(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) AN INVESTIGATION INTO METAPHORS IN SLOGANS ON SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

VÕ THỊ THU HẰNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO METAPHORS IN
SLOGANS ON SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH

Binh Dinh - 2019

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

VÕ THỊ THU HẰNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO METAPHORS IN
SLOGANS ON SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FIELD : English Linguistics
CODE : 8 22 02 01

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYỄN TẤT THẮNG

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

VÕ THỊ THU HẰNG

NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ TRI NHẬN TRONG
KHẨU HIỆU BẢO VỆ MÔI TRƯỜNG
BẰNG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh
Mã số

: 8 22 02 01

Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS. NGUYỄN TẤT THẮNG

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I

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
AN INVESTIGATION INTO METAPHORS IN SLOGANS ON
SAVING ENVIRONMENT IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of English
Linguistics at Quy Nhon University. I confirm that this thesis has not been
submitted for any other degrees. Except where reference is made in the text of

the research paper, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or
extracted in the whole, or in part from paper by which I have qualified for or
been award another degree or diploma. Moreover, no other person's work has
been used without acknowledgement in the research.

Student's signature

Võ Thị Thu Hằng

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II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In completion of this thesis, I would particularly like to express my
deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Nguyễn Tất Thắng for his
continuous support, valuable sources of materials, insightful comments,
constructive criticism and endless patience throughout my work. This thesis
would not be completed without his assistance, enthusiastic and instructive
supervision.
My special thanks go as well as to Dr. Hà Thanh Hải who gave me
integral lectures and guidance which provided me with a solid foundation to
do this research.
I would also like to extend my thanks to the Department of Foreign
Languages at Quy Nhon University for their help in offering me the resources
in carrying out the study.
Last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude to my family and
my friends who gave me encouragement, support and regard so that I could
accomplish my research.

Võ Thị Thu Hằng
July, 2019

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III

ABSTRACT
This thesis investigated of Conceptual Metaphors and compared the
similarities and the differences in conceptual metaphors in slogans on saving
environment between English and Vietnamese. From the view of cognitive
linguistic, this research is carried out to find out three types of conceptual
metaphors

including

structural

metaphors,

ontological

metaphors,

orientational metaphors and the similarities and the differences in these
slogans. The research is theoretically based on conceptual metaphors of
Lakoff and Johnson (1980).

The methods were combined in this thesis

including qualitative, quantitative, comparative and inductive method in order
to make the research achieve its purpose. Furthermore, this study also
suggested implications that need to be studied in teaching and learning
conceptual metaphors.

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IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .............................................................. I
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................ III
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................... IV
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................... VI
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1
1.1 RATIONALE ........................................................................................ 1
1.2. AIM & OBJECTIVES .......................................................................... 4
1.2.1. Aim ................................................................................................. 4
1.2.2. Objectives ....................................................................................... 4
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................. 4
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ..................................................................... 5
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ...................................................... 5
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS ................................................... 6
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................... 7
2.1. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES .................................................... 7
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .................................................... 11
2.2.1. Cognitive linguistics ..................................................................... 12
2.2.2. Metaphors .................................................................................... 13

2.2.3. Conceptual metaphors .................................................................. 15
2.2.3.1. Definition ............................................................................... 15
2.2.3.2. Classification of Conceptual metaphors .................................. 18
2.3. SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHOD ..................................................... 26
3.1. RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................... 26
3.2. DATA COLLECTION ....................................................................... 26
3.3. DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................ 27
3.4. RESEARCH PROCEDURES ............................................................. 27
CHAPTER 4. FINDING AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................ 28
4.1. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF METAPHOR IN THE SLOGANS
ON SAVING ENVIRONMENT IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ...... 28

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4.2. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF METAPHORS IN SLOGANS ON
SAVING ENVIRONMENT IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ............. 32
4.2.1. Conceptual metaphors in slogans on saving environment in English
............................................................................................................... 32
4.2.1.1. Ontological metaphors ............................................................ 32
4.2.1.2. Structural metaphors ............................................................... 41
4.2.1.3. Orientational metaphors ......................................................... 49
4.2.2. Conceptual metaphors in slogans on saving environment in
Vietnamese ............................................................................................. 52
4.2.2.1. Ontological metaphors ............................................................ 52
4.2.2.2. Structural metaphors ............................................................... 60
4.2.2.3. Orientational metaphors ......................................................... 67

4.3. THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS IN SLOGANS ON SAVING ENVIRONMENT BETWEEN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IN TERMS OF COGNITIVE
LINGUISTICS .......................................................................................... 72
4.3.1. The similarities ............................................................................. 72
4.3.2. The differences ............................................................................. 79
4.3.2.1. Structural metaphors ............................................................... 80
4.3.2.2. Ontological metaphors ............................................................ 81
4.3.2.3. Orientational metaphors ......................................................... 82
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ......................... 84
5.1. RECAPITULATION .......................................................................... 84
5.2. IMPLICATIONS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING
.................................................................................................................. 85
5.3. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY ..... 86
REFERENCES ......................................................................................... 87
APPENDIX ............................................................................................... 90
ENGLISH SLOGANS ............................................................................. 90
VIETNAMESE SLOGANS ...................................................................... 94

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VI

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Types of conceptual metaphors and their occurrence frequency used
in slogans on saving environment in English ……………………………….28
Table 2. Types of conceptual metaphors and their occurrence frequency used
in slogans on saving environment in Vietnamese…………………………...29
Table 3. Subtypes of ontological metaphor and their occurrence frequency in

slogans on saving environment in English…………………………………..30
Table 4. Subtypes of ontological metaphor and their occurrence frequency in
slogans on saving environment in Vietnamese……………………………...31
Table 5. Subtypes of ontological metaphor and their occurrence frequency in
slogans on saving environment in English…………………………………..33
Table 6. The use of personification metaphor in slogans on saving
environment in English……………………………………………………...34
Table 7. The use of entity metaphor in slogans on saving environment in
English……………………………………………………………………….37
Table 8. The use of the substance metaphor in slogans on saving environment
in English…………………………………………………………………….38
Table 9. The use of container metaphor in slogans on saving environment in
English……………………………………………………………………….40
Table 10. The frequency of structural metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in English……………………………………………………...41
Table 11. The frequency of orientational metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in English……………………………………………………...50
Table 12. Subtypes of ontological metaphor and their occurrence frequency in
slogans on saving environment in Vietnamese……………………………...53
Table 13. The use of personification metaphor in slogans on saving
environment in English……………………………………………………...54

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VII

Table 14. The use of container metaphor in slogans on saving environment in
Vietnamese………………………………………………………………..…58
Table 15. The use of entity metaphor in slogans on saving environment in

Vietnamese…………………………………………………………………..59
Table 16. The frequency of structural metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in Vietnamese………………………………………………….61
Table 17. The frequency of orientational metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in Vietnamese………………………………………………….68
Table 18. The frequency of structural metaphors, ontological metaphors and
orientation metaphors in slogans on saving environment in English and
Vietnamese…………………………………………………………………72
Table 19. The similar conceptual metaphors in English slogans and
Vietnamese slogans on saving environment………………………………74
Table 20. The different conceptual metaphors in English slogans and
Vietnamese slogans on saving environment……………………………….79

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1

Rationale

“Metaphor lives a secret life all around us. We utter about six
metaphors a minute. Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand
ourselves and others, how we communicate, learn, discover and invent. But
metaphor is a way of thought before it is a way with words.”
(James Geary)
According to James Geary (2014) it can be seen that metaphor is a
rhetorical figure with figurative languages used in music, poetry, literature,

advertising to give special effects toward readers, hearers. Metaphor appears a
lot in our lives. The frequency of metaphor also appears a lot in each person's
daily speech. Thanks to metaphoric thinking, we can understand ourselves
and the message of others. In a song, we can enjoy the tune without
understanding the meaning of this song. For instance Vietnamese people can
hear and feel the tunes of English songs, French songs and Korean songs.
However, when reading a story, if we still do not understand the meaning of
the choice of language’s author, it will be really a pity.
What are the best ways to have effective and successful literacy works?
One of the choices is applying good use of rhetorical devices, e.g.
personification, simile, metaphor, metonymy, etc. Among these devices,
metaphor, one of the effective tools, is widely used to empower words in
many works.
Therefore, metaphors play a very important role in language use in
almost every field of life. It is a common phenomenon in language, always
attracting the attention of scholars in various fields such as linguistics,
learning styles, psychology, literature studies and so on. From the most recent
point of view, the perspective of cognitive linguistics has great influence on

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metaphorical researchers. They believe that metaphor is a way of thinking of
the whole linguistic community, and there is also a metaphorical network in
which human thinking must rely on.
Furthermore, from the point of view of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), we
find that in the process of development, any natural language uses metaphors
as a tool for semantic development. At the same time, metaphors are also a

means of thinking for people to describe the world, to realize the world’s
perception, to transform the world and create the spirit.
For instance, from “The pangs of the Earth”, Dang Thao said:
[1] “The Earth cried and asked the God
Why do I have to suffer these pangs?
In the old days, people learned little but understood a lot
Today, everyone is fully educated
Each year the waste is full
I can't stand it anymore God.”
And “The God cried and answered”
[2] “The Earth please understood me
Day and night I also mourned for my pangs
Now, my eyes are sluggish
A lot of toxic smoke flew up
My nose also suffocated
Probably my health is no longer permanent
Oh my dear!
Are you going to live longer?”
(Dang Thao - The God cried and answered)
Through the above two examples, the writes uses metaphorical rhetoric
to refer The Earth and the God, non-human objects, are portrayed as a person

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with ability to act like human such as crying, asking, enduring, answering,
understanding, living, etc. They have been used very vividly in order to make
the poems become closer to human. For both poems, the author has described

the Earth and the God that have the full characteristics of people, even acting
like humans. In addition, the God also has human body parts such as eyes and
nose in “Now, my eyes are sluggish” and “My nose also suffocated”.
Therefore, metaphors are used to express how character’s Earth and God and
help people image as well as understand the current environment’ s danger in
order to have better environmental protection measures.
Metaphor is considered as a powerful instrument in communication
because they help us observe the world we live in and give us new viewpoints
of things around us thanks to new meanings, new ideas.
Nowadays, the problems of environmental pollution are hot topic on
newspaper and receive a lot of people’s attention. The way we are destroying
environment will lead to the destruction of life on this earth. Therefore, it is
necessary that we should save environment and everyone should contribute to
the cause and should do something to save environment. The best way to
encourage others for the cause of saving the environment is to write and share
some short effective messages on saving the environment, like some slogans
on saving environment.
Furthermore, at present, although there have been several studies using
conceptual metaphor for analyzing texts in terms of cognitive linguistics, a
contrastive study about conceptual metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in English and Vietnamese has not been carried out based on the
light of cognitive linguistics.
With the above mentioned reasons in mind, I decide to choose to carry
out “An investigation into metaphors in slogans on saving environment in

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English and Vietnamese”.
1.2.

Aim & Objectives

1.2.1. Aim
The thesis aims to find out conceptual metaphors used in the slogans on
saving environment by English and Vietnamese in the framework of cognitive
linguistics especially the semantics raised by Lakoff and Jonhson (1980).
Additionally, the study also compares conceptual metaphors between the
slogans on saving environment in English and Vietnamese from the point of
view of cognitive linguistics.
1.2.2. Objectives
This study is intended to fulfill the following objectives:
- The first one is to identify and classify the conceptual metaphors used
in slogans on saving environment in English and Vietnamese in cognitive
semantics perspective.
- The second objective is to compare and contrast the similarities and the
differences of the types conceptual metaphors used in English and
Vietnamese’s slogans.
1.3.

Research Questions

In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following
research questions should be answered:
1. What types of conceptual metaphors in the slogans about saving the
environment in English and Vietnamese?
2. What is the frequency of the metaphors in the slogans about saving
the environment in English and Vietnamese?

3. What are the similarities and differences in the types of conceptual
metaphors in slogans about saving the environment in English language and
those in Vietnamese?

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1.4.

Scope of the Study

This research will be carried out on 113 posters on environmental
protection in English and Vietnamese, of which 55 slogans were in English
and 58 slogans were in Vietnamese from the point of view of cognitive
linguistics, especially through conceptual metaphor matters. The study is
restricted to the systematicity of metaphorical concepts. In detail, it focuses
on analyzing the three types of conceptual metaphors: structural,
ontological and orientational. Then, the similarities and differences in
conceptual metaphors between English and Vietnamese also will be found
in this research.
1.5.

Significance of the Study

The thesis “An investigation into metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in English and Vietnamese” is significant in both theory and
practice.
Theoretically, the thesis initially demonstrates the correctness of

cognitive theories of metaphor; in that metaphor is not just the rhetoric form
of poetry, but rather an extremely important mechanism for perceive the
world with human thinking. This mechanism ensures the transfer from
knowledge of better-known to less well-known fields. Then we can
understand abstract, complex and unfamiliar domains in terms of concrete,
simple and familiar domains.
Practically, by understanding and investigating conceptual metaphors
in slogans, we hope to make a useful contribution to understanding the crucial
role of metaphors in essays, political discourse, formal writing, motto, tagline,
logo, shiboleth and so on. Metaphors play a very important role in language
use in almost every field of life. Besides, the study is expected to suggest
readers some understanding about metaphors to satisfy with desire in

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discovering the connection between language and human thought. Thus, it
also offers some implications for Vietnamese teachers and learners.
1.6.

Organization of the thesis

This research is divided into five chapters as follow:
Chapter 1, Introduction, includes rationale, objectives, research questions, the
scope, significance and organization of the study.
Chapter 2, Literature review, presents the previous studies on metaphor in
general and conceptual metaphor in particular. It reviews theoretical
background relating to the study such as definition of metaphor, the

characteristics and classification of conceptual metaphor.
Chapter 3, Research Design and Methodology, mentions to methods and
procedures of the study. It also deals with the data collection and data
analysis.
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, devotes the result of data analysis. The
similarities and differences of conceptual metaphor are also mentioned after.
Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, summarizes the major finding, point
out the limitations as well as provides implications for teaching and learning
and puts forward suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, firstly, a brief review of previous studies related to the
investigated problem will be mentioned; secondly, background knowledge of
the terms concerned will be presented.
2.1.

Review of previous studies

Cognitive linguistics begins to develop in the 1980s. It is a linguistic
field that used interdisciplinary knowledge to study language based on
experience and human perception of the world as well as the way in which
people perceive and conceptualize the things of that world.

The 1980s

witnessed the emergence of cognitive linguistics which can be recognized as
the study of the relationship between language and mind. There are two subbranches of cognitive linguistics: cognitive semantics and cognitive
approaches to grammar. Many linguists have taken much interest in this
theory of linguistics, especially in metaphors. Their work have made great
contributions to the overall image of cognitive linguistics and provided us
with the background theories to study the way languages are processed in the
mind of human beings.
Many linguists have done researches relating to metaphors. Švažienė
(2010) through “The Persuasive Effect of Metaphor in Advertising” shows
that conceptual metaphor in various types of advertising media. And he
concludes that metaphor is probably one of the most influential stylistic
means used in advertising. Besides, metaphor is by no means only the subject
of linguistics but a way of thinking, reflecting the reality and one’s way of
perceiving things as well. This article is only a primary glance at the role the
conceptual metaphors play in persuading the people into buying things
advertised and how conceptual metaphors work in other specific
advertisements deserves an insightful study in much broader fields.

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Zhang in “An Analysis of Conceptual Metaphor in Western
Commercial Advertisements” (2009) examines linguistic data from Western
Commercial Advertisements to determine to what extent the conceptual
metaphors used in this advertisements. And he points out that conceptual
metaphor theory, combined with relevance theory being complementary to
conceptual metaphor theory is able to interpret the specific persuasive roles of
conceptual metaphors in commercial advertising. However, this thesis in only

confined to verbal advertisements and pictorial advertisements in which
conceptual metaphors play a very important role, but there exist some other
forms

of advertisements,

such as

radio

advertisements,

television

advertisements and internet advertisements.
Another investigation into the conceptual in “Metaphor in Food
Advertisement Slogans” by Yu (2009) refers to the significant role of
conceptual metaphors in food advertisements. This thesis seems to analyze
and identify both the conceptual metaphors and the creative metaphorical
linguistic expressions used in those slogans and the possible reason why a
certain source domain is chosen for a certain target domain. The author finds
that many conventional and common metaphors are utilized in advertising
slogans, but much creative work has also been done by the advertisers. A
large number of everyday metaphors also are extended and elaborated in a
new way in the slogans analyzed here in this investigation.
Coëgnarts and Kravanja (2012) through article “From Thought to
Modality: A Theoretical Framework for Analysing Structural Conceptual
Metaphors and Image Metaphors in Film” point out the theoretical framework
for analysing image metaphors and structural-conceptual metaphors in film.
The authors distinguish six features or tools which can be helpful to identify

metaphor in film: type (structural-conceptual vs. image), quality (abstract vs.

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concrete), modality (monomodality vs. multimodality), direction (symmetry
vs. asymmetry), spatiality (homospatiality vs. non-homospatiality) and reality
(filmic vs. ante-filmic). In addition, this article demonstrates image metaphors
can help activate other structural-conceptual metaphors.
Ahrens in “Politics, Gender and Conceptual Metaphors” (2009)
examines linghuistic data from five countries to determine to what extent the
conceptual metaphors used by woman with political power differ, or remain
the same as, those of men. And she concludes that both male and female
politicians may choose to use femininity and masculinity when it suits their
purpose. Thus, the ability to make the most of the perceived advantages of
either gender’s traits can be seen through the variety and range of conceptual
metaphors politicians employ as they strive to persuade people of their plans
and appeal to constituents for support. However, this investigation does not
paint a uniform picture of gender and metaphor in the political realm.
In Vietnam, interested in the issues of cognitive linguistics and
metaphors, a number of Vietnamese scholars have contributed their own
viewpoints to metaphor. There have been also some Vietnamese researchers
who contribute to the study of metaphor. “An investigation into conceptual
metaphors in Fifty Shades Darker by Erika Leonard James and Vietnamese
equivalent” by Nguyễn Thị Kim Thoa (2016) refers to the significant role of
conceptual metaphors in literature works. There are also discoveries of the
major loss and gain in meaning and structures in novel when the conceptual
metaphors are translated into Vietnamese. But this thesis does not focus on

one aspect to analyze deeply and clearly. For example, it will be good idea to
analyze and contrast conceptual metaphor of love, joy, fear and more in Fifty
Shades Darker.
Hồ Vi Nữ Mỹ Linh (2011) with “A study of Metaphors in Newspapers

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(English versus Vietnamese)” examines metaphorical expressions in English
and Vietnamese newspapers in terms of syntactic and semantic features in
order to find out the differences and similarities between two languages in
using Metaphor in newspapers. She finds out that English and Vietnamese
share in common almost every characteristic in the aspects of syntax and
semantics. Besides that, metaphorical expressions have the distinctive features
and different effects in performances the purpose and nature of newspapers.
The limit in this study is that the research has mainly paid attention to basic
fields of the traditional and contemporary view. Additionally, it cannot collect
and analyze all the equivalent samples of metaphorical expressions in English
and Vietnamese to distinguish the similarity and difference of these instances.
Another investigation into the conceptual metaphors in “The Use of
conceptual Metaphor in English and Vietnamese Idioms With Human
Organs” (carried out by Trần Ngọc Hải, 2011) has brought a new perspective
on the meaning of idioms. There are also discoveries of the basic arguments
and the importance of cognitive language about the mechanism of formation
of meanings fixed phrases, especially idioms.
Nguyễn Thị Thanh Huyền (2009) with “Ẩn dụ tri nhận- Mơ hình ẩn dụ
cấu trúc trên cứ liệu ca từ Trịnh Công Sơn” learnt the relationship between
language and human thinking through a kind of unit of cognitive linguistics.

This is structural metaphors. The thesis demonstrates the correctness of the
conceptual metaphor. Metaphor is not only a rhetorical form of poetry, but
also an extremely important mechanism for understanding the world through
human thinking.
In addition, Nguyễn Thị Kim Ánh (2018) has an investigation about
conceptual metaphor with “A study of conceptual metaphors used in Michelle
Obama’s speeches”. This study investigates the conceptual metaphors

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applying the theoretical framework of Lakoff and Johnson to Michelle
Obama’s speeches. Three types of conceptual metaphors have been pointed
out and examples have been shown and analyzed specially in the cognitive
view. However, the data of analysis are limited, only contains 680 metaphors
expressions. Thus the results of the study cannot reach the high reliability.
Moreover, with the limitations of personal ability as well as outside factors,
some weaknesses are inevitable.
As mentioned above, there have been a great number of studies with
significant contributions to metaphor in English and Vietnamese. However,
there have been so far fewer researches in slogans on saving environment in
perspective of cognitive linguistics as well as comparing the similarities and
differences of conceptual metaphor in English and Vietnamese. This is the
reason the thesis “An investigation into metaphors in slogans on saving
environment in English and Vietnamese” is conducted with a hope to give a
deeper understanding conceptual metaphor.
2.2. Theoretical background
The theoretical basis of this thesis is the metaphorical concepts

obtained by two authors, Lakoff and Johnson with the work on the
metaphorical of cognitive linguistics "Metaphors We Live By" in 1980.
Lakoff and Johnson become the first two American scholars to initiate
the cognitive metaphor with the important work of cognitive linguistics
"Metaphors We Live By" in 1980. In their work, they offer a new concept of
the nature and function of cognitive linguistics in general and of cognitive
metaphor in particular.
The basic principle that guides the cognitive metaphor theory of Lakoff
and Johnson can be summarized in the following sentence: "The nature of
cognitive metaphor is in the conceptualization and understanding of this type

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of phenomena in terms of other phenomena" (1980).
2.2.1. Cognitive linguistics
“Cognitive linguistics is a modern school of linguistic thought emerged
in the early 1970s. It describes and accounts for the systematicity, the
structures the function it serves and how these functions are realized by the
language system” (Evans and Green, 2006).
“Cognitive linguistics grew out of the work of a number of researchers
active in the 1970s who were interested in the relation of language and mind”
(Sinha, 2014).
During this decade researchers in Poland, Belgium, Germany, and
Japan begin to explore linguistic problems from a cognitive standpoint, with
explicit reference to the work of Lakoff and Langacker (Cognitive
Linguistics, 2019).
Many linguists focus their research on it and study it from different

perspectives. The two works written by Lakoff and Langacker in 1987 and the
convocation of the first cognitive conference indicated the fact that cognitive
linguistics had become mature. Lakoff (1987) publishes the book “Women,
Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories reveal about the Mind”. And
then Langacker (2013) publishes “Foundations of Cognitive Grammar”,
which had been circulating chapter by chapter since 1984. The convocation of
the first cognitive conference was organized by Dirven (1985) and was held in
Duisburg in Germany in the spring of 1989. All of this kind of research
indicates, to some degree, the establishment of cognitive linguistics.
During the 1990s cognitive linguistics become widely recognized as an
important field within linguistics.
By the mid-1990s, cognitive linguistics as a field is characterized by a
defining set of intellectual pursuits practiced by its adherents, summarized in

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the Handbook of Pragmatics under the entry for Cognitive Linguistics
(Geeraerts 1995, p.111:112):
“Because cognitive linguistics sees language as embedded in the overall
cognitive capacities of man, topics of special interest for cognitive linguistics
include: the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such
as prototypicality, systematic polysemy, cognitive models, mental imagery
and metaphor); the functional principles of linguistic organization (such as
iconicity and naturalness); the conceptual interface between syntax and
semantics (as explored by cognitive grammar and construction grammar); the
experiential and pragmatic background of language-in-use; and the
relationship between language and thought, including questions about

relativism and conceptual universals.”

2.2.2. Metaphors
Unlike traditional point of view which considers metaphor as a matter
of pure literary language, cognitive linguists like Lakoff, Johnson (1980) and
Wray (2002) believe that metaphor is a regular activity of thinking and
metaphors appear a lot in our everyday language.
Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) are the first passionate supporters of
metaphors, their view metaphor is conceptual, as many of the ways in which
we think and act are basically metaphorical (Evans and Green, 2006, p.44).
The concept of construal is closely linked to another important
feature of cognitive linguistics that differentiates it from other theories of
language namely, a concern with metaphor. Metaphor used to be thought of
as a rather unusual form of discourse which has characteristic of the
literacy language. However, important pioneering work by Lakoff and
Johnson (1980) shows that metaphor is in fact a fundamental property of
the everyday use of language.
Metaphor is a conceptual phenomenon rather than a language

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phenomenon while in traditional view; metaphor is a linguistic, and not a
conceptual, phenomenon. By giving the theory of metaphor and suggesting
some basis semantic concepts that are metaphorical, Lakoff and Johnson
shoed the pervasion of metaphor. They also argue that the human conceptual
system is metaphorical, not just a rhetorical device of poets. Their theory has
changed our understanding of metaphor and highlighted the role of metaphor

in language by indicating that metaphor, a powerful instrument, influences
our linguistic behavior, thought processes and system of value.
Theory about conceptual metaphors, pioneered by Lakoff and
Johnson (1980), is driven by the notion that metaphors are pervasive in
everyday life. In this theory, how people think and act is metaphorical in
nature. Thus, metaphors can be found not only in language but also in
though and actions. In other words, language is only one of the realizations
of conceptual metaphors.
There have been a great number of different views of conceptual
metaphors defined by researchers:
According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980) in “Metaphors We Live By”,
metaphors are essence “understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in
terms of another”. They said,
“The most important claim we have made so far is that metaphor is not just a
matter of language, that is, of ere words. We shall argue that, on the contrary,
human thought processes are largely metaphorical. This is what we mean
when we say that the human conceptual system is metaphorically structured
and defined. Metaphors as linguistic expressions are possible precisely
because there are metaphors in a person’s conceptual system.”(1980, p.6)

He also clarifies the function of metaphors from showing the influence
of metaphors to our linguistic behavior, thought processes and system of

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15

value. He writes:
“Metaphors are for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the

rhetorical flourish – a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language.
Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a
matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people
think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on
the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language
but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which
we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.” (1980, p.3)

A metaphor is regarded as a comparison between two dissimilar things
without using the words “like” or “as”. There have been a great number of
different views of conceptual metaphors defined by researchers:
“Many words have both literal and metaphorical meanings. The literal
meaning of a word is the most basic sense. A metaphorical meaning is when it
is used to refer to something other than this” (Black, 1962).
“Metaphor is replacement the name of things or phenomena by the
name of other things or other phenomena based on their association and
homogeny on the characteristics and attributes that belong to it” (Nguyễn Đức
Tồn, 2009).
Metaphor is defined as a mapping of structure from one conceptual
domain, the source domain, to another conceptual domain, the target domain.
This mapping is not based on similarity between the two concepts, as believed
by the comparison theory of metaphors, but rather on the correlation of
experience in these two domains and our ability to structure one concept in
terms of the other.
2.2.3. Conceptual metaphors
2.2.3.1. Definition
In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphors have been one of central

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