As our society is in a state of flux, almost everything is changing, including language. Saussure once stated “Absolute stability in language is never found”. From old English to modern English, we can find that almost all aspects of English, like sound, spelling, grammar, etc. keep changing. Baugh&Cable also once mentioned “old words die out, new words are added, and existing words change their sense.” Sweeter insisted that historical shift in sense cannot take place without an intervening stage of polysemy.