: Ning Yu
: The Chinese HEART in a Cognitive Perspective Culture, Body, and Language
: De Gruyter Mouton
: 9783110213348
: Applications of Cognitive Linguistics [ACL]ISSN
: 1
: CHF 159.80
:
: Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft
: English
: 453
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
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This book is a cognitive semantic study of the Chinese conceptualization of the heart, traditionally seen as the central faculty of cognition. The concept of HEART, encoded in the wordxin, lies at the core of Chinese thought and medicine, and its importance to Chinese culture is extensively manifested in the Chinese language. The study explores this important concept and its cultural models along both diachronic and synchronic dimensions and with a cross-cultural perspective.


Ning Yu, University of Oklahoma, USA.
1.4. Body, mind, and culture (S. 19-20)

For the overall goal of this study, it is relevant to explore the conceptions of the body not only because the heart is a critical organ and a central part of the body, but also because there seems to be a broad spectrum of diverse conceptualizations of how the “mind” (or “soul”) is related to the body across cultures or within cultures over history. More generally, there exist different “ethnotheories of the person” across cultures in the world (see, e.g., Goddard 2003, Wierzbicka 1992, 2005) As mentioned previously, the conceptualization of the heart in the body has to do with the understanding of “mind”, which, including perceptual, emotional and intellectual operations in its broad sense (Robinson 1998) and generally conceived in metaphorical terms (Sternberg 1990, see also Robinson 1998),10 figures prominently in the concepts of self and person.

The person consists of both social and corporeal entities (Fajans 1985). Certain parts of the physical body are socially and culturally elevated to stand for the person. For instance, the human face, which is the most distinctive part of the body, is socially accepted as the focus of interpersonal interaction and relationship and even culturally constructed as the locus of dignity and prestige of a person (Yu 2001).

Therefore, the face stands for the person as a social being. While the reason for the face standing for the person in social life seems obvious (see Yu 2001), the part of the body that takes the central role in a person’s mental life has been historically less so. Thus, there is need to “look for the mind inside the body” across various cultures, which vary with the location of emotionality, mentality, rationality, and morality in certain parts of the body (Sharifian et al. 2008b).

The central aim of Sharifian et al. (2008a) is “to contribute to the knowledge of various cultures’ conceptualizations of the heart and other internal body organs, and in particular how feeling, thinking and knowing are related to internal body organs in different cultures, as they are reflected in the respective languages” (Sharifian et al. 2008b: 3). The volume studies “the synchronic variation and the diachronic development of ‘heart’ conceptions in various languages” including Kuuk Thaayorre, Indonesian, Malay, Basque, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Northeastern Neo- Aramaic, English, Dutch, and Tunisian Arabic. The articles of the volume are divided into three sections depending on whether the languages they study show abdomen-centering, heart-centering, and/or head-centering conceptualizations of the mind.
Preface5
Table of contents7
Chapter 1 Introduction: Heart, body and mind12
1.1. Object and goal: Chinese concept of xin ‘heart’12
1.2. Heart, culture, and cognition18
1.3. Body, society, and cognition25
1.4. Body, mind, and culture33
1.5. Cognitive semantic study of metaphor: Embodiment43
1.6. Structure of the book50
Chapter 2 The HEART in ancient Chinese philosophy53
2.1. Introduction: Basic philosophical notions and constructs53
2.2. The heart as the locus of the “mind”62
2.3. The heart as the locus of moral sense81
2.4. The heart as the locus of societal governance101
2.5. Summary and discussion108
Chapter 3 The HEART in traditional Chinese medicine125
3.1. Introduction: Basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine125
3.2. The heart as the ruler of the body133
3.3. The heart as the grand master of the internal organs145
3.4. The heart or brain: Which one governs the spiritual light?155
3.5. Summary and discussion161
Chapter 4 The HEART in present-day Chinese language174
4.1. Introduction: A cognitive semantic study174
4.2. The heart as a physical entity182
4.3. The heart as the locus of one’s inner self207
4.4. The heart as the locus of mental life236
4.5. The heart as the locus of emotional life266
4.6. Summary and discussion305
Chapter 5 The HEART in present-day Chinese discourse324
5.1. Introduction: Textual analysis324
5.2. The heart in an essay on the “heart”327
5.3. The heart in some poems on the “heart”342
5.4. Summary and discussion363
Chapter 6 The HEART in cross-cultural comparison368
6.1. Introduction: An external viewpoint368
6.2. Conceptions of the heart and brain in the West370
6.3. A comparative perspective from English386
6.4. Four humors and five elements395
6.5. Summary and discussion402
Chapter 7 Conclusion407
7.1. Looking back in perspective: Some highlights407
7.2. Bringing into focus: Holism and dualism, heart and head416
7.3. Looking beyond: Methodological issues423
7.4. Emerging from it: Afterword429
Appendix 1 Additional idiomatic expressions involving xin ‘heart’ 430
Appendix 2 The Chinese original of “On ‘Heart’ for the New Year”451
References453
Author index480
Subject index484