ISSN: 2226-6348
Open access
Chinese modern classical local novels, imbued with rich cultural empathy and unmistakable geographical distinctiveness, craft a linguistic tapestry that reflects the nation’s aesthetic ethos. Dialectal lexicon, functioning as both a vessel of indigenous tradition and a medium of lived experience, proves instrumental in shaping characters, articulating emotion, and driving narrative momentum. Yet scholarly attention has largely prioritized dialect’s stylistic attributes and symbolic cultural value, leaving two critical gaps: a methodical examination of how dialect achieves semantic salience within textual structures, and a lack of in-depth discussion on the embodied cognitive co-construction path between the writer and reader. This paper introduces salience theory in embodied cognitive linguistics, constructs an analytical framework of “writer's embodied cognition-language salience-reader’s embodied cognition”, and selects five Chinese modern classical local novels, including Shen Congwen’s Border Town, Xiao Hong’s The Field of Life and Death, Zhao Shuli’s The Marriage of Xiao'er Hei, Sun Li’s Lotus Lake, and Jian Xian’ai’s Water Burial, as the primary texts, and systematically investigates the semantic salience mechanism and embodied cognition function of three categories of dialect words: object, person, and action. Starting from the three dimensions of language form, contextual embedding, and cultural schema, this study reveals how writers use dialect words to achieve semantic foregrounding, and how readers engage in semantic processing and emotional resonance through experiential activation. It is found that dialect words assume the functions of social identity coding, action portrayal, and cultural image construction in novels, respectively, showing a three-in-one salience mechanism of “language structure--narrative strategy--embodied cognitive acceptance.” This study innovatively applies salience theory to literature, illuminating the embodied cognitive path of literary language and advancing linguistic-literary interdisciplinary research.
He, X. X. (2018). Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar: Image-based Grammatical Analysis and Semantic Salience. Journal of Jiamusi Vocational Institute, (11), 306, 308.
Jiang, Z. Y. (2020). A cognitive contrastive study of usage events in Hongloumeng and its English translations (Doctoral dissertation). Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China.
Liu, D. D. (2010). A study on the relationship between markedness in English and cognitive salience (Master's thesis). Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Li, G. D. (2020). Inter-subjectivity of stance expression from the perspective of current discourse space. Journal of Foreign Languages, (4), 33–38.
Li, L. (2023). A cognitive salience analysis of the Chinese classifier “ba”. Chinese Character Culture, (12), 148–150.
Liu, R. T. (2017). A cognitive salience study on the English translation of emotion metaphors in Fortress Besieged (Master’s thesis). Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
Li, W. H. (2011). A constructional study based on the salience view: A case study of several “quantification/emphasis” constructions in modern Chinese (Doctoral dissertation). Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Li, W. H., & Qi, H. Y. (2012). Salience, activation, and the realization of metonymy. Foreign Language Teaching, (4), 23–26.
Ma, C. T. (2014). Further discussion on the realization of salience and metonymy—With respectful inquiries to Mr. Li Wenhao and Mr. Qi Huyang. Forum on Social Science, (11), 119–127.
Niu, M. Y. (2012). A study on the construction of English and Chinese compounds from the perspective of cognitive salience (Master’s thesis). Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
Wang, J. L. (2004). Semantic prominence of vocabulary in the stylistic features of In Praise of Ugliness. Journal of Huanghe Science and Technology College, (2), 91–94.
Wang, Y. (2014). Embodied-cognitive linguistics from the perspective of postmodern philosophy. Foreign Languages and Literature, (6), 61–67.
Wang, Y. (2020a). Embodied-cognitive linguistics. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
Xia, R. G., & Li, L. Y. (2012). A brief discussion on the imagery of English idioms from the perspective of cognitive salience theory. Science & Technology Information, (14), 28, 30.
Zhang, M. (2021). A study on the reconstruction of character images in the English translation of Zhao Shutun based on cognitive salience theory. Journal of Anshun University, (6), 50–53.
Zhou, X. L., & Zhang, J. (2011). A study on the cultural salience of metaphor in cognitive context. Journal of Northeast Agricultural University (Social Science Edition), (6), 146–148.
Zhu, X. L. (2021). An analysis of the EMC teaching model in college English listening and speaking classes from the perspective of embodied-cognitive linguistics. Overseas English, (9), 69–70.
Hua, L. C., & Lai, T. T. (2025). Semantic Salience of Dialectal Expressions in Chinese Modern Classical Local Novels from the Perspective of Embodied Cognitive Linguistics. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 14(2), 1060–1075.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode