本文旨在探討動物和植物暗喻詞在語言中不同的語意角色。我們運用 Talmy 在 1988 和 2000 年所提出的力圖式理論，討論這些暗喻詞背後，語意形成的原因及人們相對的認知模式。我們的研究結果說明動物暗喻詞多屬於外顯、動態性的詞彙，扮演人類表達情緒的要角，容易叫人激動，攪亂人與人之間的和諧；而植物暗喻詞則常是內彰性、靜態的詞彙，多以發人深醒的哲學叫人內省，圓融彼此間的關係。人類透過肢體的經驗，運用動、植物本身在自然界的表現，將這些生命體納入語言中，或表達情緒或傳達理性，讓動、植物暗喻詞成為人類社會中彰顯人際關係和彼此溝通重要的詞彙。

This study investigates animal and plant metaphors to show their different semantic roles in language. We delve into the motivation and the cognitive model of the respective semantic usages in light of the force schema (Talmy “Force Dynamics”; Toward A Cognitive Semantics). Animals and plants jointly define and constitute what human beings experience as emotion and rationality, and are used in human society for communication. While animal metaphors often are active and emotional expressions used as outlets for human emotion, plant metaphors tend to be static and philosophical served as input for the brain. Grounds can be found from the qualities of plant and animal. Language makes good use of natural species via mappings from bodily experiences to use for social communication.