Ning Yu

Ning Yu is a Professor of Asian Studies and Applied Linguistics at The Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the College of the Liberal Arts. His research focuses on cognitive linguistics, cultural metaphor studies, and the interplay between language, body, and culture. He holds editorial roles in journals like International Journal of Chinese Linguistics and book series such as Cultural Linguistics.

Yu earned an M.A. from Central China Normal University (1987) and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona (1996). His work explores embodied cognition in metaphors, cross-cultural semantics, and the cognitive foundations of figurative language. Key publications include The Moral Metaphor System (2022) and From Body to Meaning in Culture (2009).

His research spans metaphor universals, moral cognition, and Chinese linguistic pragmatics. Recent articles analyze metaphors of anger in Mandarin and spatial conceptualizations of morality. Yu’s editorial contributions and international collaborations underscore his influence in cognitive and cultural linguistics.