A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study of Conceptualization Patterns in Korean and Chinese Metaphorical Expressions of Speech(mal/hua) for Korean Language Education

This study investigates the commonalities and differences in conceptualization patterns found in Korean and Chinese metaphorical expressions of speech(mal/hua), with the aim of drawing pedagogical implications for Korean language education. Using Korean and Chinese corpora, we conducted a quantitative comparison of the proportional distribution of conceptualization types and a qualitative comparative analysis for each type. The findings are as follows. First, both Korean and Chinese metaphorical expressions of speech(mal/hua) instantiate three conceptualization patterns: objectification, movement, and spatialization. Second, although the same three patterns occur in both languages, their quantitative distributions differ significantly between Korean and Chinese. Third, when examined by conceptualization type, these expressions can be categorized into those sharing similar subtypes of conceptualization and those featuring subtypes unique to one language. Within the shared-subtype group, further subdivisions depend solely on the similarity of their metaphorical usage patterns. Based on these findings, this study presents concrete instructional implications for teaching metaphorical expressions of speech(mal) in Korean to Chinese learners.