ViETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY , hANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES ANDINTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ MAI OANH METAPHORS USED IN INAUGURAL ADDRESSES MADE BY THE US PRESIDENTS (ẨN DỤ TRONC CÁC BÀI PHÁT BIỂU NHẬM CHỨC CỦA CÁC TỔNG THỐNG MỸ) MINOR M.A THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Dr. Hà Cẩm Tâm Hanoi - 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration …………………………………………………………………………. iii Abbreviations used in the thesis …………………………………………………… iv Table of contents……………………………………………………………………. Aims of the study……………………………………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………. Methods of the study ……………………………………………………………. Design of the study………………………………………………………………. 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.
The simile theory by Aristotle. The interaction theory by I.A Richard and Max Black ……………………… 4 1. The classical cognitive metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson …………… 5 1. What is metaphor?.
The nature of conceptual metaphor…………………………………………. Components of conceptual metaphor………………………………………. Classification of conceptual metaphor………………………………………. 11 Chapter 2: The study 2.
12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data analysis and discussion …………. Suggestion for further studies……………………………………………………. 40 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………… 42 APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III APPENDIX IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE THESIS Sub.
Met: Substance metaphor Ent. Met: Entity metaphor Con. Met: Container metaphor per. Met : personification metaphor Obj.
Met : As object metaphor LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Metaphor – the best well – known form of figurative - is widely used in different types of texts like literature, science, journals, advertisement, religion, politics or everyday language. The use of metaphor as a part of figurative language aims to help the listeners to visualize what is meant by a phrase or expression. In fact, politicians use language to persuade people that their thoughts, aims and ideas are equitable and to make their point clear and vivid to the people.
It is proved that the use of metaphor is one of the most prominent tools for persuasion and an effective instrument for propaganda in political language. The president‘s inaugural addresses are delivered to show the president‘s responsibility for the people‘s desires and demands, to gain the people‘s support for the new government. Therefore, presidents have to use rhetorical strategies to convince their citizens and metaphor is one of the rhetorical strategies which are found to be commonly used in inaugural addresses. Thus, I would like to conduct a study on the use of metaphor in inaugural addresses made by the US presidents to find out what types of metaphor are commonly used and how effective they are.
Aims of the study This study was conducted to fulfill the following aims: - to provide knowledge about conceptual metaphor from Lakoff and Johnson‘s perspective. - to investigate the use of conceptual metaphor in inaugural addresses made by the US presidents and the implicit emotional influence of these metaphors on the audience. These aims of the study were achieved via the following research question: What types of conceptual metaphors are used in inaugural addresses made by the US presidents? 3. Scope of the study Within this paper, I would like to focus my attention on theories of metaphor.
Cognitive theory about metaphor developed by Lakoff and Johnson will be presented in details in terms of definition, nature, components and classification. Then four inaugural addresses made by George H. Bush (1989), William Bill Clinton LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Bush (2001) and Barak Obama (2009) are analyzed using Lakoff and Johnson‘s theory to find out typical conceptual metaphors in these speeches.
Methods of the study A combination of both descriptive and explanatory methods was applied to carry out this study. These two methods were used to collect data different books and other sources available, describe the collected information and analyze the inaugural addresses. The study was conducted as follows: Firstly, data was collected from different books, websites about metaphor in English. Secondly, the collected information was synthesized and categorized.
Finally, the inaugural addresses were analyzed in terms of metaphor. Design of the study This study consists of three parts. Part A, entitled ―INTRODUCTION‖, presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study. Part B, entitled ―DEVELOPMENT‖ comprises two main chapters.
Chapter 1 deals with theoretical background of the study including different theories of metaphor. Chapter 2 presents the study of conceptual metaphors used in four inaugural addresses, possible emotional effect the used metaphors may have on the audience. Part C Conclusion focuses on major findings, implications and suggestions for further studies. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 1.
The simile theory by Aristotle Aristotle‘s theory about metaphor is said to be the oldest theory until recently. The word metaphor in Greek meant "carry across" or "transfer", and is normally used to refer to the method of comparing two different items based on resemblance or similarity. From Aristotle‘s point of view, metaphor is based on ―seeing resemblances‖ in things. According to Aristotle, metaphor is defined as a ―transfer of a name belonging elsewhere‖ (cited in Michiel Leesenberg, 2001:33).
Here Aristotle limits metaphorical expressions to words or even single noun ―a name‖. Metaphor is merely a substitute for some other expressions, which expresses the same ―cognitive content‖ if it is literally used. ―Thing‖ here refers not only to physical objects but also to any topic or thought. ―Name‖ here cannot be used in the sense of proper or common names but must be understood as any sign.
Additionally, Aristotle privileges metaphor as the more generic figure of speech and states that simile is actually the longer form of metaphor. In other words, metaphors are ―compressed‖ or ―abbreviated‖ similes. Therefore, the meaning of a metaphor is identified with that of the corresponding simile. As a result, metaphor ―A is B‖ is understood as ―A is like B‖.
In general, the theory of metaphor by Aristotle has both intuitive and methodological motivations. First, it seems that some sorts of comparisons are made in metaphor. Furthermore, this theory seems to account for our conflicting intuitions about metaphor‘s truth values. For example, the sentence ― Mary is a rose‖ is false if it is literally interpreted because ―Mary‖ – a person- is clearly not a rose, but the simile that gives the sentence‘s metaphorical meaning is true : ―Mary is like a rose‖.
To some extent, this theory explains the meaningfulness of metaphor. However, we cannot either describe with certainty Aristotle‘s theory as either semantic (i., involving words and their meaning) or pragmatic (i., involving the use of language). Significantly, his definition of metaphor does not involve ‗referents‖ (things) or ―meanings‖ (concepts). On his view, metaphors just involve a relocation of words, and his LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 definition does not yet yield any precise doctrine as to how the interpretation of metaphor works.
The interaction theory by I.A Richard and Max Black The interaction theory of metaphor is one of the earliest modern alternatives to the simile theory by Aristotle. By this theory, two authors mean that metaphor does not only express similarities but also creates similarities. The traditional rhetoric considers metaphor in word level. On the contrary, metaphor is considered existing at sentence level in this theory.
More importantly, metaphor is seen as a cognitive phenomenon rather than a purely rhetorical device. This cognitive phenomenon is made by the interaction between different cognitive systems. This theory will be discussed in details as following.A Richards is the first person to develop the interaction model of metaphor. In his book ―The philosophy of rhetoric‖ (1936), he indicates that metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon that works not on the level of word combination but it arises from the interactions between the conceptual structures underlying words.
Metaphor is considered a cognitive phenomenon involving concepts. In this theory, metaphor is moved from word level to level of concepts. Moreover, the meanings of concepts are traded to each other. Specifically, two concepts can be combined to create a concept without changing the original concepts if they are literally used but if they are metaphorically used, they form a new concept.
For example, in the literal language ―good‖ and ‗marriage‖ are combined to form the new concept ‗good marriage‖ which conveys the meaning of both original concepts. In contrast, in the metaphorical language ―nightmare‖ and ―marriage‘ are combined to form a new concept ―nightmare marriage‖ which means ―marriage as nightmare‖. These views of Richards are further developed by Max Black. According to Max Black, metaphor is not an isolated item but it is considered a sentence.
A metaphorical sentence involves two subjects which are identified as the principal and the secondary. The primary subject is the frame which is the literal surrounding. The secondary (the metaphor) entails the focus-a system of associated commonplaces of the metaphorical word. The secondary subject (the metaphor) connects a system of associated commonplaces (or a system of associated stereotyped information) to the frame which is the primary subject.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 5 The metaphoric interaction between the focus and frame will be more clarified in the following diagram. FRAME FOCUS Literal surrounding Associated Interact (primary subject) commonplaces (secondary subject) ) METAPHORICAL MEANING OF SENTENCE To sum up, this theory offers three new points. Firstly, metaphor creates similarities. Secondly, metaphor is considered to possess ―cognitive content‖ existing at sentence level.
Finally, this cognitive content is produced by the ―interaction‖ between different cognitive systems. By this theory, metaphors are proved to function as powerful cognitive tools. However, there are still some problems with this theory. This theory is criticized for its analysis in terms of ‗interaction‖ and ‗filter‖, which are also metaphors; therefore, it does not solve the problem.
The classical cognitive metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson 1. What is metaphor? George Lakoff and Mark Johnson claim that metaphor is primarily an issue of conceptualization. Metaphors are defined as ―mappings across conceptual domains‖ in which ‗the image- schemata structure of the source domain is projected onto the target domain in a way that is consistent with inherent target domain structure‖ (Lakoff, 1993:245). In other words, metaphor allows one to understand a relatively abstract and unstructured subject matter in terms of a more concrete and structured subject matter through image- schemata.
In ―Metaphors We Live By‖ by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) metaphor is seen as a process by which we conceive ―one thing in terms of another and its primary function is understanding‖. In fact, metaphor is considered the interaction between a source domain and a target domain in the conceptual process rather than the interaction LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 between two words only. Thus, metaphor from the perspective of Lakoff and Johnson is also called conceptual metaphor. The nature of conceptual metaphor From a number of their works about metaphor, two crucial points can be drawn.
First, they claim that metaphors are pervasive everywhere. Secondly, they figure out that metaphors are based on our bodily experience. First of all, metaphors are proved to be pervasive everywhere. At that time, metaphors were seen as a matter of language but not of thoughts.
Thus, metaphoric expressions are assumed to be outside the domain of ordinary everyday language. However, Lakoff realizes that metaphor does not only exist in poetry but we use them all the time and use them in a far more encompassing manner. Metaphors are a part of everyday language, integral and important to understanding because ―most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature‖ (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980:4). ―Metaphor is a tool so ordinary that we sue it unconsciously and automatically, with so little effort that we hardly notice it……….It is conventional.
Metaphor is an integral part of our everyday thought and language‖ (Lakoff and Turner, 1989: xi). Obviously, metaphor is pervasive and people use metaphors without noticing it.