Abstract

As we all know, language evolves all the time, among which vocabulary, the most sensitive part, changes extremely rapidly as it is associated closely with many aspects in social life such as politics, economy, culture and so on. In the process of social development, more and more neologisms come into being, indicating not only the social changes but people’s desire for expression and communication. An increasing number of scholars have made distribution to the study of neologisms. However, studies in the past are primarily focused on external factors of neologism generation and the ways of word formation without paying much attention to internal cognitive mechanism. 

Lakoff and Johnson（2003） propose the view that metaphor is more than a rhetorical device, it is a mode of thought and an effective tool for people to know abstract things through concrete ones. Metaphor’s cognitive function gradually receives widespread attention. Metaphor is treated as an essential way to explain and comprehend neologism, which plays an important role not only in the semantic construction of neologism, but also in the word-formation of neologism. 

As a rather hot movie in 2016,Zootopia contains numerous metaphors. Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this thesis makes an exploratory study on the metaphors used in Zootopia. Through a careful selection and classification of the neologisms and metaphors in the movie, the author has found that neologisms in the movie fall mainly into two categories: old words being assigned new meaning and completely new words. The latter category contains largely new words that are formed through blending. It is the author’s hope that this study can not only help the audience better understand the metaphors in the movie but also make language learners be aware of the influence of metaphors in the formation of English neologisms.

Key Words: English neologisms, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Zootopia

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Significance of the Study-1

1.2 Objectives of the Study-1

1.3 Organization of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-3

2.1.1 Definition of Neologism-3

2.1.2 Classification of Neologism-3

2.2 Studies of Neologism-4

2.2.1 Studies of Neologism Abroad-4

2.2.2 Studies of Neologism at Home-5

2.3 Summary-6

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework-7

3.1 Conceptual Metaphor Theory-7

3.2 Classification of Conceptual Metaphor-7

3.3 Mechanism of Conceptual Metaphor-9

Chapter Four Analysis of Neologisms in Zootopia-11

4.1 Background of Zootopia-11

4.2 Research Methodology-11

4.3 Basic Types of Neologisms in Zootopia-12

4.3.1 Old Words with New Senses-12

4.3.2 Completely New Words-12

4.4 Metaphorical Semantic Construction of the Old Words with New Senses-12

4.5 Metaphor and Completely New Words-14

4.5.1 Metaphorical Word-formation of Completely New Words-14

4.5.2 Metaphorical Semantic Construction of Completely New Words-14

Chapter Five Conclusion-16

5.1 Major Findings-16

5.2 Limitations andSuggestions for Further Research-16

References-17

Appendix-19

文献综述报告-21