An investigation into conceptual metaphors denoting “life” in american and vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991

Therefore, this study attempts to probe into conceptual metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991 from the perspective of cognitive linguistics..

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

ĐINH THỊ MAI ANH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “LIFE”

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT

STORIES FROM 1975 TO 1991

NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM DÙNG ĐỂ BIỂU ĐẠT “CUỘC SỐNG” TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA MỸ - VIỆT TỪ 1975 ĐẾN 1991

M A Major Program Thesis

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

HA NOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

ĐINH THỊ MAI ANH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “LIFE”

IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT

STORIES FROM 1975 TO 1991

NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM DÙNG ĐỂ BIỂU ĐẠT “CUỘC SỐNG” TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA MỸ - VIỆT TỪ 1975 ĐẾN 1991

M A Major Program Thesis

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ngô Đình Phương

HA NOI - 2016

DECLARATION

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains

no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgements in this thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institutions

Hanoi, 2016

Đinh Thị Mai Anh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, the completion of this study could not have been possible without the expertise of Assoc Prof Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, my beloved thesis supervisor I would like to express my sincere gratitude to him for his dedicated guidance and constructive criticism extended to me

My appreciation also goes to all the lecturers at Faculty of Post – Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, who expertly guided me through my education, shared their valuable knowledge and inspired me to carry out this research

Last but not least, I also place on record, my sense of gratitude to all the family members for their unceasing support and great encouragement

ABSTRACT

Metaphor has attracted the attention of scholars interested in language, especially rhetoricians and literary critics, for more than 2000 years Traditionally, metaphor was viewed as a matter of language, as a set of extraordinary or figurative linguistic expressions only used in literature with the aim

to embellish discourse However, cognitive linguistics presents a different view of metaphor, stating that metaphor, in its broad sense, is pervasive and essential in language and thought It is defined as understanding one abstract conceptual domain (target domain), in terms of another concrete conceptual domain (source domain) The concept of life has been one of the most common target domains, which is hard

to fully comprehend without establishing a set of mappings, i.e a set of systematic correspondences, between this undelineated notion and other better-known one Therefore, this study attempts to probe into conceptual metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991 from the perspective of cognitive linguistics Basing on a relatively considerable number of collected data, the author makes an investigation into the similarities and differences in the use of these conceptual metaphors in both languages, in the hope to contribute a part to the process of foreign language teaching and learning, and translation practice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 9

1.1 Rationale of the study 9

1.2 Significance of the study 10

1.3 Aims and objectives 10

1.3.1 Aims of the study 10

1.3.2 Objectives of the study 11

1.4 Research questions 11

1.5 Scope of the study 11

1.6 Method and Procedures 12

1.6.1 Research Method 12

1.6.2 Data collection 13

1.6.3 Data analysis 13

1.7 Organization of the study 13

CHAPTER 2.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 15

2.1 Theoretical background 15

2.1.1 Cognitive Science 15

2.1.2 Cognitive Linguistics 15

2.1.3 Cognitive Semantics 17

2.1.4 Metaphor 17

2.1.4.1 The traditional view of metaphors 17

2.1.4.2 Metaphors in the Cognitive Linguistic View 20

2.1.5 Short stories 28

2.2 Literature review 31

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34

3.1 Research design and methodology 34

3.2 Data 35

3.2.1 American short stories 35

3.2.2 Vietnamese short stories 37

3.3 Data collection 38

3.4 Data analysis 40

3.5 Research procedures 41

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 43

4.1 Quantitative analysis 43

4.1.1 Structural metaphors 44

4.1.2 Ontological metaphors 46

4.1.3 Orientational metaphors 48

4.2 Qualitative analysis 49

4.2.1 Conceptual metaphors denoting life in American short stories 49

4.2.1.1 LIFE IS AN ENTITY 49

4.2.1.2 LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME 52

4.2.1.3 LIFE IS A JOURNEY 54

4.2.1.4 LIFE IS A CONTAINER 56

4.2.1.5 LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION 58

4.2.1.6 LIFE IS A PERSON 59

4.2.1.7 LIFE IS A MACHINE 60

4.2.1.8 LIFE IS A WAR 61

4.2.1.9 LIFE IS A STORY 62

4.2.1.10 LIFE IS A GAME 63

4.2.1.11 LIFE IS A PAIN 63

4.2.2 Conceptual metaphors denoting life in Vietnamese short stories 63

4.2.2.1 LIFE IS AN ENTITY 63

4.2.2.2 LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME 66

4.2.2.3 LIFE IS A JOURNEY 67

4.2.2.4 LIFE IS A CONTAINER 69

4.2.2.5 LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION 70

4.2.2.6 LIFE IS A PERSON 71

4.2.2.7 LIFE IS A MACHINE 71

4.2.2.8 LIFE IS A WAR 71

4.2.2.9 LIFE IS A STORY 71

4.2.2.10 LIFE IS A GAME 72

4.2.2.11 LIFE IS A PAIN 73

4.3 Research findings 73

4.3.1 Similarities 73

4.3.2 Differences 77

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 80

5.1 Conclusion 80

5.2 Implications for the study 80

5.2.1 Implications for teachers 80

5.2.2 Implications for learners 81 5.2.3 Implications for translators 82 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 83 REFERENCES

APPENDIX A AMERICAN CORPUS ANALYZED IN THE STUDY

APPENDIX B VIETNAMESE CORPUS ANALYZED IN THE STUDY

LIST OF TABLES

Number of

1.1 American & Vietnamese short stories from 1975 - 1991 4

2.1 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains 15 2.2 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains 15 2.3 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains 18

4.2

Occurrence and Percentage of Conceptual Metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991

35

4.3

Occurrence and Percentage of Structural Metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991

36

4.4

Occurrence and Percentage of Ontological Metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991

37

4.5

Occurrence and Percentage of Orientational metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991

39

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

Cognitive linguistics is the approach to the study of language that began to emerge in the 1970s and has been increasingly active since the 1980s Until now, a large amount of research has been carried out in the light of cognitive linguistics over the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, and most of them have focused on semantics with a deeper insight into the use of conceptual metaphor in language Conceptual metaphors involve two concepts and have the form A is B, where the more abstract concept A such as love, life, economy and argument is comprehended in terms of the more concrete concept B including war or a container Therefore, the investigation into conceptual metaphors with the aim to find out similarities and differences of using this kind of meaning transference among languages in the world brings great benefits to the English teaching, learning and translating process

Life has been one of the most inspirational and enchanting topics for thousands of writers across the time Although the concept of life is commonly mentioned in our daily life or everyday conversations, its definition or true meaning cannot be described by only one or two words Life is the mixture of everything – the mixture of happiness and sadness, success and failure, comfort and pain, encouragement and frustration, opportunities and obstacles, love and hatred, relief and sorrow, and struggle and surrender Therefore, it is hard to fully comprehend the concept of life itself without any connection with other concrete notions or tangible objects To illustrate that, imagine life is a game People are considered as players, who need to play as skillfully and fairly as they can with the aim to win, or acquire their own goals in life If the concept of life is perceived in terms of a journey, people are considered as travellers trying their best to overcome all impediments on their way to reach the final destinations As a result, the abstract concept of life can be metaphorically mentioned through other more delineated ones Depending on the distinctive features of different cultures or specific geographical characteristics of regions in the world, life has its own uniqueness

The conceptualization of life in American and Vietnamese short stories and the universal and unique conceptual metaphors referring to life among languages

have given me a great inspiration to carry out a research entitled: ―An investigation into conceptual metaphors denoting “life” in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991‖ Hopefully, the findings of this study would make a

contribution to the process of understanding and interpretation of conceptual metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories

1.2 Significance of the study

This research is carried out in the hope to contribute a small part to the consolidation of cognitive linguistic theory in general, and cognitive semantics in particular Although there are a number of investigations into conceptual metaphors

in the world and in Vietnam as well, how the concept of life is conceptualized in short stories, and how metaphorical expressions used to denote this abstract notion are similar and different among languages, have not been examined yet Therefore, this study is expected to help learners who have not exposured much in life and might find it difficult to understand this concept when reading materials or having a conversation with foreign people Moreover, it is hoped to contribute to the process

of teaching and learning American literature in foreign languages departments or universities in Vietnam, and of translating American shorts stories or other forms of art into Vietnamese and vice verse

1.3 Aims and objectives

1.3.1 Aims of the study

This research aims to:

- Carry out an investigation into conceptual metaphors denoting life in some American and Vietnamese short stories based on the theory of cognitive semantics

- Make a comparison of using conceptual metaphors to express life in American versus Vietnamese short stories

- Make contributions to learning, teaching and translating process

1.3.2 Objectives of the study

To gain the aims above, the researcher attempts to:

- Identify the conceptual metaphors of life in some American and Vietnamese short stories in terms of cognitive linguistics

- Categorize these conceptual metaphors in the frame of linguistic cognitivism

- Analyze and discover the similarities and differences in the conceptual metaphors denoting the concept of life in some American and Vietnamese short stories

- Make some suggestions for foreign language teaching and learning, as well

as for translating process

1.5 Scope of the study

The study merely focuses on investigating the conceptual metaphors denoting life based on the theory of cognitive linguistics The researcher also chooses to investigate these conceptual metaphors in nineteen American short stories and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991, as follows:

1 A silver dish (Saul Bellow, 1979) Vệ sỹ của Quan Châu (Ma Văn

Kháng,1978)

2 Gesturing (John Updike, 1980) Hai ông già ở Đồng Tháp Mười (Nguyễn

Khải, 1981)

3 Where I‘m calling from (Raymond

Carver, 1983)

Người gặp hằng ngày (Nguyễn Khải, 1981)

4 Janus (Ann Beattie, 1986) Chuyến bay (Nguyễn Minh Châu, 1983)

5 The way we live now (Susan

Sontag, 1987)

Gió từ miền cát (Xuân Thiều, 1983)

6 Menseteung (Alice Munro, 1989) Khách ở quê ra (Nguyễn Minh Châu,

1984)

7 You‘re ugly, too (Lorrie Moore,

1990)

Tháng ngày đã qua (Xuân Thiều, 1984)

8 The legend of pig - eye (Rick Bass,

Bến quê (Nguyễn Minh Châu, 1985)

10 The point (Charles D‘Ambrosio,

14 Bologoye (Mikhail Lossel, 1990) Nắng chiều (Nguyễn Khải, 1989)

15 Glossolalia (David Jauss, 1990) Đổi đời (Nguyễn Khải, 1990)

16 Viva la Tropicana (Leonard

Michaels, 1990)

Ông trưởng họ (Nguyễn Khải, 1991)

17 Willing (Lorie Moore, 1990) Heo may, gió lộng (Ma Văn Kháng, 1991)

18 Friend of my youth (Alice Munro,

Một thời gió bụi (Nguyễn Khải, 1991)

Table 1.1: American & Vietnamese short stories from 1975 - 1991

1.6 Method and Procedures

1.6.1 Research Methods

In this study, the quantitative and quanlitative methods are applied in order to achieve its aims and objectives In addition, this research is also carried out on the base of contrastive and comparative analysis so as to make an investigation into the

similarities and differences in metaphorical expressions manifested in conceptual metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to

1991 from cognitive semantic approach

1.6.2 Data collection

Metaphorical expressions denoting life are collected from American and Vietnamese short stories composed during the time from 1975 to 1991, and published in printed editions

Nineteen American short stories are taken from two famous collections of

short stories including The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison (1999), and The Best American Short Stories

1991 selected from U.S Magazines by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991)

Nineteen Vietnamese short stories written by well-known authors those days

are collected from collections of short stories including Nguyễn Khải truyện ngắn 1 selected by Nguyễn Phan Hách and Nguyễn Khắc Trường (2003), Truyện ngắn

Nguyễn Minh Châu, tác phẩm và lời bình by Tuấn Thành and Vũ Nguyễn (2007), Truyện ngắn Ma Văn Kháng by Trung Trung Đỉnh and Nguyễn Khắc Trường

(2008), and Xuân Thiều toàn tập, tập 3 by Ngô Vĩnh Bình (2015)

1.6.3 Data analysis

In order to achieve the aims of this study, the data are both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed Firstly, the data is quatitatively examined in terms of occurence of three types of conceptual metaphors classified by Lakoff and Johnson

(1980), specifically structural metaphors, ontological metaphors, and orientational

metaphors Secondly, the two sets of data will be qualitatively analyzed and

compared in order to find out the similarities and differences between conceptual metaphors denoting life in some American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975

to 1991

1.7 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts:

Chaper 1 ―Introduction” will include the rationale, the aims and objectives

of the study, the significance, the research questions, the scope and the organization

of the study

Chapter 2 includes the “Theoretical Background and Literature Review”

where a review of previous studies is carried out and the theoretical background is provided

Chapter 3 is about the “Research Methodology” of the study This chapter

will mention the methodology, the design of the research, the ways of data collection, data analysis

Chapter 4 gives the “Findings and Discussions” related to the conceptual

metaphors denoting LIFE in some American and Vietnamese short stories

Chapter 5 entitles “Conclusions and Implications” This chapter will sum

up the development of the study, provide implications for teaching, learning and translating cognitive metaphors in English and Vietnamese It will also present some limitations and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 Cognitive Science

The term “Cognition”, as used by cognitive scientists, derives from the Latin root (cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, congnitum, which means to know, to conceptualize or to recognize) and is defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s

Dictionary (Hornby, 2000) as ―the process by which knowledge and understaning is

developed in the mind‖ (p 299) It encompasses mental processes such as attention, memory, production of language, problem solving and decision making Ly Toan

Thang (2005) considered “Cognition” as the process of absorbing, storing and

processing information into knowledge (p 16)

Cognitive science, which has attracted significant attention since the late 20th

century, is the interdisciplinary investigation of the mind and intelligence In contrast with some early philosophical theories and commonsense views treating

the mind as souls and spirits, not suitable for scientific study, Cognitive science

consider it to be a valuable source of data in order to investigate the mind and understand how information is processed in human‘s brains on the base of the ideas and methods of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, artificial intelligence, neuroscience and anthropology For instance, linguists collect evidence about the way people produce and understand meaningful sentences Meanwhile, psychologists will gather behavioral evidence relating to social interaction, language comprehension and emotional experience Until now, the cooperation of scientists from different fields in attempts to understand the mind has brought illuminating explanations of many kinds of human thinking

2.1.2 Cognitive Linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics is an approach to the analysis of natural language that originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the work of George Lakoff, Ron Langacker, and Len Talmy In contrast with other linguistic researches, Cognitive

Linguistics is deemed to be a flexible framework rather than a single theory of language In other words, it includes a cluster of many partially overlapping approaches rather than a single well-defined theory In the light of Cognitive Linguistics, language is considered as a way of organizing knowledge that reflects the needs, interests, and experiences of individuals and cultures The formal structures of language are studied not as if they were autonomous, but as reflections

of general conceptual organization, categorization principles, processing mechanisms, and experiential and environmental influences (Geeraerts &

Cuyckens, 2007) Whereas the generative grammarians only analyze language on

the base of a precisely formulated set of rules whose output is all the grammatical sentences in a given language, for the Cognitive approach, natural language is not only seen as a system of rules, but also a repository of world knowledge, a structured collection of meaningful categories that help us deal with new experiences and store old information (Geeraerts & Cuyckens, 2007)

Until now, its theory formation is not yet completely stabilized However, according to Croft & Cruse (2004), there are three fundamental hypotheses considered as the guiding principles of Cognitive Linguistics to language:

- Language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty

- Grammar is conceptualization

- Knowledge of language emerges from language use

These above hypotheses are presented as opposite responses to the other vigorous research paradigms including Generative Grammar and Truth-conditional Semantics Today, the arguments and empirical questions are still raised by the cognitive linguistics to protect their hypotheses

Topics of special interest for Cognitive Linguistics include: the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, systematic polysemy, cognitive models, mental imagery, and metaphor); the functional principles of linguistic organization (such as iconicity and naturalness); the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics (as explored by Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar); the experiential and pragmatic background

of language-in-use; and the relationship between language and thought, including questions about relativism and conceptual universals

Although there has been more than thirty years of development in the world,

researches related to “Cognitive linguistics” just account for an insignificant

numbers in Viet Nam with some noticeable authors such as Lý Toàn Thắng (2005), Trần Văn Cơ (2007), Phan Văn Hoà (2008), Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2007, 2008) and Nguyễn Lai (2009)

2.1.3 Cognitive Semantics

Cognitive semantics, which is similar to the larger enterprise of cognitive linguistics, is not a unified theory It represents an approach to the study of mind and its relationship with embodied experience and culture It proceeds by employing language as a key methodological tool for uncovering conceptual organization and structure It began in the 1970s as a reaction against the objectivist world-view assumed by the Anglo-American tradition in philosophy and the related approach, truth-conditional semantics, developed within formal linguistics While

―by viewing meaning as the relationship between words and the world, conditional semantics eliminates cognitive organization from the linguistic system‖ (Sweetser, 1990, p.4), cognitive semantics sees linguistic meaning as a manifestation of conceptual structure ―Research on cognitive semantics is research

truth-on ctruth-onceptual ctruth-ontent and its organizatitruth-on in language‖ (Talmy, 2004, p.4)

Evans and Green (2006) in their book Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction

examine the four guiding principles that collectively characterize the collection of approaches that fall within semantics, as follows:

1 Conceptual structure is embodied

2 Semantic structure is conceptual structure

3 Meaning representation is encyclopedic

4 Meaning-construction is conceptualization

2.1.4 Metaphor

2.1.4.1 The traditional view of metaphors

The possibility of differentiating between literal and figurative language has been always drawing attention of Western linguistic scholars since at least the time

of Aristotle Within that general process, researchers have concentrated on introducing a system on the base of this differentiation and discussing further distinctive features among different types of meaning transference These figurative devices including metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, litotes, irony and euphemisms have been used in literature with the aim to embellish discourse, to paint a vivid picture, or in other words, to convey a thought more forcefully than a plain statement Within those discussions, the different valuations of the figurative, or more specifically, views of metaphors as ornaments have been a controversial issue for years

Let us begin with Aristotle, who is considered as the father of metaphor theory He supposed that ―It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others, and it

is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilar‖ (Aristotle, 1909, p.71) In other words, metaphor was considered as a conscious and deliberate use of words, and only great poets and eloquent speakers, who must have special talent such as Shakespeare and Churchill, could be its masters In particular, Aristotle limited the use of metaphor merely in poetry and regarded it as a kind of decoration or ornament As a result, metaphor in the traditional view was not an inevitable part of everyday human communication, merely in literature

Metaphor was defined as ―giving the thing a name that belongs to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, on grounds of analogy‖ (Aristotle,

1909, p.63) In other words, everything in nature has its own ‗proper name‘; however, metaphor infringes this rule by using the name of one thing to convey the other In literature, simile has been also used with the same purpose However, the significant difference is that metaphor is considered to be implicit comparison and have no elements of comparison, whereas simile is explicit one with the use of signaling words such as ―like‖, or ―as‖ It is said that the omission of the ―like‖ in metaphor brings two compared entities far closer to each other, which challenges readers to understand the comparison, deepens their experience and helps them to

gain some additional understanding from the analogies presented In general, using metaphor has much greater power than simile

Kövecses (2010) points out that in the traditional view, similarity is considered as the basis of metaphor; in other words, one linguistic expression rather than another is chosen to speak metaphorically about something on the base of resemblances Thus, the excessive production of metaphor has been limited because

of this similarity constraint He takes ―the roses on her cheeks‖ as a typical example

presenting noticeable features of traditional view of metaphor Firstly, metaphor is

deemed to be language‘s decorations or ornaments In this example, ―roses‖ are

used to describe the blushing cheeks on someone‘s face The main purpose of this

metaphor is to enhance readers‘ feeling, not to use the word ―roses‖ as part of the

process of conceptualizing and understanding one thing in terms of another Secondly, metaphor in the traditional view is a linguistic phenomenon, instead of a conceptual one To be more specific, metaphor means only using one word, phrase

or expression in order to refer to others, rather than one conceptual domain to perceive another Thirdly, the reason for choosing ―roses‖ to talk about somebody‘s cheeks is because of the similar color between this kind of flower and women‘s cheeks (pink or red), which exists in human‘s life even before people use this metaphor Finally, in the traditional view, certain preexisting similarities can limit the selection of linguistic expression used metaphorically in place of others to describe the world Therefore, in order to describe the pinkish color on someone‘s

face, it is unusual to use the word ―sky”, as in ―the sky on her cheeks”, because

there is no resemblance between the blue color of the sky and the pinkish color on a person‘s cheeks To sum up, the choice of metaphorical expressions in both conventional and unconventional language use depends on the preexisting similarity

in reality However, there are a huge number of other metaphorical expressions in life, which can be used without any preexisting similar points, such as between

―digesting foods” and “digesting ideas”, or “We’re not going anywhere,” and

“This relationship is not going anywhere.”

In order to seek for the answer of these linguistic phenomena, cognitive linguistics have done thousands of research with the aim to provide an account of

the selection of metaphorical source concepts and their corresponding metaphorical linguistic expressions

2.1.4.2 Metaphors in the Cognitive Linguistic View

A new view of metaphor that challenged all the aspects of the powerful traditional theory in a systematic way was first developed by George Lakoff and

Mark Johnson in 1980 in their seminal study: Metaphor We Live By Lakoff and

Johnson in their work strongly stated that:

1) Metaphor is a property of concepts, not of words

2) The purpose of using metaphor is to comprehend concepts in a deeper way, not just for decorative function in literature

3) The basis of metaphor is not merely based on similarity

4) Metaphor is not a matter of special talents, but is used effortlessly in everyday life by ordinary people

5) Metaphor is not a superfluous process by using metaphorical expressions, but is an integral one of human thought and reasoning in order to conceive the world

2.1.4.2.1 What is metaphor?

In the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain In other words, it can be understood that ―CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A‖ IS ―CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN B‖,

which is called a conceptual metaphor To be more specific, in each conceptual

metaphor, there are two conceptual domains, in which one domain is understood in terms of another A conceptual domain is any coherent organization of experience Let us take a paragraph that contains metaphorical linguistic expressions to talk about life, used pervasively in reality by native speakers of English, as an excellent example

People might say that they try to give their children an education so they will get a good start in life If their children act out, they hope that they are just going through a stage and that they will get over it Parents hope that their children won‘t be burdened with financial worries or ill health and, if they

face such difficulties, that they will be able to overcome them Parents hope that their children will have a long life span and that they will go far in life But they also know that their children, as all mortals, will reach the end of the road

(Winter, 1995, p 235)

In this example, life is considered as a journey Therefore, we have a conceptual metaphor: LIFE IS A JOURNEY, in which life is conceptual domain A, and a journey is conceptual domain B People use the expressions of a journey in order to comprehend the elusive concept of life More specifically, in a journey, travelers are the ones who carry out the action of travelling They get their start, their way and their destination Additionally, they need means of transports to help them quickly reach their final point Obviously, there are no journeys full of happiness and luck, and the travelers have to overcome obstacles in order to finish their journeys By such understanding, people in their life are also travellers Everybody also wants to ―get a good start‖ in life; however, life always consists of impediments and difficulties, which demands people to make strong efforts with the

aim to ―go through a stage‖, overcome all the daily burdens, ―have a long life

span‖, and ―go far in life‖

Linguistic researchers also find out other huge number of examples, in which English speakers make extensive use of the more concrete domain of journey to refer to the highly abstract concept of life

He‘s without direction in life

I‘m where I want to be in life

I‘m at a crossroad in my life

For additional examples, we also can talk and think about theories in terms of buildings, arguments in terms of war, ideas in terms of food, social organizations in terms of plants and so on

Therefore, it is necessary to point out the distinctive features between

conceptual metaphor and metaphorical expressions Lakoff (1992) suppose that the

word metaphor has come to mean a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual

system Thus, the term metaphorical expressions “refer to a linguistic expression (a

word, phrase, or sentence) that is the surface realization of such a cross-domain

mapping (this is what the word metaphor referred to in the old theory)‖ (Lakoff,

1992, p.1) In other words, the words or other linguistic expressions commonly appear in the use of describing CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN B and are used to metaphorically talk about CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A, which are called metaphorical expressions To illustrate that, we have a conceptual metaphor LIFE

IS A JOURNEY, and the linguistic metaphorical expressions manifested from this

metaphor may include ―without direction‖, ―at a crossroad‖, ―go places in life‖,

―get in his way‖, and ―go through a lot in life‖ As a result, the nature of the

relationship between conceptual metaphors and the metaphorical linguistic expressions can be that the linguistic expressions (i.e., ways of talking) make explicit, or are manifestations of, the conceptual metaphors (i.e., ways of thinking)

The two domains of a conceptual metaphor also have distinctive names

―The conceptual domain for which we draw metaphorical expressions to understand

another conceptual domain is called source domain, while the conceptual domain that is understood this way is the target domain” (Kövecses, 2010, p.4) The target

domain is the domain that we try to comprehend through the use of the source domain Therefore, ―conceptual metaphors typically employ a more abstract concept as target and a more concrete or physical concept as their resource‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.7) In studying the most frequent source domains, Kövecses (2010) pointed out that the most systematic comprehensive survey is provided by

Alive Deignan‘s Collins Cobuild English Guides 7: Metaphor To be more specific,

some common source domains are the human body (including the head, face, legs, hands, back, heart, bones, shoulders, and others), health and illness, animals, plants, buildings and construction, machines and tools, games and sport, money and economic transactions, cooking and food, heat and cold, light and darkness, forces, and movement and direction Kövecses (2010) also presented some common target domains such as emotion (anger, fear, love, happiness, sadness, shame, pride, and

so on), desire, morality, thought, society/nation, politics, economy, human relationships, communication, time, life and death, religion, and events and actions

2.1.4.2.2 Conceptual Metaphor as a Set of Mappings

The definition of metaphor in the light of cognitive linguistics is CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A is understood in terms of CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN

B To be more specific, ―there is a set of systematic correspondences between the source and the target in the sense that constituent conceptual elements of B correspond to constituent elements of A‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.7) These conceptual

correspondences are commonly regarded as mappings Let us take the SOCIAL

ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS conceptual metaphor as an example

SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS

He works for the local branch of the bank

Our company is growing

They had to prune the workforce

A set of correspondences, or mappings between constituent elements of the source (i.e PLANTS) and those of the target (i.e SOCIAL ORGANATIONS) can

be laid out as follows

(1) the whole plant  the entire organization

(2) a part of the plant  a part of the organization

(3) growth of the plant  development of the organization

(4) removing a part of the plant  reducing the organization

(5) the root of the plant  the origin of the organization

(6) the flowering  the best stage, the most successful stage

Table 2.1 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains

Let us consider another example with the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY, in which the target domain - love is conceived in terms of the source domain – a journey Some metaphorical linguistic expressions are commonly used

by speakers of English in daily conversations in order to talk about the abstract concept - love

LOVE IS A JOURNEY

Look how far we‘ve come

We‘ll just have to go our separate ways

We can‘t turn back now

The mappings of the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY can be as follows:

(2) the vehicle  the love relationship itself

(3) the journey  events in the relationship

(4) the distance covered  the progress made

(5) the obstacles encountered  the difficulties experienced

(6) decisions about which way to go  choices about what to do

(7) the destination of the journey  the goal(s) of the relationship

Table 2.2 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains

In general, mapping are regarded as the systematic set of correspondences between constituent elements of conceptual domain A (i.e target domain), and conceptual domain B (i.e source domain), which characterize conceptual metaphors

2.1.4.2.3 Kinds of Metaphors

Conceptual metaphors can be classified according to the cognitive functions that they perform Lakoff and Johnson (1980) introduced three general kinds of conceptual metaphor including structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors These kinds of metaphor often coincide in particular cases

2.1.4.2.3.1 Structural Metaphors

In the light of cognitive linguistics, metaphor can be characterized with the formula A IS B, where the target domain (A) is understood through the source domain (B) To make it clearer, with the use of structural metaphors, ―the source domain provides a relatively rich knowledge structure for the target concept‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.37) In other words, thanks to this kind of metaphors, conceptual metaphor A (i.e target domain) can be comprehended by means of the structure of conceptual metaphor B (i.e source domain) This understanding is based on a set of mappings that exist between the structures of A and B

Let us analyze the metaphorical concept TIME IS MOTION in order to give reader deeper inside of structural metaphors The mappings of this conceptual metaphor can be as follows

Times are things

The passing of time is motion

Future times are in front of the observer; past times are behind the observer One thing is moving, the other is stationary; the stationary thing is the deictic center

The concept of time is structured clearly according to motion in this set of mappings There are two special cases of the TIME IS MOTION conceptual metaphor, including TIME PASSING IS MOTION OF AN OBJECT, and TIME PASSING IS AN OBSERVER‘S MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE

TIME PASSING IS MOTION OF AN OBJECT

The time will come when …

The time has long since gone when …

TIME PASSING IS AN OBSERVER‘S MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE

There‘s going to be trouble along the road

His stay in Russia extended over many years

There are a huge number of metaphorical linguistic expressions derived from this TIME IS MOTION conceptual metaphor The mappings help people to

understand the concept of time through the structure of the term motion

2.1.4.2.3.2 Ontological Metaphors

―Understanding our experiences in terms of objects and substances allows us

to pick out parts of our experience and treat them as discrete entities or substances

of a uniform kind‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p.25) Therefore, abstract concepts that are considered as concrete entities, can be referred to, categorized, quantified

and reasoned Let us consider the noun inflation as an entity as an example

INFLATION IS AN ENTITY

Inflation is lowering our standard of living

If there‘s much more inflation, we‘ll never survive

We need to combat inflation

In these metaphorical linguistic expressions, regarding inflation as an entity allows us to refer to it, quantify it (more inflation), identify a particular aspect of it (taking its toll), see it as a cause (makes me sick), and act with respect to it (combat

inflation, dealing with inflation)

However, our experiences are generally comprehended in terms of objects, substances and containers, without naming their specific kinds Therefore, ontological metaphors do not provide an elaborate structure for abstract concepts, or target domains, as discussed in structural metaphors In other words, because of our limited knowledge about objects, substances, and containers, the vague notions via ontological metaphors can be only understood in the general level ―Their cognitive job seems to be to ‗merely‘ give a new ontological status to general categories of abstract target concepts and to bring about new abstract entities‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.38) The mappings between source domains and target domains can be as follows:

PHYSICAL OBJECT  NONPHYSICAL OR ABSTRACT ENTITIES (e.g.,

the mind)

 EVENTS (e.g., going to the race), ACTIONS (e.g., giving someone a call)

SUBSTANCE  ACTIVITIES (e.g., a lot of running in the game)

CONTAINER  UNDELINEATED PHYSICAL OBJECTS (e.g., a

clearing in the forest)

 PHYSICAL AND NONPHYSICAL SURFACES (e.g., land areas, the visual field)

 STATES (e.g., in love)

Table 2.3 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains

On the base of these mappings, people can use ontological metaphors for various

purposes Lakoff & Johnson (1980) in their work Metaphor: We live by listed

different kinds of purposes and gave specific examples

Referring

My fear of insects is driving my wife crazy

That was a beautiful catch

Quantifying

It will take a lot of patience to finish this book

There is so much hatred in the world

Identifying Aspects

The ugly side of his personality comes out under pressure

The brutality of war dehumanizes us all

Identifying causes

The pressure of his responsibilities caused his breakdown

He did it out of anger

Setting Goals and Motivating Actions

He went to New York to seek fame and fortune

Here‘s what you have to do to insure financial security

Ontological metaphors are also used to comprehend events, actions, activities, and states According to the mappings mentioned above, events and actions are conceptualized metaphorically as concrete objects, activities as substances, and states as containers Let us consider some following examples with various kinds of states conceptualized as containers

He‘s in love

We‘re out of trouble now

He‘s coming out of the coma

Personification is also regarded as a form of ontological metaphor ―In

personification, human qualities are given to nonhuman entities‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.39) For instance, theory, life, inflation, cancer and computer are not humans; however, they are given qualities of human beings as in following examples

His theory explained to me the behavior of chickens raised in factories Life has cheated me

Abstract or vague concepts can be comprehended in a better way via giving them human qualities

2.1.4.2.3.3 Orientational Metaphors

Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation: up-down, out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral For example, all the following concepts are characterized by an ―upward‖ orientation, while their

in-―opposites‖ receive a ―downward‖ orientation (Kövecses, 2010, p.40)

MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN Speak up, please

HEALTHY IS UP; SICK IS DOWN Lazarus rose from the head

CONCIOUS IS UP; SAD IS DOWN I‘m on top of the situation

HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN I‘m feeling up today

VIRTUE IS UP; LACK IS DOWN She‘s an upstanding citizen

RATIONAL IS UP; NONRATIONAL

IS DOWN

The discussion fell to an emotional

level

Table 2.4 Orientational Metaphors

In general, upward orientation normally transfers positive meaning, while downward orientation with negative one

2.1.5 Short stories

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary (2000), a short story is

defined as ―a story, usually about imaginary characters and events, that is short enough to be read from beginning to end without stoping‖ (p.1187) The term often refers to a work of fiction no longer than 20,000 words and no shorter than 1,000

Short stories tend to be less complex than novels, focusing on only one incident, with a single plot, a single setting, a limited number of characters, and covering a short period of time Short stories have their origins in narrative storytelling and prose anecdote As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary by authors Singer (2000), an award-winning author of children‘s books in a variety of genres, collected ideas of different writers about the definition of short

stories in her work What is a Short Story? ―A short stories, in some ways, like a

photograph – a captured moment of time that is crystalline, though sometimes mysterious, arresting, though perhaps delicate‖ (Singer, 2000, p.38) In other words,

a short story is like the illumination of a match, and all the details have work toward that illumination

Scofield (2006) presented the distinctive features between the short story and the ‗novella‘ or the long story – that form of between about fifty and hundred and fifty pages (or 20,000 and 40,000 words), too long for a ‗short story‘ and too short

for a novel, in his book The Cambridge introduction to American short story

Because of the shorter length, a short story usually focuses on one plot, one main

character (a few additional minor characters), and one central theme In contrast,

“The novella often covers more narrative ground, often deals with a large number

of characters rather than focusing on one or two, and is often divided into parts or chapters‖ (Scofield, 2006, p.4) In other words, a short story is like a short visit to other people, while a long one is like a long journey with others A short story is cinematically seen as the camera zooming in this one climatic moment, then pulling back on either side of the moment to show all that leads up to and comes after it

Regarding the short stories in American, there was a notable revival of interest in the 1970s and 1980s Traditionalists including John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates maintained significant influence on the form Of the North America‘s foremost men of letters, John Updike was prolific in a variety of genres, especially

in short stories His works are highly regarded for its luminous prose style and commitment to realism, and also provide readers with a detailed social history of the late twentieth century To be more specific, they expose the metamorphosis of middle-class domesticity in an era of greater sexual freedom, rising marital discord,

heightened spiritual uncertainty, and increased social unrest (Bendixen & Nagel, 2010) In addition, minimalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most notably in the work of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie Among the writers, Raymond Carver represents a return to realism as a literary mode after the postmodern experimentation of Barthelme, Gass and others; a realism which owes much to Hemingway but which also gives the mode a distinctively new inflection, exploring the strange turns of ordinary life, the odd corners within the familiar (Scofield, 2006) Other noticeable authors during this period of time include Saul Bellow (1979), Susan Sontag (1987), Alice Munro (1989), Lorrie Moore (1990), Rick Bass (1990), Robert Olen Butler (1990) and so on Their works are considered

as vivid descriptions of American life during that period of time

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the historical background partly had a great influence of the development of Vietnamese literature in general and the genre of short story in particular On April, 30 1975, the Fall of Saigon, or the Liberation of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People‘s Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal reunification of Vietnam under the Socialist Republic During the renewal process, Vietnamese literature in general and short stories in particular experienced significant changes Critic Ngo Van Gia (2016) pointed out the biggest achievement was a change of perception of human lives Authors adopted a completely new writing style and became famous They shifted from war-time aesthetics to peace-time aesthetics, from praising the war of resistance to focusing on human destinies, universal values, and questioning and engaging reality

Before 1975, short stories writers such as Nam Cao, To Hoai and Kim Lan tended to depict the plight of miserable people in the society with unfeigned vivid words and flexible descriptions They specifically concentrated on the lingering distressful tragedies of their inner souls, indirectly brought forward the prevailing social problems of this period After 1975, Vietnam‘s renewal shaped national culture and inspired artists‘ creativity Short stories written in this period of time embodied a different view of life Authors had freedom to speak out their voices,

and reflect the reality of life for the people If, during the war time, a generation of writers basically fulfilled their historical responsibility, after the war the subsequent generation helped form an eventful literary period, winning the hearts of the audience Nguyễn Minh Châu, Ma Văn Kháng, Nguyễn Khải, Xuân Thiều and so

on were dominant short stories writers during this period of time These post-war generations of authors, who grew up after 1975, led more comfortable lives and had

a new view of reform, contributed a remarkable part to the development of Vietnamese literature

2.2 Literature review

The beginnings of Cognitive Linguistics lie around 1975, which is the year when Lakoff appears to have used the term ―Cognitive Linguistics‖ for the first time (Dirk & Hubert, 2007, p.591) At this period of time, Lakoff realized that figures of speech, such as metaphor and metonymy, were not just linguistic decorations, but a part of everyday speech that affects the ways in which we perceive, think, and act

He began his collaboration with the philosopher Mark Johnson in 1979, and they

published their seminal book Metaphors We Live By in 1980, which was the first

publication to bring Cognitive Linguistics to the attention of a wider audience In this work, Lakoff and Johnson present their strong arguments against the traditional view of metaphor and introduce a new one that challenged all the aspects of this widely-share theory in a coherent and systematic way They claim ―metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p.3) They also introduce the notion of conceptual metaphor and illustrate their viewpoint with a huge number of linguistic examples This work is the main theoretical background and guideline for my thesis

Since then, a considerable number of researches have been carried out in the light of cognitive linguistics in the world and in Viet Nam as well Kövecses (2010) points out that common target domains include emotion (such as anger, fear, love, happiness, sadness, shame and pride), desire, morality, thought, society/ nation, politics, economy, human relationships, communication, time, life and death, religion, events and actions To illustrate that, Lakoff and Turner (1989) investigate metaphors for life and death, as well as time, in literary texts Johnson (1992) is a

discussion of morality as moral accounting J kel (1995) describes a large system of metaphors relating to the mind and thought, in which the mind is viewed as a workshop and thought as the manipulations of tools and objects K vecses (1986,

1988, 1990, 1991a, 1991b) are analyses of various emotion concepts Lakoff (1990, 1993) looks at metaphors for events and actions in general Lakoff (1993, 1994) and Radden (1997) examine the concept of time as conceptualized in terms of moving objects Evans (2004) is a book-length study of time

In Lakoff and Turner‘s work (1989), More than Cool Reason: A field guide

to poetic metaphor, the conceptual metaphors denoting ―life‖ were mostly examined

on the scope of poems Other minor researches on the concept of life includes The

Journeys of Life: Examining a Conceptual Metaphor with Semantic and Episodic Memory Recall (Katz & Taylor, 2008) with a deeper insight into only one

conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY This conceptual metaphor is also dicussed by Lakoff (1994) and Winter (1995) In general, the number of the researches into the conceptual metaphors denoting ―life‖ merely takes up an insignificant part in comparison with other target domains, which inspires me to make a further study of this abstract concept

In Viet Nam, there are some noticeable cognitive linguists, such as Lý Toàn Thắng (2005), Trần Văn Cơ (2007), Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2007, 2009), Phan Văn Hoà (2008) and Nguyễn Lai (2009) Lý Toàn Thắng (2005) in his book ―Ngôn ngữ học tri nhận – Từ lý thuyết đại cương đến thực tiễn tiếng Việt‖ gives an introduction to cognitive linguistics and presents distinctive features of linguistic models about the world Trần Văn Cơ (2007) explains the traditional view of metaphor and points out the new viewpoint on this figure of speech in the light of cognitive linguistics Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2008) and Nguyễn Lai (2009) do research on the use of conceptual metaphors in idioms and poetry respectively Besides, there are some minor researches, carried out in VNU University of Languages and International Studies, on conceptual metaphors denoting ―economy‖ as human body by Hồ Thị Hải Yến (2012), conceptual metaphors denoting ―anger‖ by Trần Thị Minh Yến (2012), and conceptual metaphors denoting ―love‖ in American and Vietnamese romantic novels from 2008 to 2013 by Lê Thị Khánh Hoà (2012) However, none of

them mentioned in detail the conceptual metaphors denoting LIFE, and the similarities and differences between linguistic expressions deriving from these metaphors In the University of Da Nang, Hoàng Nguyên Tôn Ngân (2014) also made a research on cognitive metaphors denoting the concept of ―life‖, but the source of analyzed data was taken from English and Vietnamese lyric songs

To sum up, none of researches have been carried out to examine conceptual metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories during the period

of time 1975 - 1991, which motivates me to make an investigation in this topic

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter aims at describing the research design and methods, data collection, data analysis, and research procedures used in the study It is important

to choose the suitable methods and instruments in order to analyze the data in this study, which guarantee the reliability and the validity of the research

3.1 Research design and methodology

In this research, both the quantitative and quanlitative method are used in the process of analyzing the collected data Besides, Contrastive and Comparative Analysis are utilized with the aim to find out the similarities and differences of conceptual metaphors denoting LIFE in American and Vietnamese short stories

Regarding Contrastive Analysis, pairwise language comparison has been used in the description of foreign languages at least since the 19th century in Europe Contrastive analysis is an inductive investigation approach based on the distinctive elements in a language It involves the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities between them The theoretical foundations for Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

were formulated in Robert Lado‘s Linguistics Across Cultures (1957) Lado claimed

that ―we can predict and describe the patterns that will cause difficulty in learning, and those that will not cause difficulty, by comparing systematically the language and culture to be learnt with the native language and culture of the student.‖ Therefore, contrastive linguistics plays an important role in the creation of language awareness (Kortmann, 1996; James, 2005; Mair, 2005) In particular, learners can profit from a direct comparison of their native language with the language to be learnt, thus making their implicit knowledge of differences explicit Therefore, it is considered as a useful tool in pedagogical aspect

Concerning Comparative Analysis, its two features include (1) an interest in the explanatory question of why the observed similaries and differences between cases exist, and (2) reliance on the collection of data on two or more cases, ideally according to a common framework The primary reason for comparative analysis is

the explanatory interest of gaining a better understanding of the causal processes involved in the production of an event, feature or relationship The two conventional types of comparative analysis focus on the explanation of differences, and the explanation of similarities

It is important to distinguish Contrastive Analysis and Comparative

Analysis Contrastive Analysis is part of applied linguistics and seeks to establish

the similarities and differences between a language learner‘s first language and the target language (= the one being learnt) in order to attempt to predict where learners will have difficulties and make mistakes Meanwhile, Comparative Analysis is part

of historical linguistics and refers to the process of establishing family relationships

and reconstructing proto-languages (= ancestral languages)

In the thesis, Contrastive and Comparative Analysis are used with the aim to identify the similar and different points between conceptual metaphors denoting LIFE in the two languages From that, the implications for teaching, learning and translating can be extracted, which brings great benefits to English learners

3.2 Data

On the scope of this study, the data are collected from nineteen American and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991, written by famous writers during this period of time

3.2.1 American short stories

The nineteen American short stories are selected from the two well-known

collections of short stories, specifically The Best American Short Stories of the

Century collected by John Updike and Katrina Kenison (1999), and The Best American Short Stories edited by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991)

In order to choose the best short stories for the collection The Best American

Short Stories of the Century (1999), the editors read thousand stories published in

American periodicals, and from these, culled about 120 to pass on to the guest

editor, who then makes the final selection This ensures that The Best American

Short Stories would never be simply a collection of the stories only John Updike

and Katrina Kenison like best This anthology has been shaped by the tastes and

predilections of such varied talents such as Robert Stone, Alice Adams, Louise Erdrich, Tobias Wolff, Jane Smiley, John Edgar Widerman, Annie Proulx, and Garrison Keillor The collections they have assembled are reflections both of who they are and of the healthy vigor of the American short story at the end of this century There are two principles guiding the editors in the process of choosing the short stories for this collection First, this selection needs to reflect the century, with each decade given roughly equal weight – what amounted to between six and eight stories per decade Second, it enforces the reflection of an American reality, deals with characters from the United States and excludes any story that did not take place on this continent On the scope of this study, there are seven American short stories chosen from this selection including:

Gesturing (John Updike, 1980)

Where I’m calling from (Raymond Carver, 1983)

Janus (Ann Beattie, 1986)

The way we live now (Susan Sontag, 1987)

Menseteung (Alice Munro, 1989)

You’re ugly, too (Lorrie Moore, 1990)

The remaining short stories used for this study are selected from The Best

American Short Stories edited by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991) Similar

to the collection The Best American Short Stories of the Century (1999), a different

writer or critic has served as guest editor of the anthology, thereby ensuring its continued diversity The variety of viewpoints has enlivened the series and resulted

in volumes that reflect the passions and predilections of some of the finest writers at work today The qualifications for selection are: (1) original publication in nationally distributed American periodicals; (2) publication in English by writers who are American, or who have made the United States their home; and (3) publication as short stories There are twelve American short stories chosen from this study in order to search for LIFE metaphorical expressions, as follows:

The legend of pig-eye (Rick Bass, 1990)

The trip back (Robert Olen Butler, 1990)

The point (Charles D’Ambrosio, JR, 1990)

Oil and water (Millicent Dillion, 1990)

The body shop (Elizabeth Graver, 1990)

Houdini (Siri Hustvedt, 1990)

Bologoye (Mikhail Lossel, 1990)

Glossolalia (David Jauss, 1990)

Viva la Tropicana (Leonard Michaels, 1990)

Willing (Lorie Moore, 1990)

Friend of my youth (Alice Munro, 1990)

American, Abroad (Joyce Carol Oates, 1990)

Each short story faithfully reflects different pieces of life in America, which becomes the valuable source for this thesis, in order to find out LIFE metaphorical expressions

3.2.2 Vietnamese short stories

In terms of Vietnamese data, the nineteen short stories are selected from the collections of typical authors during the period of time from 1975 to 1991,

including Nguyễn Khải truyện ngắn 1 selected by Nguyễn Phan Hách and Nguyễn Khắc Trường (2003), Truyện ngắn Nguyễn Minh Châu, tác phẩm và lời bình by Tuấn Thành and Vũ Nguyễn (2007), Truyện ngắn Ma Văn Kháng by Trung Trung Đỉnh and Nguyễn Khắc Trường (2008), and Xuân Thiều toàn tập, tập 3 by Ngô

Vĩnh Bình (2015)

Nguyễn Minh Châu is considered as the outstanding successor in the Vietnamese prose, and the person who paved the way for the brilliant talented young writers later as well His career lasted for three decades (1960 – 1989), with a significant number of well-known literal works On the scope of this study, there are

merely five short stories chosen as the source of data analyzed, specifically Chuyến

bay (1983), Khách ở quê ra (1984), Bến quê (1985), Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa (1987),

and Phiên Chợ Giát (1989) All these works closely describe the real life of

ordinary people, and reflect their way of conceiving the abstract concept of LIFE in terms of others

Đinh Trọng Đoàn, whose pen name is Ma Văn Kháng, was one of the first authors in the innovative period of time in Viet Nam, with more than 200 short

stories Some typical works chosen for the analysis of this study include Vệ sỹ của

Quan Châu (1978), Trung du chiều mưa buồn (1897), Heo may, gió lộng (1991),

and Móng vuốt thời gian (1991)

Themes of works by Nguyễn Khải vary from the country life in the innovative period of time, the life of soldiers during the war against American army, the typical social and political issues, to the spiritual and ideological life of Vietnamese people witnessing the country‘s complicated changes The short stories selected for this thesis also reflect Vietnamese people‘s life in an accurate and direct

way, specifically Hai ông già ở Đồng Tháp Mười (1981), Người gặp hằng ngày

(1981), Nắng chiều (1989), Đổi đời (1990), Ông trưởng họ (1991) and Một thời gió bụi (1991)

At the age of 15, Xuân Thiều joined the patriotic movement, and then worked for the Vietnamese army Therefore, the love for the country permeated the pages of his writing Although his works do not account for a significant number, every page, or story closely describes the life of Vietnamese people who had been writhing to go through the war, won a heroic victory by their own blood and tears, and kept fighting during the innovative period of time The short stories analyzed in

this study including Gió từ miền cát (1983), Tháng ngày đã qua (1984), Người mẹ

tội lỗi (1984 - 1985), Thành phố thấp thoáng (1986 – 1987)

3.3 Data collection

The quantity of metaphorical expressions denoting life found in the nineteen American and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991 is the exact number of 203 samples, specifically 114 lexical units in Vietnamese, and 89 illustrations in English

The table below will give detailed information of life metaphorical expressions used for this study in the nineteen American short stories