動物諺語跨文化比較研究—— 西語及華語中的「牛」

Abstract

「牛」這一種動物，遠在西班牙以及我們身處的台灣都具有特殊的文化意涵，然而卻也大不相同。在西班牙文化中，「牛」令人聯想到鬥牛（toro），它蘊含了兇猛、野蠻、原始等特質。而西班牙廣為人知的「鬥牛比賽」（las corridas de toros）更象徵著人類挑戰兇猛的牛隻，對大自然、對死亡發出戰帖此種英勇的壯舉；在台灣文化中，「牛」卻蘊含了憨厚、勤勞、有耐力、認真等特質，「與牛耕田」這一個常見於農間的行為更體現出人類與牛互為搭檔、相知相惜的合作關係。「牛」——同一個意象，在兩個文化中卻有如此天差地遠的象徵意涵。何以有如此的差距呢？筆者試圖比較西語及華語中有關牛的諺語。在西語諺語方面選用有關鬥牛（toro）、公牛（buey）及乳牛（vaca）的三類諺語，在華語諺語方面，主要針對在台通用的國語諺語以及閩南語諺語，從中選用可對應供討論的諺語。分析架構採用概念隱喻理論（Lakoff& Johnson, 1980），藉由比照西語及華語中有關「牛」的諺語，探討「牛」作為譬喻性載具（metaphorical vehicle）的使用，及其如何體現兩地不同的風土民情與價值觀。Cattle, significant animals in both Spain and Taiwan, though are equally important but have different representations in both cultures. In Spanish cultural, when speaking of cattle, one may first think of bull (toro), an animal related with fierce and wild. Not to mention the renowned activity of bullfighting in Spain (las corridas de toros), in which humans fight against bulls, fighting for their life and conquering the death. In Taiwanese culture, however, cattle remind people of humble, diligence, patience, and hard-working. Here, people do not see cattle as opponents, but rather collaborate with them to plow the fields, work together as partners. It seems that “cattle” have a quite different cultural meaning in these two cultures, but how?The author intends to compare the cultural meanings between cattle-related Spanish proverbs and their correspondent Chinese ones. The former involves Spanish proverbs of bull (toro), ox (buey), and cow (vaca), while the later focuses on cattle-related Chinese proverbs frequently used in Taiwan, and may also include Taiwanese ones. The analysis is based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff& Johnson, 1980). By comparing these proverbs, the author discusses how “cattle” is used as a metaphorical vehicle and how it represented these two different cultures.