an investigation into cultural meaning of love declarations in english and vietnamese folklores = tìm hiểu ý nghĩa văn hóa của lời tỏ tình trong các bài dân ca tiếng anh và tiếng việt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
LU'U THI
THANH TU
AN INVESTIGATION INTO CULTURAL MEANING OF
LOVE DECLARATIONS IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE FOLKLORES
A
f
j^
^
ft
A.'>^
(TIM
HIEU
Y
NGHIA
VAN HOA CUA LOi TO
TINH
TRONG CAC
BAI
DAN CA
TIENG ANI1
VA
TIENG
VIET)
M.A THESIS
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 5.04.09
Supervisor: Assoc.
Prof.

Dr. Nguyen Van Do
HANOI, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part one: Introduction 5
1.1
Justification 5
1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 6
1.3 Scope
of
the study 6
1.4 Methods of the study 7
1.5
Design of the study 7
Part two: Development 9
Chapter one: Theoretical background 9
1.1 Introduction 9
1.2 The relationship between language and culture 9
1.2.1 Nature, culture, language
10
1.2.2 Communities and their effects on language users
11
1.3
Tropes 13
1.3.1 Simile 13
1.3.2 Metaphor 14
1.4 Folklore as a genre
14
1.4.1
Introduction
14

1.4.2 Love declarations in folklore as a genre
15
1.5
Summary
18
Chapter two: Love declarations in English folklores
19
2.1
Introduction
19
2.2 Nature, Culture and Language used in love declarations
19
2.3 Tropes of love declarations in English folklore 25
2.3.1 Simile used in love declarations in English folklore 25
2.3.2 Metaphor used in love declarations in English folklore 25
2.4 Summary 26
Chapter three: Love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 27
3. 1 Introduction 27
3. 2 Cultural images used in love declarations 28
3. 3 Tropes of love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 36
3.3.1
Simile
in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 37
3.3.2 Metaphor in love declarations in Vietnamese folklore 38
3.4 Summary 40
Part three: Conclusion 41
3.1 Comparison between English and Vietnamese
love
declarations in folklore 41
3.1.1

Similarities 41
3.1.2 Differences 42
3.2 Summary of
the
thesis 42
3.3 Implications from the study 43
3.4 Suggestions for further study 43
References 45
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1,1 JUSTIFICATION
The communication of love is an important aspect of interpersonal relationships
across cultures. But saying
"I
love
you"
can be
ver>'
delicate
walk,
with much
gra\
area,
regarding what can and should be communicated about love, when,
b\
whom and to
whom. Love is sometimes felt but not expressed, other times, love is expressed only
nonverbally; and still other times, it is communicated verbally, with or without nonverbal
manifestations.
In English and Vietnamese, the way people choose to express love is not the same as
it is afTected by cultural values. Love declarations include in themselves

people's
viewpoints which are presented quite
differenth
in the two languages. Hence,
what
needs
to be
carried
out in this study will be an investigation of cultural meaning of love
declarations in folklores of the two
languages
in order
U) llnd
out the similarities and
differences between
them,
fhc
thesis also
attempts
to explain what are behind
the
differences uncovered in the investigation.
Our thesis is entitled "An investigation into the cultural meaning of love declarations
in English and Vietnamese folklores". The choice of the thesis is generated from two
reasons: Firstly, as Swales (1990: 34) stated that "the concept of genre has maintained a
central position in folklore studies ever since the pioneering work in the earl\ nineteenth
century". The functionalist in folklore would rather stress
socio-cullural
value. For
Malinowski

(I960,
cited in Swales
1990:35)
"folklore genres contribute to the maintenance
and survival of social groups because
the\
serve social and spiritual needs". Perhaps
inevitably, to assign cultural \alue also requires the in\estigator to
pa\
attention to how a
community views and itself classify genre. This idea will lead to the tact that love
declaration is a mode of social communication and is onl\ a genre among others, therefore,
we would like to
investigate
love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores to see
the similarities and
diftcrences
of this genre in the two languages.
SecondK.
lo\e
declarations, as mentioned above, relleel human's
ideolog\,
so we wish to see how the
ideologies
represented
in the two languages.
We optimistically hope that the thesis
will
help students of
English,

and students of
culture as it could provide an insight into the similarities and differences of love
declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores.
1.2
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
A popularized view of emotion is that it is a physiological process associated with
the nervous system. Located all the core of the nervous system is a universal and essential
set of emotional states. One of these could be said to be love.
Ever>body
experiences the
state of being in love at least once in a life time. While the universality of some emotional
state may not be in dispute, how person interprets and manifests those emotional
experiences will differ across cultures.
Hence,
this paper aims to advance an understanding
of emotion expression as a
de-essentialised
domain and to
view
it as "a cultural and
interpersonal process of naming, justifying, and persuading by people in relationship to
each other" (Lutz, 1998:5). We will take "love declaration" in Vietnamese and English
folklores as a point of access into cultural communication systems.
L3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Within cultural
meaning,
our
anahtieal
task was therefore: a) describing the locution
"I

love
you" in love declaration
wiih
reference to its
occurrence
and
non-occurrence,
where
it occurs, with whom?, in what language(s) and dialcct(s), in which verbal forms, about
which topics, as part of what interactional sequences, and
with
what observable
consequences; and b) interpreting
the
participants understandings of the lo\e declaration
given the patterned contingencies under a) above.
It
is through holding the phenomena of
emotion expression as a constant that we will search the cultural \ariabilit> in order to
understand the general forces and particular features of emotion expression. Our focus here
will
be on the performance of communication patterns
u ithin
intimate personal
relationships.
Our interest then falls on the expression of lo\e within intimate/personal
relationships. Our expectation is that the expression of love
will
be of those communicative
activities

that give force and meaning to intimate personal relationships.
In
intercultural
relationship it is our h>pothesis that love declarations also function to locate and gi\e voice
to cultural
idcntit\.
Put simpl\. to say or not to
sa\
"I lo\e you" can also be
communicating much
atx)ul
communal
understandings
of
socialit},
of person, and their
strategic activities.
Within the scope of the thesis, the author investigates 100 love declarations in
English folklore and 100 love declarations in Vietnamese folklore.
1.4 METHOD OF THE STUDY
To fulfill the aim of the study, the main methods used are descriptive and
comparative.
The study deals with love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores,
therefore, a great number of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklore were
collected then 50 love declarations in each language have been carefully selected, after that
we try to analyse the love declarations in terms of cultural meanings, genre and tropes and
then synthesize the result to find out the similarities and differences of people's auitudes in
the two languages. In fulfilling the focuses of the study in comparing the two
languages'
love declarations, descriptive method has been applied to present prominent features of

love declarations in the two languages, the results
achieved,
in
turn,
are then compared and
contrasted to see the similarities and differences between the two languages in expressing
love.
The fundamental theories that are applied in the study is the cultural
stud>
of Robert
Lado (I960): Claire
Kramsch
(2000): and the linguistic study of poetry by Leech
(1968)
and other Vietnamese researchers such as Dinh Gia
Khanh.
Chu Xuan Dien and others.
1.5
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study is divided into three parts.
Part 1- Introduction- introduces the
justification,
the
aims,
the
objectives,
the method.
the scope and the design of the study.
Part II- Development- consists of three chapters:
Chapter

one presents the theoretical background to the
stud\.
the relationship of
language and culture and language cultural
identit>
introduced
b>
Claire Kramsch (2000)
and Robert Lado (1960) and some Vietnamese researchers such as Vu Ngoc Phan. Lu Huy
Nguyen, Dang Van Lung and Tran Thi An. It also presents the theoretical background of
tropes
written
b\ Leech (1969), Dennis Freeborn and some Vietnamese researchers such as
Dinh Gia Khanh
et.al
(2003), Chu Xuan Dien (2003). Le Van Chuong (2004) etc. This
chapter also consider folklore as a genre based on the idea presented
b\
Swales
(1990).
Chapter two describes love
declarations
in English folklore from two perspectives:
culture, and versification. In
terms
of
culture,
the description will be concerned with the
relationship between language used in love declaration and culture/cultural
identit).

And
last but not least, in studying the versification, tropes are taken into consideration, and we
bring about an insight into the aspects such as metaphor, simile. Based on the above
perspectives, we try to find out people's attitudes and feelings lying behind the expression
of love declaration in English folklore.
The resources for love declaration in English folklore are taken from traditional
ballads, tales, love songs and sayings.
Chapter three describes corresponding perspectives of love declaration in
Vietnamese Folklore.
Part three- Conclusion- compares cultural meanings of love declaration in English
and Vietnamese folklores to establish the similarities and differences of emotion
expressions across the two languages. We also summarize the issues
studied
in the thesis,
the implications and
suggestions,for
further
slud>.
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER
ONE:
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 INTRODUCTION
"Language
is the principle means whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is
used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex
ways"
(C. Kramsch, 2000). As the study deals with love declaration in English and
Vietnamese folklores, this chapter is concerned with establishing a theoretical framework
for the study, as a way to

start,
we will present some aspects of the
theorj
of language and
culture such as the relationship between language and culture/ cultural identity etc.
Besides, as the thesis deals with love declaration in
folklores,
it
will
be better when other
aspects of concepts such as genre,
cohesion,
tropes are also taken into consideration.
1.2
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
According to Claire Kramsch. language is the principle means we conduct our social
lives.
When language is
used
in contexts of communication it is bound up with culture.
Firstly, the words people
utter
refer to common
experience.
The>
express facts,
ideas,
or
events
that are communicable because

the\
refer to a stock of
knowledge
about
the world that other people share. Words also
rellect
their authors'
attitudes
and beliefs,
their points of view etc.
In
lx)th cases "language expresses cultural
realit\"
(C.Kramsch,
2000).
But members of a community or social group do not only express experience: they
also
create
experience
through language.
The\
give meaning to it through the medium
the\
choose to communicate
w
ith one another, for
example,
speaking on the telephone or face
to face, writing a
letter

or sending an e-mail message The wa> in which people use the
spoken,
written, or visual medium itself creates meanings that arc understandable to the
group
the\
belong to. for example, through a speaker's tone of
voice,
accents,
conversational st\le, gestures and facial expressions. Through all as verbal and non-verbal
aspects,
"language embodies cultural realit>" (C. Kramsch. 2000).
Finally,
language
is
SNStem
of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value.
Speakers identity
themselves
and other through their use of language:
the\
\iew their
language as a
s>mbol
of their social idenlit\.
I
he prohibition of its use is often perceived
by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their culture. Thus we can say that
"language
symbolizes cultural reality".
We shall deal with these three aspects of language and culture by considering the

following poem by Emily Dickinson
Essential oils- are
wrimg-
The attar from the Rose
Be not expected by Suns- alone-
It is the gift
ofScrews-
The General Rose- decay-
But this- in
Lady's
Drawer
Make
Summer-
When the lady lie
In Ceaseless Rosemary
(Adaptedfrom
C. Kramsch, 2000)
L2.I
Nature, culture,
language
One way of thinking about culture is to contrast it with nature. According to C.
Kramsch "Nature refers to what is born and grows organically; culture refers to what has
been
grown and groomed".
Emily Dickinson's poem expresses well the relationship of
nature,
culture and
language. A rose in a fiower bed, says the
poem,
a generic rose is a phenomenon of nature.

Beautiful but faceless and nameless among others of the same species. Nature alone cannot
reveal nor preserve the particular
beaut)
of a particular rose at a chosen moment in lime.
Powerless to prevent the biological "deca\" and the ultimate death of roses and of ladies,
nature can only make summer when the season is right.
Culture, by contrast, is not bound by biological time. Like
nature,
it is a
"gift",
but of
difTerent
kind.
Through a sophisticated technological
procedure,
developed especiall\ to
extract the essence of roses, culture forces nature to reveal its "essential" potentialities. The
word "screws" suggests that this process is not without labour.
B\
crushing the
petals,
a
great deal
of the rose must be lost in order to get at its essence. The
technolog)
of the
screws constrains the exuberance of
nature,
in the same manner as the
teehnolog\

of the
world.
Culture
makes
the rose petals into a rare
perfume,
purchased at high cost, for the
particular,
personal
use of a particular
lad>.
fhe lad>
ma) die. but the fragrance of the
rose's
essence can make
her
immortal, in the
same
manner as the language of the poem
10
immortalizes both the rose and the lady, and brings both back to life in the imagination of
its readers.
The poem itself bears testimony that nature and culture both need each other. The
poem
wouldn't
have been written if there were not natural roses: but it not be understood if
it
didn't
share with its readers some common assumptions and expectations about rose
gardens, technological achievements, historic associations regarding ladies, roses, and

perfumes Similarly, let us consider the poem "Tat
nuoc
d^u
dinh". a Vietnamese folklore
to see the relationship between culture, nature and language:
''Horn
qua tat
nm'rc ddu
dinh
Bo quen chiec
do
tren canh hoa sen.
Em
duac
thi cho anh xin
Hay la em de lam tin
irong
nha
do anh
sirt
chi
dmrng
td
Vo
anh dura
co.
me gia dura khdu.
do anh
si'rt
chi

del Idu
Mai nhd cd dy ve khdu cho citng.
Khdu rdi anh se tra
coiig,
Den khi
Idy
chdng. anh
se
giup cho.
Giup cho mot gdnh xdi
vd.
Mot con
Ian
heo,
mot vd
nrau
(dm.
Giup em ddi chieu em nd/n,
Ddi
cinm
em dap. ddi chdm
em
deo.
Giup
em
quan tdm tien treo,
Quan
nam tien
cir&i Igi
deo budng cau.

"
According to Vietnamese culture, "ganh xoi \6",
'con Ion
beo'.
"vo rugu
tam". 'doi
chieu',
'doi
chan', 'quan tam tien treo'. 'quan nam tien
ciroi'.
'buong
cau" are s\mbols of
a wedding. Those
who
share Vietnamese culture
ina>
understand that the man in the poem
borrows cultural s\mbols to express his love to his woman.
So let us come to the next concept.
L2.2
Communities
and
their effects
on Language Users.
According to C. Kramsch, "Social
conventions,
norms of social appropriateness,
are the product of communities of language users". As in the Dickinson's poem, poets and
II
readers, florists and lovers, horticulturists, rose press

manufacturers,
perfume-makers and
users,
create meanings through their words and actions.
Likewise,
the man and the woman
in 'Tat nuoc dau
dinh"
use their words and actions to express their meanings.
Kramsch said that
'^people
who identify themselves as member of social group
(family, neighborhood ) acquire common ways of viewing the world through their
interactions with other members of the same group" (C. Kramsch, 2000, 6). These views
are reinforced through institutions like the family, the school, the workplace through
their lives. Common attitudes, beliefs and values are reflected in the way members of the
group use language - for example, what they choose to say and how they say it (C.
Kramsch,
2000, 6). Thus, in addition to the notion of speech community - "composed of
people who use the same linguistic code" (C. Kramsch), we can speak of discourse
communities to refer to the common ways in which members of a social group use
language to meet their social needs. Not only the grammatical, lexical, and phonological
features of their language differentiate them from
others,
but also the topics they choose to
talk about, the way they present information, the style with which they interact, in other
words, their discourse accent. For instance, English people often associate love with
blindness:
"Love
\s a

blind, and those that
folUnv him
too often lose their way"
Collev Cibler
Or:
"But
love is blind and lovers can not see
The pretty Jollies that themselves
commit'
Shakespeare
Or:
"If love he
blind.
It best agrees with night. "
Shakespeare
Whereas, Vietnamese people tend to associate love with the image of
"irau
cau"
For example:
Yeu nhau trdu vd cung say,
Ghet nhau cau ddu day khay chdng mdng.
Or:
12
Trdu hoc khan trdng cau
tirai,
Trdu boc khan trdng dai
ngir&i
xinh xinh
An cho no thod tdm
tinh.

An cho no thod
sir
minh
sir
ta.
Or:
Yeu nhau trao mot mieng
trdu,
Gidu thdy gidu me, dua nhau an cimg.
(Lu
van Ngu}en
et.al )
It is possible to come to conclusion that, the association of love of both groups are
based on the difTering values given to the understanding in both cultures. This is a
view
of
culture that focuses on the ways of thinking, behaving and valuing currently shared by
members of the same discourse community.
1.3 TROPES
In his book
"A
linguistic guide to English poetry" Leech
(p.74)
stated that "tropes
have been
defined
as devices involving alteration of the normal meaning of an expression"
and
"tropes
are foregrounded irregularities of content". Freeborn (1996: 61) also said that

**a
trope is a device that involves meaning". The most familiar tropes in literary criticism
are simile, metaphor and metonymy.
However,
in this
thesis,
we will deal with simile and
metaphor for these
tropes
manifest in love declarations.
1.3.1 Simile
The Oxford learner's dictionary (2003:
1526)
detlnes that simile is a figure of
speech
in which two things are compared using the word "like ". or
"as",
or
"as
if. Simile is like
a metaphor except that it makes the comparison explicit
b\
using
"like",
or "as", or
"av
//".
In simile the comparison between the two things is made explicit
b\
an indirect

relationship where one thing or idea is expressed as being similar to another. For example:
Love
's
like the measles- all the worst when it comes late in life.
(Douglas Jerrold)
Love is like the measles; we have to go through it.
(Jerome K. Jerome)
Simile,
according to Leech
(1969:
156)
is an overt comparison, simile can specif> the
ground of comparison. Most similes are linked
b\
"like", "as". Similes
ma\
var\
from a
13
short, simple comparison to long,
^^extended
similes". In Vietnamese, the corresponding
wordssuchas
"nhu'\
"nhuld'\
"wZ/w/Ae"
etc are used in simile. For example:
Mieng
cu&i nhir
the hoa ngdu,

Chiec khan doi ddu
nhir
the hoa sen.
Or:
Doi ta
nhir
the con
ong.
Con qudn con quyt, con trong con ngodi.
A simile, therefore, is explicit, the very circumstantiality of simile is limitation.
1.3.2 Metaphor
Leech (1969:
151)
argued that "metaphor is so central to our notion of poetic
creation that it is often treated as a phenomenon in its own right, without reference to other
kinds of transferred meaning".
In
considering a metaphor, we may consider the formula:
F
= "Like
L". This implies that, the figurative meaning F is deriving from the literal
meaning L in having the sense "like L".
However,
the simplest kind of metaphor is the use
of
"be"
in clause structure, for
example:
Love is a boy, by poets
styled.

Then spare the rod, and spoil the
child.
(Samuel Butler)
Love is smoke made with the fume of sights.
(Shakespeare)
In
stud\ing
metaphor, the concept of Tenor and Vehicle should be taken into
considerations.
Tenor
of the metaphor is what
actuaIN
under discussion.
Vehicle,
on the
other hand, is the image or analogue in terms of which the tenor is represented. A metaphor
is generally more concise and immediate than the corresponding literal \ersion. because of
the superimposition, in the same piece of language,
of
tenor and \ehicle.
In
the above
examples,
the \ehicle are
"bo\".
"smoke" meanwhile the tenor is
"love".
1,4
FOLKLORE AS A
(iENRE

1.4.1 Introduction
According to Swales (1990) a genre "comprises a class of communicative
events, of which the
memliers
share some sets of communication purposes. These purposes
constitute the rationale for the genre, the rationale, in its turn, shape the schematic structure
14
of discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and st\'le. In addition to
purpose, the exemplars of a genre exhibit various patterns of
similarit\
in terms of
structure, style content and intended audience".
In folklore study, according to Swales (1990: 34) "the concept of genre has
maintained a central position in folklore studies ever since the pioneering work in the early
nineteenth century". The functionalist in folklore would rather stress
socio-cultural
value.
For Malinowski (1960, cited in Swales 1990: 35) "folklore genres contribute to the
maintenance and survival of social groups because they serve social and spiritual needs.
Perhaps inevitably, to assign cultural value also requires the investigator to
pa\
attention to
how a community views and itself classify genres". Therefore, many folklore genres are
not so labeled according to the form itself but according to how it is received by the
community.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defines folklore as a genre and it includes
ballad, tales, epic poem, song and saying (proverb and aphorism).
Now we
will
consider love declaration in folklore as a

genre.
1.4.2 Love declaration in folklore as a genre
Love declarations,
especially
love declarations in
folklore,
are
composed
to express
love
between men and women.
A
love
declaration has its diction (words and grammatical constructions used by
certain person),
rh\thm
and versification (the principles of verse
structure),
figurative
language
(the use of figures of speech such as
metaphor,
simile etc).
Primaril\.
both
English and Vietnamese love declarations are for expressing
love,
we can find out the love
declarations such as:
In

Vietnamese:
Qua dinh nga ndn trdng dinh.
Dinh
bao nhieu ngdi
thmnig minh
hdy nhieu.
Or:
Or:
Cam an mdi
bira
mot
himg
Nm'rc udng
cdm
chimg
de da
thmwg
em.
Co kia do trdng
Ida
Ida,
15
Lai day dap ddt, trdng cd
vai
anh.
In
English
Love imposes impossible
tasks.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and

thyme,
But none more than any heart would ask,
I must know you're a true love of mine.
Scarborough Fair
Or:
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off discourteously.
For
I
have
loved
you well and long.
Delighting
in
your company.
Greenslceves
Love declarations in both English and Vietnamese folklores are severed to
propose a wedding. We can find out the verses that have the functions of proposing a
marriage:
In Vietnamese:
Cd kia cat co hen song,
Cd mudn an nhdn thi long sang ddy.
Sang day, anh ndm cd tay,
Anh hoi cdu ndy: Cd lay anh
khdng.^
In English:
/ love you more than anything else in the
world.
Come with me to my father's
castle. You shall become my wife.

Liule
Snow-While
Or:
Many thanks for redeering me. You were the wife of an enchanted prince. Xow
we can celebrate our wedding properly, for now I am the King of this
land.
The Bear Prince
In addition to
the
issue of expressing lo\e and proposing a wedding. lo\e
declaration in relation to gender is the subject of the studies. For
instance,
males seem to
16
express their love more often than females. We can find love declarations said by men in
both English and Vietnamese folklores
easily.
In Vietnamese:
Gid dua
corn
buon
ngii len
b&
Miing ai cd
rgng
cho ngu nhd mot dem.
Or:
7oc
ngang
limg vira chimg

em bui,
De chi ddi bdi rdi da anh
In English:
Tell her to make me
a
cambric shirt,
Parsley,
sage, rosematy and thyme.
Without any seam nor
needlework.
And then she'll he
a
true love of mine.
Tell her to wash it
in
yonder dry
well.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Which never sprung water nor rain ever fell,
And then she'll he
a
true love
(fmine.
Tell her to
diy
it on yonder
thorn.
Parsley, sage,
rosemaiy
and

thyme.
Which never bore blossom since Adam was horn,
And then she'll he
a
true love of mine.
Scarborough Fair
In consideration love declarations in English and Vietnamese
folklores,
the
author has found out
that,
there are two ways of expressing love between men and women
in Vietnamese folklores: direct
wa\
and indirect
ua>.
If
a direct love declaration can
prevent its audience from
misunderstanding,
it is
likel\
to make its audience embarrassed.
Whereas, an indirect love declaration can pre\enl its audience from being embarrassed and
it also brings an insight that the proposer is a
delicate,
polite and intelligent person. We can
find a lot of indirect love declaration in Vietnamese folklore:
Bdv gid man
nidi

hoi ddo
I 'irdn
hdng dd cd ai vdo hay
chira?
Or:
17
DAI
HOC
QUOC
GIA HA
NQl
TRUNG
TAM THONG TIN
THLJVlEN
q^^/f
OOmi
Bd chiec ghe
.sau
cheo mau anh dai
Keo khuc song ndy hd bui toi tdm.
Or:
Die&ng
xa
thi
that la xa,
Muan
minh lam mdi cho ta mot ngudi.
Mot ngudi
mu&i
tdm, ddi

muai,
Mot ngudi
vira
dep
vira tuai
nhu minh.
However, this phenomenon is not universally recognized in English folklores, many
of love declaration in English folklores seem to concentrate on the importance of love for
the establishment and maintenance of marriage and general attitudes. For example:
/ love you more than anything else in the
world.
Come with me to my
father's
castle. You shall become my wife.
Little
Snow-White
Or:
Many thanks for redeering me. You were the wife of an enchanted prince. Now
we can celebrate our wedding properly, for now I am the King of this
land.
The Bear Prince
In a word, from the description of lo\e declaration above, it is suitable to consider
love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores as the claims to feel an
emotion,
and
it is also a study of cultural
life
of English and Vietnamese people.
1.5 SUMMARY
We have gone through chapter one. in this chapter, we ha\e been concerned

with
the establishing
theoretical
background for the
stud>.
What ha\e been presented in this
chapter are the concepts of language and
culture,
language and nature that are given
b>
C.
Kramsch, Moreover, we have taken the concepts of tropes such as
simile,
metaphor.
Ihe
notion of love
declaration
as a genre has also been considered. Then we have attempted to
study the
general
meaning of love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores. The
following chapter
will
be concerned
with
lo\e declarations in English folklore with their
linguistic features
Ixised
on the theoretical background we ha\e presented in this chapter.
18

CHAPTER
TWO:
LOVE DECLARATIONS
IN
ENGLISH
FOLKLORE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Love declarations are frequently found in relationships of lovers, married couples
and respondents of different ages. In this chapter, we will study some linguistic features of
love declarations of lovers in English folklore. We also try to discover cultural meaning of
love declarations through cultural images used in
love
declarations. In our study, as
mentioned in the methodology section, one hundred love declarations are taken into the
investigation.
2.2 NATURE, CULTURE, AND LANGUAGE USED IN LOVE
DECLARATIONS
The study of cultural
images used
in love declarations can help to show the cultural
meanings. In studying love declaration in
folklore,
it is
necessar\
to have a small
investigation into natural and cultural images used
b)
people in composing the love
declarations. Within one hundred love declarations investigated, the common cultural and
natural images can

be
found as follow:
When expressing love English people
tend
to associate love
w
ith the strongest power
of
nature. For example:
Love moves the Sun and the other stars
(Dante)
Or:
Love conquers all
(Virgile)
Or:
// ^s
love that makes the world go
round.
Without it human race will go to
doom.sday.
0
Or:
Love joined the two in sweet
conjunction,
death was powerless to sever such a
bond.
(Thomas Mann)
However, love can be seen as a big illusion. For example:
Love 's
a

blind,
and those that follow
hint
too
(fien
lose their way.
19
Or:
Or:
(Colley
Cibber)
If love be blind
It best agrees with night
(Shakespeare)
But love is
blind,
and lovers cannot see
The
pretty follies that themselves commit
(Shakespeare)
Or:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the
mind.
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind
(Shakespeare)
The author has found out that when expressing love, English people often think
ol
life,
absence, happiness, relationship
between

man and woman,
beauty,
\outh. the heart.
the kiss,
marriage,
family,
jealousy,
hatred and fidelity.
When talking about love, people often think of
their
life beautilled with love:
For example:
Love, in my bosom, like
a
bee.
Doth suck his sweet
(Thomas Lodge)
Or:
We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence and its only
end.
(Disraeli)
Or:
Familiar acts are beautiful through love
(P.B.
Shelley)
Or:
Oh,
love will make
a
dog howl in rhyme.

(Francis Beaumont and John
l-letcher)
Or:
The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
20
Or:
Or:
(P.J. Bailey)
Oh,
when I was in love
with
you,
Then I was clean and
brca^e.
(A.E. Houseman)
If love were what the rose
is.
And I were like the
leaf.
Our lives would grow together
In
.sad
or singing weather.
(Swinburne)
Or:
There are no ugly loves, nor handsome prisons
(Pierre
Gringore)
Beside that, when talking about
love,

English
people
often associate love with
absence. Within one hundred love declarations investigated, we can llnd many love
declarations with the image of
absence.
They use the image of absence to talk about the
fully-hearted
passions,
to test love of those who have to apart.
For example:
In every parting there is an image of
death.
(George Eliot)
Or:
Or:
Or:
Absent in
body,
hut
present
in spirit
(St. Paul)
I do not love thee.'- no' I do not love thee!
And vet when you art absent I am sad.
(Caroline Norton)
Absence from whom we love is worse than death
(William Cowper)
Or:
21

Absence lessens half-hearted passions, and increases great ones, as the
wind
puts
out the candle
and
yet stirs up the
fire.
(La Rochefoucauld)
Or:
Absence and time are nothing when one is in love.
(Alfred de Mussel)
Love often goes along with happiness. Obviously, when giving love declarations
people often have a built in need to make the person they are with really secure in their
love.
Again, they know how their partner feels, what their partner longs for. And happiness
is what people desire. That is the reason wh> people are aware of affirming that
the\
can
bring happiness to their partner. Within one hundred investigated love declarations by
English people, the author has found out that there are many of them talking about the
relationship between love and happiness. For example:
There is only
one hapjyincss
in
life,
to
h>vc
and
he loved
(George Sand)

Or:
Love is
a
condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your
own.
(Robert
Ileinlein)
When expressing
happiness,
life, absence of lovers in love declarations, English
people often use a lot ol cultural images in
showing
the attitudes of man and woman about
love.
The common attitude of woman is
quite
ditTerent from that of man. Within a hundred
love declarations, we can find
Ihe
common attitudes such as:
''Woman
can '/ love man as much as man loves woman, for the love of a woman is in
her eyes, and in the nipple
of
her breast, and in the toe
of her
fool, but the love of man is
planted in the heart where it can
7
escape

"
(Anonymous)
Or:
Man
A
love is of man
's
life
a
thing apart,
Tis woman
's
whole existence.
(Byron)
Or:
o')
For man at most differ as Heaven and Earth,
But women, worst and
best,
as Heaven and
He IL
(Tennyson)
Or:
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
(James Stephens)
Or:
Women represent the triumph of matter over
mind,
just as men
represent

the triumph
of mind over morals.
(Oscar Wilde)
Or:
A woman is a foreign
land.
Of
which,
though there he
.settle
young,
A man will never quite understand
The customs, politics, and tongue.
(Coventry Patmore)
Happily, women are born to win men's
heart
and conquer men's land. A lot of love
declarations
represent the
ideas that women seem to be superior to men such as:
"I
know I have the body of
a
weak and feeble
woman,
but I have the heart and
stomach of a king, and
a
king of England
too.

"
(Queen
Elizabeth
1)
Or:
Many a man has been
a
wonder to the
world,
whose wife and valet have seen nothing
in him that was even remarkable. Few men have been admired by their
serx'ants.
(Michel de Montaigne)
One
of the most important cultural images that English people often use to talk about
love
is a kiss. The author has found out
man\
love declarations of English people with the
image of a kiss in love
declarations.
A kiss becomes a desire of both sexes, male and
female. For example:
Give me
a thouscuul
kis.ses.
then
a
hundred,
then

a
thousand more.
(Catullus)
Or:
23
Or:
Or:
Or:
Let him kiss me with the
ki.s.ses of
his mouth
For thy love is better than wine.
(The Bible)
Leave a kiss but in the
cup.
And I
'II
not
look
for wine.
(Ben Johnson)
/ dare not ask a
ki.ss
I dare not beg a smile;
Lest having that, or this,
I might grow proud the while.
(Robert Herrick)
The moth
v
kiss first!

Kiss me as if you made believe
You were not
sure,
this eve,
How my
face,
your flower, had pursed
Its petals up.
The bee
\s
kiss now!
Kiss me as if you entered gay
My heart at some
noondcn'
(Robert Browning)
GencrallN,
through the cultural images, English people
tr\
to express their attitude
toward love. In our
stud\,
we have found out that there is a close relationship between love
expression
and cultural images.
Beside that, when expressing love, English people lend to speak
expliciil\.
that is the
reason why they use a lot of the word "love" in their expressions.
For example:
Escape

me.^
Never
Beloved'
24
While I am
I and
you are you,
So long as the world contains us both
Me the loving
and
you the
loth.
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
(Robert Browning)
Or another explicit love declaration like:
Some pray to
marry^
the men they love,
My prayer will somewhat
vary:
I humbly pray to
Hempen
above
That I love the man I marry.
(Rose Pastor Stokes)
2.3 TROPES IN LOVE DECLARATIONS OF ENGLISH FOLKLORE
In this part, we will look at the tropes used in English
love
declarations investigated,
for the limitation of the thesis, what we concentrate on

will
be
simile,
metaphor. As far as
the thesis is concerned, from a very general
viewpoint,
two popular types of trope in poem
will be taken into
consideration.
2.3.1 Simile used in love
declarations
in English folklores.
In
English love
declarations,
we do not llnd out man\ cases of
simile,
as the love
declarations
concentrate on expressing love toward
other,
the language used is
relali\el\
romantic, the comparison is not
ver>
popularized.
onl\
some cases of simile are found in
our study. For example:
Love is like the measles: we all

lune
to go through it.
(Jerome K. Jerome)
Or:
Love 's like the measles- all the worse when it comes late in life.
(Douglas Jerrold)
People
tend to use another trope to describe things to express
iheir
feelings,
metaphor, the indirect figurative comparison to develop the audience's imagination.
2.3.2 Metaphor used in love declarations in English folklores.
Metaphor is a ver\ common phenomenon in lo\e
declarations,
according to
Leech,
it
is largely used by
poets,
and it
seems
that poets like to use this t\pe of trope (Leech,
1968:56). As a
result,
in English love
declarations,
metaphor are frequently found.
25
The humanity metaphor is the most frequently used in love declarations, which
attributes characteristics of humanity to what is not human. Love in the following example

is a boy who is not mature.
Love is a boy,
by
poets
styled.
Then spare the rod, and spoil the
child.
(Samuel Butler)
But love in the next example is a great teacher who can teach us
ever>
thing:
Love is a great teacher who teaches all at once.
(Pierre Corneille)
And love can do things like human being:
Love is swift of foot;
Love
\s a
man of
war.
And can shoot
And can hit from far.
(G.
Herbert)
The metaphor may show the imaginations through very simple but delicate
comparison as:
Love is smoke made with the fume of sighs.
(Shakespeare)
Metaphor,
generally, is very important in English
love

declaration.
It
helps to
sophisticaledly create the vivid imagination in the poems, sayings. Objectively, with the
description using metaphor, it brings the lo\e declarations closer to those who are in love.
2.4 SUMMARY
In this chapter, we ha\e so far considered love declarations in English folklore in
terms of cultural images, cohesion. What is
more,
we also look at their \ersification and
dictation such as
simile
and metaphor. From the
result,
we also draw out the
ideolog\
in
love declarations.
Now
we have finished chapter two, we turn to chapter
three
where I
will
explore similar features in
love
declarations in Vietnamese folklore.
26