the use of conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans of nokia, samsung, apple, blackberry and sony ericsson cell phones = việc sử dụng ẩn dụ ý niệm trong các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo cho điện thoại di động

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
***********




PHẠM THỊ HẰNG





THE USE OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
IN ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF NOKIA, SAMSUNG, APPLE,
BLACKBERRY AND SONY ERICSSON CELL PHONES

(Việc sử dụng ẩn dụ ý niệm
trong các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo cho điện thoại di động
Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Blackberry và Sony Ericsson)


THESIS SUMMARY


M.A. THESIS
(Minor Programme)

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15








Hanoi - 2012







VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
***********




PHẠM THỊ HẰNG

THE USE OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
IN ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF NOKIA, SAMSUNG, APPLE,
BLACKBERRY AND SONY ERICSSON CELL PHONES

(Việc sử dụng ẩn dụ ý niệm
trong các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo cho điện thoại di động
Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Blackberry và Sony Ericsson)


THESIS SUMMARY


M.A. THESIS
(Minor Programme)

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Supervisor: Ngo Huu Hoang, PhD.







Hanoi - 2012

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v,vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Objectives of the study and the research questions 2
3. Scope of the study 3
4. Method of the study 3
5. Design of the study 3
6. Previous studies 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7
1. Definition of metaphors 7
2. Conceptual metaphors/ Cognitive metaphors 8

2.1. Conceptual metaphors in relation with cognitive linguistics 8
2.2. Conceptual metaphors 10
3. Classification of conceptual metaphors 14
3.1. Structural metaphors 14
3.2. Ontological metaphors 17
3.3. Orientational metaphors 19
4. Advertising slogans 22
4.1. Definition of an advertising slogan 22
4.2. Qualities of an effective slogan 23
CHAPTER III: THE USE OF METAPHORS IN CELL PHONE
ADVERTISING SLOGANS 26

vi
1. Conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans 26
1.1. The effects of conceptual metaphors on audience 26
1.2. Conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans 30
2. Research procedures 32
2.1. Data collection 32
2.2. Data analysis 32
3. Results and discussion 33
3.1. Research question 1 33
3.2. Research question 2 34
CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 40
1. Recapitulation of main ideas 40
2. Limitations of the study 40
3. Suggestions for further research 41
4. Implications 41
REFERENCE 42,43,44
APPENDIX I, II

1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
In the epoch of information explosion, it is inevitable for any of us to bump into
advertising words and images. Advertising is all around us, though we like it or not, we
hear it, see it and feel it albeit on purpose or just by some chance. In order for a brand
name to go global, a good advertisement of their product is a key matter, no wonder
why billions of bugs have been spent on copywriting. English, an international
language, is used in every single advertisement with an aim of the company going
places world wide. The utmost aim of the advertisement is to capture our attention.
“The whole aim of the copywriters is to get us register their communication either for
purposes of immediate action or to make us more favourably disposed in general terms
to the advertised product or service. […] so copywriters have to find ways to shout at
us from the page.” (Goddard, A., 1998: 11). A question may arise that how advertising
can impinge on people‟s life so much and it is given a short answer by Fairclough:
Advertising has made many people into consumers, i.e. has brought about a
change in the way people are, in the sense that it has provided the most coherent and
persistent model for consumer needs, values, tastes and behaviour. It has done this by
addressing people as if they were commonsensically already fully fledged consumers.
The general point is that if people are obliged day-in day-out to occupy the subject
position of consumer, there is a good chance that they will become consumers […].
Advertising can show people lifestyles (and patterns of spending) which they might not
otherwise meet, but also invite them to “join” (1989: 207)
The researcher is captive in advertisements especially those of mobile phones.
That is the reason why I took a hook to go ahead with mobile phone advertising
slogans.

2
In order to achieve the aim of getting customers noticed, copywriters have
contributed a non-stop effort in creating an attractive, memorable, distinct advertising
slogan for each brand. The methods used in writing advertising slogans range from
employing phonological aspect, lexical and morphological aspect, syntactic aspect to
semantic aspect. More concretely, in phonological aspect, rhyme, homophone,
alliteration are often put into consideration while in lexical and morphological aspect,
verb phrase, noun phrase, collocation, idiomatic construction, formation of new words
and phrases are of great approval. What‟s more, when syntactic aspect can be found in
sentence types, sentence structure like ellipsis, semantic aspect is often realized
through rhetorical devices such as simile, hyperbole, metonymy, polysemy and
metaphors. The researcher is absolutely engaged in metaphors which have long been a
part of my interest. This explains the my reason to choose metaphors in advertising.
Metaphors are a part and parcel of everyday life in that they appear in nearly all
our everyday concepts without our realization of it. Lakoff and Johnson give the notion
of conceptual metaphors which have explained this all in an easy-understanding way.
This attributes to the cause for choosing Lakoff and Johnson‟s theory as a foundation
in analyzing the data obtained in the study.

2. Objectives of the study and the research questions
The study aims to describe a language phenomenon happening in advertising
slogans, specifically conceptual metaphors. To go further, it targets at five cell phone
brands to find out the frequency of conceptual metaphors used in their advertising
slogans and the subtypes of conceptual metaphors employed based on the theory of
Lakoff and Johnson. In other words, the study tries to seek out the answers to two
research questions.
Research question 1: How are conceptual metaphors frequently used in five
brands‟ cell phone advertising slogans?

3
Research question 2: What are subtypes of conceptual metaphors employed in
five brands‟ cell phone advertising slogans?

3. Scope of the study
Due to the time constraint, the thesis only focuses on five cell phone brands‟
slogans which are world famous ones.
The selected slogans of five brands are randomly taken from newspapers, TV
and the Internet at the researcher‟s ease.
A corpus of 65 chosen slogans is not a big one, so to some extents, the results
provided are just selective, not comprehensive.
In this study, the analysis is based on the theory and classification of metaphors
given by Lakoff and Johnson.

4. Method of the study
This research is a mixture of qualitative and statistical research. Firstly,
qualitative research is employed in analyzing the conceptual metaphors as well as the
subtypes of conceptual metaphors in each slogan. The researcher uses statistical
research method in order to give a description of a language phenomenon occurring in
advertising slogans of five mobile phone brands in quantitative data. In addition, the
exploratory research method is employed with an aim to examining the correlations
among three subtypes of conceptual metaphors namely structural, ontological and
orientational metaphors.

5. Design of the study
The thesis consists of four chapters: CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION,
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND, CHAPTER III: THE USE OF

4
METAPHORS IN CELL PHONE AND ADVERTISING SLOGANS and CHAPTER

IV: CONCLUSION.
In INTRODUCTION, the researcher provides the reason for conducting the
research. Moreover, readers can find out the objectives of the study as well as the
research questions for the thesis. The scope, method, design of the study and an
overview of previous studies are also stated in this chapter
The second chapter named THEORETICAL BACKGROUND will deal with
definition of metaphors, conceptual metaphors, the classification of conceptual
metaphors. Moreover, a definition of advertising slogans, qualities of an effective
slogan are also given through which readers can be aware of the role of a slogan to a
company.
The third chapter entitled THE USE OF METAPHORS IN CELL PHONE
ADVERTISING SLOGANS provides the information about the effects of metaphors
on audience, conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans and the research procedures
in which data collection and data analysis methods are represented. Further more, the
“results and discussion” section is a statistical description of metaphors used in
advertising slogans of five cell phone brands.
The last chapter entitled CONCLUSION represents a recapitulation of the main
ideas of the study, the limitations of the study, some suggestions for further research
and the implications of the studies.

6. Previous studies
Since advertising is crucial in evoking customers‟ actions, copywriters have
spent abundant time researching for the linguistic devices to employ in their
advertisements. Among the linguistic devices, metaphors can really work wonders.
To begin with Lapsanska‟s (2006) “The language of advertising with the
concentration on the linguistic means and the analysis of advertising slogans”,

5
Lapsanska provides the analysis of language of advertising from linguistic point of
view and specifies linguistic means used in advertising texts. Her work brings

knowledge about the use of linguistic devices in print advertising. The result of her
research reveals that, among three groups of meaning transference including metaphor,
personification and polysemy/homonymy, metaphor is most frequently used in
advertisements with 75/270 ads while the figures for the other two are 24/270 and
9/270 respectively (2006:76). Czerpa has the same opinion when she notes that
metaphors in advertisements are powerful and compelling tool because they not only
enrich an add but also extend the meaning of textual/ visual message, creating multi-
leveled layers of interpretation (Czerpa, 2006:3). Their point is made even stronger by
Kovesces‟s statement, “an appropriate selected metaphor may work wonders in
promoting the sale of an item” (2002:59).
Leiss, Kline, and Jhally have used metaphors to study social communication in
advertising. They suggest that metaphors in advertisements have become a powerful
and commonly used strategy. “Metaphor is the very heart of the basic communication
form used in advertising” (Leiss et al., 214).
The study of metaphors in advertising has been used to gain insight about
consumers‟ behavior (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995). Zaltman‟s Metaphor Elicitation
Technique (ZMET) is a research tool developed to define and describe the metaphors
which drive consumers‟ behaviour with implications for copy-writing. Metaphors are
relevant to the study of advertising since they are “laden with symbols and imagery
that might be used creatively in implementing decisions that will animate or bring
appropriate reasoning processes and mental models to life.” (as cited in Lapsanska,
2006).
Charles Forceville tries to look at previous literature metaphor in hope of
developing a theory of pictorial metaphor in advertising, but notes that most of the
literature metaphor is primarily on verbal metaphors (Forceville, 4).

6
Similarly, Fazio, Zanna and Cooper have found that direct experience may
affect attitude formation by altering the way in which the available information is
processed (Fazio et al., 51). Since metaphors in consumer advertising require the

consumers to become more actively involved and experienced on things in terms of
another, advertising using metaphors may affect attitude formation towards a product
or brand. At the very least, the active involvement stimulated by metaphors will alter
the way in which the information is processed (Fazio et al., 51.
However, all the above mentioned research mainly studied the visual metaphors
in advertising in particular and non-verbal metaphors in general.
There have been some researches in Vietnam concerning the matter of
advertising. Trang, B. T (2010) reveals the typical techniques employed in advertising
slogans in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics;
however, she does not point out the use of metaphors in the advertising slogans. Trang,
B. T. P (2011) gives an insight into metaphors used in English slogans by some banks
in the world. In her research, Trang argues that the approachability of conceptual
metaphorical expressions in banking context is very high and the use of ontological
metaphors is of great approval.
To the researcher‟s knowledge, there has been no study about metaphors in cell
phone advertising slogans but in cosmetics, foodstuff, banking, etc. Therefore, by
conducting this research, I hope to contribute into the metaphor world in advertising
another field.


7
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. Definition of metaphors
An enormous effort has been made in the course of finding a way to define what
metaphor is by many scholars and researchers all around the world. Gibbs (1999:29)
even introduces an ironical statement by Wayne Booth that by the year 2039 “there
would be more students of metaphor than people” (quoted in Michael White, Estudios
Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense, Vol.10 (2002) 309-315).
Aristotle who is the first to provide a scholarly treatment of metaphors give a

somehow detailed definition. A metaphor “consists of giving the thing a name that
belongs to something else; the transference being either from genius to species, or from
species to genius, or from species to species, or on the ground of analogy” (quoted in
Reck, D. 2002:3). I. A. Richards goes further when he defines metaphors through two
terms topic and vehicle in which the latter term is used metaphorically and the
relationship between two terms is call ground. Kovecses, one of the most significant
Hungarian researchers of metaphors gives out his definition as follows:
In the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one
conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain […]. The conceptual
domain from which we draw metaphorical expressions is to understand another
conceptual domain called source domain, while the conceptual domain that is
understood this way is the target domain […]. Understanding one domain in terms of
another involves a set of fixed correspondences (technically called mappings) between
a source and a target domain (2002: 4) (quoted in Agnes (2009:20))
All definitions have in common that they speak of two terms related to each
other thanks to the similarities they have. But they also limit the function of metaphors
to embellish or decorate the language.
In their work, Lakoff and Johnson (1980:3) said:

8
Metaphor is 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.
By what they have found, Lakoff and Johnson indicate that metaphors not only
influence our “linguistic behavior but also our thought processes and our system of

value.” (cited in Agnes, 2009: 21)

2. Conceptual metaphors/cognitive metaphors
2.1. Conceptual metaphors in relation with cognitive linguistics
In order to understand conceptual/ cognitive metaphors, there‟s a need to have
an understanding of cognitive linguistics. As we all know, language is not only a tool
of thought and communication but a spiritual “product” of human beings which has in
it the specific cultural distinctions of each nation.
Cognitive science began to develop in America in the 60s of 20
th
century, along
with the new tendency of linguistics namely transformational grammar and later
generative grammar advocated by Noam Chomsky. Along with the flourishing of
cognitive psychology, cognitive linguistics was formed on the foundation of famous
researches by Noam Chomsky, Ronald W. Langacker, Charles J. Fillmore, R.
Jackendoff, Gilles Fauconnier. Langacker developed the concept profile theory which
latter became the center of cognitive linguistics. In 1989, international conference on
cognitive linguistics was held in Duisburg, Germany. In this conference, the

9
International Cognitive Linguistics Association was established and the cognitive
linguistics journal (led by Dirk Geeraerts as chief editor in 1990) was also born.
The way of exploring language of transformational – generative linguistic
theory and cognitive linguistic theory is different. Those supported transformational –
generative linguistic theory paid great attention to language knowledge while the
representatives of cognitive linguistic theory had their concern in our knowledge about
the world and studied how natural language contributed to that knowledge. The former
studied the linguistic structure depth on the basis of the language directly observed and
tried to model them as mathematics formula; however, the latter tended to study the
everyday language of human beings on the basis of the language directly observed and

the language which cannot be observed like concepts, psychology, senses, cultural
ethnic distinctions. However, they both had one way in common, that is, both were
concerned about spiritual structure which constituted knowledge and their utmost goal
was to reach the awareness of human language nature.
According to Ly Toan Thang (2005), if there is a need to say briefly what
cognitive linguistics is about, it can be defined as follows: “it is a new school of
modern linguistics which studies language on the basis of experience and human‟s
perception of the objective world as well as the way people perceive and conceptualize
things and situations of that objective world.”
Lakoff and Johnson (2003: 4) say that:
“The concept that govern our thought are not just a matter of the intellect. They
also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts
structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to
other people. Our conceptual system thus play a central role in defining our everyday
realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely
metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do everyday is
very much a matter of metaphor”.

10
From their point of view, we can see that metaphors are pervasive in every day
life without our realizing about it. The only way for us to realize our using of
metaphors is to look at language. “Since communication is based on the same
conceptual system that we use in thinking and acting, language is an important source
of evidence for what that system is like.” (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003: 4).
Because of Lakoff‟s aim to uncover deeply embedded conceptual relations in
the mind, for him the ideal metaphorical expressions to analyze are not the widely
discussed type of examples in (1), but rather those in (2):
(1) a. Juliet is the sun. (Shakespeare)
b. my wife…whose waist is an hourglass (Lakoff and Turner, 1989: 90)
(2) a. I‟ll see you at 2 o‟clock.

b. He is in danger.
c. Her anger boiled over.
d. She‟s had to contend with many obstacles in her life, but she has come a long
way since her days in the orphanage.
The metaphors in (1) are novel creations while the metaphors in (2) are
conventionalized linguistic expressions, another aspect of their common everyday
character.
The literal meaning of “at” in (2a) is locative in nature, but it has been
metaphorically extended to apply also to time. Likewise, “in” in (2b) has a basic
locative meaning, and the use in (2) is a metaphorical extension of this: here, a stage
(danger) is conceived as a container that one can be inside of or outside of.
For the above relation of metaphors in cognitive linguistics, the researcher
decided to choose conceptual/ cognitive metaphors.
2.2. Conceptual metaphors
Lakoff and Johnson introduce the notion of conceptual metaphors in Metaphor
we live by (1980) with some famous metaphors like LOVE IS A JOURNEY,

11
ARGUMENT IS WAR, HAPPY IS UP. Black also gives the metaphor MAN IS
WOLF (Black, 1955:286) which, as our first glance, resembles the structure of
conceptualization given by Lakoff and Johnson. However, in his work, Black does not
give out two terms target and source domain, instead he calls MAN and WOLF two
subjects: the principle subject (MAN) and the subsidiary subject (WOLF), then he tries
to suggest a set of standard believes about wolves that are the common possession of
the members of some speech community from which we note that wolves refer “to
something fierce, carnivorous, treacherous”, hence man “preys upon other animals”
and is “fierce, hungry, engaged in constant struggle, a scavenger” (Black, 1995:287).
Black calls the similarities between MAN and WOLF “the commonplaces” and the
“corresponding system” (1995:288). From Black‟s analysis of his metaphor, we can
see that the notion of conceptual metaphor had been conceived long ago, before the

introduction of Lakoff and Johnson.
To give some ideas of what it could mean for a concept to be metaphorical and
for such a concept to structure an everyday activity, Lakoff and Johnson started with
the concept ARGUMENT and the conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR which
is reflected in our daily language by a wide variety of expressions.
ARGUMENT IS WAR
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
His criticisms were right on the target.
I demolished his argument.
I‟ve never won an argument with him.
You disagree? Okay, shoot!
If you use that strategy, he‟ll wipe you out.
He shot down all of my arguments.
(Lakoff and Johnson, 2003:5)

12
With our knowledge of the physical world, we know how a war is. We can fight
in the war and at last, we can either win or lose. In order to win the battle, we need a
good strategy and every shoot should be right on the target. There is no physical battle
in here but the verbal battle, thus ARGUMENT IS WAR structures the actions we
perform in arguing.
Croff, W. and Cruse, D. A (2004) also give a definition of conceptual metaphor:
“a conceptual mapping between two domains. The mapping is asymmetrical, however:
the metaphorical expression profiles a conceptual structure in the target domain, not
the source domain.” The mapping between source and target domains involves two
sorts of correspondences, epistemic and ontological. The ontological correspondences
hold between elements of one domain and elements of the other domain; epistemic
correspondences are correspondences between relations holding between elements in
one domain and relations between elements in the other domain (this includes, for

instance, encyclopedic knowledge about the domain). The phenomenon of
correspondence can be illustrated using the example of ANGER IS HEAT OF A
FLUID (Lakoff 1987: 387)
Ontological correspondences
Source: HEAT OF FLUID
Container
Heat of fluid
Heat scale
Pressure in container
Agitation of boiling fluid
Limit of container‟s resistance
Explosion
Target: ANGER
Body
Anger
Anger scale
Experienced pressure
Experienced agitation
Limit of person‟s ability to suppress anger
Loss of control
Epistemic correspondences
When fluid in a container is heated
When anger increases beyond a certain

13
beyond a certain limit, pressure increases
to point at which container explodes.
An explosion is damaging to container
and dangerous to bystanders.
Explosion can be prevented by applying

sufficient force and counterpressure.
Controlled release of pressure may occur,
which reduces danger of explosion.
limit, “pressure” increases to point at
which person losses control.
Loss of control is damaging to person and
dangerous to others.
Anger can be suppressed by force of will.

Anger can be released in a controlled way,
or vented harmlessly, thus reducing level.
(Croff, W. and Cruse, D. A (2004: 197)
In general, metaphors are conceptual structures, and are not merely linguistic in
nature, although they are normally realized linguistically, of course.
It‟s undoubtedly true that conceptual metaphors are pervasive in communication
and in any single text. Take the lyric of the following song as an example:
“…I‟m on the top of the world lookin‟ down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I‟ve found ever since you‟ve been around
Your love‟s put me at the top of the world…”
(“Top of the world” by The Carpenters)
In the above lyric, LOVE has been conceptualized as a concrete thing that “I”
can “find”. LOVE is also personified as a person who can “put me at the top of the
world”. The conceptual metaphors LOVE IS A THING and LOVE IS A PERSON is
drawn therefrom. Moreover the conceptual metaphor HAPPY IS UP allows us to
comprehend that the person in the song is in a happy state since “at the top of the
world” means UP.

14
3. Classification of conceptual metaphors
Lakoff and Johnson (2003) classify conceptual metaphors into three different
kinds, namely structural metaphors, orientational metaphors and ontological
metaphors. Kovecses (2010), despite having three other criteria for categorizing
conceptual metaphors, has the same classification as Lakoff and Johnson, regarding
cognitive function of metaphors.

3.1. Structural metaphors
In this kind of metaphors, “the source domain provides a relatively rich
knowledge structure for the target concept” (Kovecses, 2010:37). In other words, the
cognitive function of these metaphors is to enable speakers to understand target A by
means of the structure of source B. This understanding occurs by means of conceptual
mappings between elements of A and elements of B.
For example, in the metaphor: LOVE IS A JOURNEY, the target domain
LOVE is understood via the source domain JOURNEY through a range of mappings.
The mappings include:
LOVE IS A JOURNEY
Look how far we’ve come
We are at the crossroads
We‟ll just have to go our separate ways. We can‟t turn back now.
I don‟t think this relationship is going anywhere.
Where are we?
We‟re stuck.
It‟s been a long, bumpy road.
This relationship is a dead-end street. We‟re just spinning our wheels.
Our marriage is on the rocks.
We‟ve forgotten off the track.

15
This relation is foundering.
(In the above poem, our knowledge about the elements of A JOURNEY are
very clear from which readers can draw an understanding of LOVE.)
- Lovers corresponds to Travelers
- The relationship between lovers corresponds to the means of transportation (the
vehicle)
- The means for achieving purposes correspond to routes.
- The lovers‟ common goals correspond to their common destination on the journey.
- Progress in the relationship corresponds to the forward motion (the relationship is
going anywhere)
- The difficulties in the relationship corresponds to the impediments to travel.
If love is conceptualized as a journey and vehicle as the relationship, then our
understanding about the vehicle can help understand the relationship as Kovecses
(2005:7) exemplifies:
If the vehicle breaks down, we have three choices: (1) we get out and try to
reach our destination by some other means; (2) we try to fix the vehicle; or (3) we stay
in the vehicle and do nothing. Correspondingly, if a love relationship does not work,
we can (1) leave the relationship; (2) try to make it work; or (3) stay in it (and suffer).
Carol Herron‟s model of language learning and teaching (1982) focuses on the
factory metaphor as a way to flag her deep unhappiness with the memorization and
mindless repetition involved in audiolingual teaching. She indicates five characteristics
which match the aspects of factory production from which people can grasp the idea
that LEARNING IS (BEING) ON A FACTORY PRODUCTION LINE.

Teaching or Learning Characteristic
Factory Correspondence
1. “Proficiency in the basic skills”
2. “Minimizing any possibility of
“a usable product”

“an assembly line technique”

16
student error”
3. “Rewarding students…in the
classroom”
4. “Inducing students to behave”

5. Planned structural drills without
much meaning”

“a factory worker receives a bonus”

“guarantee the product remained
flawless and predictable”
“a good factory worker acts on the faith
that the supervisor knows why (X happens)”
Table 1:Herron’s Audiolingual Correspondences (Herron, 1982)

From the two above example and analysis, we can see clearly that structural
metaphors involve “the structuring of one kind of experience or activity in terms of
another kind of experience or activity” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980:197). The set of
mappings structures our notion of LOVE and LEARNING in a clear-cut way. Without
the metaphor, it would be difficult to imagine what our concept of LOVE and
LEARNING could be albeit countless definition of LOVE and LEARNING given.
This kind of metaphors also appears in Vietnamese poetry and everyday life.
“Giá đành trong nguyệt trên mây
Hoa sao hoa khéo đọa đầy bấy hoa” (Nguyễn Du)
“Hoa” is a metaphor used to infer a beautiful woman based on our experience of
the objective world that “hoa” (flower) is beautiful and weak.

Surprisingly, “hoa” in “Truyện Kiều” by Nguyễn Du is also used to denote a
man:
“Nàng rằng khoảng vắng đêm trường
Vì hoa nên phải đánh đường tìm hoa” (Nguyễn Du)
In the above sentence, “hoa” is used to denote Kim Trong, an elegant man in
Kieu Story. Thus, from the perspective of Nguyễn Du, “hoa” (flower) is not only an
attribute of women but of men, too.

17
3.2. Ontological metaphors
It is necessary to make the concept of ontology well-defined in assistance to
understanding ontological metaphors. Ontology is traditionally listed as a part of the
major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, which “deals with questions
concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be
grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and
differences” (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ontology). Kovecses (2010: 38) also reads
“ontology is a branch of philosophy that has to do with the nature of existence”.
Ontological metaphors base on our experiences with physical objects, that is
“ways of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas, etc as entities and substances.”
(Lakoff and Johnson, 2003: 26). By this way, when the target domain is not discrete or
bounded, we can still categorize and identify them. There are many kinds of
ontological metaphors with different purposes one of which being the concept
ABSTRACTS ARE THINGS:
An accumulation of problems.
The solution was within rich.
The joy was seen in his face.
In these examples, by setting an artificial boundary, we can bound the
“problems”, “solution”, and “joy” in a way that we can see it, can touch it.
Panasonic‟s slogan is “Ideas for life”, which employs an ontological metaphor
of IDEAS ARE PRODUCTS/COMMODITIES in that Panasonic‟s products are just

the solution for your better life.
Another concept is CONTAINER metaphor. According to Lakoff and Johnson
(2003), human beings are containers with boundaries and an orientation of inside and
outside. Let take the lyric of “Goodbye”, the song played by Air Supply as an example:
“I can see the pain living in your eyes.
And I know how hard you try…”

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From the above citation, it‟s obvious that “your eyes” are the CONTAINER
from which “I” can see the tangible thing namely PAIN.
Besides, states and emotions also play the role of a CONTAINER.
“Well I hope that I don‟t fall in love with you.
„Cause falling in love just makes me blue…”
(“Hope I don’t fall in love with you” by Tom Waits)
Personification can be conceived as another type of ontological metaphors. In
personification, human qualities are given to nonhuman entities. Personification is not
only common in literature but also omnipresent in everyday discourse. We can find a
numerous examples of ontological metaphors of this kind:
Life betrayed me.
Love speaks through her words.
Actions speak louder than words.
The word betray and speak are merely human-attributed; however, through
ontological metaphors, those abstracts like love, life or action are addressed with the
human capacities.
Like the expression of love through “journey” in English, Vietnamese also have
their own way of expressing abstract idea, love, through concrete things.
“Thuyền về có nhớ bến chăng
Bến thì một dạ khăng khăng đợi thuyền”
“Thuyền”, a moving object is used to talk about a man who travels many places
and is capable of forgetting the places he has been to. By personification, “thuyền” has

been given the capability of “missing” and “bến” (the metaphor denoting a woman) the
capability of “waiting”.




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3.3. Orientational metaphors
As the name suggests, these metaphors are based on the orientation in space,
hence a special relationship is made for a concept. This relationship is normally based
on our experiences of the physical space we possess.
For instance,
Being HAPPY IS HIGH/UP
Being SAD IS LOW/DOWN.
Lakoff and Johnson saw the physical state in the fact that someone sad has a
bow posture and a happy person is upright. Hence the lyric:
“…She‟s up in the good times.
She‟s down in the bad.”
(“How can I tell her’ by Lobo)
Another possibility could be seen in the fact that heaven standing for happiness
is high above us but hell standing for misery is below us, therefore we have:
I‟m in a high mood.
I‟m in low spirits.
Another example can bee seen in the song “You raise me up” by Josh Groban:
“…You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up. To more than I can be…”
A metaphor can serve as a vehicle for understanding a concept only by “virtue
of its experiential basis.” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 204). MORE IS UP has a very

different kind of experiential basis from HAPPY IS UP or CONTROL IS UP presented
as follows:
MORE IS UP: seeing the level rise when we add more of a substance.

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CONTROL IS UP: physical dominance, where the winner in fight typically
winds up above the loser, and where parents who are much larger, control infants.
Thus, instead of writing MORE IS UP, CONTROL IS UP, we might have the
following representation:

Lakoff & Johnson (1980: 204)
This representation would emphasize that the two parts of each metaphor are
linked only via an experiential basis and that it is only by means of this basis that the
metaphor can serve the purpose of understanding.
Though the conceptual metaphor MORE IS UP meaning MORE IS BETTER
and BIGGER IS BETTER is often true universally, it is not always coherent in context-
specific situation or culture. For example Nissan car slogan says “It‟s time to expect
more from a car” from which we can note that MORE IS BETTER. We expect that the
Nissan car can provides consumers with better features and functions. Nevertheless, the
UK BT Telecom‟s slogan “The cost of calling keeps on falling” denotes that LESS IS
BETTER.
In English, the notion of TIME is incoherent as follows:
a, “In the week ahead of us…” (future) and “That‟s all behind us now…” (past)

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→ FUTURE IS IN THE FRONT and PAST IS BEHIND
b, “In the following weeks…” (future) and “In the preceding weeks…” (past)
→ FUTURE IS BEHIND and PAST IS IN THE FRONT
Albeit this contradiction, the two slogans below denote FUTURE IS IN THE
FRONT:

Toshiba: “Leading innovation”
Honda Lead: “Lead to the future”
We can see from the above slogans that LIFE IS A JOURNEY and Toshiba
always leads your way to the front in terms of creating new things while Honda Lead
will be your companion to the beautiful future awaiting for you ahead.
In Vietnamese everyday life, the orientational metaphors are also abundant. The
HAPPY IS UP can be found in:
(1) Tôi cảm thấy phấn chấn hẳn lên.
(2) Bài thơ đó đã nâng tâm hồn tôi lên.
(3) Những ý nghĩ về nàng luôn luôn làm tôi phấn khởi lên.
(Trần Văn Cơ, 1997)
The BAD IS DOWN metaphor is realized in the following examples:
(4) Giá cả giảm xuống.
(5) Tinh thần suy sụp.
(Trần Văn Cơ, 1997)
HEALTH IS UP conceptual metaphors can be found in:
(6) Tôi thấy khỏe lên.
(7) Lúc nào đỡ lên thì ra viện.
To conclude, Lakoff and Johnson stated that “The division of metaphors into
three types – orientational, ontological and structural – was artificial. All metaphors are
structural (in that they map structures to structures); all are ontological (in that they
create target-domain entities); and many are orientational (in that they map