In Defense of Complementary Perspectives on Metaphor: A Lesson From the East

Abstract

This study analyzes metaphors in Taiwanese oracular poetry, known as tshiam-si, an Eastern genre written in Chinese and used in many temples in Taiwan. The genre consists of a set of poems representing a myriad of potential divine messages for problem-stricken individuals wanting to seek help from the Divine in the folk religious context. Collected from on-the-spot tshiam-si interpretations conducted in two temples in Taiwan, the data comprised five cases of tshiam-si interpretations. Building on several recent studies that advocate complementary perspectives on metaphor, this article demonstrates how explanations of tshiam-si interpretations benefit from cognitive linguistic and relevance theoretic approaches to metaphors, and how the complementary approaches fit in well with some aspects of real-life tshiam-si interpretations. All in all, by attending to the conceptual, the sociocultural, and the pragmatic of tshiam-si metaphors, this study explores the dynamic coupling of metaphorical cognition and metaphorical communication.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Mr. Wen-chang Hong and Mr. Qing-tang Yang for their help with data collection. I also want to extend my gratitude to one anonymous reviewer and Raymond W. Gibbs for their critical and constructive comments on an earlier version of this article.

FUNDING

I wish to thank the National Science Council, Taiwan, for its financial support (NSC 101-2410-H-110-064), which has facilitated the preparation of this work.

Notes

¹ The spelling tshiam-si represents how the Chinese term, is pronounced in Southern Min dialect, which is spoken alongside Taiwan Mandarin in Taiwan. In Chinese, the term is called qian-shi. This genre is also used in China, especially in its south-eastern costal areas. However, the data collection of this study is restricted to Taiwan.

² The collected tshiam-si or qian-shi is a version known as Mazu Gianshi (Goddess Mazu Oracular Poems) or Lioushi Jiazi Qian (Sexagenary Oracles), consisting of 60 poems.

³ The interpretation data used in this study were collected from one temple in Taipei and one in Kaohsiung, which are located in northern and southern Taiwan respectively.

⁴ The original version of the poem used is given in Appendix A.

⁵ While in some cases the language used is Mandarin, in some others the verbal interactions consist of a mixture of Mandarin and Taiwanese, the latter of which is a dialect of Chinese and is also called Southern Min or Taiwanese Southern Min. The Romanized form of the original is given in the left column while the English translation is in the right. The transcription of Mandarin is represented by plain font, and utterances in Taiwanese are italicized. However, code-switching is not the concern of this study, so it will not be examined.

⁶ My English translation of this key line has attempted to maintain the “high” or “up” expression as used in the Chinese version. Therefore, I have translated it as a sailing ship going high and dry rather than a sailing ship getting stranded or a ship hitting the ocean floor.

⁷ An oracle seeker may draw a second poem right after the first one so long as s/he is granted to do so by receiving a positive answer from the Deity being worshipped (see the introduction section).

⁸ The picture in the poster makes this clear, as it contains a lone driver with an invisible Hitler sitting next to him. It is accessible at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/use_it_up/images_html/ride_with_hitler.html

⁹ Sociocultural expectations refer to those values, beliefs, and practices generally shared or encouraged by members in a society.