An investigation into conceptual metaphors used for describing happiness and sadness in english and vietnamese

Abstract

Metaphor is involed in human cognitive process. It allows us to comprehend a relatively abstract concept by virtue of a more concrete concept, which is thus called conceptual metaphor. Everyday emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and love turn to be metaphorical. Based on the theories of metaphor, this study makes an investigation into conceptual metaphors used for describing happiness and sadness in English and Vietnamese poems. This thesis is carried out to find out the similarities and differences in expressions of conceptual metaphors used for describing happiness and sadness in English and Vietnamese poems. More than 650 metaphorical expressions describing happiness and sadness are collected from English and Vietnamese poems on the Internet, in newspapers and in publication printings. Basing on the findings and results of thesis, some implications for teaching, learning and translating of conceptual metaphors will be suggested. This also helps Vietnamese learners of English achieve better competence in a cross - cultural communication.