Abstract:

Based on the cognitive linguistic theory, this paper identifies and analyzes the conceptual metaphors in Bai nationality's
proverbs and then it's found the existence of structure metaphors, location metaphors and entity metaphors in Bai nationality's proverbs
in which the cultural characteristics of location metaphors are the same in English. Namely, "up" is associated with positive things; on
the contrary, "down" relates to negative ones. Therefore, compared with English, the structure metaphors and entity metaphors in Bai
nationality's proverbs have different cultural traits. To be more specific, the structure metaphors are generally associated with family
values and ethics of Bai people, and the entity metaphors usually reflect their worship for heaven, Buddhism and local God, which
deeply rooted in Bai people's inner world.