An investigation into metaphorical features expressing human appearance in english and vietnamese

Abstract

Based on the theories of metaphor, this study investigated the use of metaphorical features of expressions denoting human appearance description in English and Vietnamese. In order to find out popular metaphorical expressions which are normally used to describe people‟s eyes, hair, face, and other parts of body in English and Vietnamese, this research is carried out by using data from published and electronic books, novels, magazines and newspapers. The researcher attempted to point out some similarities, differences and frequency of collected metaphorical expressions of over two hundred samples denoting human appearance in English and Vietnamese. From the findings of characteristics and semantics of metaphorical expressions denoting human appearance and the results, the study puts forward some implications for teaching and learning English to Vietnamese learners. Hopefully, the result of the study can be beneficial for the teaching and learning of English. This study may also be helpful for the readers of English.