A Contrastive Study of Conceptual Metaphors in English and Vietnamese Family Idioms

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN MINH TÂM

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF

CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FAMILY IDIOMS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Hà Thanh Hải, Ph.D.

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN MINH TÂM

NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU VỀ PHÉP

ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM TRONG THÀNH NGỮ VỀ GIA ĐÌNH

TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8.22.02.01

Người hướng dẫn: TS. Hà Thanh Hải

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I guarantee that the study entitled A Contrastive Study of Conceptual

Metaphors in English and Vietnamese Family Idioms is my own work.

Additionally, I certify that this work has not been submitted, in whole or in

part, for the award of any other degree or diploma, and it does not include any

material that has been previously published or written by another person

without appropriate acknowledgement.

Binh Dinh, 2021

Nguyen Minh Tam

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This graduation thesis was completed not only through my own efforts,

but also with the assistance of many organizations and individuals, to whom I

would like to express my deepest gratitude.

First of all, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Hà Thanh Hải

for the careful supervision, critical comments, and invaluable advice he

provided for me to complete this thesis. Without his endless patience and

continuous support throughout the course of this study, the task would have

never been finished.

Secondly, I wish to pay my special regards to the lecturers of my

master’s degree for their insightful lectures and deep knowledge of

linguistics. In addition, I also want to send my warmest thanks to the

Department of Foreign Languages of Quy Nhon University for granting me

permission to pursue this project.

Last but not least, I wish to acknowledge the support and great love of

my family and friends, who have always believed in me and given me

strength to overcome all the difficulties I encountered while carrying out this

study.

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ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the similarities and differences

in the formation of conceptual metaphors in family idioms in English and

Vietnamese. Based on the theory of conceptual metaphors of Cognitive

linguistics prosed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003), this study examined

mappings from the source domain to the target domain on a compilation of

240 idioms in both languages. To fulfill the research objectives, quantitative,

qualitative, descriptive, and contrastive approaches are employed throughout

the research. The findings show a small disproportion in how the two

languages conceptualize the notion of family. These conceptual metaphors are

primarily created on the basis of the source domains, which are the essential

needs of daily life as well as on the embodied perception. In addition, certain

types of metaphors are more prevalent in one language than another and vice

versa, which may be attributed to cultural and geographical variations. This

thesis is hoped to contribute to teaching and learning as well as translating

English and Vietnamese idioms based on understanding of conceptual

metaphors.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... iv

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... vi

LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................. vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1

1.1.Rationale 1

1.2.Aim and Objectives........................................................................................4

1.2.1.Aim..........................................................................................................4

1.2.2. Objectives...............................................................................................4

1.3.Research Questions.........................................................................................4

1.4. Scope of the Study.........................................................................................4

1.5. Significance of the Study...............................................................................5

1.5.1. Theoretical significance .........................................................................5

1.5.2. Practical significance .............................................................................5

1.6. Organization of the Study..............................................................................6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................9

2.1. Theoretical background .................................................................................9

2.1.1. Basic concepts of Conceptual metaphors ..............................................9

2.1.2. Classification of metaphor according to cognitive functions ..............15

2.1.3. Idioms...................................................................................................18

2.2. Previous studies...........................................................................................23

2.2.1. Metaphor studies in traditional view....................................................23

2.2.2. Metaphor studies in cognitive view .....................................................25

2.2.3. Previous studies of idioms ...................................................................30

2.3. Summary......................................................................................................32

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................34

3.1. Research Design ..........................................................................................34

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3.2. Research Methods........................................................................................34

3.3. Data Collection ............................................................................................35

3.4. Data Analysis...............................................................................................36

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................38

4.1. Conceptual metaphors in English and Vietnamese family idioms..............38

4.1.1. FAMILY IS A HOUSE........................................................................38

4.1.2. FAMILY BONDS ARE FOOD...........................................................41

4.1.3. FAMILY IS A BODY..........................................................................44

4.1.4. FAMILY MEMBER IS AN ANIMAL................................................48

4.1.5. FAMILY IS A CONTAINER..............................................................50

4.1.6. FAMILY IS A NEST...........................................................................51

4.1.7. FAMILY IS A TREE...........................................................................53

4.1.8. FAMILY HAPPINESS IS WARMTH ................................................54

4.1.9. FAMILY RELATIONSHIP IS A ROPE.............................................55

4.1.10. FAMILY IS A BOAT........................................................................56

4.1.11. MARRIAGE IS THE WORK OF GOD............................................57

4.1.12. FAMILY IS A HOUSEHOLD ITEM................................................58

4.1.13. LOVE IS A GAME............................................................................60

4.1.14. MARRIAGE IS A WAR....................................................................60

4.1.15. MARRIAGE IS A JOURNEY...........................................................61

4.1.16. MARRIAGE IS A TRANSACTION.................................................63

4.1.17. LOVE IS POSSESSION....................................................................64

4.2. Similarities and differences between conceptual metaphors in English and

Vietnamese family idioms..................................................................................65

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION..................................................................................70

5.1. Conclusions .................................................................................................70

5.2. Implications.................................................................................................71

5.3. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research .....................................72

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................74

APPENDICES

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1. The Occurrence And Percentage Of Conceptual Metaphors

Denoting Family In English And Vietnamese Idioms.................. 65

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1. The mappings of conceptual metaphors THEORIES ARE

BUILDING ................................................................................... 13

Figure 2.2. The mappings of conceptual metaphor ECONOMY IS WAR .... 14

Figure 2.3. The mappings of conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY. 15

Figure 4.1. The mappings of conceptual metaphor A FAMILY IS A

HOUSE ......................................................................................... 38

Figure 4.2. The mappings of conceptual metaphor FAMILY IS A BODY ... 45

1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

Metaphor has emerged from ancient times, in many fields, especially in

poetry with great aesthetic values. Metaphors can be found all around us in

our everyday lives. They improve the effectiveness of language, make it more

beautiful, and can emphasize the implied meanings that speakers want to

express. This linguistic phenomenon, first put forward by Aristotle, has

gained much attention from linguists. According to Aristotle (as cited in Trần

Văn Cơ, 2009), the principal feature of metaphor is the name transference or

the comparison between two things. Metaphor used to be seen as only a

rhetorical device or a method of developing meaning to make language more

artistic. However, the modern perspective on cognitive linguistics was first

proposed by Lakoff and Johnson in their groundbreaking study Metaphors We

Live By (1980). This revolutionary work is such a crucial contribution to

cognitive linguistics, which paves the way for further studies in this linguistic

field. Through the view of cognitive linguistics, metaphor is considered as a

means to conceptualize or cognize the world. Metaphor can express as well as

reflect human perception of abstract ideas or any thought about the world

around us concretely through practical experiences by linguistic expressions.

This information transfer in perception is seen as a metaphorical mapping that

enables the presentation of one object via the usage of the idea of another

item. Being in the limelight for ages, metaphor shows an important role not

only in poetic language but also in thinking and action (Lakoff & Johnson,

2003). In daily life, metaphor is used so naturally and automatically that we

cannot either recognize the employment of them or point out the meaning

transference from different domains clearly. Thus, there is a need to have