VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES neo. ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYEN THI THOM THE MEANINGS OF THE NOUN LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS (FROM COGNITIVE SEMANTICS PERSPECTIVE) (TIM HIEU Y NGHIA CUA DANH TU LOVE TRONG MOT SO CUM TU TRONG TIENG ANH XET TU GOC DQ NGU NGHIA HQC TRI NHAN) MA. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Hanoi - 2010 2 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES an. rhe DAI HOC NGOAINGT NGUYEN THI THOM THE MEANINGS OF THE NOUN LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS (FROM COGNITIVE SEMANTICS PERSPECTIVE) (TIM HIEU Y NGHIA CUA DANH TU LOVE TRONG MOT SO CUM TU TRONG TIENG ANH XÉT TỪ GÓC ĐỌ NGỮ NGHĨA HỌC TRI NHẬN) MA.
Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Dr. Ha Cẩm Tâm Hanoi - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgement. srsssall Certificate of originality of study project report di Abstract. HH Table of contents.
iv PART IL: INTRODUCTION. (80H8/BSN1au2tftG4ed,lBauS3N8380. Scope of the study. Organization of the study.
ait PART I: DEVELOPMENT. wd CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND. Cognitive metaphor theory - 1. The notion /ove in English 17 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 20 2.
LoVe is a confainer. Love is a joumey 2. Love is a fluid ina container. Love is madnes§.
Love is insanity bờ different languages and cultures utilize the resource in the language system (the grammar and lexicon) to construc the world, ‘Thus, the use of cognitive semantics as an approach to human discourse seen through underlying conceplual schema pallerns could be significant an understanding cross-cutiural communication, Cognitive semantics, in general, agrees that there are universal as well as language specific construal, For instance, Asmah (1996) and Yu (2003) have found that the conceptualization and metaphorisation of the body is influenced by and interacts with the folk cultural clements in socicty. Kovcoscs (1999) also agroes that the conceptualization of the body and body parts is in the large part culhure-specific with several universal conceptual structures at the categorical and schematic level 1. Cognitive metaphor theory ‘The Cognitive ‘Theory of Metaphor - initiated by Reddy’s (1979) study on the “conduit melaphor> had been developed mainty by Lakoff, Johnson and their colleagues (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 1987, 1993; Lakoff &Twmer, 1989). It met with wide response.
It is also called Conceptual Metaphor ‘Theory. It is one of the first products of cognitive semantics Conecplual Metaphor Theory is am arca of rescarch which deals with the concept of metaphorical language. Conceptual metaphors pervade our thoughts and are reflected through our language. Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 3) state that’ "Our conceptual system is not something we arc normally aware of In most of the little things we do cvcryday, we simply think and act more or less automatically certain lines, Just what these lines are is by no means obvions.
One way to find out is by looking at language.” Lakoff and Johnson (1980) pointed out thal (he concepts that govern our theughts govern our everyday functioning. Our concepts structure what and how we perceive and experience the world, Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. if we ars right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largcly metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very nmch a matter of metaphor. They (1980) also identify metaphor as a transfer between the source domain and the target domain.
This bas become known as the “two-domain theory” of metaphor. The cognitive view on metaphor regards it as cognitive mechanism whereby one conceptual domain (source domain) is partially mapped, that is, projected, onto another conceptual domain (large! domain). The target domain (abstract conecplual reahty) is hen understood in 2. LoVe is raptufe.
Love is natural/ physical forces iy jie| iy fe fy Je Jy| fe ỹlbbllllB 2. Love is fire/ heat. Love is a nutrient. Love is a valuable commodity (in an economic exchange).
Love is a social superior and opponent. Love is a patient 2.13, Love is war 2.14, Love is a captive animal. Love is a unity (of two complementary parts) BI 2. Love is a hìdđen object.
Love is magic.18, Love is a plant ie 2. Love is a collaborative work ofart. A, Data analysis and điscussion. Love is a container 2.
Love is fire/ heat 2. Loveis a social superior and opponenL. Love is a valuable commodity. Loveis natural/ physical forees.
Love is afluid in a container 2. Love is a journey. Love is a nutrient. Love is rapture 2.
Love is insanity. Love is a unity (of two complementary parts). PART II: CONCLUSION. 3, Suggestions for further study.
10 4, Rescarch question The question adibessad in this study is: - How is fove conceptualized in English evidenced in some English expressions of Jove? 5. Organization of the study The study comprises 3 parts Part | provides the significance, aims, framework, scope and organization of the study, Parl Il is subdivided into 2 chapters: Chapter | provides the generat theoretical background of the study and Chapter 2, the backbone of the study. It provides the data collection, the analytical framework and data analysis, Part [TT demonstrates the major findings of the sludy, imptications and suggestions for further cognitive studies. Appendix and references are also included.
11 PART U: DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND In this study, cognitive semantics, especially the theory of cognitive metaphor is the main interest which provides gateways for the understanding and analysis of linguistics expressions containing the word fove which arc the object of the study. This chapter explores the ficld of cognitive semantics, thus enabling the writer to provide a thorough theoretical framework or background for the study 1. Cognitive semantics A new semantic theory, cal ed cognitive semumlics, bas been developed (Lakoff, 1987: Langacker, 1986, 1987; Crott and Cruse, 2004; Evans, 2006), The prime slogan for cognitive semantics is: Meanings are in the head. More precisely, semantics for a langnage is seen as a mapping from the expressions of the language to some cognitive or mental entities.
Langacker (1986a: 3) formulates il crisply: “Meaning is equaled with conccptualizalion.” This paradigm of semantics is thus conceptualistic or cognitivistic. It rejects the formal traditions of allribuling linguistics into phonology, syilax, pragmatics, ele, and that the meaning is independent fiom syntax. Moreover, cognitive semantics states that meanings come fiom our mind; or rather, meanings are in the head (Gardenfors, 1994), Ani important tenet of cognilive scrrantics is thal the structures in our heads thal arc carrying the meanings of words are of the same nature as those that are created when we perceive. when we see, hear, touch, etc.
(Gardenfors, 2007: 58) Cognitive semantics is concerned with invesligaling he relationship between experience, the conceptual system, and the semantic structure encoded by language. In specific terms, scholars working in cognitive semantics investigate knowledge representation (conceptual structure), and meaning construction (conceptualization). Cognitive scranticisis have employed language as the lens through which these cognitive phenomena can be investigated. Consequently, research in cognitive semantics tends to be interested in modeling the hnman mind as tnuch as il is concerned with invesligaling linguistic scruantics (Vyvyan, 2007) Cognitive semantics has established close ties between semantics and cognition.
Cognitive semantics as a mmulti-disciplinary theory of language attempts fo desoribe language pherioniena from a cognilive, cultural and physiological poinl of view taking inlo account he sociological and anthropological differences as well as the experiential realisms and natural surroundings that are embodied. A major question in cognitive semanties research is how It's been a Jong, buonpy road. This relationship is a dead-end streed We'te spinning our wheels, The marriage is on she rocks. Our relationship is off the track In the above examples, love is structured by the concept ofa journey, These everyday English expressions are used for reasoning about love.
‘fhe metaphor can be understood as a mapping cxereisc from a souree domain (in this casc, journcys) to a target domain (in this case love), Entities in the domain of love correspond systematically to entities in the domain of a journey (Lakoff & Jolmson, 1980: 207-208) Lakotf and Johnson (1980: 29) claim that “. most of our non-physicalreality 1s structures, understood, and created by metaphors.” We come to know our thoughts and feelings by analogy lo the physical world, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) proposed thal tnctaphar was a basis structure of understanding through which we conceptualize on domain (the target domain which is unfamiliar or abstract) in terms of another (the source domain, most often Similiar and concrete) In short, the conceptual metaphor of love is conventional in different languages, so 1 applied the theory of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Lakoff é& ‘Turner, 1989; Lakoff, 1993, 1987; Kovee: cs, 2002) to the sluely of recognition of metaphors of ove in some English expressions of ove. It is expected that this study will provide invaluable understanding of correspondence between the domain of love experience and another domain of experience. Aims of the study ‘The present study aims at studying the concaptnatization of the nomm ¿ve in some English expressions of /ove.
The qualities of love are identified in English based on analyzing the data under the study. Scope of the study This study tocuses on investigating how fove is conceptualized in English evidenced in 115 English expressions of love. ‘There are three different categories according to the fimetion of metaphors: Structural, oricntaitonal, and ontologival metaphors (Koveescs, 2002; 32, 33). In this study, structural metaphors was used as the analytical ftamework 13 terms of the source domain (physical reality).
According to Lakoff (1994: 43), metaphor is ‘thus “a cross-domain mapping in the conecptual system”. Let’s look at the examples: Life is difficulty. Love is a journey Argument is war. Anger is a hot fuid in a container.
As we can see in the examples above, Jife, lave, argument and anger are target domain, while difficuliy, journey, war and a hot fluid i a container arc source domain (Kovceses, 2002: 6). In order to understand the target domain in terms of source domain, we have to have appropriate knowledge of the source domain (Lakoff & Turner, 1989: 60) To sum up, according to Lakoff and Johnsons’ research (1980), from everyday expressions we know that most of our concepts are partially understood in terms of other concepls and that most of raman beings” normal conceplual system is metaphorical Lakoff and Johnson identify three typcs of metaphors: structurcd, orientational and ontological. In the following sections, a brief discussion of each type of metaphor will be onttined. Structaral metaphors According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 40) state that structural metaphor refers to a conceplual telaphor that is constructed from one conceplual structure to another.
In other words, in the structural metaphor model, one concept is understood and expressed in terms of another structured, sharply defined concept. With the help of the structural metaphor, we can ust the words concerming one concepl fo talk about another concept Far instance, war is a concept that is ftequently mapped onto the target domain such as argument. As we know war is.a concrete concept that we are very familiar with, so we often talk about argument in terms of war. Moreover, we also know that war is a very complex process that involves plan, attack, defense, counterattack, fight, win, lose, truee, ete., while argienent is complex and abstract concept.
the knowledge of war can be used to talk about the unknown abstract concepts These metaphors are the most clearly perceived. Let’s consider the examples (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 4) below because this kind of metaphor is reflected in our everyday language by a wide varicty of expressions: ARGUMENT 1S WAR.