Emotion Expressed with Eyes and Hands in Three Languages Shelley Ching-yu Hsieh and Elena Kolodkina National Cheng Kung University, Cheng Shiu University Abstract. This paper focuses on fixed expressions containing terms for the body- parts eye(s) and hand(s) in Mandarin Chinese, Russian and English. The Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis (Carroll 1977, Whorf 1956) and the theory of conceptual meta- phor (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) are our theoretical background. We found that the emotion expressed through these expressions is a function of the body part. Besides the basic mapping EYE/HAND STANDS FOR EMOTION, we revealed the metaphorical mappings EYE/HAND HAVING A PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT STANDS FOR EMOTION, EYE/HAND MOVEMENTS STAND FOR EMOTION, and the metonymical mapping EYE/HAND STANDS FOR PERSON EXPERIENCING EMOTION. The concepts ‗eyes‘ and ‗hands‘ are integral parts of the studied languages, revealing a shared dimension of the mind, and presenting thought in action. The human body provides the same linguistic material to speakers of these different languages, who then project their own cultures and life experiences on the words representing them, thus creating interesting language diversities. Keywords: body-part expressions, Chinese, Russian, English, Cognitive semantics, body as emotion. 1 Introduction The eyes and the hands are not only important external body parts, but expressions for them are also used in languages as vehicles for ex- tended meanings. This study focuses on compounds and idiomatic expressions containing body-part terms for eye(s) and hand(s) in Mandarin Chinese, Russian and English. Examples taken from four corpora form the database of the present study, thus enabling a cross-
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Emotion Expressed with Eyes and Hands
in Three Languages
Shelley Ching-yu Hsieh and Elena Kolodkina
National Cheng Kung University, Cheng Shiu University
Abstract. This paper focuses on fixed expressions containing terms for the body-
parts eye(s) and hand(s) in Mandarin Chinese, Russian and English. The Sapir-
Whorf Hypothesis (Carroll 1977, Whorf 1956) and the theory of conceptual meta-
phor (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) are our theoretical background. We found that the
emotion expressed through these expressions is a function of the body part. Besides
the basic mapping EYE/HAND STANDS FOR EMOTION, we revealed the metaphorical
mappings EYE/HAND HAVING A PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT STANDS FOR EMOTION,
EYE/HAND MOVEMENTS STAND FOR EMOTION, and the metonymical mapping
EYE/HAND STANDS FOR PERSON EXPERIENCING EMOTION. The concepts ‗eyes‘ and
‗hands‘ are integral parts of the studied languages, revealing a shared dimension of
the mind, and presenting thought in action. The human body provides the same
linguistic material to speakers of these different languages, who then project their
own cultures and life experiences on the words representing them, thus creating
ing to Moon (1998: 2), who proposes a broader approach to fixed expres-
sions, they include metaphors, similes, proverbs, sayings, frozen colloca-
tions, grammatically ill-formed collocations and routine formulae.
3 Data in Chinese, Russian and English
Eyes and hands are integral parts of languages, revealing a new dimen-
sion of the mind and presenting thought in action. Although the human
body is a potentially universal source domain for expressions structur-
ing abstract concepts, cultural groups set up ―specific perspectives from
which certain aspects of bodily experience or certain parts of the body
are viewed as especially salient and meaningful in the understanding of
those abstract concepts‖ (Yu 2003: 13). A group of body-part mappings
from source domains to target domains fundamentally arise from the
interplay between body and culture.
The eyes and hands are external body parts. According to one en-
cyclopedia, the eye is ―the organ of vision and light perception. In
humans the eye is of the camera type, with an iris diaphragm and vari-
able focusing, or accommodation‖ (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007).
The hand is a ―grasping organ at the end of the forelimb of certain
vertebrates, exhibiting great mobility and flexibility in the digits and
in the whole organ.‖ (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007). In man, the
hand is used mostly for feeling and grasping (Wenig, 2007). We pre-
sent and discuss the body-part expressions in figures of eyes (Chinese
眼 and 目, Russian глаз) and hands (Chinese 手, Russian рука) in the
given languages according to the emotions they express, as well as the
conceptual metaphors that are revealed.
Table 1 below lists emotions that are expressed by eye and hand
expressions in these three languages. In this section we will present
and discuss the given metaphors and metonyms standing for emotions.
The part on metaphors will follow this order: (1) a presentation of eye
162 SHELLEY CHING-YU HSIEH AND ELENA KOLODKINA
and hand for emotion, (2) the metaphors that show physiological ef-
fect for emotion, and (3) the metaphors that present body-part move-
ments for emotion.
Table 1. Emotions expressed in eye and hand expressions in three lan-
guages
Parts Chinese Russian English
Eye Emotion pure:
happiness, sad-
ness, anger, hate,
love, shame, dis-
like, fear, help-
lessness, surprise,
jealousy
Physiological ef-
fect for emotion:
admiration, re-
spectability, sur-
prise, dishonesty,
adoration, con-
tempt, hatred, ad-
monition
Emotion pure: em-
barrassment, sorrow,
pleasure, resentment,
shame, (exaggeration
of) anguish
Physiological effect
for emotion: an-
guish, anger, insin-
cere grief, malice,
indifference, tender-
ness, contentment,
fear, sadness, com-
passion, passion
Emotion pure:
love, affection,
happiness, fear,
shame, shyness,
surprise, greed
Physiological
effect for emo-
tion:
admiration, pri-
de, desire,
sexual interest
Hand Emotion pure:
sadness, anger
Physiological ef-
fect for emotion:
hatred, hostility,
admiration, re-
spectability,
thoughtfulness
Emotion pure: dif-
ferent emotions,
happiness, pain, sor-
row, grief, despair,
anger
Physiological effect
for emotion: merri-
ment, fury, happi-
ness, passion
Physiological
effect for emo-
tion: admiration,
surprise, re-
spectability,
pride, dishon-
esty, serious-
ness, firmness,
pity, ungrateful-
ness, content-
ment
EMOTION EXPRESSED WITH EYES AND HANDS IN THREE LANGUAGES 163
The Chinese vehicle eyes is shared by 目 and 眼. They are sometimes interchangeable, as in 兩目昏花 and 兩眼昏花 ‗two-eyes-confuse-flower‘, i.e. ‗cannot see clearly due to confused mind‘. Sometimes either 目 (e.g. 目不識丁 ‗eye-no know-A‘, i.e. ‗totally illiterate‘) or眼 (e.g. 老花眼 ‗old-flower-eye‘, i.e. ‗presbyopia; disoriented eye-sight, sometimes with the implication of being bedazzled‘) is the only option. Many vehicles are interchangeable in English and Russian. Most often eye is interchangeable with face, as in English to look somebody in the eye/face ‗to look directly at someone without fear or shame‘ and Russian назвать негодяем в глаза/лицо ‗to call [some-one] a villain to [his/her] eyes/face‘. The eye exchanges places with the ear in English easy on the eye/ear and Russian не вести глазом/ухом ‗not to move the eye/the ear‘, i.e. ‗to pay no attention to, to disobey‘. Eyes and nose are interchanged in Russian глаз/носа не показывать ‗not to show [one‘s] eyes/nose‘ i.e. ‗to stay away for a long time, to be absent‘, eyes and lips in Russian глаза/губы разгорелись на что-то ‗eyes/lips flamed up about something‘, i.e. a strong desire for something was aroused‘. The interchange of body parts in set expressions is an area deserving of further research. 3.1 Metaphors Our data in three languages can be classified into three groups of me-taphors expressing emotions: (1) eye and hand for emotion, (2) eye and hand for physiological effect of emotion, (3) eye and hand for movements, expressing emotions. 3.1.1 Eye and hand for emotion A large group of metaphors comprising the vehicles eye or hand will reveal emotions in the three languages.
Eyes
(1) Chinese a. 刺目 ‗thorn-eye‘, i.e. ‗something attention-catching, or that
incurs dislike from others‘ b. 盲目不盲心 ‗blind-eye-no-blind-mind‘, i.e. ‗physically but
not mentally blind‘ c. 眼花耳熱 ‗eyes-flower-ears-hot‘, i.e. ‗drunk and feeling ex-
cited; various kinds of knowledge‘
164 SHELLEY CHING-YU HSIEH AND ELENA KOLODKINA
(2) Russian
a. глазами хочет съесть ‗[sb] wants to eat with [her/his]
eyes‘, i.e. an expression of anger, malice
b. пыль в глаза пускать ‗to throw dust into [sb‘s] eyes‘, i.e.
‗to boast about imaginary success‘
c. глазами плачет, а сердцем смеется ‗eyes are crying, but
the heart is laughing‘, about insincere emotions, hypocrisy
d. масляные глаза ‗oily eyes‘, i.e. an artificially gentle, sugary
smile
(3) English
a. eyesore ‗a thing that is unpleasant to look at‘
b. Here’s mud in your eye! ‗said by people in a friendly way
just before drinking an alcoholic drink together‘
c. bedroom eyes ‗seductive-looking eyes or glances which are
considered seductive‘
Hands
(4) Chinese
a. 心狠手辣 ‗heart-cruel-hand-spicy‘, i.e. ‗callous and cruel;
ruthless; relentless‘
b. 手眼通天 ‗hand-eye-reach-sky‘, i.e. ‗adept at currying fa-
vour with the all-powerful‘
c. 眼高手低 ‗eyes-high-hand-low‘, i.e. ‗high in aim but low-
rate in execution, having high ambition but no real ability;
fastidious and demanding but inept‘
(5) Russian
a. на руку нечист ‗with dirty hands‘, i.e. ‗dishonest‘
b. греть руки ‗to heat [one‘s] hands‘, i.e. ‗to get profits in a
dishonest way‘
c. носить на руках когo-то ‗to carry sb in one‘s arms‘, i.e. ‗to
pamper, to give a treat‘
(6) English
a. a firm hand ‗strong control‘
b. cold hands, warm heart: said to someone with cold hands in
order to stop them being embarrassed
c. come/go cap in hand ‗to ask someone for money or help in a
way which makes you feel ashamed‘
EMOTION EXPRESSED WITH EYES AND HANDS IN THREE LANGUAGES 165
Different aspects of emotions are expressed with eyes in our three lan-
guages. The emotions that are shared by all three are pleasure, shame,
and fear. Some examples are listed below.
(7) Pleasure
a. 順眼 ‗sequence-eyes‘, i.e. ‗to like sb or sth‘
b. радовать глаз ‗to please [an] eye‘, i.e. ‗to please sb‘
c. easy on the eye ‗pleasant to look at‘
(8) Shame
a. 丟人現眼 ‗throw-people-show-eyes‘, i.e. ‗to lose face in
front of people‘
b. прятать глаза ‗to hide one‘s eyes‘, i.e. ‗to avoid sb‘s eyes
in order to dissemble shame or embarrassment‘
c. not look somebody in the eye ‗to be too ashamed to look at
sb directly and speak truthfully to him/her‘
(9) Fear
a. 怵目驚心 ‗scare-eyes-shock-heart‘, i.e. ‗startling; shocking‘
b. у страха глаза велики ‗fear has big eyes‘, i.e. ‗a frightened
person sees danger everywhere‘
c. shut one’s eyes to ‗to refuse to see‘
Many emotions are expressed in this manner only in one of these lan-
guages. Expressing jealousy, depreciation, helplessness, surprise, and
happiness in this fashion is unique to Chinese. The emotional proc-
esses discussed here are supposedly visible. For example, red eyes
show jealousy, thus 分外眼紅 ‗divide-outer-eyes-red‘, i.e. ‗to envy or
admire sb‘; staring eyes show surprise, therefore 目瞪口呆 ‗eye-stare
mouth-silly‘, i.e. ‗to stare in bewilderment or mute amazement‘.
In Russian, embarrassment, shame, sorrow, resentment are spe-
cially addressed. For example, выплакать все глаза ‗to cry one‘s
eyes out‘, i.e. ‗to experience utmost sorrow,‘ as crying, weeping, tears
are manifestation of sorrow; прятать глаза ‗to hide one‘s eyes‘, i.e.
‗to avoid sb‘s eyes in order to dissemble shame or embarrassment‘, as
humans display shame by dropping their eyes, lowering their gaze. In
English, desire and sexual interest are expressed with eyes, as in eye
something up ‗to look closely at sth that you are interested in‘, eye
166 SHELLEY CHING-YU HSIEH AND ELENA KOLODKINA
somebody up ‗to look at sb with sexual interest‘, and a roving eye ‗sb
who is sexually interested in people other than their partner‘.
The vehicle eyes can express personal qualities, which is a particu-
lar characteristic of Russian. For example, courage and indifference
are personal qualities, conveyed by Russian eyes. Courage is ex-
pressed when men can look into the eyes of danger as смотреть в
глаза чему ‗to look into the eyes of something‘, i.e. ‗to be determined
in difficult situations‘. On the other hand, not to blink your eye, look-
ing at your interlocutor, means to show nonchalance, as глазом не
сморгнуть ‗not to blink an eye‘, i.e. ‗not to blink one‘s eye, demon-
strating calmness/indifference‘.
As for Chinese, the eye functions for arrogance, e.g., 目使頤令
‗eye-use rear-order‘, i.e. ‗arrogant and despised to order‘. There is no
related expression for personal quality for a person in the English data
that we have collected so far.
The positive emotion of happiness is the most often expressed
emotion in the form of eyes. It is shown in the following examples.
(10) Happiness
a. 眉開眼笑 ‗eyebrow-open-mouth-laugh‘, i.e. ‗to beam with
joy; a person with a discerning eye; a person of good sense‘
b. счастливый глаз ‗happy eye‘, i.e. ‗a kind eye, having no
magical power to injure or harm people by looking at them‘
c. there wasn’t a dry eye in the house: used to mean that all the
people at a particular place felt very emotional about what
they had seen or heard and many of them were crying
In terms of hands, some emotions are expressed only in one of these
languages. For example, happiness and despair are only found in Rus-
sian, as in ломать руки ‗to break hands‘, i.e. ‗to wring one‘s hands,
expressing grief, misfortune, despair‘ and легкая рука у кого-то ‗sb
has a light hand‘, i.e. ‗somebody brings happiness, luck‘.
As mentioned above, the way Chinese uses eye to express the
emotion of ‗pleasure‘ is different from that of Russian and English
because the latter two give the viewpoint from the object, but Chinese
takes the viewpoint from the speaker. In terms of the object itself,
Chinese uses the vehicle hands, for example, 炙手可熱 ‗broil-hand-
can-hot‘, i.e. ‗of intense political power; burning to the touch‘.
EMOTION EXPRESSED WITH EYES AND HANDS IN THREE LANGUAGES 167
3.1.2 Metaphors expressing physiological effect for emotion
A wide range of eye and hand expressions in our data are variants of a
basic cognitive metaphor PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT FOR EMOTION. For
example, when a person is upset or in a low mood, his muscles are not
well-toned, his brain isn‘t alert, and as a result the person doesn‘t
properly coordinate his body movements, including his hands. He can
easily drop something, hence the expressions все валится из рук
‗everything is dropped out of hands‘, i.e. ‗work doesn‘t go well‘, из
рук вон плохо ‗out of hands badly‘, i.e. ‗very badly‘ show depression,
or a low mood. On the other hand, if a person takes control over his
body and is determined to do something, he is well coordinated and
his hand won‘t shake (to do something), as in pука не дрогнет что-
нибудь сделать ‗[sb‘s] hand would not shake to do sth‘, i.e. ‗[sb]
would not be afraid to do something‘.
Below we give examples in all three languages.
Eyes
(11) Chinese
a. 橫眉豎眼 ‗horizontal-eyebrow-upright-eyes‘, i.e. ‗to glare in
anger‘
b. 目瞪口呆 ‗eye-stare mouth-silly‘, i.e. ‗be stupefied; stare in
bewilderment or mute amazement‘
c. 瞠目結舌 ‗stare-eyes-knot-tongue‘, i.e. ‗stare dumbfounded‘
(12) Russian
a. не моргнув глазом ‗without batting an eyelid‘, i.e. ‗showing
no embarrassment‘
b. глаза излучали тихую радость ‗[sb‘s] eyes radiated gentle
joy‘
c. таращить глаза ‗to open [one‘s] eyes‘ = ‗to stare, to gog-
gle at something in astonishment‘
(13) English
a. not look somebody in the eye/face ‗be too ashamed to look at
people directly and speak truthfully to them‘
b. there wasn’t a dry eye in the house ‗all the people at a par-
ticular place felt very emotional about what they had seen or