International Journal of Language & Linguistics

An Exploration of Conceptual Metaphors for Framing Ecology-Evidence from President Xi’s Speeches on Ecological Civilization
Yuxing Deng, Xiangyong Jiang

Abstract
Adopting the MIP (Metaphor Identification Procedure) method, this paper unearths the cognitive mechanism of conceptual metaphors through qualitative and quantitative analysis of data extracted from The Dataset of President Xi Jinping’s Major Speeches. The study delves into the structure and characteristics of five conceptual metaphors, namely JOURNEY metaphor, PLANT metaphor, WAR metaphor, LIFE metaphor, and DISEASE metaphor, aiming to elucidate the ecological concepts and cultural connotations underlying the employed metaphors on the one hand, extrapolate the pragmatic functions of the metaphors in the construction of ecological civilization on the other. Results reveal that such metaphors are highly interrelated rather than performing independently, jointly addressing the issues of why to construct ecological civilization, what kind of ecological civilization to construct, and how to construct ecological civilization. Those employed metaphors are based on bodily and traditional Chinese medicine and Confucian cultural experiences, thus justifying the physiological and cultural-social embodiment of conceptual metaphors.

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