VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- TRẦN THỊ MINH YẾN CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “ANGER” IN THE DAILYSTAR.UK AND CAND.VN (2012-2013) FROM COGNITIVE SEMANTICS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm biểu đạt “sự tức giận” trong báo dailystar.uk và báo cand. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi – 2014 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- TRẦN THỊ MINH YẾN CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “ANGER” IN THE DAILYSTAR.UK AND CAND.VN (2012-2013) FROM COGNITIVE SEMANTICS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm biểu đạt “sự tức giận” trong báo dailystar.uk và báo cand. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn Hanoi – 2014 z DECLARATION Title: “Conceptual metaphors denoting “anger” in the dailystar.uk and cand.vn (2012-2013) from Cognitive Semantics Perspectives” I certificate that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person‟s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.
Hanoi, 27h November, 2014 Trầ n Thi ̣Minh Yế n i z ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn who has given me invaluable advice, suggestions as well as the inspiration and encouragement to complete this thesis. I am sure the paper would have not been possible without his big help and such useful guidance. My great thankfulness is also given to the teachers of Faculty of Postgraduate Studies for their ideas to my paper and many thanks to all my friends who have encouraged and helped me during the time of collecting necessary data, information for the study.
Especially, I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to my whole family for their support given to me through the long time of 2 years in university as well as in difficult time to finish this thesis. In addition, I personally wish to thank all my readers for their attention, and I would highly appreciate any comments to my study. ii z ABSTRACT 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.
It aims to enhance the effectiveness of teaching, learning and understanding conceptual metaphors in English and Vietnamese. Within the limit of a brief research, the author expect that the two languages - English and Vietnamese - which express the conceptual metaphors involved will reveal some different features of the two cultures. iii z Table of contents i DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii Part A INTRODUCTION 1. Significance of the study 2 3.
Aims of the study 2 5. Scope of the study 4 6. Organization of the study 4 Part B DEVELOPMENT 5 Chapter 1 Literature Review and Theoretical Background 5 1. Definition of cognitive semantics 7 1.
Main tenets of cognitive semantics 7 1. Traditional views on metaphor 8 1. Metaphor in the light of cognitive linguistics 9 1. Classification of conceptual metaphors 10 1.
Metaphorical mappings 11 iv z 1. Metaphorical entailment 11 Chapter 2 Research Methodology 11 2. Data collection and data analysis 13 2. Analytical units 14 Chapter 3 Data Analysis 14 3.
Anger is fire 15 3. Anger is a hot fluid in a container 16 3. Anger is madness/ insanity 20 3. Anger is a burden 21 3.
Anger is a natural force 22 3. Anger is a dangerous animal 23 3. Anger is a container / a bounded space 24 3. Anger is an object 25 3.
Anger is an opponent (in a struggle) 25 3. The eye is a container 28 3. Internal organs (the heart, the liver) are containers 28 3. The mind is a container 29 3.
The voice is a container 29 3. Anger is up, cooling anger is down 30 Chapter 4 Findings and Discussion 31 v z 4. Orientational metaphors 34 Part C CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 35 Recapitulation 37 Implications 38 Limitation and suggestion for further research 38 REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I I APPENDIX II IV vi z PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Over the last decades, newspapers have made much progress in the world of means of communication to benefit humankind.
Journalists always take into account language use to catch readers‟ curiosity and excitement; however, sometimes this has created challenges for readers in understanding the metaphors used in their writings. Metaphor is an interesting linguistic subject which has attracted the attention of many linguists. In traditional linguistics, only metaphor in literature was considered as the main object of study. However, in the light of modern cognitive linguistics, not only metaphor in literature but also metaphor in daily life language is investigated.
More importantly, metaphor does not only serve as a means of expressing thought, it is also a vehicle of cognition, a means which helps realize how human beings‟ cognitive processes take place. Metaphor is a tool through which we comprehend an abstract concept in terms of a more concrete concept, which is thus called conceptual metaphor. Emotion, as an important aspect of human experience, conceptualized and expressed in metaphorical terms. In other words, such an abstract concept is conceptualized and expressed in terms of a more concrete concept by means of metaphor.
There have been several studies on the function of metaphors in the conceptualization of emotions including both positive and negative ones in English and Vietnamese. However, we have scant knowledge about the importance of the basic experiences in emotion conceptualization such as the association of human emotion with internal organs and the cultural views resulting from it. For the reasons above, “An investigation into conceptual metaphors denoting „anger‟ in English and Vietnamese newspapers from cognitive semantics perspective” will be a contribution to profound linguistic knowledge of conceptual metaphor which might help Vietnamese teachers, learners, and translators of English understand cultural elements that have a great influence on using metaphorical expressions and use the English language more effectively. Significance of the study 2.
In terms of theory This study is expected to provide useful contributions to studies of linguistic units from cognitive semantic approach, which has subsequently been elaborated in researches in other fields such as psychology, psycholinguist. In terms of practice This research is expected to be a useful contribution to teaching, learning, and translating emotion metaphors used in English and Vietnamese newspapers. The research is also carried out in the hope that its findings will help Vietnamese learners of English enrich their knowledge of conceptual metaphor, understand cultural elements that have a great influence on using metaphorical expressions, and enhance learners‟ evaluable skills in interpreting and translating newspapers as well. Aims of the study The study aims at investigating conceptual metaphors denoting “anger” in English and Vietnamese newspapers from 2012 to 2013 in the light of cognitive semantics.
Specifically, it aims at the following: - Investigating how the concept of “anger” is metaphorically expressed in English and Vietnamese newspapers - Investigating the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors denoting “anger” in English and Vietnamese newspapers - Suggesting the implications for the teaching, learning, and translating of conceptual metaphors denoting “anger” in newspapers. Scope of the study Due to the limited time, this research investigates only the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors denoting “anger” in English and Vietnamese newspapers in the background knowledge of cognitive semantics. Research Questions In order to achieve the aims of the study, the following research questions are to be answered: 1. How are concepts for anger metaphorically expressed in English and Vietnamese newspapers? 2 z 2.
What are the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors denoting anger in English and Vietnamese newspapers? 5. Research Method The study will be carried out through contrastive analysis in order to investigate the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors denoting anger in English and Vietnamese newspapers from 2012 to 2013 from cognitive semantics perspective. Data collection To conduct this research, 77 metaphorical expressions of anger are collected from the dailystar.uk and cand. The most interesting and concrete ones are selected to illustrate important points under our investigation.
Data analysis Basing on Lakoff and Johnson‟s conceptual metaphor theory which was introduced in their influential book of Metaphor We Live By (1980) as the model of linguistic expressions of metaphor, data will be both quantitatively qualitatively analyzed. In this model, conceptual metaphors are classified into three different kinds, namely structural metaphors, orientational metaphors and ontological metaphor. Quantitatively, the data will be analyzed in terms of the frequencies of structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors. Qualitatively, the data will be analyzed, examined and evaluated in order to find out the similarities and differences in expressions denoting anger in English and Vietnamese newspapers.
Organization of the study This study will cover the three main parts: Part A: Introduction will present the rationale, the significance, the aims, the scope, the methodology, and the organization of the study. Part B: Development will consist of four chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical background and Literature review provide an extensive background of cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, and newspaper language. Theoretical matters related to the study such as definition of cognitive semantics, main tenets of cognitive semantics, theories of metaphor, conceptual metaphors, metaphoric mappings, and features of newspaper language are discussed. Related studies are 3 z reviewed in order to provide the context for the research that is significant to the work that the author is carrying out.
Chapter 2: Research Methodology will discuss the methods and the procedures of the research. This chapter will also deal with the description of samples and how the data are collected, described and analyzed. Chapter 3: Data Analysis will firstly focus on analyzing and discussing conceptual metaphor of expressions of anger in English and Vietnamese newspapers. Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion will discuss the similarities and differences in metaphorical expressions denoting anger in the two languages.
Part C: Conclusion will summarize the study‟s results and presents the suggested implications for learning, teaching and translating conceptual metaphors in English and Vietnamese. It will also present some limitations and suggestions for further research. 4 z PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: Literature Review and Theoretical Background 1. In the world Cognitive linguistics originally emerged in the 1970s with studies of linguists who were concerned with investigating the relationship between human language, the mind, and the socio – physical experience and in the meanwhile denied formal approaches of studying linguistic structures using only the components within language.
During the 1980s, the works of Lakoff and Johnson on cognitive linguistics began to attract much attention. Typically, the publication of their first influential book “Metaphors We Live By” in 1980 marked a turning point in metaphor studies from the cognitive perspectives. In this book, they explain that metaphor provides us with understanding other subjects through using what we know about our physical and social experience. Such metaphors structure our most basic understandings of our experiences; shape our perceptions and actions without our ever noticing them.
This work is the main theoretical source providing the model as well as the instrument of the analysis for the present study. We can say that it was their work that has partly defined cognitive linguistics itself as we know it today. They have established that intangible concepts are comprehended metaphorically in terms of more basic concepts. Emotion has an extremely complex structure and as such, it is systematically conceptualized via more tangible things.
Over the last decades, a great number of conceptual emotion metaphors have been identified and described by many linguists.