AN INVESTIGATION INTO CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF “WATER” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE POETRY

Abstract

This study is conducted with the aim to identify conceptual metaphors of WATER in English and Vietnamese poetry. It seeks to find out the similarities and differences in the conceptualization of metaphors of WATER in the two languages; then suggest some implications for language teaching and learning and research. In the study, descriptive, quantitative, qualitative approaches and a contrastive analysis were employed. The data collected for the study include a total of 150 English and 150 Vietnamese samples taken from a corpus of English and Vietnamese poems in the 19th and 20th centuries. The results show that ten conceptual metaphors of WATER in both English and Vietnamese are discovered within the scope of the study. Both English and Vietnamese poets make use of three types of poetic reworking of conventional metaphors, namely extending, elaboration, and combining. Since the meaning of a metaphor is influenced by culture and personal experiences, the concepts in the metaphors might differ significantly across Vietnamese and English cultures.