Semantic and cultural features of love declaration in english and vietnamese folklores

Definition of Love declaration 27 Chapter 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF LOVE DECLARATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FOLKLORES 30... Comparison between semanti

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Hoàng Tuyết Minh

Hanoi – 2020

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled

“SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF LOVE DECLARATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FOLKLORES” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Hoàng Tuyết Minh, my supervisor, for her invaluable guidance, comments and corrections during the time I carried out my thesis

Secondly, I would like to take this chance to thank all the lecturers in the Ministry Of Education And Training of Hanoi Open University for helpful lectures that have helped me in gaining the background knowledge to work on the thesis

Finally, my gratitude also goes to my beloved family who have supported me during the time I completed the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Acknowledgements ii

Table of contents iii

Abstract v

List of tables and figures vi

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.6 Significance of the study 4

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.2.1 An overview of semantics 7 2.2.1.1 Definition of semantics 7 2.2.1.2 Classification of semantics 9

2.2.2.1 Definition of culture 14 2.2.2.2 English cultural features 18 2.2.2.3 Vietnamese cultural features 20 2.2.3 The relationship between language and culture 22 2.2.4 Concepts of folklore and Love declaration 25 2.2.4.1 Definition of folklore 25 2.2.4.2 Definition of Love declaration 27

Chapter 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN SEMANTIC AND

CULTURAL FEATURES OF LOVE DECLARATION IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FOLKLORES

30

3.1 Semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English

folklores

30

3.1.1 Semantic features of Love declaration in English folklores 30 3.1.2 Cultural features of Love declaration in English folklores 34 3.2 Semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in Vietnamese folklores

38

3.2.1 Semantic features of Love declaration in Vietnamese folklores 39 3.2.2 Cultural features of Love declaration in Vietnamese folklores 43 3.3 Comparison between semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and in Vietnamese folklores

4.4 Implications of the study 59

4.5 Recommendations and suggestions for further research 60

REFERENCES I APPENDIX IV

ABSTRACT

Love expressions have been one of the most fascinating topics that attracts

a large number of people In English and Vietnamese, the way people choose to express love is not the same as it is affected by cultural values This research investigates how English and Vietnamese speakers express their love declarations in

in terms of semantic and cultural features In addition, the researcher tries to explore the similarities and differences in semantic and cultural features between English and Vietnamese folklores Besides, the thesis also attempts to explain what are behind the differences uncovered in the investigation The study suggests how learners and users can use Love declaration in both languages Furthermore, the thesis gives some theoretical background in which the concepts of semantics, features of culture, definitions of folklores, Love declaration, semantic and cultural characteristics of Love declarations in both English and Vietnamese are mentioned A large number of methods are conducted, such as descriptive, contrastive, synthetic and analytic methods However, the study mainly focuses on analysis and comparison of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores What is more, a variety of English and Vietnamese folklores about Love declaration from books, previous studies, Internet, ect have been collected to make the corpus of the study In order to make the thesis more convincing when showing the similarities and differences of Love declaration in the two languages, some examples are taken in two both languages into consideration Finally, the findings are discovered The results show some characteristics of English and Vietnamese love declarations in folklores in terms of

semantics and culture

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1 Simile in Love declaration in English folklores 32 Table 3.2 Metaphor in Love declaration in English folklores 33 Table 3.3 Cultural features of Love declaration in English folklores 38 Table 3.4 Simile in love declarations in Vietnamese folklores 41 Table 3.5 Metaphor in love declarations in Vietnamese folklores 43 Table 3.6 Cultural features of Love declaration in Vietnamese folklores 49 Table 3.7 Simile in Love declaration in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

In recent decades, love has been receiving a great deal of public attention The communication of love is an important aspect of interpersonal relationships across cultures However, saying “I love you” can be very delicate walk, with much gray area, regarding what can and should be communicated about love, when, by whom and to whom Love is sometimes felt but not expressed, other times, love is expressed only nonverbally; and still other times, it is communicated verbally, with or without nonverbal manifestations

In English and Vietnamese, the way people choose to express love is not the same as it is affected by cultural values Love declarations include in themselves people’s viewpoints which are presented quite differently in the two languages Hence, what needs to be carried out in this study will be semantic and cultural features

of Love declarations in folklores of the two languages in order to find out the similarities and differences between them The thesis also attempts to explain what are behind the differences uncovered in the investigation

The study is entitled “Semantic and cultural features of Love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores” The choice of the thesis is generated from two reasons: Firstly, as Swales (1990: 34) stated that “the concept of genre has maintained

a central position in folklore studies ever since the pioneering work in the early nineteenth century” The functionalist in folklore would rather stress sociocultural value For Malinowski (1960, cited in Swales 1990:35) “folklore genres contribute to the maintenance and survival of social groups because they serve social and spiritual needs” Perhaps inevitably, to assign cultural value also requires the investigator to pay attention to how a community views and itself classify genre This idea will lead

to the fact that Love declaration is a mode of social communication and is only a genre among others, therefore, the Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores is investigated to see the similarities and differences of this genre in the two languages Secondly, Love declarations, as mentioned above, reflect human’s ideology, so it is wished to see how the ideologies represented in the two languages

It is optimistically hoped that the thesis will help students of English, and students of culture as it could provide an insight into the similarities and differences

of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The aim of the study is to help learners and users of English master Love

declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores in terms of semantic and cultural perspectives

In order to gain the above aim, the following objectives are put forward:

- To identify the semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English

and Vietnamese folklores

- To make a comparison between the semantic and cultural features of Love

declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores

2 What are the similarities and differences between semantic and cultural features

of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores?

1.4 Methods of the study

1.4.1 Research orientations

1.4.1.1 Research approaches

The study is carried out by basing on the quantitative and qualitative approach With the quantitative approach, the vast amount of data of Love declaration in both English and Vietnamese folklores is collected Besides, the researcher uses the qualitative one to describe and analyze the data of the research

1.4.1.2 Data collection

The data collection is the most vital step in any research This procedure consists of two main stages Firstly, a large number of English and Vietnamese folklores about Love declaration were collected in order to make the corpus of this thesis Secondly, the collection of books related to semantics, cultures, linguistics,

such as, Kramsch C (2000) “Language and Culture” Leech N L (1996) “ A

Linguistic Guide to English Poetry” or Chưởng, L V (2004) “Ca dao Việt Nam

Những yếu tố của những chỉnh thể nguyên hợp” Diễn, N Ð “Tình yêu qua thơ vǎn Anh ngữ” were done to hold up the study

The corpus used in this research are built on the following general principles regarding size, number of languages, sources (i) The size of the corpus: Some data of utilized in the study consists of about one hundered love declarations in both English and Vietnamese.(ii) The number of languages: The corpus in this thesis is considered

as bilingual corpus; hence it contains two languages: English and Vietnamese.(iii) The source of the corpus: The data in this research are taken from books, Internet, dictionary, previous studies

1.4.1.3 Data analysis

After assembling about 50 Love declarations in each language from books, dictionaries, websites…, the research is carefully studied with the aim of effectively analysing the thesis data Therefore, the following stages of analysis are applied

- The first stage: Classification: With an attempt to make the study more coherent because of the tremendous amount of data collected, the thesis is categorized into two major aspects: semantic and cultural features It is also an effective way to analyze the materials

- The second stage: Comparison: One of the most crucial strategies in any analysis

is comparison After being described, the thesis needs to be compared and contrasted

so that the similarities and the differences of Love declaration between English and Vietnamese folklores (in terms of semantic and cultural features) are distinguished

- The third stage: Synthesis and generalization The data is summarized and generalized after the comparative and contrastive analysis on the semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores As a result, the learners and users can achieve better knowledge in expressing love in English and

1.4.2.2 Supporting methods

In addition to two above major methods, the study is also applied with some other supporting methods They are synthetic and analytic method These methods make the research become more general and logical Consequently, the learners and users can have an overview of the similarities and differences in expression of Love declaration by using English or Vietnamese folklores

1.5 Scope of the study

In the framework of the study, Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores in terms of semantic and cultural features are exploited The thesis also focuses on the similarities and differences of those characteristics between English and Vietnamese

There are about 50 Love declarations in each language investigated in the thesis The document is collected from a large number of English books, such as

Kramsch C (2000) “Language and Culture” Leech N L (1996) “ A Linguistic

Guide to English Poetry” and Vietnamese books, such as Chưởng, L V (2004) “Ca dao Việt Nam Những yếu tố của những chỉnh thể nguyên hợp” Diễn, N Ð “Tình yêu qua thơ vǎn Anh ngữ”, etc

1.6 Significance of the study

It cannot be denied that Love declaration in folklores is an important part in our daily communication as well as in the process of learning and using a foreign language

Theoretically, the study mentions about some definitions of semantics, culture, folklore, Love declaration, etc Besides, it is also emphasized about semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese folklores As a result, the readers and users can point out the similarities and differences of expressing love between English and Vietnamese people in their folklores

Practically, unintentionally or intentionally, we have used them as a habit for conveying our intention, attitude and assession which reflect the cultural features of the country The lack of knowledge of linguistic features of Love declaration in folklores could cause some problems to the understanding and translating them into both languages This study of semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores could hence to some extent help learners and users have a good insight into two languages

1.7 Structure of the study

The thesis could consist of four chapters as presented below:

Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the reason why the topic is chosen, the

rationale, the aims, the objectives, the methods, the scope, the significance and the structure of the study

Chapter 2, Literature Review, is about the brief review of the previous

studies This chapter is also devoted to the presentation of an overview of semantics, the definition of cultural features in English and in Vietnamese, the concepts of folklores and Love declaration and the semantic and cultural features of Love declaration

Chapter 3, Comparison between semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores, describes, compares, contrasts

and discusses the semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores

Chapter 4, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings of the thesis along

with the practical implications, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for further study

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies

There were a large number of previous studies not only in English but also in Vietnamese related to culture, language, folklore, semantics and Love declaration

In English, it is first mentioned about Robert Lado (1960); Claire Kramsch (2000) in which original theories are applied in the cultural study They assumed that there is the connection between language and culture What is more, in “A linguistic guide to English poetry” Leech (1969), it is supposed that trope is a means of conveying the meaning in folklores Moreover, Richards and Platt, in their “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics”, give a very simple definition of semantics as “the study of meaning” In the Oxford learner’s dictionary (2003:1526), the simile is utilized in folklores and defines that simile is a figure of speech Besides, in Leech (1969:151), the writer argued that metaphor is so crucial in the notion of poetry creation

Furthermore, Aristotle is the typical linguist to view metaphor as implicit comparison, which is based on analogy He assumes the primary function of metaphor is stylistic and ornamental Palmer (Frank Robert, Palmer, 1981:15

“Semantics Cambridge University Press”) suggested that semantics is a part of linguistics, a scientific study of language Also, Lyons (1995) claims that semantics

is by definition the study of meaning; and linguistic semantics is the study of meaning

in so far as it is systematically encoded in the vocabulary and grammar or in the structure of natural languages

According to Yule, semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities; that is, how words literally connect to things In “A new approach to English grammar on semantic principles” (Robert Dixon claims that semantics is a part of a larger study of signs, semiotics It is the part that deals with words as signs (symbol) and language as a system of sign (words as symbols) It can also be seen diverse definitions of culture from “Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System: (Bodley, 1999: 315) Hofstede (1980, pp 21-23) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another” Samovar & Porter (2003) give a typical definition of culture as follows: “The deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by

a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving” Risager (2005) considers culture from three dimensions of the concept including hierarchical, differential and generic concept

Moreover, Kramsch (1998) examines culture by comparing it to nature and showing its development through social activities According to Goodenough (1957), culture is defined as the thing that people in each particular community must know and possess to run their activities Culture is not genetically inherited, and cannot exist on its own, but is always shared by members of a society (Hall 1976, p 16) The research studies on 'emotion and culture' (Kitayama & Markus & Kurokawa, 2000) and 'cultural and love' (Gareis & Wilkins, 2009) show that culture has a great influence on love expression or discussion According to Collins English Dictionary

Retrieved April 27, 2016, “A statement made by one person to another in which they

say they are in love with the other person” Permanent marks: Declarations of love can surface as permanent marks on urban environments and nature

In Vietnamese, there have been proposed various studies paying attention

to folklores, such as, Dinh Gia Khanh et.al (2003), Chu Xuan Dien (2003), Minh Hieu (1984), etc In Chu Xuan Dien (2003), Love is discussed through English poems Besides, some poetric methods are exploited in Kinh, N.X.(2005) In addition, in Minh Hien (1984), the writer mainly focuses on the arts of folklores Especially, according to Dinh Gia Khanh et.al (2003:248), the base for Vietnamese folklores is the work, relationship and social activities Therefore, Love declaration in folklores becomes all the rage of Vietnamese people

However, there has not been any research that studied about semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores In the scope of the thesis, it is fully hoped to be received the support and contributions from the listeners and readers

It all started in 1912 when Weekley used this suitable term semantics, which has recently been used in studies of meaning As we know that the field of semantics has developed for past few decades, but it has attracted the attention of many world-known linguists such as Austin, Yule, Halliday, Carnap, Chafe, Chomsky, Lyons, etc

So far, a variety of definitions have been given to semantics by different linguists According to Yule, semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities; that is, how words literally connect to things Semantic analysis also attempts to establish the relationships between verbal descriptions and states of affairs in the world as accurate or not, regardless of who produces that description

Richards and Platt, in their “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics”, give a very simple definition of semantics as “the study of meaning” Linguists have investigated the way in which meaning in a language is structured, and have distinguished between types of meaning In recent years, they have generally agreed that meaning plays an important part in grammatical analysis, but there has been disagreement on how it should be incorporated in a grammar Knowing a language is how to produce and understanding sentences with particular meanings The study of linguistic meaning, called semantics, is concerned with the meaning of words, morphemes, phrases and sentences The term meaning is,

of course, much more familiar to us all although there are numerous different definitions of dictionaries

Palmer (Frank Robert, Palmer, 1981:15 “Semantics Cambridge University Press”) suggested that semantics is a part of linguistics, a scientific study of language Therefore, learners should attempt to see what meaning is, or should be, within the framework of an academic or scientific discipline rather than take the simple looking

at the common or even scholarly uses of the relevant terms

Lyons (1995) claims that semantics is by definition the study of meaning; and linguistic semantics is the study of meaning in so far as it is systematically encoded in the vocabulary and grammar or in the structure of natural languages This broader definition will deal with first what is meant by “meaning” and, second, what exactly meant by ‘encoded’ in this context For the question ‘what is meaning?’, Lyons mentions the following:

+ The referential (or denotation) theory (the meaning of an expression is what

it refers to (or denotes), or stands for)

+ The ideational, or mentalistic theory (the meaning of an expression is the idea, or concept, associated with it in the mind of anyone who knows and understands the expression)

+ The behaviourist theory (the meaning of an expression is either the stimulus that evokes it or the response that it evokes, or a combination of both, on particular occasions of utterance)

+ The meaning-in-use theory (the meaning of an expression is determined

by, if not identical with, its use in the language)

+ The verificationist theory (the meaning of an expression, if it has one, is determined by the verifiability of the sentences, or propositions, containing it) + The truth-conditional theory (the meaning of an expression is its contribution to the truth-conditions of the sentences containing it)

Though he does not attempt to provide a comprehensive classification of the different kinds of meaning that a linguistic theory of semantics should cover, Lyons draws one very broad distinction descriptive (or propositional) and non-descriptive (or non-propositional) meaning With regard to descriptive meaning, it is a universally acknowledged fact that languages can be used to make descriptive statements which are true or false according to whether the propositions that they express are true or false Non-descriptive meaning refers to expressive components, meant by virtue of which speakers express, rather than their beliefs, attitudes and feelings

To sum up, as a sub-branch of linguistics, semantics studies the meanings of linguistic signs However, it focuses on how linguistic signs are conventionally meant

or related to the external world In other words, it tries to spell out those natural, static

or stable meanings of words and sentences The meanings of words in dictionaries, for instance, are semantic meanings or the outcomes of semantic explorations of words

2.2.1.2 Classification of semantics

Semantics is a branch of language study dealing with word meaning Word meaning consists of grammatical meaning and lexical meaning Grammatical meaning unites all grammatical characteristics of a word and lexical meaning is a realization of a concept or notion Lexical meaning includes denotative meaning and connotative meaning

Lexical semantics concerns the meanings of words and morphemes Issues

in lexical semantics include, among others, compositionality (how word meaning is built up from the meanings of morphemes and why it sometimes isn’t straightforward) and conceptual mapping (how real-world concepts are mapped to words, which sometimes differs in startling ways between languages)

Compositional semantics concerns how the meanings of words combine to produce the meanings of sentences, especially how predicates combine with their arguments These two broad divisions overlap somewhat For example, the study of the semantics of modality (how sentences express possibility, necessity, wishes, and

so forth) involves both lexical semantics, as the meanings of the words expressing modality are complex and varied, and compositional semantics, as it’s not trivial to show how modal words combine with propositions (basically, declarative sentences Semantics studies also other spheres of word meaning, such as polysemy, homonymy, synonymy, antonym, as well as development of meaning including some figures of speech, namely metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole and irony These units also relate to the formation of semantic structure of words in English

In the study, the meaning of love declaration in folklores is mainly conveyed through tropes In his book “A linguistic guide to English poetry” Leech (p 74) stated that “tropes have been defined as devices involving alteration of the normal meaning

of an expression” and “tropes are foregrounded irregularities of content” Freeborn (1996: 61) also said that “a trope is a device that involves meaning” The most familiar tropes in literary criticism are simile, metaphor and metonymy However, in this thesis, we will deal with simile and metaphor for these tropes manifest in love declarations

2.2.1.2.1 Simile

The Oxford learner’s dictionary (2003: 1526) defines that simile is a figure

of speech in which two things are compared using the word “like”, or “as”, or “as if” Simile is like a metaphor except that it makes the comparison explicit by using “like”,

or “as”, or “as if” In simile the comparison between the two things is made explicit

by an indirect relationship where one thing or idea is expressed as being similar to another For example:

“Love’s like the measles- all the worst when it comes late in life.”

(Douglas Jerrold)

“Love is like the measles; we have to go through it.”

(Jerome K Jerome)

Simile, according to Leech (1969; 156) is an overt comparison, simile can specify the ground of comparison Most similes are linked by “like”, “as” Similes may vary from a short, simple comparison to long, “extended similes” In Vietnamese, the corresponding words such as “như”, “như là”, “như thể” etc are used

in simile For example:

“Ðôi ta như thể con ong, Con quấn con quýt, con trong con ngoài.”

(Chưởng, L V (2004)

Simile can be an excellent way for an author either to make an unusual thing seem more familiar (i.e., “The planet Zenoth was as cold as ice”) or a familiar thing seems more unique (i.e., “Her smile was jagged like a broken zipper”) In this way, similes can help the reader imagine the fictive world of a piece of literature Good similes can also make readers think about things in a new way, and can sometimes create a lasting effect Scottish poet Robert Burns’s declaration that his “luve’s like a red, red rose” forever linked the concepts of love and red roses in our minds

Simile can also sometimes be used to show a comparison, though with the conclusion that these two things really are unalike or even at odds with each other This can either be a negative simile, which might come in the form of “A is not like B” or an ironic simile, which communicates the opposite of what is expected at the beginning of the statement For example, the famous feminist quote popularized by Gloria Steinem, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” ultimately concludes that a woman has no need for a man

Simile can help to make new connections for the reader One of literature’s purposes is to help better explain the world around us, and the technique of simile is one of those ways in which we are able to see things in a new way All types of analogies are cognitive processes of transferring meaning from one thing to another, and thus the use of simile in literature has real synaptic effects For this reason, and for aesthetic purposes, simile has been a popular literary technique for many hundreds

of years

In this study, two types of simile are conducted:

- Those that make a comparison using the word ‘as’

as + adjective/adverb + as + noun

- Those that make a comparison using the word ‘like’

verb + like + noun

2.2.1.2.2 Metaphor

Aristotle is the typical linguist to view metaphor as implicit comparison, which is based on analogy He assumes the primary function of metaphor is stylistic and ornamental It is used for aesthetic reasons, mainly in poetry to express a concept

in an eloquent way Aristotle also pointed out the persuasive function of metaphor, seeing it as an effective rhetorical figure to be employed in political discourse The second major theory is the substitution theory of metaphor According

to Martin and Rom, metaphor is a way of saying what could be said literally In other words, metaphor can be substituted by a synonymous literal expression It is rather a reductionist approach to metaphor, ignoring that it is a unique expression of meaning, all aspects of which cannot be accounted for by a literal substitute Both the substitution theory and the comparison theory share the view of a metaphor as a matter of language; more specifically, as a matter of deviant language, with literal language being perceived as natural and conventional

Next, Lakoff and Johnson considered metaphors as much more powerful instruments They are primarily matters of thought and action, only derivation from language Metaphors are culturally-based, and define what those with certain assumptions and presuppositions find real The "isolated similarities" are indeed those created by metaphor, which simply create a partial understanding of one kind

of experience in terms of another kind of experience They are grounded in correlations within our experience

The foundations of the cognitive theory of metaphor were laid down by Lakoff and Johnson in their influential work “Metaphors We Live By” Their key argument is that the metaphor forms an inherent part of our conceptual system – in their words, “our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” Although the cognitive theory of metaphor tends to be described as radically new, the cognitive dimension of metaphor had been recognized by previous scholars The interaction theory viewed metaphor

as a mental process, and even before that a number of philosophers had discussed the cognitive implications of metaphor

In classical theories, Kovecses also implies metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared with another by saying that one is the other

Leech (1969: 151) argued that “metaphor is so central to our notion of poetic creation that it is often treated as a phenomenon in its own right, without reference to other kinds of transferred meaning” In considering a metaphor, we may consider the formula:

F = “Like L” This implies that, the figurative meaning F is derived from the literal meaning L in having the sense “like L” However, the simplest kind of metaphor is the use of “be” in clause structure, for example:

“Love is a boy, by poets styled

Then spare the rod, and spoil the child.”

on the other hand, is the image or analogue in terms of which the tenor is represented

A metaphor is generally more concise and immediate than the corresponding literal version, because of the superimposition, in the same piece of language, of tenor and vehicle

There are various types of metaphor, for example:

- Absolute metaphor: A metaphor in which one of the terms (the tenor) can't

be readily distinguished from the other (the vehicle)

- Complex metaphor: A metaphor in which the literal meaning is expressed

through more than one figurative term (a combination of primary metaphors)

- Conceptual metaphor: A metaphor in which one idea (or conceptual

domain) is understood in terms of another

- Conventional metaphor: A familiar comparison that doesn't call attention to

itself as a figure of speech

- Creative metaphor: An original comparison that calls attention to itself as a

figure of speech

- Dead metaphor: A figure of speech that has lost its force and imaginative

effectiveness through frequent use

- Extended metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things that continues

throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem

- Mixed metaphor: A succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons

- Primary metaphor: A basic intuitively understood metaphor, such as "knowing

is seeing" or "time is motion" that may be combined with other primary metaphors to produce complex metaphors

- Root metaphor: An image, narrative, or fact that shapes an individual's

perception of the world and interpretation of reality

- Submerged metaphor: A type of metaphor in which one of the terms (either the

vehicle or tenor) is implied rather than stated explicitly

- Therapeutic metaphor: A metaphor used by a therapist to assist a client in the

process of personal transformation

- Visual metaphor: The representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of

a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity

- Organizational metaphor: A figurative comparison used to define the key aspects

of an organization and/or explain its methods of operation merely a part of her personal identity

In conclusion, in terms of semantics, the research only studies about simile and metaphor that are used in Love declaration in both English and Vietnamese folklores Through those methods, love declarations are expressed more clearly and more beautifully

or “civilization” UNESCO firmly held on to a definition of culture, originally set out

in the 1982 Mexico Declaration on Cultural Policies: “… In its widest sense, culture may now be said to be the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs” (UNESCO, 2001:148)

Naturally, hundreds of other definitions of culture exist alongside UNESCO’s

It can also be seen diverse definitions of culture from “Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System: (Bodley, 1999: 315)

- Topical definition:

“Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or catalogues, such as social organization, religion, or economy.”

- Historical definition:

“Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations”

- Behavioral definition, Normative definition, Functional definition:

“Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together.”

of them:

Hofstede (1980, pp 21-23) defines culture as “the collective programming

of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”, which is passed from generation to generation, it is changing all the time because each generation adds something of its own before passing it on It is usual that one‟s culture is taken for granted and assumed to be correct because it is the only one, or at least the first, to be learned

Samovar & Porter (2003) give a typical definition of culture as follows:

“The deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving” (Samovar & Porter, 2003, p 8)

Sharing the same opinion, Edward Tylor, a famous British anthropologist, notes in his book “Primitive Culture” (1871), culture “is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”(p 1)

In the book “Language and Culture: Global flows and local complexity”, Risager (2005) considers culture from three dimensions of the concept including hierarchical, differential and generic concept As regards to hierarchical concept, culture means “something that the individual human being or individual, society

“either” has ‟or” does not have “at a higher or lower level” (p 32) Meanwhile, culture is thought as the thing that can distinguish one society from others from, differential concept The generic concept of culture focuses on what to distinguish humanity from nature and other living creatures

Also, Kramsch (1998) examines culture by comparing it to nature and showing its development through social activities “One way of thinking about culture is to contrast it with nature Nature refers to what is born and grows organically (from the Latin nascere: to be born); culture refers to what has been grown and groomed (from Latin colere: to cultivate)” (Kramsch, 1998:4)

According to Goodenough (1957), culture is defined as the thing that people in each particular community must know and possess to run their activities

“A society’s culture consists of whatever it is, one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves.” (Goodenough, 1957:167)

Subjective elements of culture may be the elements such as “values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions prevalent among people

in a society” (Harrison and Huntington, 2000:xv)

One more definition that should also be mentioned is the one of Triandis (1994:23) cited in Porter, Samovar and McDaniel (2007): “Culture is a set of human-made objective and subjective elements that in the past have increased the probability

of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in an ecological niche, and thus became share among those who could communicate with each other because they had a common language and they lived in the same time and place”

In short, culture is defined in various ways as Harrison and Huntington (2000) note, “The term culture, of course, has had multiple meanings in different disciplines and different contexts” (p xv) Thus, culture undeniably has many

definitions, but generally affects nearly everything people do in their society because

of their ideas, values, attitudes, and norms or expected patterns of behavior Culture

is not genetically inherited, and cannot exist on its own, but is always shared by members of a society (Hall 1976, p 16) Culture is a complex concept, and no single definition of it has achieved consensus in the literature Regardless of dozens of definitions, it is necessary to examine characteristics of culture because through them, one can see the connection between culture and other elements including language

As Huntington (1996) notes, “The heart of culture involves language, religion, values, traditions, and customs.”

Porter, Samovar and McDaniel (2007:21-30) point out six features of culture

as follows:

Firstly, culture is obtained from people’s birth to the end of their life through learning which means that it is learned but not innate Learning here is understood both formal and informal Informal learning normally takes place through interaction, observation, and imitation The formal learning of culture is far more structured and often left to the institutions of the culture such as schools and churches Because culture influences you from the instant you are born, you are rarely aware of many of the messages that it sends Therefore, studying is considered as an essential process

in one person’s whole life

Secondly, culture is shared The means of transmitting the culture can take

a variety forms (proverbs, stories, art) and can have numerous carriers (family, peers, church, schools, media), but the key elements of culture (values, ideas, perception) must be shared by other members of the culture

Thirdly, culture is transmitted from generation to generation If a culture is

to endure, it must make certain that its crucial messages and elements are not only shared, but they also must be passed on to future generations In this way, the past becomes the present and helps prepare for the future

Fourthly, culture is based on symbols While cultural symbols can take a host of forms, encompassing gestures, dress, objects, flags, or religious icons, “the most important symbolic aspect of culture is language – using words to represent objects and ideas.” (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, and McBride, 1005:38)

Fifthly, culture is dynamic Culture does not exist in a vacuum, because of

“other waters continually flowing in”, they are subject to change (p.29) These changes are related to people’s everyday lives including dress, food, transportation,

entertainment, housing, and the like are normally compatible with the existing values

of the culture However, values associated with such things as ethics and morality, work and leisure, definitions and freedom, the importance of the past, religious practices, the pace of life, and attitudes toward gender and age are so deeply embedded in a culture that they persist generation to generation

Finally, culture is an integrated system In reality, culture functions as an integrated whole In fact, it has been said that if you touch one part of a culture you touch all that culture The interrelationship of these various parts is so important that Haviland states, “All aspects of culture must be reasonably well integrated in order

to function properly” (2005:39)

In brief, culture begins at birth and continues throughout life Culture exists

in even the minor or unexpected things in most respects of daily life The integration

of culture makes it a stable unity and lasts everlastingly

2.2.2.2 English cultural features

British customs and traditions are famous all over the world There is a considerable diversity of culture among British people However, The English culture

is often considered a representative and often used to refer to the entire country’s culture of Britain Especially it cannot be denied that the dominant culture of Britain today is specifically English

Britain, the largest island of the British Isles, includes the countries of England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland Being an island has affected the British people’s characteristics British people still have an island mentally: independent, separate and on the edge of things British families are often criticized for the way they do things separately, though many believe that it is good for children to learn to

be independent

According to James O’Driscoll (2000), family identity is rather week in Britain, especially in England, in comparison with most other places in the world In Britain, the family unit definitely means the nuclear family Compared to the cultural value of Vietnam, the members of a family in Britain usually do not share the same roof There is little sense of extended family identity, except among some racial minorities It is unusual for adults of different generations within the family to live together Especially, newly married couples rarely live with their in-laws Elderly parents either live alone for as long as they are able or enter a home for the aged An

adult child would oversee such an arrangement but does not feel an obligation to take the parent into his own home

Unlike Vietnam, Britain has a strong history of colonizing many areas of the world Perhaps because of the long tradition of a clear separation between the individual and the state, English people are not normally active patriotic although many of them feel proud to be English When the community value is concerned, it

is rare to find people who have lived all their lives in one community As a result, the British also have no the same community value as the Vietnamese do

It is probably true that the British, especially the English, tend to be more reserved than the people of many other countries It means that they don’t show their emotions very much They do not quickly share their deeper feelings They find it comparatively difficult to indicate friendship by open displays of affection They are said to be people who often keep a certain distance to strangers, do not talk much about themselves, do not show much emotion and seldom get excited This fact tends

to give their communicators the impression of coldness The English also favor individualism rather than group orientation

The English people especially like privacy “An Englishman’s house is his castle”, This old saying sums up a fairly widespread tendency In addition, certain information is thought of as private The information is normally about personal details; e.g older people would probably still not like being asked a direct question about their age It is not acceptable to ask a childless couple why they have no children People do not like to be asked how much money they earn, etc

Moreover, sportsmanship is highly valued in Britain with rules showing generosity to one’s opponent and good temper in defeat It is also an ideal that is applied to life in general This is proved by the number of sporting terms used in ordinary speech One of the most elementary rules of life is “never hit a man when he’s down”- in other words, never take advantage of another misfortune

In short, English culture belongs to the Western one It is world –wide agreed that British people are independent, separate and reserve In addition, individualism

is also the main ego in British culture The English people and culture are very different from Vietnamese ones in some ways and this makes the comparison between English and Vietnamese culture rewarding

2.2.2.3 Vietnamese cultural features

Vietnam boasts an age-long and special culture Originated from the Southeast Asian culture, the Vietnamese river-imprinted culture deeply affects the whole spiritual as well as material life of Vietnamese people The culture has existed and developed in close interaction with other cultures in Asia, particularly with Chinese culture due to the era of Chinese domination, which lasted for almost 1000 years of the country’s early history As a result, the Viet people and culture were subject to the constant Chinese influence and significant attempts of assimilation

In fact, Vietnam has found itself entangled in wars against foreign powers (China, France and American) more than any other country in the region On the positive side, the history of war has helped shape the Vietnamese characters Long years of fighting against foreign intruders have served to unify the country, fostering

a sense of nationalism, patriotism and pride

The Vietnamese culture is said to be an agricultural one which was characterized by the village community with many of its primitive vestiges retained Farmers’ thoughts penetrated deeply into the Vietnamese agricultural society and had many positive aspects that made up the typical features of the traditional Vietnamese Living mostly on farm created democracy and hierarchy, unity, collective spirit and independent spirit in Vietnamese people

Vietnamese people are greatly affected by Yin and Yang philosophy, clearly expressed in the harmony tendency among people with people and with the nature The village culture highly valued emotional ties and attachment to relatives and the community as well as help extended to each other especially to the less fortunate members In this way, it fostered the sense of collectivism

In addition, Vietnamese life was also profoundly influenced by the practice

of ancestor worship as well as native animism Most Vietnamese people, regardless

of religious denomination, practice ancestor worship and have an ancestor altar at their home or business, a testament to the emphasis Vietnamese culture places on filial duty

Another feature of no less importance is the personalism in Vietnamese culture, which is opposite with individualism in western culture Vietnamese people are those of various and diversified relationship and strongly controlled by such complicated relationships In the Viet community, to a person’s children, he is a father; to his wife, he is a husband; to his grandparents, he is a nephew; and to his

neighbors, he is also a family’s child and a member of a larger family Especially, the distinguishing features when talking about Vietnamese cultural identity is the durable relationship between individuals and their family, between families and village, and

to a broader term, the Motherland Generally speaking, Vietnamese people are those

of duty and responsibility; and we can frequently hear such phrases as “lá lành đùm

lá rách”, “Bán anh em xa mua láng giềng gần”, “Sớm lửa tối đèn có nhau”…

In general, Vietnamese people are said to be very hard-working, brave and faithful in their living and behaviors Vietnamese culture is an undetectable part of Southeast Asian culture space with typical features of a wet-rice civilization Many

of the values and customs are still up help in the Vietnamese society today, although not in its original strict and absolute forms

Cultural Linguistics assumes that emotions are cultural categories characterised by a culturally constructed conceptual dimension Because people from different cultural backgrounds may draw on different culture-specific schemas and foster different values or attitudes towards the expression of love (Wilkins and Gareis 2006) The influence of culture on the meaning of love becomes evident in comparative studies

on love expressions across speakers from different countries

Even though they appear to be universal processes, emotional expression and attachment needs are governed by culturally specific rules, and these rules influence how couples visibly interact with each other (Greenman et al., 2009) Furthermore, in their article, exploring the cross-cultural importance of the phrase, "I love you," Wilkins and Gareis (2005) discuss that while emotional experiencing appears to be cross-cultural, the variation in expression can be explained by culture Verbal declarations of love appear to be more important in individualistic, industrialized societies, which is a reflection of certain cultures privileging independence and self-agency (Wilkins and Gareis, 2005)

Research investigating love expression and first language use has contributed

to a sizeable body of literature as well (see Dewaele, 2008; Gareis and Wilkins, 2011; Thompson, 2013; Wilkins and Gareis, 2006) These studies have highlighted the importance of the socio-cultural environment in shaping the socially-constructed activity of expressing love in one's first language (Dewaele, 2008; Garies and Wilkins, 2011; Lutz, 1998; Thompson, 2013; Wilkins and Garies, 2006)

The research studies on 'emotion and culture' (Kitayama & Markus & Kurokawa, 2000) and 'cultural and love' (Gareis & Wilkins, 2009) show that culture has a great influence on love expression or discussion

It is obvious that the words people use in interaction with each other reflect their expressions, ideas, beliefs and points of view Therefore, culture plays a significant role in communication in general and love declaration in particular Besides, different countries have different characteristics in the ways of expressing people’s love declaration As a result, the thesis will help learners and users recognize the similarities and differences in expressing love between English and Vietnamese people in terms of culture

In short, it is concluded that English people are traditionally independent, separate and reserve and sometimes they tend to be cold in communication That is the reason why their ways of expressing love are sometimes not romantic Vietnamese culture is said to be and agricultural one Therefore, people are affected

by the lifestyles in the village community It means that there are a large number of Vietnamese love declarations related to nature and scenes in the countryside It is one

of the vital factors making cultural images in Love declaration in Vietnamese folklores become more beautiful As a result, through studying the cultural features

in general and English and Vietnamese cultural features in particular, it is the theoretical background for applying cultural features of Love declartion in English and Vietnamese folklores in the research From that, the similarities and differences

in cultural features of Love declaration in English and Vietnamese folklores are conducted

2.2.3 The relationship between language and culture

According to Claire Kramsch, language is the principle means we conduct our social lives When language is used in contexts of communication it is bound up with culture

Firstly, the words people utter refer to common experience They express facts, ideas, or events that are communicable because they refer to a stock of knowledge about the world that other people share Words also reflect their authors’ attitudes and beliefs, their points of view, etc In both cases “language expresses cultural reality” (C Kramsch, 2000)

However, members of a community or social group do not only express experience; they also create an experience through language They give meaning to

it through the medium they choose to communicate with one another, for example, speaking on the telephone or face to face, writing a letter or sending an e-mail message… The way in which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings that are understandable to the group they belong to, for example, through a speaker’s tone of voice, accents, conversational style, gestures and facial expressions Through all as verbal and non-verbal aspects, “language embodies cultural reality” (C Kramsch, 2000)

Finally, language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value Speakers identify themselves and other through their use of language; they view their language as a symbol of their social identity The prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their culture Thus, we can say that “language symbolizes cultural reality”

We shall deal with these three aspects of language and culture by considering the following poem by Emily Dickinson:

“Essential oils- are wrung- The attar from the Rose

Be not expected by Suns- alone-

It is the gift of Screws- The General Rose- decay- But this- in Lady’s Drawer Make Summer- When the lady lie

In Ceaseless Rosemary”

(Adapted from C Kramsch, 2000)

2.2.3.1 Nature, culture, language

One way of thinking about culture is to contrast it with nature According to

C Kramsch “Nature refers to what is born and grows organically; culture refers to what has been grown and groomed”

Emily Dickinson’s poem expresses well the relationship of nature, culture and language A rose in a flower bed, says the poem, a generic rose is a phenomenon

of nature Beautiful but faceless and nameless among others of the same species Nature alone cannot reveal nor preserve the particular beauty of a particular rose at a chosen moment in time Powerless to prevent the biological “decay” and the ultimate death of roses and of ladies, nature can only make summer when the season is right

Culture, by contrast, is not bound by biological time Like nature, it is a “gift”, but of a different kind Through a sophisticated technological procedure, developed especially to extract the essence of roses, culture forces nature to reveal its “essential” potentialities The word “screws” suggests that this process is not without labour By crushing the petals, a great deal of the rose must be lost in order to get at its essence The technology of the screws constrains the exuberance of nature, in the same manner

as the technology of the world Culture makes the rose petals into a rare perfume, purchased at high cost, for the particular, personal use of a particular lady The lady may die, but the fragrance of the rose’s essence can make her immortal, in the same manner as the language of the poem immortalizes both the rose and the lady, and brings both back to life in the imagination of its readers

The poem itself bears testimony that nature and culture, both need each other The poem wouldn’t have been written if there were not natural roses; but it not be understood if it didn’t share with its readers some common assumptions and expectations about rose gardens, technological achievements, historic associations regarding ladies, roses, and perfumes Similarly, let us consider the poem “Tát nước đầu đình”, a Vietnamese folklore to see the relationship between culture, nature and language

2.2.3.2 Communities and their effects on Language users

According to C Kramsch, “Social conventions, norms of social appropriateness, are the product of communities of language users” As in the Dickinson’s poem, poets and readers, florists and lovers, horticulturists, rose press manufacturers, perfume-makers and users, create meanings through their words and actions Likewise, the man and the woman in “Tát nước đầu đình” use their words and actions to express their meanings

Kramsch said that “people who identify themselves as a member of a social group (family, neighborhood ) acquire common ways of viewing the world through their interactions with other members of the same group” (C Kramsch, 2000, 6) These views are reinforced through institutions like the family, the school, the workplace through their lives Common attitudes, beliefs and values are reflected

in the way members of the group use language - for example, what they choose to say and how they say it (C Kramsch, 2000, 6) Thus, in addition to the notion of speech community - “composed of people who use the same linguistic code” (C Kramsch), we can speak of discourse communities to refer to the common ways in

which members of a social group use language to meet their social needs Not only the grammatical, lexical, and phonological features of their language differentiate them from others, but also the topics they choose to talk about, the way they present information, the style with which they interact, in other words, their discourse accent For instance, English people often associate love with blindness:

“Love’s a blind, and those that follow him too often lose their way”

The word folklore, a compound of folk and lore, was coined in 1846 by the

Englishman William Thoms, who contrived the term as a replacement for the contemporary terminology of "popular antiquities" or "popular literature" The second half of the word, lore, comes from Old English It is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group, frequently passed along by word of mouth

The concept of folk has varied over time When Thoms first created this term, folk applied only to rural, frequently poor and illiterate peasants A more modern definition of folk is a social group that includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions "Folk

is a flexible concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family." This expanded social definition of folk supports a broader view of the material, i.e the lore, considered to be folklore artifacts These now include all

"things people make with words (verbal lore), things they make with their hands (material lore), and things they make with their actions (customary lore)" Folklore is

no longer considered to be limited to that which is old or obsolete The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a social group and how they are transmitted Transmission is a vital part of the folklore process; without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, they would be relegated to cultural archaeologists These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally,

as a rule, anonymously, and always in multiple variants The folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in the community "As

new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, computer programmers" In direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within a common social group

Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the significance of these beliefs, customs, and objects for the group, since these cultural units would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group That meaning can, however shift and morph, for example: the Halloween celebration of the 21st century is not the All Hallows' Eve of the Middle Ages, and even gives rise to its own set of urban legends independent of the historical celebration, the cleansing rituals of Orthodox Judaism were originally good public health in a land with little water, but now these customs signify for some people identification as an Orthodox Jew By comparison, a common action, such as tooth brushing, which is also transmitted within a group, remains a practical hygiene and health issue and does not rise to the level of a group-defining tradition Tradition

is initially remembered behavior; once it loses its practical purpose, there is no reason for further transmission unless it has been imbued with meaning beyond the initial practicality of the action This meaning is at the core of folkloristics, the study of folklore

Folklore is a collection of fictional stories about animals and people, of cultural myths, jokes, songs, tales, and even quotes It is a description of culture, which has been passed down verbally from generation to generation, though many are now in written form Folklore is also known as “folk literature,” or “oral traditions.”

Folklore depicts the way main characters manage their everyday life events, including conflicts or crises Simply, folk literature is about individual experiences from a particular society The study of folk tradition and knowledge is called folkloristics Although some folklores depict universal truths, unfounded beliefs and superstitions are also basic elements of folklore tradition

With an increasingly theoretical sophistication of the social sciences, it has become evident that folklore is a naturally occurring and necessary component of any social group; it is indeed all around us Folklore does not have to be old or antiquated,

it continues to be created and transmitted, and in any group it is used to differentiate between "us" and "them"

2.2.4.2 Definition of Love declaration

A declaration of love, also known as a confession of love, is a form of expressing one's love for someone or something It can be presented in various forms, such as love letters, speeches, or love songs A love declaration is more often than not explicit and straightforward

A declaration of love from one person to another is "a statement made by one person to another in which they say they are in love with the other person."

Romeo subsequently declares his love for Juliet to her, making it a declaration of mutual consent - an accepted love declaration - where both partners are

in love

An example of a less-successful declaration of love can be found in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice where Darcy declares his love for Elisabeth: "In vain have I struggled It will not do My feelings will not be repressed You must allow

me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

As it is a confession as well as a declaration, it comes as quite a shock to Elisabeth, who does not return Darcy's confession of love However, she says she feels "a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may

be returned." She adds that she has "never desired [his] good opinion" and that he has

"certainly bestowed it most unwillingly, "making it clear that his declaration is unwanted as well as unsuccessful

Historical occurrences: In the oldest existing text written in Icelandic, a faded and near illegible runic inscription from the 10 or 11 century, the word “as” appears, which directly translates as love It is speculated the author of the text was declaring

their love for something

Nonverbal declarations: Love padlocks on Staalmeestersbrug in Amsterdam,

Netherlands; Lovers' scribbles on the door of a nightclub toilet stall in New York

City, United States; Lovers' carving on a tree in Vilnius, Lithuania

Love letters: A love letter is one of the most classical forms of non-verbal declarations of feelings of love It allows for more specificity and a clearer point as the author of a love letter has time to think, rephrase, and edit the contents of his heart Permanent marks: Declarations of love can surface as permanent marks on urban environments and nature They are considered vandalism by many municipalities and governments When a declaration of love is made, it is often

attempted to be made permanent If the declaration is permanent it is considered everlasting or eternal

A good example of this is love locks, padlocks attached to landmarks, and constructions with the names of lovers engraved or written on them They began appearing on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris as early as 2008 They have since then become a widespread phenomenon Now considered vandalism in many places around the world, they are regularly removed An open petition has been made against them to be banned in Paris

Another example is lovers’ arborglyphs, carvings in living trees A popular

romantic image, they are known to spread disease between Beech trees

According to Collins English Dictionary Retrieved April 27, 2016, “A

statement made by one person to another in which they say they are in love with the other person”

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s and John L Austin’s studies have offered a new concept of language Should one, in the light of The Philosophical Investigations and How to Do Things With Words, limit himself or herself exclusively to investigate the manner in which feelings are spoken about, whilst remaining tacit as to the very nature of feelings? Can love be talked about using the language of analytic philosophy? The Author’s quest is one forgiving replies to those queries; to this particular end, declaration of love is made subject to detailed analysis from the standpoint of Wittgenstein’s concept of linguistic games and Austin’s speech act theory

In conclusion, those definitions of folklore and Love declaration are the basic and significant theories which are used to determine the characteristics of Love declarations in English and Vietnamese It is also the knowledge background from which the semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese Love declaration

in folklores in terms of similarities and differences are explored

Especially, semantic and cultural features of love declaration in general are exploited The following chapter will be concerned with the comparison between semantic and cultural features of love declarations in English and Vietnamese folklores

Chapter 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES OF LOVE DECLARATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FOLKLORES

Love declarations are frequently found in relationships of lovers, married couples and respondents of different ages In this chapter, we will study some linguistic features of love declarations of lovers in English and Vietnamese folklores

We also try to discover the cultural meaning of love declarations through cultural images used in love declarations Therefore, the comparison between English and Vietnamese folklores in terms of semantic and cultural features are emphasized In our study, as mentioned in the methodology section, one hundred love declarations are taken into the investigation

3.1 Semantic and cultural features of Love declaration in English folklores

After investigating fifty data in English folklores, it is found out that there are thirteen data conveying semantic features in English love declarations

3.1.1 Semantic features of Love declaration in English folklores

In this part, we will look at the tropes used in English love declarations

investigated, for the limitation of the thesis, what we concentrate on will be simile, metaphor As far as the thesis is concerned, from a very general viewpoint, two popular types of trope in poem will be taken into consideration

3.1.1.1 Simile used in love declarations in English folklores

In English love declarations, we do not find out many cases ( 16%) of simile,

as the love declarations concentrate on expressing love toward the other, the language used is relatively romantic, the comparison is not very popularized, only some cases

of simile are found in our study

a Love is compared to diseases

Love is compared to “measles” in order to emphasize that lovers will have

many troubles and they have to deal with them The thesis is conducted with four percent of simile with love related to diseases Let’s see the following examples:

“Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.”

(Jerome K Jerome) Or:

“Love’s like the measles- all the worse when it comes late in life.”

(Douglas Jerrold)

b Love is compared to plants

- “Parsley”, “sage”, “rosemary” and “thyme” are special plants making the flavor of love The thesis is conducted with two percent of simile with love related to plants, for example:

“Love imposes impossible tasks, Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,”

(Scarborough Fair)

c Love is compared to the part of human’s body

- “Heart” is one of the most common symbols of love The thesis is conducted with four percent of simile with love related to human’s body, for instance:

But none more than any heart would ask,

I must know you're a true love of mine.”

(Scarborough Fair)

d Love is compared to the animals

- In order to express the sweet of love, English people use image “a bee” to describe their love The thesis is conducted with two percent of simile with love related to plants, take for example:

“Love, in my bosom, like a bee, Doth sucks his sweet”

(Thomas Lodge)

e Love is compared to the supernatural places

- When people are happy with their love, they tend to compare their love to the “Heaven” However, when they are miserable they find their love as the “Hell” The thesis is conducted with four percent of simile with love related to the supernatural places, for examples:

“Absence from whom we love is worse than death”

(William Cowper)

Or:

“For man at most differ as Heaven and Earth, But women, worst and best, as

Heaven and Hell.”

(Tennyson)

In sum, similes in love declaration in English folklores are summarized as follows: After investigating fifty data in English folklores, with eight data related to simile is exploited in English love declarations It means that, in the study simile accounts for sixteen percent in English love declarations Love declarations related

to diseases, the part of human’s body, the supernatural places are more popular than those compared to plants and animals It is shown in the following table

Table 3.1 Simile in Love declaration in English folklores

SIMILE Frequency %

People tend to use another trope to describe things to express their feelings, metaphor, the indirect figurative comparison to develop the audience’s imagination

3.1.1.2 Metaphor used in love declarations in English folklores

Metaphor is a phenomenon in love declarations In English love declarations, we do not find out many cases (10%) of metaphor According to Leech,

it is largely used by poets, and it seems that poets like to use this type of trope (Leech, 1968:56) As a result, in English love declarations, metaphor is frequently found

a Love is implied as humanity: such as “a boy” and “a teacher”

The thesis is conducted with four percent of metaphor with love related to humanity The humanity metaphor is used in love declarations, which attributes the characteristics of humanity to what is not human Love in the following example is

“a boy” who is not mature, for example:

“Love is a boy, by poets styled, Then spare the rod, and spoil the child.”

(Samuel Butler)

- However, love in the next example is a great teacher who can teach us

everything, for example:

“Love is a great teacher who teaches all at once.”

(Pierre Corneille)

b Love is implied as the part of human’s body

The thesis is conducted with two percent of metaphor with love related to human’s body, for example:

“Love is swift of foot;

(G Herbert)

c Love is implied as a weapon

The thesis is conducted with two percent of metaphor with love related to

weapon When love is compared to “a man of war” in order to express the

extraordinary power of love, for example:

Love’s a man of war, And can shoot And can hit from far.”

(G Herbert)

d Love is implied as the misery

The thesis is conducted with two percent of metaphor with love related to misery “Smoke” here means lovers have to undergo unhappy feeling with many troubles in a long time, for example:

“Love is smoke made with the fume of sighs.”

(Shakespeare)

In short, metaphors in love declarations in English folklores are summarized

as follows: After investigating fifty data in English folklores, with five data related

to metaphor is exploited in English love declarations It means that, in the study metaphor accounts for ten percent in English love declarations Love declarations related to humanity rank the first, the following are those related to the part of human’s body, a weapon and the misery It is shown in the following table

Table 3.2 Metaphor in Love declaration in English folklores

METAPHOR Frequency %