La simbología del cerdo en la fraseología china

Abstract

This article analyzes the symbolic background of the figurative motivation of pig in Chinese, and the traces of this semiotics in its figurative lexicon, idioms and proverbs, from a linguistic-cultural perspective, based on the Conventional Figurative Language Theory of Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen (2005). This animal carries several specific symbols of Chinese culture, both positive and negative, reflecting Chinese moral norms, beliefs, customs and superstitions. In Chinese culture, the pig has been given various symbolisms, which refer to values such as wealth, good omen, courage and strength, predestined victim, greed, gluttony, laziness, debauchery, filth, stupidity and evil. Some of these metaphors and lexicalized phraseological units and/or proverbs resemble those of Spanish, others differ. Some values associated with the pig exist in both Chinese and Spanish, but most of its Chinese values are peculiar to this culture. The correct understanding of these figurative expressions requires some knowledge about their origin and the cultural background that underlies them.