Những đặc trưng về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa thể hiện qua phép ẩn dụ trong tác phẩm song ngữ anh – việt “truyện cổ grim”

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
----------

NGUYỄN THU HIỀN

LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES EXPRESSED
IN THE METAPHOR
IN THE ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE BILINGUAL
“GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES”
(Những đặc trưng về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa thể hiện qua phép ẩn dụ
trong tác phẩm song ngữ Anh – Việt “Truyện cổ Grim”)

M.A MINOR THESIS PROGRAMME I

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01

HA NOI – 2020


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
----------

NGUYỄN THU HIỀN

LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES EXPRESSED
IN THE METAPHOR

IN THE ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE BILINGUAL
“GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES”
(Những đặc trưng về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa thể hiện qua phép ẩn dụ
trong tác phẩm song ngữ Anh – Việt “Truyện cổ Grim”)

M.A MINOR THESIS PROGRAMME I

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01
Supervisor: Asso.Prof. Nguyen Van Do

HA NOI – 2020


DECLARATION
I, Nguyen Thu Hien, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES EXPRESSED IN THE
METAPHOR IN THE ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE BILINGUAL “GRIMM’S
FAIRY TALES” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Master in English Linguistics. Except where the reference is indicated, no other
person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.

I


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the fulfillment of the master thesis, firstly, I would love to express my
deepest gratitude to my supervisor Asso.Prof. Nguyen Van Do for his invaluable
guidance, insightful comments and kind support.
Besides, I also wish to send my sincere thanks to all my colleagues at the

faculty of Foreign Languages at Ha Noi University of languages and international
studies faculty of post-graduate studies for their suggestions that enable me to
complete my study.
Finally, I am also indebted to my family for their supports and care during the
completion of my study.

II


ABSTRACT
This thesis titled “linguistic and cultural features expressed in the metaphor
in the English-Vietnamese bilingual “Grimm‟s‟ Fairy Tales” points out some
outstanding factors of the conceptual metaphors which are used in literature and in
culture. The main theoretical background of the study includes the concepts of the
conceptual metaphors express through the emotional conceptual metaphors in both
English and Vietnamese culture and descriptive, as well as the features of culture.
Firstly, varieties of metaphors terms are collected from authentic materials
and classified by two kinds of emotions: sad and happy. Then, the research paper
focuses on comparing and contrasting the data, and showing the statistics of the
collected terms. Lastly, the conclusion clarifies the research questions and some
suggestions for further study are given.
I hope that the research may find out some interesting elements in emotional
conceptual metaphor in fairy tales and in culture.

III


TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1
1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................ 1

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study ......................................................... 2
1.3. Research questions................................................................................ 2
1.4. Research hypothesis.............................................................................. 2
1.5. Scope of the study ................................................................................. 3
1.6. Structure of the thesis........................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 5
2.1. Framework of cognitive semantics ...................................................... 5
2.2. Definition of metaphor ......................................................................... 6
2.3. Background of conceptual metaphor.................................................. 8
2.3.1. Types of metaphors .......................................................................... 8
2.3.2. Framework of conceptual metaphors ............................................. 9
2.4. Emotional factors ................................................................................ 10
2.4.1. Classifications of emotions ........................................................... 10
2.4.2. Universal of emotions in cultures ................................................. 12
2.5. Characteristics of metaphors in the Grimm’s tales ........................ 12
2.6. Chapter summary ............................................................................... 14
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................... 16
3.1. Research methods ............................................................................... 16
3.2. Research process ................................................................................. 17
3.4. Procedure of data analysis ................................................................. 18
3.5. Chapter summary ............................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ............................................. 19
4.1. Conceptual metaphors of happy in Vietnamese and English tales. 19
IV


4.1.1. Conceptual metaphors of happy with the source domain CONTAINER ..19
4.1.2. Conceptual metaphors of happy with the source domain DIRECTION ...22
4.1.3. Conceptual metaphors of happy with the source domain FORCE .............23
4.2. Conceptual metaphors of sad in Vietnamese and English tales. .... 25

4.2.1. Conceptual metaphor of sad with the source domain CONTAINER. .. 25
4.2.2. Conceptual metaphors of sad with the source domain DIRECTION... 27
4.2.3. Conceptual metaphors of sad with the source domain FORCE . 29
4.3. Evaluation of the emotions expressed in the emotional conceptual
metaphors in both Vietnamese and English fairy tales.......................... 31
4.4. Chapter summary ............................................................................... 33
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............. 34
5.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 34
5.2 Suggestions for further research ........................................................ 36
REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 37
APPENDIX .................................................................................................... 41

V


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Glucksberg (2001, pp. 13–15) identifies figurative language as an interesting
and mysterious phenomenon in language and literature. Figurative language can
appear in plenty of different forms, from literature, science, journals, advertisement,
to common communication language (Dancygier and Sweetser, 2014, p. 50). Based
on the characteristic of imposing effectiveness in a creative world, figurative
language has been become popular in literature. Being considered as one of the
most kinds of an exclusive figurative phenomenon, metaphors are primarily a
phenomenon of a thought rather than of language, which have been applied to all
aspects of life (Kovecses, 2010a). As other figures of speech, it is often a challenge
to gain a firm grasp on the ability to understand metaphors because “metaphors can
usefully be seen as a kind of risk-taking in the interest of richer interpersonal
communication” (Carter and McCarthy, 1997, p. 140), it is always an attraction to
linguists and literary researchers.

Therefore, the study will pursue three main purposes. First, the study will aim
to make contribution in the views of the light onto the above questions by the theory
of emotional conceptual metaphors and the analysis of fairy tales. Second, the study
aims to analyse how to convey and build meaning over centuries. Third, the study
focuses on analysing the influence of these factors on the cultural aspect in bilingual
stories. Franz (1996) expressed that:
“Of the various types of mythological literature, fairy tales are the simplest
and purest expression of the collective unconscious and thus offer the clearest
basic understanding of the human psyche.”
Although fairy tales have been studied from many theoretical angles, such as
symbolism, feminist or structuralism. However, the roles of conceptual metaphors,
which are included in the fairy tales, and its affection on both language and culture
are still an interesting field for the researcher. It is accepted that they have a huge
semiotic potency and an ever-varying polysemous nature. Furthermore, with the
1


notion of metaphors, the central to any defining characteristics of the fairy tales can
also be seen to be reflected in the structured of the tales. Nevertheless, the motifs of
fairy tales are consisted to the plot outline of the tales‟ types, although individual
versions of fairy tales may vary.
Fairy tales share amazingly similar plot outlines and motifs even across distant
cultures. On the one hand, this may be accounted for by their characterization as
“the purest expression of the collective unconscious” (Franz, 1996, p. 1) according
to Jung‟s theory, where there is “much less cultural overlay” than in myths or
legends (Franz, 2017, p. 1). On the other, from a linguistic point of view, since
fairy tales are abundant in symbols (conceptual metaphors), similarities may be
explained by the manifestation of a specific kind of metaphor which is thought to be
grounded in universal primary experience, namely, primary metaphor. Primary
conceptual metaphors in fairy tales may reveal common ground between cultures

and their analysis is important for the enhancement of intercultural competence.

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study aims to find out the roles of emotional conceptual metaphors,
expressed in English – Vietnamese bilingual “Grimm‟s Fairy tales”. For the
achievement of aims of the study, there are objectives, including (i) identify
classification characteristics of the system of metaphorical conceptual metaphors
from the aspect of cognitive semantics; (ii) identify human emotion expression
mechanisms expressed in Vietnamese and English tales; and (iii) find the common
features and characteristics of language, cultural that are expressing emotions in
English and Vietnamese in bilingual tales.

1.3. Research questions
Based on the aims and objectives, the research question is as following:
How are the emotional conceptual metaphors expressed in the Grimm’s tales
in both Vietnamese and English versions ?

1.4. Research hypothesis
To achieve the aims and objectives, the study evaluates emotional conceptual
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metaphors influence on both language and culture. Obviously, conceptual
metaphors can be an effective tool, conveyed knowledge throughout human
generations. It is not only a pervasive device used in fairy tales at a local level, but a
full structuring of the plot outline that underlies the essence of the fairy tale. As a
result, the readers will not only make sense out of the basic events of the stories, but
also deeply understand the morality, punishments, love, humanity, cultural, the
magic, contained in it. Lakoff (1999, p. 194) expressed as following:
“Conceptual metaphor is pervasive in both thought and language. It is hard to

think of a common subjective experience that it is not convened conceptualized
of metaphors… Conceptual metaphors are built out of primary metaphors plus
forms of commonplace knowledge: cultural models, folk theories, or simply
knowledge of beliefs that are widely accepted in a culture.”

1.5. Scope of the study
Due to limitation of time, the study only focuses on the emotions of the
Grimm‟s brother fairy tales (1857); and the Vietnamese version that translated by
the famous translator Hữu Ngọc. The study is conducted in fairy tales of the
Grimm‟s brothers, the latest publication in 1857; and Vietnamese version, which is
translated by the famous translator Hữu Ngọc. Kinder- und Hausmärchen, collected
by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, was first published in 1812, with a second volume
following in 1814 (pre-dated 1815). A revised edition appeared in 1819. The last
German edition to appear during the Grimm brothers' lifetime was the seventh
(1857). Although the most accurate translation of the Grimms' title would
be Children's and Household Tales, most English readers know these stories
as Grimms' Fairy Tales, or all-too often, ungrammatically as Grimm's Fairy Tales Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children and Household Tales) is listed by UNESCO in
its Memory of the World Registry.

1.6. Structure of the thesis
In addition to Abstract, Table of Content, Bibliography and Appendix, the
thesis are including five chapters as following:
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Chapter 1: Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the study
including the reason for choosing the topic, scope, aims, and structure of the
research.
Chapter 2: Literature Review: This chapter provides an overview of literature
theories, related to the research topic.

Chapter 3: Methodology: This chapter presents analyses and discusses the
essential methodology in this research.
Chapter 4: Analysis and Finding: This chapter shows analysis of collected
data and the finding of the research.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation: The chapter make a summary
of research result and suggestion for future research.

4


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Framework of cognitive semantics
Cognitive linguistics contributes four important models for inclusive word
research, including (i) typical model of classification structure; (ii) theory about
conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy; (ii) model of idealized cognitive;
and (iv) frame theory (Kristiansen et al., 2008, pp. 21–30). However, within the
scope of this study, the second theory (ii) is the only research subject.
Cognitive semantics are quite similar to cognitive linguistics, which are not a
single theory framework. According to Evans and Green (2018, p. 130), there are
four main principles of cognitive semantics, including conceptual structures are
embodied or called the embodied cognition thesis; semantic structures are
conceptual structures; meaning representation is encyclopaedia; and meaning
construction is conceptualization. The concept of cognitive semantics for metaphors
is a complex theory. Thus, metaphors are made up of a series of parts or
components that interact with each other (Kövecses, 2003, pp. 3–10). According to
Kövecses (2003, pp. 3–20), there are ten components, which are experiential basis,
source domain, target domain, relationship between target domain, source domain,
metaphorical linguistic expression, mapping, entailment, blend, non-linguistic
realization, and cultural models. The conceptual metaphor has the structure of two
spaces, which are source domain and target domain. Source domain is more specific

while target domain is more abstract. Moreover, source domain provides knowledge
to understand target domain. The choice of specific source domains goes with target
domains is driven by the experience basis. The relationship between target domain
and source domain maybe a source domain which can be applied for some target
domains and a target domain can go with some source domains.
The specific pairs of target domain and source domain are expressed through
the metaphorical linguistic expression by mapping. Mapping is the process of
assigning an image of the source domain to the target domain. The source domain
usually maps the data into the target domain based on the basic correspondences.
5


The extra mappings are called entailment or the deduction. The entailment is
understood by the receiving a knowledge by the well-known knowledge. The sets of
source and target domains often produce a blend, that means creates a new creating
conceptual materials that are considered new to both the source and target domains.
The conceptual metaphor is often realized in a nonverbal way, that is, not only in
language or in thought but also in social reality. The conceptual metaphors
converge on and often create cultural models that are expressed in various forms
depending on the characteristics of the national cultural language and practical
experience of human. That means the conceptual units are structured as a whole.

2.2. Definition of metaphor
There are no universally definitions for culture. However, most of researchers
agreed culture as an organic system of human and material values created and
accumulated through practical activities, in the interaction between people and the
natural and social environment (Eliot, 2010, p. 26). Along with the development of
culture, language played an important roles in the cultural formation process.
Barnbrook (2002, pp. 1–10) expressed language as a mean of communication
between the elements of society, reflecting many aspects of a certain culture. The

structure of language is made up of two important factors, including the inner
factor, consisting the intellect of the individual speaker, and the external factor,
meaning a common culture for many people speaking the same language.
Metaphors, according to Kövecses (2003, pp. 40 - 50), is one of the most
important and widespread figures of speech. Thus, from the different point of view
of the researchers, metaphors have been described in different ways. Historically,
the word “metaphor” is originated from the Greek word “metapherin” which means
“to carry something across” or “to transfer” (Gross and Walzer, 2008, pp. 200–203).
Thus, Aristotle was credited as the pioneer that built a theory of metaphor.
According to Lucas (1968, p. 204, cited in Leezenberg, 2001, p. 33), metaphor is
described as a “transfer of a name belonging elsewhere”. However, the definition of
Aristotle was merely at the level of words and later authors made more extensive
6


studies about the nature of metaphor than he did. Lakoff and Johnson (2008, pp. 7–
24) defined metaphor as a process by which perceive as “one thing in terms of
another, and its primary function understands”. Metaphors has been considered as
the interaction between two words only. Kövecses (2003) argued that “in cognitive
linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in
terms of another conceptual domain”.

Accordingly, in conceptual metaphor,

Conceptual domain A is conceptual domain B. The two conceptual domains have a
unique name, including target domain (T.D) and the source domain (S.D). While
the conceptual domain that we try to understand is T.D, the one that we use for this
purpose is S.D. For example, in the sentence “Love is a journey”, love is a T.D and
journey is a S.D.
Currently, there is a systematic procedure for the identification of

metaphorically used words and expressions in real discourse. The system is called
as metaphor identification procedure (MIP), designed by the Pragglejar Group
(Steen, 2010). Accordingly, there are four steps in MIP. First, read the entire textdiscourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning. Second, determine
the lexical units in the text-discourse. Third, for each lexical unit, establish its
meaning in context, that is how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the
situation evoked by the contextual meaning. Take into account what comes before
and after the lexical unit. For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic
contemporary meaning in other contexts than the one in the given context. If the
lexical unit has a more basic current – contemporary meaning in the other contexts
than the given context, decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the
basic meaning but con be understood in comparison with it. If yes, mark the lexical
unit as metaphorical (Group, 2007, p. 33).
Understanding one domain in terms of another involves a set of fixed
correspondences (technically called mappings) between a source and a target
domain. This set of mappings obtains between basic constituent elements of the
source domain and basic constituent elements of the target. Understanding a
7


conceptual metaphor is to know the set of mappings that applies to a given sourcetarget pairing. The mapping provides much of the meaning of the metaphorical
linguistic expressions (or linguistic metaphors) that make a particular conceptual
metaphor manifest. Turning back to the example, Love is journey, we can have a set
of mapping as follow:

Source: JOURNEY

Target: LOVE

The travellers

=>

The lovers

The vehicle

=>

The love relationship itself

The journey

=>

Events in the relationship

The distance covered

=>

The progress made

The obstacles encountered

=>

The difficulties experienced

For example:

We have hit a dead end.
Their marriage is on the rock.
We cannot turn back now.

Obviously, these definitions meet one another at a point that they all regard
metaphor as the description or conception of this object in terms of another due to
some of their similar qualities. Besides, metaphor is not only a common device used
in language but also an important process concerning human‟s cognition about the
world.

2.3. Background of conceptual metaphor
2.3.1. Types of metaphors
Kovecses (2010b) identifies three types of metaphors, which are structural,
orientational, and ontological ones. Structural metaphor is described as a structure
of S.D on the structure of T.D (Kovecses, 2010b, pp. 231–240). Thus, structural
metaphor allows speakers to understand one domain in term of another.
For example, in the “Time is motion” conceptual metaphor, the mapping is as
following: (i) Times are things; (ii) The passing of time is motion; (iii) Future times
8


are in front of the observer; (iv) Past times are behind the observer; (v) One thing is
moving the other is stationary; and (vi) The stationary thing is the deictic centre.
Ontological metaphor provides an extremely fundamental but crucial
understanding for target concepts (Kovecses, 2010b, pp. 231–240). Therefore,
ontological metaphor can see more sharply delineated structure where there is very
little or none. Personification is a form of ontological metaphors (Lakoff and
Johnson, 2008). For example, Life has cheated me; and The company went dead on
me.
Orientational metaphor provide less conceptual structure for target concepts

than ontological one (Kovecses, 2010b, pp. 231–240). Thus, orientational metaphor
primarily play a role as an evaluative function. Due to its characteristics, this
metaphor makes large groups of metaphors coherent with each other. For example,
More is up, less is down: speak up, please! – Keep your voice down please.
2.3.2. Framework of conceptual metaphors
Geeraerts (2010, pp. 182–213) identifies that conceptual metaphor theory is
based on three essential propositions. First, metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon.
Second, the metaphor must be analysed as a mapping between two domains. Third,
semantics is based on epistemological experience.
The first clause of conceptual metaphors, which is the cognitive nature of
metaphors, leads to the fact that metaphor is not a mere lexical phenomenon,
outside of the linguistic level; rather than that, it is a profoundly conceptual
constructivist phenomenon. There are three main points should be noticed. Firstly,
conceptual metaphor appears in the model which are out of every single vocabulary
unit; the metaphor imagines can be used creative, for example, “to walk on the
cloud nine” means “very happy” could be understood like the light strange way:
“you may be walk on the cloud nine now, but don‟t forget there‟s a world with other
people underneath”. Obviously, the imagine in the patterns “to walk on the cloud
nine” in the example is the reality. Finally, model of metaphor happens outside of
the language. The second clause of conceptual metaphors theory is analysis of
9


mappings inherent to metaphorical models. Metaphors conceptualize the target
domain based on source domain and such a map has the form of a link between
source and target domain aspects. The third clause of conceptual metaphor theory
argues that metaphors are based on epistemological experience. It means language
is fixed by the knowledge of human.
2.3.3. Emotional conceptual metaphors
Along with the development of linguistic sector, plenty of researchers has

been attracted by the aspects of conceptualizing metaphor in the field of cognitive
linguistics. Barcelona (2003), Carter and McCarthy (1997), Dancygier and Sweetser
(2014), Evans and Green (2018), Kovecses (2010b), Kristiansen et al. (2008),
Lakoff (1999), Maalej and Yu (2011) share a common result about the relationship
between emotional concepts and metaphors. Specifically, the emotional concepts
that people use in different cultures around the world are structured and understood
in terms of metaphor. Moreover, these researchers conclusively demonstrate that the
emotional language used in different cultures is largely metaphorical.
The mapping relationship between the source and target domains can be used
to distinguish different types of metaphorical models. Lakoff and Johnson (2008)
introduced three types of emotional conceptual metaphors according to their
cognitive function, including directional metaphors, structural metaphors and
ontological metaphors. Besides, Barcelona (2003, p. 57) also mentioned another
type of conceptual metaphor, consisting two types of emotional metaphor which are
perception and structure metaphor. These metaphors are created from sensory
experience (Barcelona, 2003, p. 58). Kovecses (2010b, p. 253) distinguishes three
types of emotional metaphors, including physiological metaphors, cognitive
metaphors and cultural metaphors.

2.4. Emotional factors
2.4.1. Classifications of emotions
Based on the research of Gross (2012, pp. 220–235), understanding emotions
plays an important role in life. Thus, a life without emotions would become dull and
10


empty (Sinclair, 1926, p. 37). Emotions are usually expressed in special situations,
and often appear with the body language like the glance, smile or even a frown, to
convey feeling to others (Empath, 2019, p. 48). While there is much argument about
what constitutes the basic and secondary emotions, most cross-cultural researchers

agree that there are four basic universal emotions including happy, afraid, angry and
sad. Linguists also set criteria for classifying emotions. From a linguistic
perspective in relation to emotions, linguists also set criteria for classifying
emotions. Kövecses (2003) introduced emotional ideas that have attracted the
attention of various scholars in this field including anger, fear, joy, sadness, love,
desire, pride, shame and surprise. Plutchik (1991) used the circle approach.
According to the research of Plutchik, there are eight basic emotions, including
happy, scared, truth, surprised, angry, bored, sad and defend. Eight mentioned
emotions set on a circle, creating four opposite pairs – arranged symmetrically with
each other, as following:

Figure 1 The circle of eight kind of basic emotion of Robert Plutchik

According to Co (2011), Vietnamese has a unique way of classifying emotions
that reflects the type of category of the emotional world of Vietnamese people by
two words, niềm and nỗi indeed. Normally, niềm expresses the positive emotions
while nỗi shows the negative ones, for example nỗi ám ảnh (obsession), nỗi buồn
11


(sadness), nỗi sầu (sorrow), niềm vui (joy), niềm tự hào (pride) or niềm đam mê
(passion).
2.4.2. Universal of emotions in cultures
Wierzbicka (1999, p. 15) conducted a survey of emotional contexts from the
study of linguistics and ethnography of different languages and cultures. Some
universals have basic theories, however, most of research are only hypothetical
ones. According to Wierzbicka (1999, p. 35), the universal of emotions are as
following:
(1) Every language has the same words to express the conceptual of feeling
(Vietnamese: cảm thấy)

(2) Some of emotions can be expressed as “good”, some are “bad” (while
some are not considered as good or bad).
(3) There have the similar words, though they are not though not necessarily
identical in meaning.
(4) In every culture, people seem to relate some gestures on the face with the
good or bad emotions.
(5) In every language, there are interjectional emotions.
(6) In every language, there are some emotional terms, words point out the
emotions indeed.
(7) An individual can describe emotions based on perception through the
"symptoms" of observing the body, that is, through a number of
manifestations of the body that are considered characteristic of emotions.
(8) Emotions can be described by the senses of body.
(9) Emotions which are based on conceptual can be described through
estimated images

2.5. Characteristics of metaphors in the Grimm’s tales
“The Grimm‟s fairy tales” (“Kinder- und Hausmärchen”) collected by Jacob
and Wilhelm Grimm, was first published in 1812, with a second volume following
in 1814 (pre-dated 1815). A revised edition appeared in 1819. The last German
12


edition to appear during the Grimm brothers' lifetime was the seventh (1857). The
brothers were not only the writers but also the great German literary researchers of
the XIX century. They both belonged to the German romantic style (Heidelberg),
however, they did not try to reach the limited of the Heidelberg but learnt a lot from
its strength. They also devoted their lives into collecting the tales. They first
depended on their memories, they found the elderly farmers and the craftsmen, who
had the huge knowledge about the tales, after that, they diligently searched all

possible sources. The most challenging task was how to keep the original form,
letters and language, and the truthful and closeness to hearts of folk tales. They tried
to keep the soul folklore in each tale because they thought the traditional literature
had their own artistic beauty and the collectors might keep its specific
characteristics.
The name “Kinder- und Hausmärchen” means the household and children‟s
tales showed that the tales were not only for children but also for all people. The
fairy tales or fantasy originates mainly from the dreams and aspirations of ordinary
people. The stories also show moral concepts in life. Animal stories, symbolic
stories often have social criticism, implying education. Besides, some tales have no
educational goal, only to make humorous.
Moreover, in Viet Nam, the famous translator Huu Ngoc spent lots of his
time studying, then collecting, translating and publishing the excellent stories of the
Grimm Brothers. He tried his best to keep the meaning of the tales while using his
enormous knowledge about traditional culture. In the translation process, he always
tried to use simple, normal words, just like the spirit of the Grimm brothers when
compiling ancient capital. Huu Ngoc is a famous Vietnamese scholar who has
authored numerous articles and publications on Vietnamese culture and how it
intertwines with the world‟s multi-cultural fabric. Born in 1918 in Hanoi, this Asian
intellectual doesn‟t just limit himself to analysing the cultural identity of his own
country. He also casts his eyes over French, American, Laotian, Japanese cultures,
to name but a few. At the age of 95 this writer continues to strive for his passion:
13


spreading and extending the influence of cultural diversity as well as upholding the
values of cultural integration and universal reciprocation. The 89-year-old man is a
renowned expert on Vietnamese culture and has recently published a 1124-page
book on the subject. Author of dozens of books on Vietnamese culture in both
English and Vietnamese, as well as thousands of articles, cultural historian Huu

Ngoc is still very busy even though he is more than 90 years old. He is the first
translator who translated The Grimm‟s Fairy tales from German into Vietnamese. In
addition to translating Grimm's Fairy Tales and scores of other books into
Vietnamese, he managed the Vietnam – Sweden Culture Fund for 16 years and the
Norway Culture Fund for five years. He views all those achievements as simply
wanderings through Vietnamese culture and he allowed us to join him on such a
tour. Huu Ngoc still proves himself as the leading translator in term of culture with
a great number of works involving introducing Vietnamese culture to the world,
which will bring about the indispensable task of translating Vietnamese authentic
words of culture into English. His greatest of all work, “Wandering through
Vietnamese culture”, is assessed by an American writer, Lady Borton as “one
comprehensive resource on Vietnamese culture in English” (Wandering through
Vietnamese culture, p 7). Huu Ngoc has shown the readers as well as the researcher
of translation how flexibly free translation or paraphrasing could be used to crack
the hard cultural nuts.

2.6. Chapter summary
This chapter mainly deals with the four main principles of cognitive semantics
as the basis for conceptual metaphor theory, including (1) The conceptual structure
is embodied; (2) semantic structure is conceptual structure; (3) meaning
representation has encyclopedic; (4) meaning construction is conceptualization.
Besides, the theory of conceptual metaphor has also been evaluated. The theory of
conceptual metaphor is the theory frame that is developed earliest of cognitive
semantic to promote researching the relationship between languages, thinking and
embodied experience. Moreover, Chapter 2 also has overview of theory and kinds
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of the conceptual metaphors. All concepts of conceptual metaphors have listed and
have focused on the roles of metaphors in the idioms through the fairy tales.

Additionally, the study focuses on the general ideas about emotion study, and
identifies the method of the study is studying emotions by the perspective of
cognitive linguistic. The classification of these terms will be of great importance as
we move on the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research methods
Based on the aims and the objectives of this research, there are two metaphors,
which has been used as research subject, are including sad and happy. Those two
metaphors are expressed by the idioms in the fairy tales and analysed quantitatively
and qualitatively.
The research methods of this research are including description method,
sematic analysis method, quantitative research method and comparative research
method. Description method is the system of research tactics that are applied to
point out the embody the characteristics of linguistic phenomena during certain
stages of their development (Scheithauer, 2011). This method was used to describe
the main object of the study, which is emotional idioms by the established criterial
objects. Semantic analysis method is used to analysing and generalizing the
meanings and cultural values of emotional idioms that are subject to research
(Landauer et al., 2013). Quantitative research method will be used as a supporting
method for description method and semantic analysis. The advantage of quantitative
method is clear results (Balnaves and Caputi, 2001). However, this option is one of
those cases where the source of the problem cannot be solved. Thus, the qualitative
method is additional to fix the gap of the quantitative. Comparative method is the
main method of the thesis. This method is used to find out the similarities and the
differences in Vietnamese and English in using emotional conceptual metaphor.
Then, it can identify the general characteristics and cultural characteristics

expressed through idioms expressing emotions. The way of this method is to
determine the basis of collation according to the function-semantics approach,
which means to identify the universal conceptual semantics, the characteristic of
them inside the specific language and the characteristics of the means of
expressions in different languages.

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3.2. Research process
The conceptual metaphors were collected and analysed in terms of their forms.
Thus, each analysis includes a description of the context and the text for interpreting
the metaphor. Accordingly, the metaphors were examined to disclose how modes
interact to represent the source and domain, followed by intended message. Besides,
English versions were compared and contrasted to clarify the similarities and
differences of using structures or making meanings with their Vietnamese versions.
The next step is collecting typical features and their mappings from the
Grimm‟s Fairy tales. The data is collected through the procedure of critical analysis,
based on the research of Kovecses (2010b). Kovecses (2010b) focused on
metaphors analysis stress in conceptual metaphors, the linguistic, context, cognitive.
The results should be combine for an effective account for metaphor in any
linguistic expressions.
During the research process, the study will aim to classify cultural features
from English versions with Vietnamese ones. Based on the classification, the study
will define how conceptual metaphors effect on both the languages and cultures.
Essential research methods, such as qualitative and quantitative research methods,
will be applied to carry out the thesis. Furthermore, comparative analysis and
description research method will be used for the supporting purposes. Additionally,
quantitative description is also used to help to count the data. Due to the aim of the
study to compare and contracts the data from the tales, primary data will become

the main source for this study.
3.3. Data collection
Based on the research methods and research process of this study, the data
collection process includes four steps. First, collecting kinds of metaphors from
both English and Vietnamese versions. Second, classifying collected English and
Vietnamese metaphors. Third, according to term groups in chapter 2, collected
English and Vietnamese emotional conceptual metaphors in step 1 are chosen into
two emotions, which are happy and sad. Fourth, finding the common meaning in
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cultural in both English and Vietnamese versions. Based on the framework of
metaphors mentioned in chapter 2, the values of metaphors in both English and
Vietnamese versions will be evaluated. Based on the evaluation of values of
metaphors, the answers of research questions will be found.

3.4. Procedure of data analysis
The analysis was carried out within the framework of the conceptual
metaphors theory of Kövecses (2003). First, in the classification stage, the study
aims to collect and arrange English and Vietnamese terms into 3 groups, which are
the structural metaphors, the ontological metaphors, and the orientational
metaphors. Second, in the analysis stage, collected data are analysed in term of the
number of strategies used to translate the subjects. The data processing proved to be
extremely essential because it served as a framework for suggesting ways to
translate English idioms into Vietnamese. Third, in the implication stage, the study
aims to make the conclusions and suggestions for teaching metaphors.

3.5. Chapter summary
Chapter 3 outlines the process of implementing this research. Besides, the
research methods have been clarified. Specifically, research will be conducted

within the framework of the conceptual metaphors theory of Kövecses (2003).
Besides, the data used is mainly primary data, collected from Grimm‟s fairy tales
(both English and Vietnamese versions). In addition, the analytical methods that
will be applied include descriptive research method, comparative analysis method
and quantitative method (mainly used to describe the collected data).

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