Abstract
Mandarin speakers, similar to speakers of most other languages around the world, tend to conceptualize time in terms of space. However, it has been supposed that Mandarin speakers conceptualize time along both horizontal and vertical axes (i.e., along two mental timelines). This is attributed to two main factors. The first is the availability of both horizontal and vertical spatiotemporal metaphors in their language (in contrast to most other languages which rely predominantly on horizontal metaphors), and the second is the switch from the traditional Chinese vertical (still used occasionally currently) to the Western horizontal writing direction. This paper focuses on the vertical axis, readdressing the issues concerning the use of vertical spatiotemporal metaphors and the representations of time underlying these linguistic devices. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the topic, they have provided investigations only associated with the top-to-bottom mental timeline (i.e., with the past on the top and the future on the bottom). This, however, is not sufficient for understanding how Chinese people conceptualize time in terms of vertical metaphors. This paper proposes an extended theoretical explanation of vertical spatiotemporal metaphors and highlights that there might be a cyclical concept of time underlying the use of these metaphors.
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28 May 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-021-01033-6
Notes
As well as 左 zuǒ ‘left’ and 右 yòu ‘right,’ 前 qián ‘front’ and 后 hòu ‘back,’ and 上 shàng ‘up’ and 下 xià ‘down,’ can also be used together to describe approximate times (Traugott 1975), for example, 三点前后 sāndiǎn qiánhòu ‘around three o’clock,’ 五天上下 wǔtiān shàngxià ‘about 5 days.’
These examples were taken from the BLCU Chinese Corpus (BCC).
Other cultural factors, such as traditional values, are also considered to contribute to the frequent use of vertical metaphors in Mandarin. For instance, in traditional Chinese culture, high status and prestige are afforded to the older generation and the ancestors (Scott 1989; Lan 1999); it is possible because of this that in Chinese, the ancestors are called 上祖 shàng-zǔ (up-ancestor), the older generation is called 上辈 shàng-bèi (up-generation), and the younger generation is called 下辈 xià-bèi (down-generation) (Hong et al. 2017). In these examples, we can see the role of culture in giving rise to conceptual metaphors in language (see Lakoff and Johnson 1980). Furthermore, according to Scott (1989), the extended meanings of 上 shàng ‘up’ and 下 xià ‘down’ related to status and worth form a coherent whole with the meanings related to time, which could reinforce the use of the two morphemes for time in Mandarin. This provides a possible explanation for the frequent and systematic use of vertical spatiotemporal metaphors in Mandarin (Scott 1989) and shows how cultural values formed by a particular community influenced the language they use.
Boroditsky and Gaby (2010) conducted two experiments (i.e., the card arrangement task and the dot-drawing task). In the first experiment, the participants were asked to arrange a given set of cards (in total 6–12 sets of cards and each set showed a temporal progression of a natural entity, such as a man at different ages) in a sequential order. In the second experiment, the participants were asked to place dots corresponding to temporal periods. For example, the experimenter placed a dot in the front of the participants and asked, ‘if this here is today, where would you put yesterday?’. In both of the two experiments, each participant was tested while facing in two different cardinal directions, 90° or 180° apart.
The concept of Yin and Yang may be traced back to as early as 780 BC, and then ‘came to be connected primarily with the Book of Changes’ (Fung 1948:138) and also with the Chinese traditional philosophy Taoism.
In ancient China, the word yang refers to the south side of a hill (i.e., the sunshine side) as well as the north side of a river, while yin refers to the north side of a hill (i.e., the shadow side) as well as the south side of a river. This explains the origin of many place names in China, such as 洛阳 Luòyáng which is located at the north side of the Luo River 洛河 in the province of Henan, 江阴 Jiāngyīn which is located at the south side of the Yangtze River in the province of Jiangsu, and 咸阳 Xiányáng which means literally ‘fully yang’ because the city is located at the north of Wei River 渭水 and the south of Jiuzong Mountain 九嵕山.
As it has been noted in the Appendices of the Book of Changes, ‘when the cold goes, the warmth comes, and when the warmth comes, the cold goes’ (寒往则暑来, 暑往则寒来) (Fung 1948:19).
The linear concept of time can be found in traditional philosophical writings. For instance, as stated in Lunyu (also known as the Analects of Confucius in English), Confucius, standing by a stream, said: ‘It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night’ (子在川上曰:逝者如斯夫!不舍昼夜。); these words show that Confucius perceived time as flowing from the past to the present and to the future in an increasing linear manner, involving a metaphorical conception of time as a river, which is pervasive in Chinese as well as in many other languages. Furthermore, some scholars have proposed that the metaphorical view of time as flowing may provide a possible explanation for the vertical axis of time in Chinese. For example, as stated by Radden (2003:228), ‘the cultural importance of the Yangtze River may have reinforced the preference for viewing time as vertical.’
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Acknowledgements
This research has been carried out within the Youth Program of Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (No. 18YJCZH155). The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions, which have greatly improved this paper.
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The original version of the article was revised due to an error in the following term mainland china, where the correct term should read as Chinese mainland.
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Sun, J., Zhang, Q. How do Mandarin speakers conceptualize time? Beyond the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Cogn Process 22, 171–181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00987-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00987-3