Metaphor, especially conceptual metaphor, is a cognitive device for humans to conceptualize abstract domains. Having chosen Lakoff and Johnson‟s Conceptual Metaphor Theory as the analytical framework, 77 samples from English and Vietnamese newspapers were analyzed to address how conceptual metaphors for anger work in English and Vietnamese newspapers as well as indicate the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of those conceptual metaphors.
Based on the data analysis and discussions in the previous chapters, it is concluded that most of structural metaphors are found in both English and Vietnamese newspapers. Both languages share the same conceptualization of anger when considering anger as “fire, a hot fluid in container, madness or insanity, a burden, a dangerous animal and an object”. These metaphors reflect a similar conceptual perception of the speakers of both languages.
Besides similarities, there are differences in expressions denoting anger in English and Vietnamese. One of the most noticeable differences between the two languages is related to people‟s thinking and cultural elements. While the two languages conceptualize the human body as a container for anger, the specific body parts each language are conceptualized as containing the emotion of anger differently. To explain this difference, Trần Ngọc Thêm (1999) claims that English and Vietnamese, to some extent, have different attitudes and perception towards many aspects of life, including the feeling of anger. More specifically, English people tend to use the body as a whole as a container for anger. The reason can be that English people possess a free style of living; therefore, they do not pay much their attention to any specific thing. This is called as the entire thinking.
Accordingly, when in the expression of anger, the use of the whole body part is preferred. In contrast, Vietnamese people often take consideration into small things which are influenced by their traditional cultures as well as Chinese culture,
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especially Chinese medicine such as the theory named Lục Phủ Ngũ Tạng (Five Element theory). As a result, people favor the use of body parts like the heart and the liver as places where anger is located and generated. It is said that cultural elements and people‟s perceptions shape the different ways English and Vietnamese see the world.
A more interesting finding in this study is that geographic characteristics of each country affect their conceptualization of anger. When people think of volcano, the first image that comes to mind is a familiar set of words such as violent, raging, and awesome. With the fiery power of nature, a peaceful mountain can suddenly become an unstoppable destructive force creating eruptions. As a result, English people often use the image of volcano which symbolizes an eruption of temper like
“erupt” (phun trào). In reality, although the volcano happened in Vietnam before, its eruption is an extremely rare phenomenon which makes it impossible to keep in everybody‟s memories. This is the reason why the volcano image is rarely used in Vietnamese context. Instead, the wave becomes one of the most popularly used images which inspires the poets and writers in conveying their emotion inside such as cuộn trào, bật tung (burst). The explanation can be that Vietnam sits on the Southeastern end point of Indochina peninsula. It borders with China to the North and Laos and Cambodia to the West. The rest directions are adjacent to the sea, which gives Vietnam a tremendous amount of water based resources such as beaches and marine biodiversity. What is more, Central Vietnam is a long- stretching and narrow region which is frequently subjected to flood and storm disasters. In their mind, flood and overflows symbolize excess of uncontrolled emotion, and stormy seas symbolize anger and out-of-control emotions. Therefore, water in general and wave in particular symbolize how their anger is going or flowing. In reality, the United Kingdom has also a great variety of beautiful beaches where people can enjoy the natural sounds of soothing waves. Relaxing soothing waves takes them away from everyday life and places them among the peace and tranquility of nature. Hence, when expressing the anger, the image of volcano is
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often used in English, and the image of wave is prioritized in Vietnamese. Taking these into consideration, it is geographical characteristics of the two nations and people‟s perceptions that affect the speakers‟ cognition of the abstract concept of anger.
2. Implications
Firstly, teachers should make their students aware of the ubiquity and significance of metaphors in our daily life. The students should understand conceptual metaphor in general and learn conceptual metaphor for emotion like anger in newspapers.
Secondly, the collocation of words can be explained reasonably by metaphors.
According to cognitive linguistics, the structure of one concept can be used to form another concept. Therefore, many aspects of a word can be used to talk about another concepts. For example, “Tempers just reached boiling point” is derived from the same conceptual metaphor “ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER”. A variety of words which can be used to mention about a hot fluid in a container such as seethe, steam, explode, vent, fume, cool, etc. are commonly used to talk about anger. The use of this metaphor can help students understand more easily the reason why “a hot fluid in a container” and “anger” can be collocated.
As for translating, to have a good translational equivalent of conceptual metaphors, the translators should be aware of cultural elements that have a great influence on using some expressions of metaphors. Vietnamese people often employ a variety of internal organs such as the heart, the liver and a special organ named lòng as containers for anger more than English people. Therefore, when facing with such translation tasks, the translators should exactly convert some organs or body parts into more common words in English. For example, lòng in Vietnamese expression “Nỗi uất hận ấp ủ trở thành sự thù hận trong lòng” can be translated into the heart in expression “Her resentment which is stored turns into the revenge in her heart”. Tim, gan in Vietnamese expression “Căm thù giặc tận tim gan” put emphasis on two internal organs like the heart and the liver. However, it
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can only be translated into English “hatred from the heart”. The reason is that the liver seems not to be paid due attention; therefore, it does not occur in English daily communication.
3. Limitations and suggestions for further research
I have done my best to find out the similarities and differences in the use of conceptual metaphors denoting anger in English and Vietnamese newspapers.
However, due to the deficiency in materials and time, it is impossible for the researcher to conduct the whole process as expected.
Cognitive semantics is of great choice of studying the meanings of words in general and about conceptual metaphors denoting anger in particular. A comparison of emotional conceptualizations such as fear, shame, happiness, and sadness would be interesting and worth carrying out in further researches.
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