AN INVESTIGATION INTO INTERPERSONAL METAPHOR IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE STORIES

Abstract

Interpersonal metaphor is a new concept of metaphors working in language in general. Yet, there have not been many researches on this area. On the theoretical framework of interpersonal metaphor by Halliday in his book An introduction to Functional Grammar (1985, 2004) and on the data collected from English and Vietnamese stories involved interpersonal metaphor, the paper aims at clarifying the features of interpersonal metaphors in English and Vietnamese. With over 400 samples investigated and on the theoretical explanation by Halliday about the two main types of interpersonal metaphor: Metaphor of mood and metaphor of modality, the writer will make a comparison about sub-types of these in qualitative and quantitative approach . The writer will point out some similarities and differences of these sub-types of interpersonal metaphors between English and Vietnamese. The final aim of this paper is to make some contribution to making readers and especially English learners be more aware of this kind of metaphor and from then able to understand more deeply the discourses they read.