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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 Superv[.]
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 e 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 e 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 e ii 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 e iii 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 e iv 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 1.2.Aim and Objectives 1.2.1.Aim 1.2.2 Objectives .4 1.3.Research Questions .4 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study .5 1.5.1 Theoretical significance 1.5.2 Practical significance .5 1.6 Organization of the Study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Basic concepts of Conceptual metaphors 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 e v 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 e vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The Occurrence And Percentage Of Conceptual Metaphors Denoting Family In English And Vietnamese Idioms 65 e 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 e 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 e ... idioms in the two languages as well as to give a comparison between related domains of conceptual metaphors in English and Vietnamese This chapter also deals with data collection and data analysis... 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. .. have been raised and answered What types of conceptual metaphors are employed in English and Vietnamese family idioms? What is the frequency of these conceptual metaphors? What are the similarities