MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M. THESIS CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN LYRICS BY ED SHEERAN’S SONGS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm về tình yêu trong những bài hát của Ed Sheeran) LE THI HONG Field: English Language Code: 8.01 Hanoi – 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M. THESIS CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN LYRICS BY ED SHEERAN’S SONGS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm về tình yêu trong những bài hát của Ed Sheeran) LE THI HONG Field: English Language Code: 8. Tran Thi Le Dung Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics of Ed Sheeran’s songs ” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Le Thi Hong Approved by SUPERVISOR Date: …………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a long journey for me to finish my thesis. There are also many people who walked along with me to support and motivate me during the time of doing the research. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms.
Tran Thi Le Dung, Ph., my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher. My thanks also go to all my lecturers at Hanoi Open University for their precious knowledge which lay the foundation for this study, my colleagues and many others whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family and friends for their patience, endless love, and devotion. Whatever choices I have made, they have always stood by me and believed in me.
I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given to me. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iii Abstract vi List of abbreviations vii List of tables and figures viii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 3 1. Methods of the study 3 1. Scope of the study 4 1.
Significance of the study 5 1. Structure of the study 5 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2. Definition of figurative language 10 2. Kinds of figurative language 11 2.
Definition of metaphor 13 2. Metaphor in cognitive semantics 15 2. Classifications of conceptual metaphors 19 2. Conceptual metaphor domain 23 2.
Music and love 24 iii 2. Conceptual metaphor of love 27 2. Biography of Ed Sheeran and his songs 27 2. Summary 29 Chapter 3: CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN ED 31 SHEERAN’S SONGS 3.
Thinking Out Loud song 31 3. Shape of you song 32 3. Structural metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 32 3. LOVE IS A DESIRE 32 3.
LOVE IS HAPPINESS 33 3. LOVE IS A PAIN 33 3. LOVE IS A JOURNEY 34 3. LOVE IS POSSESSION 36 3.
LOVE IS A UNITY 36 3. Ontological metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 39 3. LOVE IS A CONTAINER 39 3. LOVE IS FOOD/ NUTRIENT 40 3.
LOVE IS AN OBJECT 40 3. Orientational metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 43 3. LOVE IS CLOSENESS 43 3. LOVE IS MADNESS/ INSANITY 44 3.
LOVE IS A NATURAL FORCE 45 3. LOVE IS A PHYSICAL FORCE 45 3. Summary 47 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 49 4. Limitation of the research 50 4.
The implications 51 iv 4. Recommendations and suggestion for further studies 51 REFERENCES 53 APPRENDIX 57 v ABSTRACT This study is an account of an investigation of conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs in the framework theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980/2003), Kovecses (2002). In the thesis, the structural metaphors, orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors will be analyzed to reflect the opinions of theirs about love in the lyrics of the composers. The study is mainly carried out through the documentary analysis and descriptive study with the support of qualitative and quantitative approach.
In other words, the lyrics of the songs are used as the data source of this research. The results of this research show that there are twenty-two source domains of conceptual metaphors used to express love. They are journey, hidden objects, fire, captive animal, food, closeness, game, beauty, unity, rapture/high, economic exchange, lesson, madness/ insanity, nutrient, desire, music, physical force, natural force, container, pain/torture and opponent. These twenty-two source domains of conceptual metaphors have their own unique interpretation of what love actually is.
The source domains prove that the abstraction concept of love can be described in more concrete domains of conceptual metaphors. Finally, the reseach showed that conceptual metaphor is being in our everyday life. Thus, studying conceptual metaphor and using it in life is important and useful. It not only brings students benefits in the process of learning English but also helps them widen knowledge about a variety of language as well as access to the world around easily.
vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CM: Conceptual Metaphor SM: Structural Metaphor OM: Ontological Metaphor OrM: Orientational Metaphor vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1. Ed Sheeran‟s four selected songs 5 Table 2. Structural metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 37 Table 3. Ontological metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 42 Table 4.
Orientational metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 46 Fingure 1. Types and frequencies of conceptual metaphors in Ed Sheeran‟s 52 song lyrics viii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Figurative language is a language to describe the comparison, equation and imagery (Tonner and Whittestome, 2003). What is more, it is simply a way to add color and depth to what is otherwise a blank statement on reflect of thinking about event that serves their own interest. The types of figurative language are simile, metaphor, personification, allegory, metonymy and so on.
Metaphor plays an important part in language. Particularly, applying metaphors in music is one of the most interesting and creative jobs of the people. They use metaphors as one of the way to show their feelings, emotions and inspiration of the song writer. What is more, metaphors not only make our words more beautiful and attractive, but it also clarifies our understanding of literature, art and life.
As a result, employing metaphors of love in lyrics is an essential and indispensable factor for musicians to compose their songs in the world. It has been described as an emotion, a way of life, and even as it is considered as the most important thing in one‟s life.519), “It is not surprising that language about music is often metaphorical, nor that the topic of metaphor.” Ullmann (1972) said that metaphor is slow closely intertwined with the very texture of human speech that we have already encountered it in various guises: as a major factor in motivation as a short of synonym and polysemy, as a meaning of filling gap in vocabulary and several other roles. He believed that metaphor is an implied simile, metaphor also compares two different things but it does not like simile, state one thing is like another or acts another for granted and procedures as if the two things were one. Metaphors are figures of speech used to compare two things indirectly without showing the words that indicate the similarity.
They are short and solid figures of speech, which consist of two ideas. The first idea is the reality which is assumed to be an object and the other one is the comparison of the reality. In fact, how people think and act every day is basically a matter of metaphors. It is said in a study about love metaphors, whethere conciously or not people often express their feeling metaphorically (Pasaribu, 2013).
In literary work, using metaphor is an interesting way to deliver a meaning. It is considered as the art of language due to its variety of diction and the unique style. 1 Conceptual metaphors are organised in a system of thoughts and not particularly in language. Metaphorical expressions reflect how we regularly think about things and how we usually use one kind of experience in a certain context in order to understand another kind of experience during a different circumstance (Ungerer and Schmid, 2006).
The cognitive metaphors are exploited and decoded due to the background knowledge, cultural patterns, psychological characteristics, ethnic thinking, etc. about the human spirit. Thus, approaching language towards cognitive linguistics is a new direction in which more current linguists and supporters are interested. Song lyrics as a form of poetry are one of the oldest forms of literature.
According to Tomlinson and Short (2014), poetry is the expression and ideas and feelings through a rhymical composition of imaginative and beautiful words selected for sonorous effects. Poetry can be studied from its structure and elements, given that the poem is structured composed of various elements and means of allegory. Thus, song lyrics as poetry is a branch of poetry that uses language as a mean of communication for delivery to produce the illusion and imagination; it is a combination of words in an attractive of form which can contain implicit meaning both in an ugly and beautiful ways needing to be revealed. Music plays an important part in human beings‟ spiritual life.
Music is a rich and complex product of culture which touches on a huge range of human emotion (Zbikowski, 2008). It is like music in the sense that language is a mean of communication between members of the public and language is used to negotiate feelings. Although the cultural practice of music is not largely linguistic, language can play a role in musical practice. According to Zbikowski (2008, p.519), “It is not surprising that language about music is often metaphorical, nor that the topic of metaphor.” Lakoff and Johnson (1980) thought that metaphors can shape human thoughts.
It is then language and music reply on image-schematic structures that are common to the two domains. It‟s undeniable that metaphor is one of those figures of speech in language that should be interpreted figuratively. It is a way of saying something by comparing things or making an analysis statement. Most people choose metaphor to convey their ideas because it is an effective way to dispute something new to express certain feeling, even to entertain others.
There are a lot of love songs composed by famous songwriters. One of the famous songwriters is Ed Sheeran. 2 He was born in 17 February 1991, and he was one of the genius songwriters who used metaphor in his works. Ed Sheeran used figurative language in his songs.
Ed Sheeran is a success in English music. As other songwriters, love is the indispensable subject, being endless inspiration to bring succeeding for his songs. To wind out the motion into the songs, Ed Sheeran makes listeners feel his emotion following the way that: each audience has different feelings when they listen to the same songs by using a lot of metaphors in his works. This is interested the researcher in how love is described and what kind of conceptual metaphors of love shown in his songs.
From the research background above, the researcher chooses Ed Sheeran‟s songs as the subject of the research. Therefore, the researcher has decided to choose the topic “Conceptual Metaphors of Love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran’s Songs”.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1. Aims of the study The study aims at researching the conceptual metaphors utilized by Ed Sheeran‟s in his song lyrics in order to gain more insights into the domains of conceptual metaphors and to suggest the teaching and learning conceptual metaphors in song lyrics to Vietnamese learners and teachers.