A study on metaphors of love in english songs in the late 20th century from cognitive perspective

This study focuses onthe metaphors of love and lovers in the English love songs in the late 20th centuryfrom the cognitive perspective.. The researcher clarifies themetaphorical images o

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o -

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THU

A STUDY ON METAPHORS OF LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVENghiên cứu ẩn dụ về tình yêu và tình nhân trong một số bản tình ca tiếng Anh

ở cuối thế kỷ 20 từ góc nhìn tri nhận

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Ha Noi, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o -

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THU

A STUDY ON METAPHORS OF LOVE IN SOME ENGLISH

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVENghiên cứu ẩn dụ về tình yêu và tình nhân trong một số bản tình ca tiếng Anh

ở cuối thế kỷ 20 từ góc nhìn tri nhận

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisors: Associate Professor VõĐaịQuang, Ph.D

Ha Noi, 2015

I certify that this thesis A study on metaphors of love in some

English love songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective is the result of my own research and the substance of this

thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other university orinstitution

The work was done under the guidance of Assoc Prof Dr VõĐại Quang, my supervisor

Ha Noi, November 2015

Nguyen Thi Hong Thu

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the following people fortheir great supports during my two-year time for the MA course

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof

Dr Võ Đại Quang, my supervisor, for his clear guidance, insightful comments anddutiful supervision

My deep thanks also go to all the lecturers at University of Languages andInternational Studies, Vietnam National University- Ha Noi for their knowledge,experience and enthusiasm in their lectures, from which I have acquired valuableknowledge and inspiration to fulfill this minor thesis

With the passion for literature and semantics, I am really interested in thelectures of Prof Dr Nguyen Hoa and Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thom which haveinspired me to do this study

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to my family any many of myfriends and colleagues for their valuable sharing and encouragements

Finally, my sincere thanks are for the people who will give me the preciouscomments after reading the graduation thesis

In this thesis, the researcher has tried to give an overview of the relevantliterature review in the concern of the knowledge related to metaphors basing on thetheory of the famous writers, especially Lakoff and Kovecses This study focuses onthe metaphors of love and lovers in the English love songs in the late 20th centuryfrom the cognitive perspective It will help the readers have a deeper sight intotheoretical knowledge on metaphors in order to be able to find out, comprehend andanalyze the interesting metaphors in songs The writer also suggests some suitableways for learners to learn English better, for teachers to give the effective lecturesand for readers to translate the texts more exactly

In the paper, the researcher introduces, analyzes 86 quotes from 68 songs in

16 basic sets of metaphors: "Love is a natural phenomenon," "Love is Game",

"Love is war "," Love is music "," Love is the light "," Love is the concrete objects,

"" Love is madness "," Love is abstract things " "Love is closeness", "Love isheaven", "Love is a religion", "Love is a journey", "Love is living creature", "Love

is magic", and "Love is fire", "Love is high/deep" The researcher clarifies themetaphorical images of love in songs, analyzes and categorizes them into 3subtypes: ontological, structural or orientational metaphors with 16 sets ofmetaphors Then, the writer introduces and explains the ways how these metaphorsare used as well as their artistic value in these songs

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of the study 3

6 Organization of study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Review of theoretical background 4

1.1.1 Word and its meanings 4

1.1.2 Change of meaning 5

1.1.3 Components of Word Meaning 5

1.1.4 Concepts of metaphor Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1.5 Classification of metaphor 7

1.1.6 Conceptual (cognitive) metaphors 7

1.1.7 Classification of conceptual (cognitive) metaphors 8

1.1.8 Target domain and source domain of conceptual metaphor 9

1.2 Review of previous works related to the theme of the thesis 10

1.2.1 ―Metaphor we live by‖ (1980) by Lakoff and Johnson 10

1.2.2 ―A holographic study of metaphors concerning love in Chinese‖ by Renying Yang 10

1.2.3 Richard Nordquist on his article ―Love is metaphor" 10

1.3 Summary 11

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12

2.1 Research-governing orientations 12

2.1.1 Research questions 12

2.1.2 Research types 12

2.1.3 Research approach 12

2.1.4 Research methods 13

2.2 Data collection and data analysis 14

2.2.1 Data 14

2.2.2 Data collections instruments 14

2.2.3 Data analysis techniques 14

2.2.4 Data analysis 15

2.3 Research procedures 15

2.4 Reliability and validity 16

2.5 Summary 16

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17

3.1 The typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in love songs in the late 20th century from cognitive perspective 17

3.1.1 Ontological metaphors 17

3.1.1.1 Love is a concrete and real object 17

3.1.1.2 Love is a living creature 20

3.1.1.3 Love is a natural phenomenon 21

3.1.1.4 Love is a game 22

3.1.2 Structural metaphors 23

3.1.2.1 Love is light 24

3.1.2.2 Love is madness 24

3.1.2.3 Love is the abstract thing 25

3.1.2.4 Love is religion 27

3.1.2.5 Love is closeness 28

3.1.2.6 Love is magic 31

3.1.2.7 Love is music 32

3.1.2.8 Love is a journey 33

3.1.2.9 Love is the heaven 34

3.1.2.10 Love is fire 34

3.1.2.11 Love is a war 36

3.1.2 Orientational metaphors 37

3.2 How these metaphorical images are expressed in songs 38

3.3 The artistic value of the metaphorical images in songs 39

3.4 Discussion of findings 39

3.4.1 Occurrence of linguistic items used metaphorically in songs 39

3.4.2 Occurrence of love metaphors in English songs in three subtypes 41

3.5 Summary 42

PART C: CONCLUSION 43

1 Concluding remarks and Implications 43

1.1 Concluding remarks 43

1.1.1 The typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in English songs 43

1.1.2 How these metaphorical images are expressed in songs 43

1.1.3 The value of these metaphorical images in songs Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Implications 43

1.2.1 Implications for learners 44

1.2.2 Implications for teachers 45

1.2.3 Implications for translators 46

2 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 47

REFERENCES 49

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Metaphor in language is like a flower of life Life becomes more beautiful with thecolorful flowers and language becomes more legend and lovely with themetaphorical images Understanding metaphors is crucial to comprehend figurativelanguage in literature and to enhance practicing skills of learning English

Metaphors are used to describe something that the author cannot adequatelyrepresent in a literal fashion or in a simple declarative sentence They can broaden

or bring a fresh perspective to a familiar or overused subject Writers use metaphors

to give clarity to their writing or to paint a visual picture by words Whatever theauthor's intent, analyzing the context in which metaphors are used will reveal muchabout the poem's or prose work's meaning Adding metaphors when writing stories,poems or songs means adding interest and depth to writing Metaphors create morespecific and clearer visual images of what the writer is trying to express

Metaphors, which are traditionally believed to be associated with literary or poeticlanguage, are an ideal new land in music world for musicians and the languagelearners It is an effective device to make the communication more lively andcolorful

By teaching students how to understand metaphors, we can lead them unleash theircreativity and imagination Metaphors can also be effective in training learners inabstract thought as well as familiarizing them early with literary skills they willneed later in their education

Love is a beautiful song in life People in love create the unique words to give thelovely messengers to each other and with the power of metaphor, love becomes thewings in sky Metaphors are wonderful device for musicians to write the love songs.Through the love songs, metaphor is understood and studied more interestingly andeffectively

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

This paper is to investigate metaphorical images of love and lovers used in English songs

in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective It will help the readers:

- Have a deeper sight into theoretical knowledge on metaphor in order to be able to find, comprehend and analyze the interesting metaphors in songs

- Create some suitable ways for learners to learn English better, for teachers to give the effective lectures and for readers to translate the texts more exactly

2.2 Objectives of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study, the objectives will be elaborated into the following research questions:

1 What are the typical metaphors of love in English love songs in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective?

2 How are the metaphors of love expressed in the love songs?

3 Significance of the study

3.1 Theoretical significance

This study is to find out typical metaphorical images of love and lovers in thefamous English love songs with a view to contributing to the studies of linguisticsfrom cognitive prospective That how these metaphorical images are expressed incognition and the artistic value of these images in songs will be analyzedspecifically can provide a new look into English literature

3.2 Practical significance

This research is performed with the purpose of helping Vietnamese learners andteacher of English better understand conceptual metaphors in English songs andthen create the suitable tips to apply language flexibly As a result, they will be able

to learn and teach English effectively In addition, it can contribute to the teaching

of literature, semantics, cultural linguistics applied in Vietnamese universities offoreign languages Especially, the translators will take the necessary notes whenworking with metaphors in the process of translation

4 Scope of the study

Basing on the theory of the famous writers, especially Lakoff and Kovecses, thisstudy focuses on the metaphors of love and lovers in the famous English love songs

in the late 20th century from the cognitive perspective.

5 Method of the study

The study is mainly carried out through the documentary analysis and descriptivestudy with the support of qualitative and quantitative approach The data isquantitatively analyzed in terms of the percentage of the occurrence of metaphoricalimages in all the songs to see the preference for which sets of expressions as well asfrequencies of three types of metaphors: structural, ontological, and orientational.Through qualitative approach, the metaphors, after being divided into categoriesaccording to the procedure of transferring meaning from the vehicles to the tenorsguided by a theoretical lens, will be analyzed in details, synthesized and evaluated

6 Organization of the study

This study includes three parts and 3 chapters:

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Review of theoretical background

1.1.1 Word and its meanings

It is obvious that language is a tool for expressing human thought It reflects theway people think and view the world around them Each language has a differentcharacteristic but it is generally expressed through a simply meaning form oflanguage: word

In linguistics, a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation withsemantic or pragmatic content In ―Understanding English Semantics‖ by NguyenHoa (2004: 67) the word is regarded as the smallest indivisible meaningful units of

a language which can operate independently The new point of this definition is that

it clarifies the independent characteristic of the word as a language unit Jackson &Amvela (2000: 50) mention the word as an uninterruptible unit of structureconsisting of one or more morphemes and which typically occurs in the structure ofphrases Hoang Tat Truong has an investigation in the independent characteristic ofwords in Basic English Lexicology (1993:2) in which the word is defined asdialectical unity of form and content, independent unit of language capable to form

a sentence by itself It can be seen from the definitions of the author that the word isthe meaningful smallest unit that consists of the form and the content Words aredivided into two basic types: Lexical words and grammatical words

The meaning of any word is a matter of what we do with our language, notsomething hidden inside anyone's mind or brain so Patrick Hogan (2010: 42) takesanother definition ―Word meaning relates to the semantic value‖ that isconventionally associated with individual lexical items, which is to say word.Because this paper partly depends on senses of words and semantic change todiscover the metaphorical concepts of love, the following part is to focus on change

of word meaning

1.1.2 Change of meaning.

Language is a thing that is just changing all the time The change can affect any part

of language such as sounds, pronouncing, words combination According toBloomfield, Leonard (1933: 425) ―innovation which change the lexical meaningrather than the grammatical function of a form, are classed as change of meaning orsemantic change‖ The definition emphasizes lexical meaning change, whateverstructure types the word belongs to Trier (1931: 134) with the studies beyond theanalysis of single words has claimed that every semantic change of a word wouldaffect all other words in lexical term

All words have a meaning, but since English first appeared from its base language,the meanings of words have undergone changes Semantic change is the evolution

of word usage — usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically differentfrom the original usage It is a change in one of the meanings of a word Every wordhas a variety of senses and connotations, which can be added, removed, or alteredover time, often to the extent that cognates across space and time have very differentmeanings

An example of semantic change is metaphor as stated by Bloomfield, Leonard(1933), ―Poetic metaphor is largely an outgrowth of transferred uses of ordinaryspeech‖ Metaphor is a semantic change based on the association of similaritybetween referents The basic structure of the metaphor is very simple There is athing we are talking about and that to which we are comparing it

Love is just a game, broken all the same (The Magic Numbers - Love Is Just a Game) This quotation expresses a metaphor because the love is not literally a game

By figuratively asserting that the Love is just a game, the writer uses the points of comparison between the love and a game to convey an understanding about the characteristic of the love as a game – false and temporary

1.1.3 Components of Word Meaning

According to John Lyon (1996: 437), there are four major components of word meaning:

(a) Denotation: It includes conceptual and referential meanings which exist byvirtue of what it refers to.

(b) Connotation: It includes stylistic, affective, evaluative, and intensifyingmeaning that is the pragmatic communicative value of the words

(c) Structural meaning: is the meaning of a word acquires by virtue of itsmembership in a system or a set

(d) Categorical meaning: is the meaning which serves as a classificatory basis

In Understanding English Semantics, Nguyen Hoa (2004: 98) refers to denotation asthe ability of a word or expression to identify all the objects covered by a word.While connotation is the communicative value of a word or an expression by virtue

of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content

If semantics components serve as material to analyze metaphors

1.1.4 Concepts of metaphor

Language is a very powerful tool as it reflects the way we categorize andconceptualize the world we live in It is almost impossible to understand a thingwithout grouping it with other category members that share the same properties Indoing so, we acquire different kinds of concepts and, as a result, build our generalknowledge Metaphors supply these requirements Often we treat them only asstylistic devices, but in fact metaphorical expressions verbally represent the way ofhuman thinking and reasoning People tend to conceptualize emotions, love beingone of them, metaphorically because both emotions and metaphors connected withthem are inevitable parts of everyday live

''Without our ability to categorize, we would not function at all, either in thephysical world or in our social and intellectual lives'' (1990: 6) Lakoff explains Somany definitions of metaphor are created but it can be understood in the mostcommon way: According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 4), ―Metaphor is for mostpeople a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish - a matter ofextraordinary language rather than ordinary language‖ A metaphor can be defined

in the other ways for instance, ―The application of a word or phrase to

an object or concept it does not literally denote, suggesting comparison to

that object or concept‖ (Baars B.J, 1998:4) It is clear that the term metaphor refers

to the meaning of the word that can be expanded beyond its literal meaning Forexample, "a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare)

As it is stated by Vo Dai Quang (2005:169), metaphor is word meaning transferencebased on similarity between two things as regards function, character, size, shape, age,color etc Having the same idea, Trần Văn Cơ (2011: 4) confirmed that metaphor ismeaning transference These definitions give the readers the insight into themetaphorical nature of the concepts that structure our everyday activities Metaphor isone kind of comparisons It is the name given to a way of using language in a way thatrelies more on imagination than literal reality For examples: ―Love is a rose‖,In this

example, the word rose has a connotative meaning that is thought to be a very beautiful

and fresh object to people The essence of love is likened and understood in terms of acharacteristic of a rose So, this meaning is transferred to refer to the characteristic oflove to imply that love is lovely and wonderful

1.1.5 Classification of metaphor

There are many ways to classify the metaphor According to Lakoff and Johnson,three types of metaphoric concepts can be distinguished, marginal metaphoricconcepts ( Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 55), conventional metaphoric concepts (Lakoffand Johnson 1980: 4), and new metaphoric concepts (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:145) Metaphoric concepts take public form in metaphoric expressions, also called

―metaphors‖ Metaphors, like any other stylistic devices, can be classifiedaccording to their degree of unexpectedness As it is stated by Nguyen Hoa (2004:109), basing on the degree of unexpectedness, there are three main types ofmetaphors namely living metaphors, faded metaphors and dead metaphors

1.1.6 Conceptual (cognitive) metaphors

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson claimed that metaphor is not just a matter oflanguage, but a matter of thought (1980: 7) They believe that language is anindicator of the nature of our conceptual system, and metaphor is so pervasive inlanguage that it actually structures how we make sense of and interact with theworld around us Hence the term ‗conceptual metaphor‘ appeared

Metaphor is a way of understanding a concept and according to Lakoff and Johnson,

meaning and truth depend on understanding Truth is not objective, but depends oncontext; it relies on a human thinker Thus, metaphors structure what we perceive astruth Kövecses believes that metaphor involves using one conceptual domain tounderstand another conceptual domain (Kövecses, 2002:4).

Cognitive Linguistics allows us to understand that metaphorical thinking is crucial tohuman cognition Thus, Lakoff and Johnson propose a cognitive theory of metaphor, as

a process thanks to which one concept is understood using another concept (Lakoff1980: 5) The best example of this is talking about love in terms of journey Asmentioned previously, our ability to categorize allowed us to gather knowledge aboutjourneys that we can depend on in understanding love Kövecses emphasizes that weneed to differentiate conceptual metaphor from metaphorical linguistic expressions Heproves that the latter disclose the existence of the former ―To know a conceptualmetaphor is to know this set of mappings A is B It was also pointed that metaphor incognitive linguistic view is primarily conceptual metaphor

1.1.7 Classification of conceptual (cognitive) metaphors

According to Lakoff and Johnson in Metaphors We Live By (1980) and Zoltan Kovecses in Metaphor: A Practical Introduction, there are 3 kinds of conceptual metaphors: structural metaphors, orientational metaphors, ontological metaphors a.

Structural metaphors:

Structural metaphors are generally understood conceptual metaphors where oneconcept is metaphorically structured in terms of another Structural metaphor is themost productive type of all conceptual metaphors ‗Structural metaphors‘ occurwhen a concept is metaphorically structured by another concept ‖, as Lakoff and

Johnson (1980: 61) write, e.g Love is a journey In Metaphors we live by Lakoff

and Johnson state that 'the conceptual system is metaphorical in nature' (Lakoff,1980:4)

b Orientational metaphors:

Orientational metaphors organize immaterial concepts in terms of physicalorientation: happiness is up (high spirits) and sadness is down (feeling low), thefuture is ahead and the past behind The group of orientational metaphors is said to

be connected with our orientation in space (Lakoff, 1980:16)

c Ontological metaphors:

In ontological metaphors experiences are treated as concrete objects e.g containers(I put a lot of energy into preparing decorations) When we deal with them in such away we can "refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify them - and,

by these means, reason about them" (Lakoff, 1980:25)

LOVE IS FIRE metaphor is an example for structural metaphor

―My heart is on fire, I do not want to get burned again, that kindled love in his heart.‖ Thanks to the metaphorical expression that kindled love in his heart, we can conceptualize love as having a beginning and an end just as fire has When the fire

is kindled, the love begins; when it goes out, the love ends These examples also prove that we not only talk about love in terms of fire The lover can be consumed

by love when he/she is so in love that it is all that he/she thinks about If the lover does not want to get burned again it may mean he/she does not want to experience the same serious disappointment after an unsuccessful relationship

1.1.8 Target domain and source domain of conceptual metaphor

Conceptualist views consider metaphor as a cognitive mechanism used to structureour knowledge in the mind by means of one domain of experience understood interms of the first one

A metaphor has two conceptual domains One is the thing that is to be understood,which is called the target domain, and the other is the thing that is used tounderstand the first one, and it is called the source domain (Kövecses, 2002:4) Thesource domain and the target domain interact in ―a set of systematiccorrespondences between the source and the target‖ which ―are often referred to asmappings‖ (Kövecses, 2002:6)

According to Barcelona (2000:3), Metaphor isthe cognitive mechanism whereby oneexperiential domain is partially mapped or projected onto a different experientialdomain so that the second domain is partially understood in terms of the first one Inthe example ―love is a game‖, "love" is compared to a game, describing it with theattributes of "game"; "love" is the tenor, and "a game" is the vehicle

1.2 Review of previous works related to the theme of the thesis

Up to now, there have been various studies on the metaphor based on theories oflinguistic scholars such as:

1.2.1 “Metaphor we live by” (1980) by Lakoff and Johnson

Lakoff and Johnson are the most remarkable writers with the famous books onmetaphor that introduce the overview and deep knowledge on metaphor Of all,

―Metaphor we live by‖ (1980) is most helpful and worth for the researcher to take

as a basic theoretical background for their thesis The book has a great influence onour understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind The authorssupply an afterword surveying how their theory of metaphor has developed withinthe cognitive sciences to become central to the contemporary understanding of how

we think and how we express our thoughts in language Lakoff and Johnson launchinto a stimulating deconstruction of what they term "conceptual metaphors", and thecomplex way in which they interact to structure our experience of reality

Lakoff sets out to show that metaphors are a fundamental part of our thoughtprocesses whenever we try to think abstractly His book does not provide a rigorousscientific proof, but it does present a lot of evidence in favor of the thesis

1.2.2 “A holographic study of metaphors concerning love in Chinese” by

Renying Yang

This work makes a thorough analysis of love metaphors in Chinese Based theconceptual study of emotional metaphors by Lakoff, Kovecses and the others, thispaper structures a conceptual metaphor of love in Chinese and reveals anunderstanding of its characteristics and cultural models It also presents the cultural-specific characteristics by giving a diachronic study of love metaphors in Chinese

1.2.3 Richard Nordquist on his article “Love is metaphor"

The writer lists 99 metaphors of love in many literature works These metaphorscome from the real and concrete things in our life such as rose, star, journey, flame,razor…However, this is only the examples of love metaphors The readers expect tohave a more specific interpretation on these kinds of metaphors basing on thetheoretical background

In short, these works play an important role in building language instructions ingeneral and instructions for use of metaphors in particular However, up to now, notmany studies base on the cognitive perspective to analyze the metaphors of love insongs deeply and systematically Also, the number of metaphors of love quoted arenot diverse and various In addition, these have little authentic and practical value inteaching and translation It is the reason why I have decided to do the research

entitled ―A study on love and lovers in some English songs in the late 20th century

from the cognitive perspective‖ with the hope to give the reader the interesting

experience through the metaphoric images in songs as well as their artistic value andfrom this analysis to make a meaningful contribution to learning English in readingand writing skills for learners, teachers and translators

1.3 Summary

To sum up, in this chapter, the researcher has tried to give an overview of therelevant literature in the concern of the study It has dealt with the knowledgerelated to metaphors such as word, word meaning, meaning transference as well asdetailed description about metaphors introduced such as definitions of metaphor,cognitive metaphor, types, mapping Furthermore, the chapter helps the readersunderstand more profoundly and typically about metaphors – a very importantknowledge to learn, teach, translate and study

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research-governing orientations

With the aim of achieving the study on linguistic features and the distinctivefeatures of metaphors as well as interpreting the metaphorical images of love andlover in songs, the thesis is carried out through the documentary analysis methodcombined with the descriptive, qualitative and quantitative approaches Besides,inductive analytic method and description are also used in this research

journals about metaphor such as the famous works ― Metaphor we live by ‖by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Metaphor: A Practical Introduction by Zoltan Kovecses (2002), Understanding English Semantics by Nguyen Hoa (2004), ect.

The study is a means of discovering new meaning of love and lover, describingwhat exists in the world of emotion on the basis of the data on metaphors that havebeen collected through songs Research papers allow the writer to take their newthoughts thanks to the knowledge acquired through previous works to be appliedtoward her own topic of choice ―A study on metaphors of ―love‖ and ―lovers‖English love songs‖ The research also includes the personal knowledge, intellectualapplication in the investigation of the topic

2.1.3 Research approach

This study is mainly carried out according to qualitative and quantitative

approach However, qualitative method is dominantly used Quantitative research isbased on analyzing the data, measuring with numbers, and using statisticaltechniques to find out the percentage of metaphorical systems occurring in the songscollected By contrast, qualitative research involves an interpretive and naturalisticapproach: researcher studies metaphors in their natural settings, attempts to makesense of, to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings such as love is fire, love

is a game, ect

Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry involving collecting bothquantitative and qualitative data, integrating the two forms of data, and using distinctdesigns that may involve philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks

The research based on qualitative approach tends to be inductive This involves amove from the specific to the general and is sometimes called a bottom-up approach

in which a theory is looked for and developed on the basis of the data that collected.From analyzing the samples or quotes from many love songs guided by a theoreticallens which provides a framework for the investigation, the last result, 16 settings oflove metaphor are referred and categorized

2.1.4 Research methods

The major methods which are used for this thesis are documentary analysis anddescriptive research methods Documentary analysis is a form of qualitativeresearch in which documents are interpreted by the researcher It refers to thevarious procedures: First of all, official documents related to metaphor are collected.The task for the researcher is not to take such documents at face value In addition

to finding out the vital theoretical knowledge on metaphors, the researcher mustrealize where the metaphorical images used are in songs, what terms they belong to,how they were constructed, and how they are used and interpreted After analyzingand interpreting data generated from the examination of documents and records, thefindings will be categorized and synthesized Descriptive research will provide anaccurate portrayal of characteristics of metaphor and typical metaphorical images oflove and lovers in English songs basing on theoretical

2.2 Data collection and data analysis

2.2.1 Data

The data for analysis are mainly samples taken from the famous English love songs

of all kinds in the late 20th century There are 68 songs used with 86 sentencesquoted They almost come from the collections of Carpenter, Beatles, Holly Knight,Blink, Amy Wine house ect They are collected from websites, newspapers,magazines, books… In this way, the natural and practical manner of the materialwill reinforce the accuracy of the results The major method to collect data issurveying with observation of instances of linguistic expressions used to signalmetaphor, selecting the samples related to the topic

2.2.2 Data collections instruments

Reading, reviewing and selecting documentary are considered as the maininstruments for collecting data that is collected in textual form on the basis ofobservation of previous works, songs and references related The author read anyand all kinds of documentation related to metaphors used to provide usefulinformation To gather the various and valuable data, the author had to listen to anysongs she heard by chance anywhere and write down all the sentences relatedmetaphor, then categorize them according to the criteria such as time published,types and choose the ones suitable for the topic After the process of researching andcollecting data, the information continues to be classified into different categoriesdepending on the requirements of the research in order to make it easy for theresearcher to find and to analyze the data

2.2.3 Data analysis techniques

After the process of reading and collecting data from the songs found, the researcherstarts to analyze the image of love in terms of conceptual metaphor From numeroussamples, the researcher tries to choose the most interesting and concrete ones toillustrate important points under the investigation The next step is to synthesize theinformation analyzed in order to fit into the thesis The stage of

analyzing and synthesizing are all conducted manually By analyzing andsynthesizing, the researcher hopes to be on the right way of mapping out the images

of love in songs

2.2.4 Data analysis

All the samples are categorized and described, then qualitatively and quantitativelyprocessed In order to achieve the aims of this study, both quantitative andqualitative methods are adopted for data analysis The data is qualitatively analyzedand in 16 sets of expressions denoting love according to conceptual metaphortheory, Lakoff & Johnson (1980) and Kovecses (1986): love is conceptualized asnatural phenomena, games, war, music, light, concrete things, madness, abstractthings, closeness, heaven, religion, journey, living creature, magic, and fire

The data is also quantitatively analyzed in terms of the percentage of occurrence ofmetaphorical images in all the songs to see the preference for which sets ofexpressions as well as frequencies of structural, ontological, and orientationalmetaphors which are suggested by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) The metaphors, afterbeing divided into categories according to the procedure of transferring meaningfrom the vehicles to the tenors, will be analyzed in details In the procedure ofanalyzing, the writer will make clear the value of figure language in songs

2.3 Research procedures

After choosing the topic, the author will orient the research by the appropriate steps

to support the content At the same time, reading and searching the relevantmaterials related to metaphor are compulsory Then, the author must determine thereason why she chooses the topic by clarifying the aim and objectives with threeresearch questions above When reading the materials on metaphor, the writer willcollect the important and representative theoretical framework of metaphors fordiscussing in order to guide the study The most decisive process is collecting andanalyzing data because of its effect the whole procedures of the study After readingand considering a great number of songs, the author finally decides to choose 68representative love songs from the late 20th century with 86 quotes

Next, all the collected data are mostly qualitatively processed Metaphors are divided

into different categories to analyze according to the procedure of transferring meaningsfrom the vehicles to the tenors In this model, conceptual metaphors are classified intothree different kinds, namely structural metaphors, ontological metaphor, andorientational metaphors Afterwards, they are categorized and synthesized basing onsimilarities and differences of metaphors of love Then, the writer suggests some ways

of perceiving metaphors and look for their distribution in the value of songs Last butnot least, the implication for learning, teaching and translating together with thelimitations, and suggestions for further study will be presented

2.4 Reliability and validity

Any information quoted in this study is exactly the same as the original materialswith clear references of its author(s), the same publishers, the time and place ofpublication as well as the page numbers where the information is extracted.Therefore, both data and the background for the study are reliable

In terms of validity, all of expressions analyzed in this study are truly representative.The data are enough but not much and this may not allow us to discover more types ofmetaphors along with the linguistic devices apart from those that have traditionallybeen employed Also, the data analysis based mostly on our inference from thelinguistic context may lead to subjective decision on the metaphors

2.5 Summary

In this chapter, a brief summary about the research methodology used in this studysuch as the research types, approach and methods, data collection, data analysis,research procedures This research methodology is very important because it helpsthe author collect the valuable data, choose the appropriate methods and orient theanalysis well

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 The typical metaphorical images of love in the love songs in the late 20th century from cognitive perspective

In this section, the writer will present the metaphors of love found in the data.Various kinds of metaphors of love present the different aspects of the mostpowerful emotion of human beings Only a few of them, the most fascinating andoutstanding ones have been chosen In spite of the fact that it is impossible topresent all the sides of this special feeling, the writer tries to give a generaloverview on metaphor Therefore it is very important to comprehend this abstractfeeling by using more concrete concepts such as a journey, war or fire, ect Thanks

to metaphors, we create in our minds the breathtaking pictures of an incredibleworld we live in

There are a variety of ways to classify metaphors, as Kövecses (2002: 46) states Asfor this thesis, the metaphors found in the lyrics are categorized under appropriateconceptual metaphors, which in turn are classified either as, ontological, structural

or orientational metaphors

3.1.1 Ontological metaphors

Ontological metaphors, according to Kövecses (2002: 328), arise from speakers‘experiences in terms of objects, substances, and containers They usually showsomething abstract through something concrete ‗Ontological metaphors‘ usuallyshow something abstract through something concrete‖ Lakoff and Johnson(1980/2003) say that our understanding of our experiences in terms of objects andsubstances makes it possible for us to reason about them and to make them moreconcrete, so to speak Followings are the ontological metaphors of love and lovers

3.1.1.1 Love is a concrete and real object

Kovecses (2002:4) proposed that in the majority of cases, the roles of source andtarget domains are irreversible since our experience lays a foundation for thecomprehension of more abstract domains ―Love‖ is an abstract emotion but thanks

to metaphor – an effective language tool, it turns out a concrete thing that we canpossess, can use senses to perceive Therefore, we can conceptualize this knowledge

to reason for ―love is a concrete thing‖ metaphor

Relationships as real objects are perceived to develop in a natural order frominfancy to maturity They are born, they grow, they mature, they require nurturing,and they can wither and die They are like ―love‖ They have five senses: sight,hearing, smell, taste and touch to receive knowledge of things in the world around.The heart can use its‘ eyes to catch the images of love in these examples below:

Here's the morning that my heart had seen Here's

the morning that just had to come through

(The Carpenters /Those Good Old Dreams )The eyes of the heart are really sensitive and gentle to feel everything in the world,especially the changes in love stories: love can be a pristine and fresh morning withthe exciting new feeling and full emotion of the lovers It also can be a sunset whenthe souls are closed and blue It is not easy to have the sophistication in ones‘ mindunless they are in the real love

Love is a part of mental life It is familiar and essential as a part of body

You were my eyes when I couldn't see

(Celine Dion - Because you love me)

A imagine is so touching that it can make everyone arouse strong feelings of sympathy:lovers are the eyes and the light of each other no matter how dark it is and how blindthe lovers‘ eyes are An eye is enough for them to go to the end of life He is everyreason, every hope, and every dream she has ever had, and no matter what happens tothem in the future, everyday they are together is the greatest day of my life

In feeling of lover, the heart is a melody, sound of which only lovers can hear:

Take my heart, don't lose it

Listen to your heart (Modern Talking- Cherry lady)

It's hard to find words to tell how much lovers mean to each other Maybe, the man doesn't say anything at all But the girl will understand, will realize what his heart is

We can see sweet taste of love through the song lyrics in English

You'll always be a part of me

If you should find you miss the sweet and tender love we used to share

(Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me)

To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you are the world That is

the message lovers want to send to each other ―You'll always be a part of me‖.That part belongs to body and it is indispensable in life.―You‖ are all what ―I‖ livefor.―You‖ and ―I‖ are growing up and together go through the storms of life Mylove for you is like a sweet and tender candy both taste That love experiences thewonderful memories which make their love be a beautiful never-ending story

Love can be the concrete things such as: the voice when a person couldn't speak, the

shoulder to cry on in the moment of disappointment, the strength or power to makelovers stronger; Here are some other examples:

You were my strength when I was weak

You were my voice when I couldn't speak

(Celine Dion because you love me)

Chiquitita, tell me the truth

I'm a shoulder you can cry on

And your love's a blown out candle (ABBA -

Chiquitita) You cut away the heart of my life

(Rockwell- knife) You're the power and I'm in it

I've been a miner for a heart of gold(Neil Young - Heart of Gold)

Ooh you're a holiday, every day, such a holiday

Now it's my turn to say, and I say you're a holiday

(Bee Gees - Holiday Lyrics)

Being deeply loved by someone gives her/him strength and loving someone deeplygives courage and power to overcome every difficulty and challenge in life It islove that givesus strength to transform pain to power In the hardest situations, when

a person falls down to an abyss, the other will find the way to save her That strongperson can break through the walls, love you through the pain, pull you from thedark life, and is a reliable shoulder to lean and cry.

3.1.1.2 Love is a living creature

a Love is a human being

Love is like a body of a human being that is sometimes weak, but sometimes verystrong, as a result, there is also the eternal love but there is also temporary love like

a wrong arrangement of God Like a person, it has the different tones of emotionsuch as waiting, being angry, being jealous…

Don‘t tell me that love‘s not waiting for us.

(Tokyo Square- That is love)But without carefulness, it may pass away:

And yet you don‘t believe her when she says her love is dead.(Carpenters Someday)

Like a creature, love is born with the shaking of the heart, and when it is over, love cannot exist With the word ―dead‖, the listener can feel all the feelings of hurt and the upset of the character Love has a life cycle like human I've tried too hard just

to keep love alive

That I had your love and let it go

b Love is a tree/ plant.

In the eyes of people who are in love, sometimes love becomes a living thing Like

a plant, it needs nutrition to grow up and develop It needs supplying fertilizer tobloom and fructify Kövecses (2002/2010) opens the conceptual metaphor byexplaining the use of plants as a source domain They have different growth stagesand they consist of different parts – all of which can be used for metaphoricexpressions A part of the plant can represent the whole, the growth of the plant canrepresent the development of love, the flowering of the plant can represent the best

of times in a love relationship, the fruits can represent beneficial consequences ofthe love (such as children), and so on

When a dozen red roses came my way

Warmed up my heart '(Minogue - Count the Days‘)

A dozen red roses from a lover is a token of love; the lover wishes to expressher/his love – and more metaphorically, the red roses represent love As Ferberwrites, especially in Renaissance poetry red is one of the colors of love (1999: 169).The language of flowers, the messages the given flowers convey from the giver tothe recipient, tells us that red roses convey passionate love.

c Love is a bird

Love is a bird, she needs to fly

Let all the hurt inside of you die (Madonna-"Frozen")

This metaphor is saying that love can be held inside and locked up but once itscaptive is opened up, love is free to go wherever it wants just like a bird Love nowturns into a living creature that now has a life and a soul It makes decisions, it feels,and it hurts Love is not a prison Metaphors are all about creating connectionsbetween seemingly-related ideas Birds and flying are connected ideas, so themetaphor is either that love is like a bird, or that love needs to be free

3.1.1.3 Love is a natural phenomenon.

The most common metaphors of love are natural phenomena Many natural sourceslike the sun, the star or the moon are used to express the power as well as theimportance of love

a Love is the sun

Sunlight and dark belong to the most fundamental terms used metaphorically Thesun usually represents goodness or knowledge In many religions the sun is brought

to the world by or originates from a God Love can be interpreted as a positivefeeling, representing righteousness and virtue when one is pure at heart, one isinnocent and virtuous

And brightened my day…

Now it all seems, light years away (Carpenters- Cant smile without you) The

sun provides people with light, heat and energy Without the sun, nothing can exist here When she metaphorically refers him as the sun, it has demonstrated the

essential role which her love has played in his life

Who sings of all of love‘s eternity

Whose shines so bright (Tangerine Dream -Love by the sun)

This metaphor is built based on the similarity in function of both objects: the sunand the lover The sun lights up the earth, while the lover lights up the life of thesinger, makes it warmer and more colorful And because the sun is eternal, thesinger hopes that the magic of love will go with him until the end

b Love is the moon/ the stars

The moon and stars are the beautiful images in literature and art Love shows thelover in the best possible light: lovely and luminescent

The moon that rose now descended,

And the love one shared now had ended

(Carpenters-Another song)

You ask me why the moon is bright…

Love is like the moon in your heart

(Jessica Jay –Love is like the

moon) You're a falling star, you're the get away

car You're the line in the sand when I go too far

(Michael buble-Everything)

Perhaps the writer wants to point out that when in love, we tend to see the object of ourlove through rose-colored glasses We see only the good sides and close our eyes fromthe worse ones But then again, to see the good in people is virtuous and as love neithercounts wrongs nor dishonors others, this is indeed seeing people lovely in their lights.Light can bring enlightenment and it can illuminate minds as well

Girl, this game can't last forever (Modern Talking - Brother Louie)

Love is a game that two can play and both can win but are easy to lose because it istemporary and false Although the endings are happy and the man invariably getsthe woman, we see the marriages without true love easily come to an end.

Love is just a game

Love is just a lie (Magic Numbers - Love Is A Game)

Love is a game, easy to start but hard to finish Love- it‘s just a game, never won,never lost, just full of lost dreams and broken heart The love is not a game and theheart is not a playground

It's all in this game of love

You roll me (Michelle Branch- The game of love)

Whoever came up with the idea that love is a game destroyed by its soul We can'tthink of anything more than the belief that your partner is an "opponent" to bedefeated People that are loved, need to change the way they look, act, and feelabout true love They have to be clever to realize what is true, what is false, whethertheir love should continue or not

If they never let themselves fall freely, they won't get anywhere near authentic love.The more they bury the singular spirit under some self-help game, the more difficultthey make it for love to find them And, if a woman needs to play games to hold aman's interest, he's not the right man for her The trouble with the games of romance

is that eventually the mask will have to come off Eventually they'll have to revealwho they actually are, and then what? The rules of love may allow them tohoodwink their partner for a while, but ultimately they'll lead them to a dead end

3.1.2 Structural metaphors

As mentioned, in structural metaphors a more accessible concept is used to define a

more complex concept A simpler source domain journey or war is utilized in order

to simplify the more complex target domain (LOVE, ARGUMENT) According toLakoff and Johnson, the more familiar source domain gives some of its aspects tothe more foreign one, making it more accessible and understandable Especiallystructural metaphors can be understood through the pair target and source domain,