Conceptual Structure of 家 (House/Home) in Chinese

Abstract

This paper focuses on describing the conceptual organization of 家 (jiā, house/home) in Chinese after clarifying the connotations of two working terms concept and conceptual metaphor. Based on the associative meanings activated from the semantic features of the concept 家 (home) in Chinese, the article indentifies the three-tiered structure of the core meaning of this concept. These descriptions of this core meaning structure not only clarify the “language nature” of the concept, but also explains why, within the conceptual structure, the core meaning has a universal human characteristics, serving as the foundation for understanding cutural meaning. The case study of the subordinate concept “residential space” aims to further clarify the activating role of semantic features as well as the field–functional nature of the conceptual structure of 家 (home).