A study on metaphors of love in english songs in the late 20th century from cognitive perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THU A STUDY ON METAPHORS OF LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH LOVE SONGS IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY FROM COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE Nghiên cứu ẩn dụ tình yêu tình nhân số tình ca tiếng Anh cuối kỷ 20 từ góc nhìn tri nhận M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Ha Noi, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THU A STUDY ON METAPHORS OF LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH LOVE SONGS IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY FROM COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE Nghiên cứu ẩn dụ tình yêu tình nhân số tình ca tiếng Anh cuối kỷ 20 từ góc nhìn tri nhận M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisors: Associate Professor VõĐaịQuang, Ph.D Ha Noi, 2015 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis A study on metaphors of love in some English love songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective is the result of my own research and the substance of this thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution The work was done under the guidance of Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang, my supervisor Ha Noi, November 2015 Nguyen Thi Hong Thu i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the following people for their great supports during my two-year time for the MA course First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang, my supervisor, for his clear guidance, insightful comments and dutiful supervision My deep thanks also go to all the lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University- Ha Noi for their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm in their lectures, from which I have acquired valuable knowledge and inspiration to fulfill this minor thesis With the passion for literature and semantics, I am really interested in the lectures of Prof Dr Nguyen Hoa and Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thom which have inspired me to this study I also would like to express my sincere thanks to my family any many of my friends and colleagues for their valuable sharing and encouragements Finally, my sincere thanks are for the people who will give me the precious comments after reading the graduation thesis ii ABSTRACT In this thesis, the researcher has tried to give an overview of the relevant literature review in the concern of the knowledge related to metaphors basing on the theory of the famous writers, especially Lakoff and Kovecses This study focuses on the metaphors of love and lovers in the English love songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective It will help the readers have a deeper sight into theoretical knowledge on metaphors in order to be able to find out, comprehend and analyze the interesting metaphors in songs The writer also suggests some suitable ways for learners to learn English better, for teachers to give the effective lectures and for readers to translate the texts more exactly In the paper, the researcher introduces, analyzes 86 quotes from 68 songs in 16 basic sets of metaphors: "Love is a natural phenomenon," "Love is Game", "Love is war "," Love is music "," Love is the light "," Love is the concrete objects, "" Love is madness "," Love is abstract things " "Love is closeness", "Love is heaven", "Love is a religion", "Love is a journey", "Love is living creature", "Love is magic", and "Love is fire", "Love is high/deep" The researcher clarifies the metaphorical images of love in songs, analyzes and categorizes them into subtypes: ontological, structural or orientational metaphors with 16 sets of metaphors Then, the writer introduces and explains the ways how these metaphors are used as well as their artistic value in these songs iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii PART A INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Organization of study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of theoretical background 1.1.1 Word and its meanings 1.1.2 Change of meaning 1.1.3 Components of Word Meaning 1.1.4 Concepts of metaphor Error! Bookmark not defined 1.1.5 Classification of metaphor 1.1.6 Conceptual (cognitive) metaphors 1.1.7 Classification of conceptual (cognitive) metaphors 1.1.8 Target domain and source domain of conceptual metaphor .9 1.2 Review of previous works related to the theme of the thesis .10 1.2.1 ―Metaphor we live by‖ (1980) by Lakoff and Johnson 10 1.2.2 ―A holographic study of metaphors concerning love in Chinese‖ by Renying Yang 10 1.2.3 Richard Nordquist on his article ―Love is metaphor" 10 1.3 Summary 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12 iv 2.1 Research-governing orientations 12 2.1.1 Research questions 12 2.1.2 Research types 12 2.1.3 Research approach 12 2.1.4 Research methods 13 2.2 Data collection and data analysis 14 2.2.1 Data 14 2.2.2 Data collections instruments 14 2.2.3 Data analysis techniques 14 2.2.4 Data analysis 15 2.3 Research procedures 15 2.4 Reliability and validity 16 2.5 Summary 16 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17 3.1 The typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in love songs in the late 20th century from cognitive perspective 17 3.1.1 Ontological metaphors 17 3.1.1.1 Love is a concrete and real object 17 3.1.1.2 Love is a living creature 20 3.1.1.3 Love is a natural phenomenon 21 3.1.1.4 Love is a game 22 3.1.2 Structural metaphors 23 3.1.2.1 Love is light 24 3.1.2.2 Love is madness 24 3.1.2.3 Love is the abstract thing 25 3.1.2.4 Love is religion 27 3.1.2.5 Love is closeness 28 3.1.2.6 Love is magic 31 3.1.2.7 Love is music 32 v 3.1.2.8 Love is a journey 33 3.1.2.9 Love is the heaven 34 3.1.2.10 Love is fire 34 3.1.2.11 Love is a war 36 3.1.2 Orientational metaphors 37 3.2 How these metaphorical images are expressed in songs 38 3.3 The artistic value of the metaphorical images in songs .39 3.4 Discussion of findings 39 3.4.1 Occurrence of linguistic items used metaphorically in songs 39 3.4.2 Occurrence of love metaphors in English songs in three subtypes 41 3.5 Summary 42 PART C: CONCLUSION 43 Concluding remarks and Implications 43 1.1 Concluding remarks 43 1.1.1 The typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in English songs 43 1.1.2 How these metaphorical images are expressed in songs .43 1.1.3 The value of these metaphorical images in songs Error! Bookmark not defined 1.2 Implications 43 1.2.1 Implications for learners 44 1.2.2 Implications for teachers 45 1.2.3 Implications for translators 46 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 47 REFERENCES 49 vi PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Metaphor in language is like a flower of life Life becomes more beautiful with the colorful flowers and language becomes more legend and lovely with the metaphorical images Understanding metaphors is crucial to comprehend figurative language in literature and to enhance practicing skills of learning English Metaphors are used to describe something that the author cannot adequately represent in a literal fashion or in a simple declarative sentence They can broaden or bring a fresh perspective to a familiar or overused subject Writers use metaphors to give clarity to their writing or to paint a visual picture by words Whatever the author's intent, analyzing the context in which metaphors are used will reveal much about the poem's or prose work's meaning Adding metaphors when writing stories, poems or songs means adding interest and depth to writing Metaphors create more specific and clearer visual images of what the writer is trying to express Metaphors, which are traditionally believed to be associated with literary or poetic language, are an ideal new land in music world for musicians and the language learners It is an effective device to make the communication more lively and colorful By teaching students how to understand metaphors, we can lead them unleash their creativity and imagination Metaphors can also be effective in training learners in abstract thought as well as familiarizing them early with literary skills they will need later in their education Love is a beautiful song in life People in love create the unique words to give the lovely messengers to each other and with the power of metaphor, love becomes the wings in sky Metaphors are wonderful device for musicians to write the love songs Through the love songs, metaphor is understood and studied more interestingly and effectively Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study This paper is to investigate metaphorical images of love and lovers used in English songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective It will help the readers: - Have a deeper sight into theoretical knowledge on metaphor in order to be able to find, comprehend and analyze the interesting metaphors in songs - Create some suitable ways for learners to learn English better, for teachers to give the effective lectures and for readers to translate the texts more exactly 2.2 Objectives of the study In order to achieve the aims of the study, the objectives will be elaborated into the following research questions: What are the typical metaphors of love in English love songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective? How are the metaphors of love expressed in the love songs? Significance of the study 3.1 Theoretical significance This study is to find out typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in the famous English love songs with a view to contributing to the studies of linguistics from cognitive prospective That how these metaphorical images are expressed in cognition and the artistic value of these images in songs will be analyzed specifically can provide a new look into English literature 3.2 Practical significance This research is performed with the purpose of helping Vietnamese learners and teacher of English better understand conceptual metaphors in English songs and then create the suitable tips to apply language flexibly As a result, they will be able to learn and teach English effectively In addition, it can contribute to the teaching of literature, semantics, cultural linguistics applied in Vietnamese universities of foreign languages Especially, the translators will take the necessary notes when working with metaphors in the process of translation Scope of the study Basing on the theory of the famous writers, especially Lakoff and Kovecses, this study focuses on the metaphors of love and lovers in the famous English love songs structural metaphors are found in songs with the highest occurrence, making up 81% of all three subtypes This group is the largest of three types and includes some of the most interesting cases Ontological metaphors account for 27.9% and the lowest frequent type is orientational metaphors with above 1% In short, there is a preference for using metaphor in structural type and it is hard to find out the orientational one in th the songs from the late 20 century 41 3.5 Summary This chapter has showed that love metaphors are very popular with variety of expressions The researcher clarifies the metaphorical images of love in songs, analyzes and categorizes them into subtypes: ontological, structural or orientational metaphors with 16 sets of metaphor Then, the writer introduces and explains the ways how these metaphors are used and the artistic value in these songs Lastly, some discussions are given about the percentage of the occurrence of metaphors in songs 42 PART C: CONCLUSION Concluding remarks and Implications 1.1 Concluding remarks 1.1.1 The typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in English songs In this section, the writer will summarize my findings on the data, compare them to my objectives mentioned and conclude the section in outlining points of interest for possible further study My thesis is to find the fresh figurative language and novel metaphorical linguistic expressions of love‖ and ―lovers‖ in some English songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective mostly basing on theory of the famous writers such as Lakoff and Johnson, Kövecses The focus of my study is on metaphors of love, of which the data provided the ample amounts The metaphors of love found in the data often are utilized every day In this thesis, I analyze 16 sets of basic metaphors: Love is natural phenomena, games, war, music, light, concrete things, madness, abstract things, closeness, heaven, religion, journey, living creature, magic, fire, high/deep In each metaphorical system, there are various metaphorical images such as moon, mountain, star, ect Structural metaphors are the prevalent type of metaphors in the data and provide the richest source for elaborating concepts This can be seen in the analysis as well 1.1.2 How these metaphorical images are expressed in songs As analyzed above, the metaphors of this research are applied basing on mechanism of mapping built by Lakoff and Johnson, Kövecses A set of mappings across domains is used We try to understand the target domain by the use of the source domain Target domains are therefore believed to have relationships between entities, attributes and processes which mirror those found in the source domain At the level of language, entities, attributes and processes in the target domain are lexicalized using words and expressions from the source domain 1.2 Implications Most important, being aware of metaphors reminds us of the central role that poetic 43 skills play in our thought Finding a metaphor plays a vital role in feeling and perceiving the value of literature After studying metaphors of love in English love songs, the researcher has found out implications for using metaphors in general and metaphors of love in particular for learners, teachers and translators 1.2.1 Implications for learners Once learners are able to have their own metaphors and use them to promote the ideas flexibly, they will become metaphor masters If the learners know to take advantages of the benefit of using metaphor, they can improve all the skills in learning a second language Conceptual metaphor provides students with the possibility of understanding one concept in terms of another From a domain, they can refer to many various domains by the metaphorical expressions As a result, they will broaden their vocabulary and make them more productive Learners should know what a metaphor is if they are studying examples of metaphors in text Simply knowing the definition, however, is not sufficient They should be able to identify examples of metaphors in the text on their own They should be able to explain the purpose for the metaphor and analyze how it contributes to the theme of the work Thus, applying conceptual metaphors in learning language will help students improve their reading comprehension a lot When studying one language, it is necessary not only to study vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, speaking or listening, but also to know how to use language in natural way Metaphor is specially used in daily life, in any languages and in many situations In both spoken language and literature language, metaphor can be frequently appeared As soon as understanding the message of each metaphor in songs and literal works, learners can easily communicate with native speakers naturally or use flexibly in their own writing So, metaphor plays an important role in improving reading and writing skills It is necessary to write paragraphs containing a metaphor appropriately as possible Learners should use metaphors in their own writing to train their language competence better As students become aware of their own metaphors for learning they can recognize how their language 44 competence progresses In addition to the above skills, learning literature cannot lack using metaphor The use of metaphor in poetry is one of the most important aspects of poetic style that must be mastered Despite being the major students of English, they have few chances to practice using metaphor in writing They still get a lost to understand and analyze metaphor in song or literal works Therefore, when learning English literature, they must try their best to identify, analyze and use metaphor steps by steps from sentence to text 1.2.2 Implications for teachers Not many students understand metaphor clearly and dare use metaphor in communication as well as in literal works frequently Some can use metaphor in their writing but illogically and inflexibly Hence, teachers must spend enough time and create appropriate methods to teach them to learn it in the best way Teachers should make their students aware of the applicability and significance of metaphors The students should understand the nature conceptual metaphor and how it can be applied in daily life Teachers can create the interesting lessons to inspire learner to be absorbed in metaphor with the easy and exciting activities such as sharing examples, brainstorming, trying composing short poems… Metaphor is an effective language tool for teachers to teach vocabulary in the collocation of word Metaphor is frequently used in poetry, as poets endeavor to find creative ways to express experience Encouraging students to use metaphors will help them improve their writing ability and produce interesting pieces that others will enjoy reading It can be difficult for students to create their own metaphors However, there are activities that teachers can use to help students understand metaphors and to inspire the use of these literary devices to help bring writing to life Students often limit their descriptive writing to what they see Teachers make students think about all five senses when they are writing For example: Write a short poem about ―love‖ (Teachers can suggest making a list of love metaphors., "Love is a " and fill in the end with the first thing students think of that feels true: love is a race, love is a chocolate, love is a fight, Then Students can start to 45 describe what they know and think about) The influence of a first language in metaphoric processing has been explained as the result of the cultural background and expectations of that language, which affects the way learners, conceptualize the target language and process metaphors in the target language (Boers, 2003; Kövecses, 2004) Thus, it is important that learners discern the way figurative language is used in a particular culture because learning a language means learning about culture learners can gain linguistic and nonlinguistic knowledge As a means of cultural transmission metaphors can raise learners‘ awareness of the relationship Consequently, teachers should provide students with knowledge of culture 1.2.3 Implications for translators Metaphors are language, and language is culture Most metaphors are thereby culture-bound, and can only be understood in direct translation by those sharing the same language and/or culture However, metaphors can become a translation problem, since transferring them from one language and culture to another one may be hampered by linguistic and cultural differences or differences in metaphorical conceptual systems and the contexts in which they emerge For instance, metaphor ‗she is a fox‘ means ―she is attractive‖ in English but implies ―she is evil‖ in VietNam Since metaphors are related to different cultural domains, this implies that the translator has to the job of conceptual mapping on behalf of the target language reader; he has to look for a target language similar cognitive equivalence in the target culture The more the source language and target language cultures in question conceptualize experience in a similar way, the easier the task of translation will be In order to have a good transitional equivalent of conceptual metaphors, the translators should be aware of cultural elements that have a great influence on using some expressions of metaphors If the translators fail to understand the conceptualization, misunderstanding of text and cross-cultural communication will certainly occur It is highly suggested that the translators are able to understand metaphors in order to have metaphorical 46 expression equivalence in cross-cultural communication Limitations and suggestions for further studies The data consists of 68 song lyrics and even though the amount of lyrics did not seem excessive in the beginning, the workload needed in finding and analyzing all the metaphorical expressions in the 86 data proved out to be suitable The number of song lyrics should have been reduced in order not to deviate from the typical extent of theses Organizing metaphorical expressions under the appropriate conceptual metaphors works well but I am not contented with the way each of them is analyzed With the love for literature, I could have analyzed every example elaborately and more interestingly but because of limitation of pages and time, I only mentioned them generally This research mainly focuses on semantic mechanism of metaphors used in English love songs by famous bands and writers Thus, there are still some exciting aspects that need further studies: It would be a fascinating idea to widen the topic to other fields such as metaphors in folk songs, in poetry, novels… It would be better to analyze metaphor from the other perspectives Furthermore, the later one could choose only one metaphor to deepen such as ―love is religion‖ with many sources of material For example: - An investigation on the metaphors of love in the 21st century songs in comparison with the last century from cognitive perspective - A study on the problems of translating metaphors in literature 47 REFERENCES Baars, B J (1998), Metaphors of consciousness TINS Vol 21, No 2 Bloomfield, Leonard (1933), Language, New York: Allen & Unwin Deignan, Alice (2005), Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press of Denzin, N.K.,& Lincoln (2000), Introduction: The discipline and practice qualitative research, Thousand, Oak,CA: SA Esra (2000), More metaphorical warfare in the Gulf: Orientalist frames and news Evans, Vyvyan and Green, Melanie (2006), Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction Jackson & Amvela (2000), Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English lexicology Cambridge University Press John Lyon (1996), Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics Cambridge University Press Gibbs, Raymond (1994),The Poetics of Mind Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Glucksberg, S (2008), How metaphors create categories – quickly In R Gibbs Jr (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought) New York: Cambridge University Press Kendall, J.E and Kendall, K.E (1994), Metaphors and their Meaning for Information Systems Development, Oxford press 10 Kövecses, Z (1990), Emotion concepts New York & Berlin: SpringerVerlag 11 Kövecses, Z (1995/2007), Language and emotion concepts In Series A: General and Theoretical Paper No 350 Retrieved April, 2015 12 Kövecses, Z (2002/2010), Metaphor: A practical introduction New York: Oxford University Press 13 Kövecses, Z (1986), Metaphors of anger, pride and love: A lexical approach to the structure of concepts Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins 14 Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M (1980/2003), Metaphors We Live By Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 15 Lakoff, George, Johnson M (1980), Metaphors We Live By.University of Chicago Press 48 16 Lakoff, George, Turner, Mark (1989), More Than Cool Reason: A field Guide To Poetic Metaphor University of Chicago Press Merwin, W S 1973 17 Lakoff, George (1993), The contemporary theory of metaphor In A Ortony (Ed.) Metaphor and Thought (pp 202-251) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Maasen S, Weingart P.(1995), Metaphors—Messengers of Meaning.Science Communication, Cambridge publishing, 19 Newman, M (1991), Symbolism and Information Systems Development: Myth, Metaphor and Magic,"Oxford press, 20 Patrick Hogan (2010), The-Cambridge-Encyclopedia-Language-Sciences: Word meaning, University of Brighton 21 Paul Georg Meyer (2005), In Synchronic English Linguistics: An Introduction Sandikcioglu, coverage Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter 22 Roman et al (2013)) Structural Characterisation of the Nuclear Import Receptor Importin Alpha in Complex with the Bipartite NLS of Prp20.PLoS One 8(12):e82038 23 Santa Ana, Otto (1999),‗Like an animal I was treated’: Anti-immigrant metaphor in US public discourse Discourse and Society, 10, 191-224 24 Semino, E (2008), Metaphor in discourse Cambridge university Press 25 Shen, Y (2008), Metaphor and poetic figures (pp 295-307) Cambridge university Press 26 Steen, G.J (1994), Understanding metaphor in literature: an empirical approach London: Longman 27 Steen, G J (2007), Finding metaphor in grammar and usage: methodological analysis of theory and research Amsterdam: John Benijamin 28 Yang A (2008) Holographic Study of Metaphors Concerning Love in Chinese Renying Yang, North China University  In Viet Nam 29 Cơ, T V (2011), Những khái niệm Ngôn ngữ học tri nhận liên quan đến Văn hoá học (p4), Culture and information press 30 Dao , L T H (2012), The translation of Metaphor in English newspaperarticle, Da Nang University 31 Hoa, N (2004), Understanding English Semantics, Ha Noi National university 49 press 32 Quang, V Đ (2005), Semantics (ngữ nghĩa học), Culture and information press 33 Truong, H T (1993), Basic English Lexicology, Hanoi University of Foreign Website: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/metaphors-in-cognitivelinguistics-english-literature https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/mlac/research/metaphors_as_models/ http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/lovemetaphors.htm 50 Appendix: The list of selected English love songs in the late 20th century Name of Songs Those Good Old Dreams Because you love me cherry lady Always Something There To Re Me Chiquitita Lyrics Knife I Owe You One Bye Bye Love Circle In The Sand 10 The Taste of Morning 11 Evergreen 12 I Can See Clearly Now 13 Brighter Than Sunshine 14 Sunlight 15 Cowboy Style 16 Foolish Beat 17 Experience 18 Drunk 19 Some Kind of Bliss 20 The Streets Of London 21 Sugabage 22 By Your Side 23 I Call It Love 24 I Can Dream Can't I 25 Moody's Mood For Love I 26 Simply In Love With You 27 Love Will Keep Us Alive 28 Separate Ways 29 Always_on_my_mind 30 Love Will Keep Us Alive 31 She's A Miracle 32 Count the Days 33 Rhythm of Love 34 That is love 35 Someday 36 Frozen 37 Cowboy Style‘ 38 Some Kind of Bliss‘ 39 Cant smile without you 40 Love by the sun 41 Another song 42 Love is like the moon 43 Everything 44 Music Is Love 45 Rhythm of Love 46 Someday 47 Boulevard 48 Love is a journey 49 Goodbye & I Love You 50 Modern Talking 51 The Giaour 52 So Now Goodbye‘ 53 I Just Fall In Love Again II 54 Far 55 Brother Louie 56 Love Is A Game 57 The game of love 58 Brother Louie 59 Experience 60 Love Is A Losing Game 61 Burning love 62 Eternal Flame 63 Let It Snow 64 The Giaour 65 King Of My Heart 66 Love Is War 67 Love Is War 68 Presley III ... provide an accurate portrayal of characteristics of metaphor and typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in English songs basing on theoretical 13 framework 2.2 Data collection and data analysis... questions What are the typical metaphors of love and lovers in English love songsin the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective? How are the metaphors of love expressed in the love songs? ... ―innovation which change the lexical meaning rather than the grammatical function of a form, are classed as change of meaning or semantic change‖ The definition emphasizes lexical meaning change,