A contrastive analysis on metaphor about power in english and vietnamese idioms from cognitive linguistics perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MINH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR ABOUT POWER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS FROM COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE (PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU ẨN DỤ VỀ QUYỀN LỰC TRONG THÀNH NGỮ ANH VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GĨC ĐỘ NGƠN NGỮ HỌC TRI NHẬN) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English linguistics Code : 60220201 HANOI, 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MINH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR ABOUT POWER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS FROM COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE (PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU ẨN DỤ VỀ QUYỀN LỰC TRONG THÀNH NGỮ ANH VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GĨC ĐỘ NGƠN NGỮ HỌC TRI NHẬN) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English linguistics Code : 60220201 Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông HANOI, 2016 DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort It has not been submitted anywhere for any award All the sources of information that have been used have been properly acknowledged Hanoi, 2016 NGUYỄN THỊ MINH i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been completed with the invaluable and constant support and encouragement of my supervisor, family members and others Although no listing of acknowledgements can ever be completed, I would still like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to those people here First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông of ULIS, VNU for his helpful guidance, endless patience and whoehearted support Without his enthusiastic and meaningful suggestions, comments and corrections, this study would not have been accomplished My appreciation also goes to all the lecturers in the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies in University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lessons from which I have relevant knowledge and proper methods to fulfill this thesis Furthermore, I greatly thank the librarians for their enthusiatic support when I looked for materials for writing this paper Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all members in my family and my friends for their invaluable support and encouragement Hanoi, 2016 NGUYỄN THỊ MINH ii ABSTRACT This research mainly focused on metaphor about power in English and Vietnamese idioms and aims at investigating the similarities as well as the differences between their usages in the two languages Based on Lackoff and Johnson‟s framework about conceptual metaphor, nine categories of metaphor were classified including: power is the human body, power is the human activities, power is animals, power is relatives, power is physical forces, power is a thief, power is a game, power is a container and power is up and no power is down Besides the similarity in expressing some metaphors like “power is up and no power is down”, for example, the two languages also had some distinctive features when metaphors “power is a container” and “power is a game” were only found in English and “power is a thief” were only found in Vietnamese The result of study hopefully makes a small contribution to the translation of idioms in general and idioms about power in particular and to teaching and learning English language and culture Key words: metaphor, idioms, power, language iii LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS No T LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Sb: somebody St: something iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS SCOPE OF THE STUDY METHODS AND PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 5.1 THEORETICAL SIGNIFICANCE 5.2 PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 An overview of Cognitive Linguistics 1.2.2 Conceptual metaphor 1.2.3 Classification of conceptual metaphor 1.2.4 Conceptual metaphoric domains and mapping 1.2.5 Power 1.2.6 Idioms CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.2 DATA 2.3 DATA COLLECTION 2.4 DATA ANALYSIS 2.5 RESEARCH PROCEDURES v 2.6 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 3.1.1 Structural metaphors 3.1.2.ONTOLOGICAL METAPHORS 3.1.3 Orientational metaphors 3.2 QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS 3.2.1 Power is the human body 3.2.2 Power is the human activities 3.2.3 Power is animals 3.2.4 Power is relatives 3.2.5 Power is a thief 3.2.6 Power is a game 3.2.7 Power is physical forces 3.2.8 Power is a container 3.2.9 Power is up, no power is down 3.3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES 3.3.1 Similarities 3.3.2 Differences PART C: CONCLUSION RECAPITULATION IMPLICATIONS 2.1 IMPLICATION FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING 2.2 IMPLICATION FOR TRANSLATION LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY REFERENCES APPENDIX vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study In recent years, cognitive linguistics has flourished in Vietnam with increasing studies One of the most important concepts of cognitive linguistics which emphasizes meaning construction (conceptualization) is metaphor Metaphor is known as one of the most useful methods in meaning transfer that is used widely not only in daily life but also in literature It helps people understand an abstract concept by referring to a concrete one For example, we often metaphorically conceptualize such abstract concepts as love, argument in “Love is journey” or “Argument is war”, which are clearly analyzed by famous cognitive linguists like Lackoff and Johnson (1980) It appears so often and is utilized so widely that sometimes we use it subconsciously without realizing it Nobody can deny idioms‟ importance in communication, learning, teaching and translation as well but it is a difficult area of English According to Cooper (1999), idioms present a special language problem to all language learners because their figurative meanings are unpredictable Also, their meanings are not the total sum of their parts and metaphor is considered one of the key factors to understand the meaning of idioms When talking about idioms, we not only talk about the vocabulary and semantics of a language but also the cultures hidden behind Therefore, this study also makes some initial investigation to see how cultures affect idioms in Vietnamese and English in the way they convey the concept of power Objectives of the study and research questions This study aims to investigate idioms that carry conceptual metaphor about power based on the theory of Lakoff and Johnson To go further, this study is done to explore the similarities and the differences between the use of metaphor about power in English and Vietnamese idioms that reflect the culture of each language community Finally, this paper aims to provide some suggestions for teaching, learning and translating of conceptual metaphor about power which is expressed in English and Vietnamese idioms In other words, the study seeks answers to two research questions: Research question 1: How is the concept of power metaphorically expressed in English and Vietnamese idioms? Research question 2: What are the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors about power in English and Vietnam idioms? Scope of the study In this study, the analysis is based on the theory and classification of conceptual metaphors given by Lakoff and Johnson Due to the limited time and ability, this research only investigated and contrasted conceptual metaphors about power in society and politics in English and Vietnamese idioms Six dictionaries in both languages, three in English and three in Vietnamese were chosen The selected idioms in English are cited from several dictionaries including: - Oxford Idioms Dictionary for Learners of English by Oxford University Press (2006) - Dictionary of American Idioms by Spears, R.A (2005) - Longman American Idioms Dictionary by Urban, R (2000) - Thành ngữ tiếng Việt by Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang (1993) - Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ tiếng Việt by Nguyễn Như Ý (1998) - Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân (2014) Methods and procedures of the study This study is based on conceptual metaphors framework introduced by Lackoff and Johnson (1980) in their invaluable book “Metaphor We Live By” According to this model, conceptual metaphors are classified into three different kinds, namely structural metaphors, ontological metaphors and orientational metaphors Firstly, contrastive and comparative analyses were carried out in order to identify the similarities and differences in expression of conceptual metaphor about REFERENCES In English Cooper T (1999), “Processing of Idioms by L2 Learners of English” TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), pp 233-262 Cruse D.A (1986), Lexical Semantics, Cambridge University Press Dahl R.A (1957), The concept of power, Yale University Evans V & Green M (2006), Cognitive linguistics: An introduction, Hillsdale NJ: LEEA and Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press nd Fairclough N (1989, ed 2001), Language and Power, London: Longman Fauconnnier G.& Turner M (1998), Cognitive Linguistics Reader, England: Equinox Publishing Limited Fauconnnier G & Turner M (2002), The way we think: Conceptual blending and the Mind’s hidden Complexity, New York: Basic Books Fernando C (1996), Idiom and idiomatically, Oxford University Press Gentner R (1983), “Structure Mapping, A theoretical Framework for Analogy”, Cognitive Science, 7, pp 155-170 10 Hồ Thị Thu Trang (2010), Way of denoting characteristics through domestic animal metaphor in English, Unpublished M.A Thesis, Ha Noi 11 Homes J (1985), Women, Men and Politeness, London and New York: Longman 12 James C (1980), Contrastive Analysis, Harlow: Longman 13 Johansen T.A.B (2007), What’s in a metaphor? MA Thesis University of Tromso Press 14 Kovecses Z (2002), Metaphor: a practical Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press 15 Lakoff, G (1990), “The invariance hypothesis: Is abstract reason based on image-schemas?” Cognitive Linguistics 1990, 1:39–74 16 Lakoff, G & Johnson, M (1980), Metaphors we live by, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 39 17 Lakoff, G & Johnson, M, (1980), “The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system”, Cognitive Science (4), p195-208 18 Lakoff G & Johnson M (2003), Metaphors We Live By, 2nd ed Chicago: University of Chicago Press 19 Lakoff G (1987), Women, fire and dangerous things, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 20 Lackoff G (1990), “The invariance hypothesis: is abstract reason based on image schemas?” Cognitive Linguistics, 1,1, pp 69-74 21 Mc Glone S.M (2007), “What is the explanatory value of a conceptual metaphor?” Languages & communication 27; Science Direct, pp109-126 22 Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ (2012), “Ẩn dụ ý niệm quyền lực kính trọng thành ngữ tiếng Anh tiếng Việt”, Tạp chí khoa học trường Đại học Sư phạm Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Số 35, pp 1-9 23 Nguyễn Thị Yến Thoa (2005), A Contrastive Analysis of Metaphor relating to Parts of Human Body in English and Vietnamese, Unpublished M.A Thesis, Ha Noi 24 Oxford University (2006), Oxford Idioms-Dictionary for Learners of English, Oxford: Oxford University Press 25 Spears R.A (2005), Dictionary of American Idioms, MC Graw-Hill Company, Inc 26 Talmy, L (2000), Toward a cognitive semantics, Volume 1: concept structuring system, Cambridge: The MIT Press 27 Urban R (2000), Longman American Idioms Dictionary, White Plains, NJ: Pearson Education ESL 28 Van Dijk T A (2016), “Structures of discourse and structures of power”, Communication Yearbook 12, pp 18-59 29 Wright, J (1999) Idioms organizer, Croatia: Language Teaching Publications 30 Zhang, Y (2012), “Universality and variation of conceptual metaphor of love in Chinese and English”, Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol.2, No.2 pp355-359 Finland: Academy Publisher 40 In Vietnamese 31 Trần Văn Cơ (2011), Những khái niệm ngôn ngữ học tri nhận liên quan đến văn hóa học, Trích sách “Ngơn ngữ học tri nhận Từ điển”, NXB Phương Đông 32 Trần Văn Cơ (2007), Ngôn ngữ học tri nhận (ghi chép suy nghĩ), Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học Xã hội 33 Lương Thị Hiền (2007),“Giá trị văn hoá quyền lực đánh dấu qua phương tiện xưng hơ gia đình người Việt”, Tạp chí Khoa học (số 12), Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội, tr 35-40.2 34 Lương Thị Hiền (2009), „Giá trị văn hoá quyền lực đánh dấu qua hành động ngơn từ gia đình người Việt”, Kỉ yếu Ngữ học trẻ 2008, Hội Ngôn ngữ học Đại học Vinh, tr 638-642 35 Lương Thị Hiền (2013), “Những hướng nghiên cứu quyền lực ngôn ngữ”, Tạp chí Khoa học (số 6B), Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội, tr 33-42 36 Nguyễn Lân (2014), Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam, Hà Nội: NXB Văn học 37 Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang (1993), Từ điển Thành ngữ Việt Nam¸ Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học Xã hội 38 Vũ Ngọc Phan (1994), Tục ngữ ca dao dân ca Việt Nam, Hà Nội: NXB 39 Nguyễn Quang (2002), Giao tiếp giao tiếp giao văn hoá, Hà Nội: NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 40 Nguyễn Quang (2004), Giao tiếp nội văn hoá giao văn hoá, Hà Nội: NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 41 Lý Tồn Thắng (2005),Ngơn ngữ học tri nhận, Từ lí thuyết đại cương đến thực tiễn tiếng Việt, Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học xã hội 42 Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2007),“Bản chất ẩn dụ”, Tạp chí Ngơn ngữ số 10-11 43 Nguyễn Như Ý (1998), Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ tiếng Việt¸ Hà Nội: NXB Giáo dục 41 APPENDIX LIST OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS ABOUT POWER IN ENGLISH IDIOMS Structural metaphors 1.1 Power is human bodies No With a heavy hand (Oxford University, 2006:174) Keep one‟s hand in (Spears R.A, 2005 : p369) A University, 2006:127) Tie sb‟s hands (Oxford University, 2006:410) I Lay/get somebody University, 2006:163) Get/ have sb by the short hairs 2006:351) The dead hand of st (Oxford 2006:84) Have sb eating out of your hand 2006:104) To rule sb/st with an iron hand 2006:333 1.2 Power is human activities No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1.3 Power is animal No English idioms (Oxford 2006:27) Clip University, 2006:63) Top sb‟s dog University, 2006:417) III the others 1.4 Power is a game No English idioms Play fast and loose with sb/st: 2006:120) 1.5 Power is physical forces No English idioms Bend University, 2006:333) Crack University, 2006:74) Force University, 2006:136) Force University, 2006:136) Force University, 2006:136) A force to be reckoned with (Oxford University, 2006:136) Pull strings for sb (Oxford University, 2006:308) Pull University, 2006:308) Take IV University, 2006:182) 2.1 No English idioms In sb‟s pocket (Oxford University, 2006:296) An iron hand in a velvet glove 2006:194) Take sb/st in hand: (Oxford University, 2006:162) Take the law into your own hands 2006: 212) Have sb in the palm of your University, 2006:279) Get/let sb off the hook (Oxford 2006:184) Fall (Oxford 2006:163) Out of sb‟s hands (Oxford into University, 2006:163) Under sb‟s thumb (Oxford University, 2006:409) 10 Get out of hand (Oxford University, 2006:161) 11 Take st/sb off sb‟s hands (Oxford 2006:163) 12 Off University, 2006:163) 13 In sb‟s keeping University, 2006:200) sb‟s 3.1 Have friends in high places (Oxford 2006:140) At the top of the tree/ladder (Oxford 2006:417) Lord it over sb (Oxford University, 2006:228) VI Pow Get/have over sb (Oxford University, 2006:446) Come/go up in the world (Oxford 2006:455) Come/go world (Oxford 2006:455) High man on the totem pole (Spears R.A, 2005:301) The top University, 2006:417) Have the upper hands over sb 2006:429) 10 The University, 2006:429) 11 Have one up on sb (Oxford University, 2006:271) VII (Oxford LIST OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS ABOU 1.1 No Vietnamese Idioms Tay hịm chìa khoá (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:402) Cờ đến tay người phất (Nguyễn Lực & Lươn Cờ đến tay (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, Cả vú lấp miệng em (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đ Tai to mặt lớn/ mặt to tai lớn (Nguyễn Lực & Lươn Rộng miệng tiếng (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:379) Có máu mặt (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 19 1.2 No Vietnamese Idioms Ngồi mát ăn bát vàng (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Hét lửa (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993 Thét lửa (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 199 Ăn to nói lớn (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, Chỉ tay năm ngón (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đan Ăn sống nuốt tươi (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đa Xưng hùng, xưng bá (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:496) VIII Ỷ quyền, ỷ (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:497) Quyền thu, quyền phát (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:371) 10 Quyền sinh, quyền sát (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:371) 11 Tàn che, ngựa cưỡi (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:400) 1.3 Power is animals No Vietnamese Idioms Cá mè đè cá chép(Nguyễn Lân, 2014:59) Cá lớn nuốt cá bé(Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:68) Cáo mượn oai hùm (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:70 Cá mè đè cá chép(Nguyễn Lân, 2014:59) Cá lớn nuốt cá bé(Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:68) Có sừng, có mỏ(Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:93) Có tai, có mỏ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:93) 1.4 Power is relatives No Vietnamese Idioms Con ông cháu cha (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:97) Con ông sấm cháu ông sét (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:112) Con ông cống cháu ông nghè (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:112) Con ông thánh cháu ông thần (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:112) Con dòng, cháu giống (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 1993:96) Đàn anh kẻ (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:140) 1.5 Power is a thief No Vietnamese Idioms 1 Ăn cướp cơm chim ( Nguyễn Lân, 2014:128) IX 1.6 Power i No Vietnamese Idioms Đổi trắng thay đen (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:163) Đè đầu cưỡi cổ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, Đè đầu bóp cổ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, Đè đầu đè cổ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang, 19 Bóp hầu bóp cổ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang Bóp cổ lè lưỡi (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:49) Đè đầu chặt đuôi (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:152) Cưỡi đầu cưỡi cổ (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đan Lấy thịt đè người (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đan 10 Cưa sừng xẻ tai (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:126) Orientational metaphor 2.1 Power is a up, no power is down No Vietnamese idioms Quyền cao chức trọng (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:371) Đức cao vọng trọng (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:168) Ăn ngồi trốc (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:28) Thấp cổ bé họng, (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đan Thấp cổ bé miệng (Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đan Lộc trọng, quyền cao (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:252) Ra luồn, vào cúi (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:373) Trên đe, búa (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:454) Lên voi xuống chó (Nguyễn Lân, 2014:246) X ... English and Vietnamese idioms Ontological metaphors Power is a container Table 3.3: Quantity and percentage of ontological metaphors about power in English and Vietnamese idioms Ontological metaphors... explain more about three kinds of mappings (one-to-one, oneto-many and many-to-one) that applies to a pair of source and target domain 1.2.4.1 One-to-one domain mapping One-to-one domain mapping... makes a small contribution to the translation of idioms in general and idioms about power in particular and to teaching and learning English language and culture Key words: metaphor, idioms, power,