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

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************
ĐINH THỊ MAI ANH
AN INVESTIGATION INTO
CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “LIFE”
IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT
STORIES
FROM 1975 TO 1991
NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM DÙNG ĐỂ BIỂU ĐẠT “CUỘC SỐNG”
TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA MỸ - VIỆT TỪ 1975 ĐẾN 1991
M. A. Major Program Thesis
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
HA NOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************
ĐINH THỊ MAI ANH
AN INVESTIGATION INTO
CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS DENOTING “LIFE”
IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT
STORIES
FROM 1975 TO 1991
NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM DÙNG ĐỂ BIỂU ĐẠT “CUỘC SỐNG”
TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA MỸ - VIỆT TỪ 1975 ĐẾN 1991
M. A. Major Program Thesis
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngô Đình Phương
HA NOI - 2016

i
DECLARATION
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains
no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by
which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgements in this
thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in
any other tertiary institutions.
Hanoi, 2016
Đinh Thị Mai Anh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, the completion of this study could not have been possible
without the expertise of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Dinh Phuong, my beloved thesis
supervisor. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to him for his dedicated
guidance and constructive criticism extended to me.
My appreciation also goes to all the lecturers at Faculty of Post – Graduate
Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, who expertly guided me
through my education, shared their valuable knowledge and inspired me to carry out
this research.
Last but not least, I also place on record, my sense of gratitude to all the
family members for their unceasing support and great encouragement.

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ABSTRACT
Metaphor has attracted the attention of scholars interested in
language, especially rhetoricians and literary critics, for more than 2000 years.
Traditionally, metaphor was viewed as a matter of language, as a set of
extraordinary or figurative linguistic expressions only used in literature with the aim
to embellish discourse. However, cognitive linguistics presents a different view of
metaphor, stating that metaphor, in its broad sense, is pervasive and essential in
language and thought. It is defined as understanding one abstract conceptual domain
(target domain), in terms of another concrete conceptual domain (source domain).
The concept of life has been one of the most common target domains, which is hard
to fully comprehend without establishing a set of mappings, i.e. a set of systematic
correspondences, between this undelineated notion and other better-known one.
Therefore, this study attempts to probe into conceptual metaphors denoting life in
American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991 from the perspective of
cognitive linguistics. Basing on a relatively considerable number of collected data,
the author makes an investigation into the similarities and differences in the use of
these conceptual metaphors in both languages, in the hope to contribute a part to the
process of foreign language teaching and learning, and translation practice.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................9
1.1. Rationale of the study........................................................................................... 9
1.2. Significance of the study .....................................................................................10
1.3. Aims and objectives ............................................................................................10
1.3.1. Aims of the study .............................................................................................10
1.3.2. Objectives of the study .....................................................................................11
1.4. Research questions..............................................................................................11
1.5. Scope of the study...............................................................................................11
1.6. Method and Procedures.......................................................................................12
1.6.1. Research Method..............................................................................................12
1.6.2. Data collection .................................................................................................13
1.6.3. Data analysis ....................................................................................................13
1.7. Organization of the study ....................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE
REVIEW ..................................................................................................................15
2.1. Theoretical background.......................................................................................15
2.1.1. Cognitive Science.............................................................................................15
2.1.2. Cognitive Linguistics .......................................................................................15
2.1.3. Cognitive Semantics.........................................................................................17
2.1.4. Metaphor..........................................................................................................17
2.1.4.1. The traditional view of metaphors .................................................................17
2.1.4.2. Metaphors in the Cognitive Linguistic View..................................................20
2.1.5. Short stories .....................................................................................................28
2.2. Literature review .................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................34
3.1. Research design and methodology.......................................................................34
3.2. Data ....................................................................................................................35
3.2.1. American short stories......................................................................................35
3.2.2 Vietnamese short stories....................................................................................37
3.3. Data collection ....................................................................................................38

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3.4. Data analysis.......................................................................................................40
3.5. Research procedures............................................................................................41
CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS....................................................43
4.1. Quantitative analysis ...........................................................................................43
4.1.1. Structural metaphors.........................................................................................44
4.1.2. Ontological metaphors......................................................................................46
4.1.3. Orientational metaphors ...................................................................................48
4.2. Qualitative analysis .............................................................................................49
4.2.1. Conceptual metaphors denoting life in American short stories..........................49
4.2.1.1. LIFE IS AN ENTITY....................................................................................49
4.2.1.2. LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME...............................................................52
4.2.1.3. LIFE IS A JOURNEY ...................................................................................54
4.2.1.4. LIFE IS A CONTAINER ..............................................................................56
4.2.1.5. LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION.........................................................58
4.2.1.6. LIFE IS A PERSON......................................................................................59
4.2.1.7. LIFE IS A MACHINE...................................................................................60
4.2.1.8. LIFE IS A WAR............................................................................................61
4.2.1.9. LIFE IS A STORY........................................................................................62
4.2.1.10. LIFE IS A GAME .......................................................................................63
4.2.1.11. LIFE IS A PAIN..........................................................................................63
4.2.2. Conceptual metaphors denoting life in Vietnamese short stories.......................63
4.2.2.1. LIFE IS AN ENTITY....................................................................................63
4.2.2.2. LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME...............................................................66
4.2.2.3. LIFE IS A JOURNEY ...................................................................................67
4.2.2.4. LIFE IS A CONTAINER ..............................................................................69
4.2.2.5. LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION.........................................................70
4.2.2.6. LIFE IS A PERSON......................................................................................71
4.2.2.7. LIFE IS A MACHINE...................................................................................71
4.2.2.8. LIFE IS A WAR............................................................................................71
4.2.2.9. LIFE IS A STORY........................................................................................71
4.2.2.10. LIFE IS A GAME .......................................................................................72
4.2.2.11. LIFE IS A PAIN..........................................................................................73
4.3. Research findings................................................................................................73
4.3.1. Similarities .......................................................................................................73
4.3.2. Differences.......................................................................................................77
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.........................................80
5.1. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................80
5.2. Implications for the study....................................................................................80
5.2.1. Implications for teachers ..................................................................................80

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5.2.2. Implications for learners...................................................................................81
5.2.3. Implications for translators...............................................................................82
5.3. Limitations and suggestions for further studies....................................................83
REFERENCES
APPENDIX A. AMERICAN CORPUS ANALYZED IN THE STUDY
APPENDIX B. VIETNAMESE CORPUS ANALYZED IN THE STUDY

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LIST OF TABLES
Number of
Tables
Name of Tables Page
1.1. American & Vietnamese short stories from 1975 - 1991 4
2.1. Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains 15
2.4. Orientational Metaphors 19
3.1. American corpus analyzed in the study 30
3.2. Vietnamese corpus analyzed in the study 31
4.1. Conceptual Metaphors denoting life 34
4.2.
Occurrence and Percentage of Conceptual Metaphors
denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories
from 1975 to 1991
35
4.3.
Occurrence and Percentage of Structural Metaphors
from 1975 to 1991
36
4.4.
Occurrence and Percentage of Ontological Metaphors
from 1975 to 1991
37
4.5.
Occurrence and Percentage of Orientational metaphors
from 1975 to 1991
39

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
Cognitive linguistics is the approach to the study of language that began to
emerge in the 1970s and has been increasingly active since the 1980s. Until now, a
large amount of research has been carried out in the light of cognitive linguistics
over the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, and most of them have
focused on semantics with a deeper insight into the use of conceptual metaphor in
language. Conceptual metaphors involve two concepts and have the form A is B,
where the more abstract concept A such as love, life, economy and argument is
comprehended in terms of the more concrete concept B including war or a
container. Therefore, the investigation into conceptual metaphors with the aim to
find out similarities and differences of using this kind of meaning transference
among languages in the world brings great benefits to the English teaching, learning
and translating process.
Life has been one of the most inspirational and enchanting topics for
thousands of writers across the time. Although the concept of life is commonly
mentioned in our daily life or everyday conversations, its definition or true meaning
cannot be described by only one or two words. Life is the mixture of everything –
the mixture of happiness and sadness, success and failure, comfort and pain,
encouragement and frustration, opportunities and obstacles, love and hatred, relief
and sorrow, and struggle and surrender. Therefore, it is hard to fully comprehend
the concept of life itself without any connection with other concrete notions or
tangible objects. To illustrate that, imagine life is a game. People are considered as
players, who need to play as skillfully and fairly as they can with the aim to win, or
acquire their own goals in life. If the concept of life is perceived in terms of a
journey, people are considered as travellers trying their best to overcome all
impediments on their way to reach the final destinations. As a result, the abstract
concept of life can be metaphorically mentioned through other more delineated
ones. Depending on the distinctive features of different cultures or specific
geographical characteristics of regions in the world, life has its own uniqueness.

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The conceptualization of life in American and Vietnamese short stories and
the universal and unique conceptual metaphors referring to life among languages
have given me a great inspiration to carry out a research entitled: ―An investigation
into conceptual metaphors denoting “life” in American and Vietnamese short
stories from 1975 to 1991‖. Hopefully, the findings of this study would make a
contribution to the process of understanding and interpretation of conceptual
metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories.
1.2. Significance of the study
This research is carried out in the hope to contribute a small part to the
consolidation of cognitive linguistic theory in general, and cognitive semantics in
particular. Although there are a number of investigations into conceptual metaphors
in the world and in Vietnam as well, how the concept of life is conceptualized in
short stories, and how metaphorical expressions used to denote this abstract notion
are similar and different among languages, have not been examined yet. Therefore,
this study is expected to help learners who have not exposured much in life and
might find it difficult to understand this concept when reading materials or having a
conversation with foreign people. Moreover, it is hoped to contribute to the process
of teaching and learning American literature in foreign languages departments or
universities in Vietnam, and of translating American shorts stories or other forms of
art into Vietnamese and vice verse.
1.3. Aims and objectives
1.3.1. Aims of the study
This research aims to:
- Carry out an investigation into conceptual metaphors denoting life in some
American and Vietnamese short stories based on the theory of cognitive
semantics.
- Make a comparison of using conceptual metaphors to express life in
American versus Vietnamese short stories.
- Make contributions to learning, teaching and translating process.

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1.3.2. Objectives of the study
To gain the aims above, the researcher attempts to:
- Identify the conceptual metaphors of life in some American and Vietnamese
short stories in terms of cognitive linguistics.
- Categorize these conceptual metaphors in the frame of linguistic cognitivism.
- Analyze and discover the similarities and differences in the conceptual
metaphors denoting the concept of life in some American and Vietnamese
short stories.
- Make some suggestions for foreign language teaching and learning, as well
as for translating process.
1.4. Research questions
In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the investigation, the
researcher attempts to give answers to the following questions:
a. How are the conceptual metaphors of life conceptualized in American and
Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991?
b. What are the similarities and differences of the conceptual metaphors
denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991?
c. What are the implications for the use of conceptual metaphors in teaching,
learning and translating?
1.5. Scope of the study
The study merely focuses on investigating the conceptual metaphors
denoting life based on the theory of cognitive linguistics. The researcher also
chooses to investigate these conceptual metaphors in nineteen American short
stories and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991, as follows:
No. American short stories Vietnamese short stories
1. A silver dish (Saul Bellow, 1979) Vệ sỹ của Quan Châu (Ma Văn
Kháng,1978)
2. Gesturing (John Updike, 1980) Hai ông già ở Đồng Tháp Mười (Nguyễn
Khải, 1981)

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3. Where I‘m calling from (Raymond
Carver, 1983)
Người gặp hằng ngày (Nguyễn Khải,
1981)
4. Janus (Ann Beattie, 1986) Chuyến bay (Nguyễn Minh Châu, 1983)
5. The way we live now (Susan
Sontag, 1987)
Gió từ miền cát (Xuân Thiều, 1983)
6. Menseteung (Alice Munro, 1989) Khách ở quê ra (Nguyễn Minh Châu,
1984)
7. You‘re ugly, too (Lorrie Moore,
1990)
Tháng ngày đã qua (Xuân Thiều, 1984)
8. The legend of pig - eye (Rick Bass,
1990)
Người mẹ tội lỗi (Xuân Thiều, 1984-
1985)
9. The trip back (Robert Olen Butler,
1990)
Bến quê (Nguyễn Minh Châu, 1985)
10. The point (Charles D‘Ambrosio,
JR, 1990)
Thành phố thấp thoáng (Xuân Thiều
1986-1987)
11. Oil and water (Millicent Dillion,
1990)
Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa (Nguyễn Minh
Châu, 1987)
12. The body shop (Elizabeth Graver,
1990)
Trung du chiều mưa buồn (Ma Văn
Kháng, 1987)
13. Houdini (Siri Hustvedt, 1990) Phiên chợ Giát (Nguyễn Minh Châu,
1989)
14. Bologoye (Mikhail Lossel, 1990) Nắng chiều (Nguyễn Khải, 1989)
15. Glossolalia (David Jauss, 1990) Đổi đời (Nguyễn Khải, 1990)
16. Viva la Tropicana (Leonard
Michaels, 1990)
Ông trưởng họ (Nguyễn Khải, 1991)
17. Willing (Lorie Moore, 1990) Heo may, gió lộng (Ma Văn Kháng, 1991)
18. Friend of my youth (Alice Munro,
1990)
Móng vuốt thời gian (Ma Văn Kháng,
1991)
19. American, Abroad (Joyce Carol
Oates, 1990)
Một thời gió bụi (Nguyễn Khải, 1991)
Table 1.1: American & Vietnamese short stories from 1975 - 1991
1.6. Method and Procedures
1.6.1. Research Methods
In this study, the quantitative and quanlitative methods are applied in order to
achieve its aims and objectives. In addition, this research is also carried out on the
base of contrastive and comparative analysis so as to make an investigation into the

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similarities and differences in metaphorical expressions manifested in conceptual
metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to
1991 from cognitive semantic approach.
1.6.2. Data collection
Metaphorical expressions denoting life are collected from American and
Vietnamese short stories composed during the time from 1975 to 1991, and
published in printed editions.
Nineteen American short stories are taken from two famous collections of
short stories including The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by
John Updike and Katrina Kenison (1999), and The Best American Short Stories
1991 selected from U.S Magazines by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991).
Nineteen Vietnamese short stories written by well-known authors those days
are collected from collections of short stories including Nguyễn Khải truyện ngắn 1
selected by Nguyễn Phan Hách and Nguyễn Khắc Trường (2003), Truyện ngắn
Nguyễn Minh Châu, tác phẩm và lời bình by Tuấn Thành and Vũ Nguyễn (2007),
Truyện ngắn Ma Văn Kháng by Trung Trung Đỉnh and Nguyễn Khắc Trường
(2008), and Xuân Thiều toàn tập, tập 3 by Ngô Vĩnh Bình (2015).
1.6.3. Data analysis
In order to achieve the aims of this study, the data are both quantitatively and
qualitatively analyzed. Firstly, the data is quatitatively examined in terms of
occurence of three types of conceptual metaphors classified by Lakoff and Johnson
(1980), specifically structural metaphors, ontological metaphors, and orientational
metaphors. Secondly, the two sets of data will be qualitatively analyzed and
compared in order to find out the similarities and differences between conceptual
metaphors denoting life in some American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975
to 1991.
1.7. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts:

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Chaper 1 ―Introduction” will include the rationale, the aims and objectives
of the study, the significance, the research questions, the scope and the organization
of the study.
Chapter 2 includes the “Theoretical Background and Literature Review”
where a review of previous studies is carried out and the theoretical background is
provided.
Chapter 3 is about the “Research Methodology” of the study. This chapter
will mention the methodology, the design of the research, the ways of data
collection, data analysis.
Chapter 4 gives the “Findings and Discussions” related to the conceptual
metaphors denoting LIFE in some American and Vietnamese short stories.
Chapter 5 entitles “Conclusions and Implications”. This chapter will sum
up the development of the study, provide implications for teaching, learning and
translating cognitive metaphors in English and Vietnamese. It will also present
some limitations and suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Theoretical background
2.1.1. Cognitive Science
The term “Cognition”, as used by cognitive scientists, derives from the Latin
root (cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, congnitum, which means to know, to
conceptualize or to recognize) and is defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary (Hornby, 2000) as ―the process by which knowledge and understaning is
developed in the mind‖ (p. 299). It encompasses mental processes such as attention,
memory, production of language, problem solving and decision making. Ly Toan
Thang (2005) considered “Cognition” as the process of absorbing, storing and
processing information into knowledge (p. 16).
Cognitive science, which has attracted significant attention since the late 20th
century, is the interdisciplinary investigation of the mind and intelligence. In
contrast with some early philosophical theories and commonsense views treating
the mind as souls and spirits, not suitable for scientific study, Cognitive science
consider it to be a valuable source of data in order to investigate the mind and
understand how information is processed in human‘s brains on the base of the ideas
and methods of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, artificial
intelligence, neuroscience and anthropology. For instance, linguists collect evidence
about the way people produce and understand meaningful sentences. Meanwhile,
psychologists will gather behavioral evidence relating to social interaction,
language comprehension and emotional experience. Until now, the cooperation of
scientists from different fields in attempts to understand the mind has brought
illuminating explanations of many kinds of human thinking.
2.1.2. Cognitive Linguistics
Cognitive Linguistics is an approach to the analysis of natural language that
originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the work of George Lakoff, Ron
Langacker, and Len Talmy. In contrast with other linguistic researches, Cognitive

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Linguistics is deemed to be a flexible framework rather than a single theory of
language. In other words, it includes a cluster of many partially overlapping
approaches rather than a single well-defined theory. In the light of Cognitive
Linguistics, language is considered as a way of organizing knowledge that reflects
the needs, interests, and experiences of individuals and cultures. The formal
structures of language are studied not as if they were autonomous, but as reflections
of general conceptual organization, categorization principles, processing
mechanisms, and experiential and environmental influences (Geeraerts &
Cuyckens, 2007). Whereas the generative grammarians only analyze language on
the base of a precisely formulated set of rules whose output is all the grammatical
sentences in a given language, for the Cognitive approach, natural language is not
only seen as a system of rules, but also a repository of world knowledge, a
structured collection of meaningful categories that help us deal with new
experiences and store old information (Geeraerts & Cuyckens, 2007).
Until now, its theory formation is not yet completely stabilized. However,
according to Croft & Cruse (2004), there are three fundamental hypotheses
considered as the guiding principles of Cognitive Linguistics to language:
- Language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty.
- Grammar is conceptualization.
- Knowledge of language emerges from language use.
These above hypotheses are presented as opposite responses to the other vigorous
research paradigms including Generative Grammar and Truth-conditional
Semantics. Today, the arguments and empirical questions are still raised by the
cognitive linguistics to protect their hypotheses.
Topics of special interest for Cognitive Linguistics include: the structural
characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality,
systematic polysemy, cognitive models, mental imagery, and metaphor); the
functional principles of linguistic organization (such as iconicity and naturalness);
the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics (as explored by Cognitive
Grammar and Construction Grammar); the experiential and pragmatic background

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of language-in-use; and the relationship between language and thought, including
questions about relativism and conceptual universals.
Although there has been more than thirty years of development in the world,
researches related to “Cognitive linguistics” just account for an insignificant
numbers in Viet Nam with some noticeable authors such as Lý Toàn Thắng (2005),
Trần Văn Cơ (2007), Phan Văn Hoà (2008), Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2007, 2008) and
Nguyễn Lai (2009).
2.1.3. Cognitive Semantics
Cognitive semantics, which is similar to the larger enterprise of cognitive
linguistics, is not a unified theory. It represents an approach to the study of mind
and its relationship with embodied experience and culture. It proceeds by
employing language as a key methodological tool for uncovering conceptual
organization and structure. It began in the 1970s as a reaction against the objectivist
world-view assumed by the Anglo-American tradition in philosophy and the related
approach, truth-conditional semantics, developed within formal linguistics. While
―by viewing meaning as the relationship between words and the world, truth-
conditional semantics eliminates cognitive organization from the linguistic system‖
(Sweetser, 1990, p.4), cognitive semantics sees linguistic meaning as a
manifestation of conceptual structure. ―Research on cognitive semantics is research
on conceptual content and its organization in language‖ (Talmy, 2004, p.4).
Evans and Green (2006) in their book Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction
examine the four guiding principles that collectively characterize the collection of
approaches that fall within semantics, as follows:
1. Conceptual structure is embodied.
2. Semantic structure is conceptual structure.
3. Meaning representation is encyclopedic.
4. Meaning-construction is conceptualization.
2.1.4. Metaphor
2.1.4.1. The traditional view of metaphors

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The possibility of differentiating between literal and figurative language has
been always drawing attention of Western linguistic scholars since at least the time
of Aristotle. Within that general process, researchers have concentrated on
introducing a system on the base of this differentiation and discussing further
distinctive features among different types of meaning transference. These figurative
devices including metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, litotes, irony and euphemisms
have been used in literature with the aim to embellish discourse, to paint a vivid
picture, or in other words, to convey a thought more forcefully than a plain
statement. Within those discussions, the different valuations of the figurative, or
more specifically, views of metaphors as ornaments have been a controversial issue
for years.
Let us begin with Aristotle, who is considered as the father of metaphor
theory. He supposed that ―It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others, and it
is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the
similarity in dissimilar‖ (Aristotle, 1909, p.71). In other words, metaphor was
considered as a conscious and deliberate use of words, and only great poets and
eloquent speakers, who must have special talent such as Shakespeare and Churchill,
could be its masters. In particular, Aristotle limited the use of metaphor merely in
poetry and regarded it as a kind of decoration or ornament. As a result, metaphor in
the traditional view was not an inevitable part of everyday human communication,
merely in literature.
Metaphor was defined as ―giving the thing a name that belongs to species, or
from species to genus, or from species to species, on grounds of analogy‖ (Aristotle,
1909, p.63). In other words, everything in nature has its own ‗proper name‘;
however, metaphor infringes this rule by using the name of one thing to convey the
other. In literature, simile has been also used with the same purpose. However, the
significant difference is that metaphor is considered to be implicit comparison and
have no elements of comparison, whereas simile is explicit one with the use of
signaling words such as ―like‖, or ―as‖. It is said that the omission of the ―like‖ in
metaphor brings two compared entities far closer to each other, which challenges
readers to understand the comparison, deepens their experience and helps them to

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gain some additional understanding from the analogies presented. In general, using
metaphor has much greater power than simile.
Kövecses (2010) points out that in the traditional view, similarity is
considered as the basis of metaphor; in other words, one linguistic expression rather
than another is chosen to speak metaphorically about something on the base of
resemblances. Thus, the excessive production of metaphor has been limited because
of this similarity constraint. He takes ―the roses on her cheeks‖ as a typical example
presenting noticeable features of traditional view of metaphor. Firstly, metaphor is
deemed to be language‘s decorations or ornaments. In this example, ―roses‖ are
used to describe the blushing cheeks on someone‘s face. The main purpose of this
metaphor is to enhance readers‘ feeling, not to use the word ―roses‖ as part of the
process of conceptualizing and understanding one thing in terms of another.
Secondly, metaphor in the traditional view is a linguistic phenomenon, instead of a
conceptual one. To be more specific, metaphor means only using one word, phrase
or expression in order to refer to others, rather than one conceptual domain to
perceive another. Thirdly, the reason for choosing ―roses‖ to talk about somebody‘s
cheeks is because of the similar color between this kind of flower and women‘s
cheeks (pink or red), which exists in human‘s life even before people use this
metaphor. Finally, in the traditional view, certain preexisting similarities can limit
the selection of linguistic expression used metaphorically in place of others to
describe the world. Therefore, in order to describe the pinkish color on someone‘s
face, it is unusual to use the word ―sky”, as in ―the sky on her cheeks”, because
there is no resemblance between the blue color of the sky and the pinkish color on a
person‘s cheeks. To sum up, the choice of metaphorical expressions in both
conventional and unconventional language use depends on the preexisting similarity
in reality. However, there are a huge number of other metaphorical expressions in
life, which can be used without any preexisting similar points, such as between
―digesting foods” and “digesting ideas”, or “We’re not going anywhere,” and
“This relationship is not going anywhere.”
In order to seek for the answer of these linguistic phenomena, cognitive
linguistics have done thousands of research with the aim to provide an account of

20
the selection of metaphorical source concepts and their corresponding metaphorical
linguistic expressions.
2.1.4.2. Metaphors in the Cognitive Linguistic View
A new view of metaphor that challenged all the aspects of the powerful
traditional theory in a systematic way was first developed by George Lakoff and
Mark Johnson in 1980 in their seminal study: Metaphor We Live By. Lakoff and
Johnson in their work strongly stated that:
1) Metaphor is a property of concepts, not of words.
2) The purpose of using metaphor is to comprehend concepts in a deeper way,
not just for decorative function in literature.
3) The basis of metaphor is not merely based on similarity.
4) Metaphor is not a matter of special talents, but is used effortlessly in
everyday life by ordinary people
5) Metaphor is not a superfluous process by using metaphorical expressions,
but is an integral one of human thought and reasoning in order to conceive
the world.
2.1.4.2.1. What is metaphor?
In the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one
conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain. In other words, it can be
understood that ―CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A‖ IS ―CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN B‖,
which is called a conceptual metaphor. To be more specific, in each conceptual
metaphor, there are two conceptual domains, in which one domain is understood in
terms of another. A conceptual domain is any coherent organization of experience.
Let us take a paragraph that contains metaphorical linguistic expressions to talk
about life, used pervasively in reality by native speakers of English, as an excellent
example.
People might say that they try to give their children an education so they
will get a good start in life. If their children act out, they hope that they are
just going through a stage and that they will get over it. Parents hope that their
children won‘t be burdened with financial worries or ill health and, if they

21
face such difficulties, that they will be able to overcome them. Parents hope
that their children will have a long life span and that they will go far in life.
But they also know that their children, as all mortals, will reach the end of the
road.
(Winter, 1995, p. 235)
In this example, life is considered as a journey. Therefore, we have a
conceptual metaphor: LIFE IS A JOURNEY, in which life is conceptual domain A,
and a journey is conceptual domain B. People use the expressions of a journey in
order to comprehend the elusive concept of life. More specifically, in a journey,
travelers are the ones who carry out the action of travelling. They get their start,
their way and their destination. Additionally, they need means of transports to help
them quickly reach their final point. Obviously, there are no journeys full of
happiness and luck, and the travelers have to overcome obstacles in order to finish
their journeys. By such understanding, people in their life are also travellers.
Everybody also wants to ―get a good start‖ in life; however, life always consists of
impediments and difficulties, which demands people to make strong efforts with the
aim to ―go through a stage‖, overcome all the daily burdens, ―have a long life
span‖, and ―go far in life‖.
Linguistic researchers also find out other huge number of examples, in which
English speakers make extensive use of the more concrete domain of journey to
refer to the highly abstract concept of life.
He‘s without direction in life.
I‘m where I want to be in life.
I‘m at a crossroad in my life.
For additional examples, we also can talk and think about theories in terms of
buildings, arguments in terms of war, ideas in terms of food, social organizations in
terms of plants and so on.
Therefore, it is necessary to point out the distinctive features between
conceptual metaphor and metaphorical expressions. Lakoff (1992) suppose that the
word metaphor has come to mean a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual

22
system. Thus, the term metaphorical expressions “refer to a linguistic expression (a
word, phrase, or sentence) that is the surface realization of such a cross-domain
mapping (this is what the word metaphor referred to in the old theory)‖ (Lakoff,
1992, p.1). In other words, the words or other linguistic expressions commonly
appear in the use of describing CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN B and are used to
metaphorically talk about CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A, which are called
metaphorical expressions. To illustrate that, we have a conceptual metaphor LIFE
IS A JOURNEY, and the linguistic metaphorical expressions manifested from this
metaphor may include ―without direction‖, ―at a crossroad‖, ―go places in life‖,
―get in his way‖, and ―go through a lot in life‖. As a result, the nature of the
relationship between conceptual metaphors and the metaphorical linguistic
expressions can be that the linguistic expressions (i.e., ways of talking) make
explicit, or are manifestations of, the conceptual metaphors (i.e., ways of thinking).
The two domains of a conceptual metaphor also have distinctive names.
―The conceptual domain for which we draw metaphorical expressions to understand
another conceptual domain is called source domain, while the conceptual domain
that is understood this way is the target domain” (Kövecses, 2010, p.4). The target
domain is the domain that we try to comprehend through the use of the source
domain. Therefore, ―conceptual metaphors typically employ a more abstract
concept as target and a more concrete or physical concept as their resource‖
(Kövecses, 2010, p.7). In studying the most frequent source domains, Kövecses
(2010) pointed out that the most systematic comprehensive survey is provided by
Alive Deignan‘s Collins Cobuild English Guides 7: Metaphor. To be more specific,
some common source domains are the human body (including the head, face, legs,
hands, back, heart, bones, shoulders, and others), health and illness, animals, plants,
buildings and construction, machines and tools, games and sport, money and
economic transactions, cooking and food, heat and cold, light and darkness, forces,
and movement and direction. Kövecses (2010) also presented some common target
domains such as emotion (anger, fear, love, happiness, sadness, shame, pride, and
so on), desire, morality, thought, society/nation, politics, economy, human
relationships, communication, time, life and death, religion, and events and actions.

23
2.1.4.2.2. Conceptual Metaphor as a Set of Mappings
The definition of metaphor in the light of cognitive linguistics is
CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A is understood in terms of CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN
B. To be more specific, ―there is a set of systematic correspondences between the
source and the target in the sense that constituent conceptual elements of B
correspond to constituent elements of A‖ (Kövecses, 2010, p.7). These conceptual
correspondences are commonly regarded as mappings. Let us take the SOCIAL
ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS conceptual metaphor as an example.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS
He works for the local branch of the bank.
Our company is growing.
They had to prune the workforce.
A set of correspondences, or mappings between constituent elements of the
source (i.e. PLANTS) and those of the target (i.e. SOCIAL ORGANATIONS) can
be laid out as follows.
Source: PLANT Target: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
(1) the whole plant  the entire organization
(2) a part of the plant  a part of the organization
(3) growth of the plant  development of the organization
(4) removing a part of the plant  reducing the organization
(5) the root of the plant  the origin of the organization
(6) the flowering  the best stage, the most successful stage
(7) the fruits  the beneficial consequences
Table 2.1 Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains
Let us consider another example with the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A
JOURNEY, in which the target domain - love is conceived in terms of the source
domain – a journey. Some metaphorical linguistic expressions are commonly used

24
by speakers of English in daily conversations in order to talk about the abstract
concept - love.
LOVE IS A JOURNEY
Look how far we‘ve come.
We‘ll just have to go our separate ways.
We can‘t turn back now.
The mappings of the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY can be as
follows:
Source: JOURNEY Target: LOVE
(1) the travelers  the lovers
(2) the vehicle  the love relationship itself
(3) the journey  events in the relationship
(4) the distance covered  the progress made
(5) the obstacles encountered  the difficulties experienced
(6) decisions about which way to go  choices about what to do
(7) the destination of the journey  the goal(s) of the relationship
Table 2.2. Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains
In general, mapping are regarded as the systematic set of correspondences
between constituent elements of conceptual domain A (i.e. target domain), and
conceptual domain B (i.e. source domain), which characterize conceptual
metaphors.
2.1.4.2.3. Kinds of Metaphors
Conceptual metaphors can be classified according to the cognitive functions
that they perform. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) introduced three general kinds of
conceptual metaphor including structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors.
These kinds of metaphor often coincide in particular cases.
2.1.4.2.3.1. Structural Metaphors

25
In the light of cognitive linguistics, metaphor can be characterized with the
formula A IS B, where the target domain (A) is understood through the source
domain (B). To make it clearer, with the use of structural metaphors, ―the source
domain provides a relatively rich knowledge structure for the target concept‖
(Kövecses, 2010, p.37). In other words, thanks to this kind of metaphors, conceptual
metaphor A (i.e. target domain) can be comprehended by means of the structure of
conceptual metaphor B (i.e. source domain). This understanding is based on a set of
mappings that exist between the structures of A and B.
Let us analyze the metaphorical concept TIME IS MOTION in order to give
reader deeper inside of structural metaphors. The mappings of this conceptual
metaphor can be as follows.
Times are things.
The passing of time is motion.
Future times are in front of the observer; past times are behind the observer.
One thing is moving, the other is stationary; the stationary thing is the deictic
center.
The concept of time is structured clearly according to motion in this set of
mappings. There are two special cases of the TIME IS MOTION conceptual
metaphor, including TIME PASSING IS MOTION OF AN OBJECT, and TIME
PASSING IS AN OBSERVER‘S MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE.
TIME PASSING IS MOTION OF AN OBJECT
The time will come when …
The time has long since gone when …
TIME PASSING IS AN OBSERVER‘S MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE
There‘s going to be trouble along the road.
His stay in Russia extended over many years.
There are a huge number of metaphorical linguistic expressions derived from
this TIME IS MOTION conceptual metaphor. The mappings help people to
understand the concept of time through the structure of the term motion.
2.1.4.2.3.2. Ontological Metaphors

26
―Understanding our experiences in terms of objects and substances allows us
to pick out parts of our experience and treat them as discrete entities or substances
of a uniform kind‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p.25). Therefore, abstract concepts
that are considered as concrete entities, can be referred to, categorized, quantified
and reasoned. Let us consider the noun inflation as an entity as an example.
INFLATION IS AN ENTITY
Inflation is lowering our standard of living.
If there‘s much more inflation, we‘ll never survive.
We need to combat inflation.
In these metaphorical linguistic expressions, regarding inflation as an entity
allows us to refer to it, quantify it (more inflation), identify a particular aspect of it
(taking its toll), see it as a cause (makes me sick), and act with respect to it (combat
inflation, dealing with inflation).
However, our experiences are generally comprehended in terms of objects,
substances and containers, without naming their specific kinds. Therefore,
ontological metaphors do not provide an elaborate structure for abstract concepts, or
target domains, as discussed in structural metaphors. In other words, because of our
limited knowledge about objects, substances, and containers, the vague notions via
ontological metaphors can be only understood in the general level. ―Their cognitive
job seems to be to ‗merely‘ give a new ontological status to general categories of
abstract target concepts and to bring about new abstract entities‖ (Kövecses, 2010,
p.38). The mappings between source domains and target domains can be as follows:
Source Domains Target Domains
PHYSICAL OBJECT  NONPHYSICAL OR ABSTRACT ENTITIES (e.g.,
the mind)
 EVENTS (e.g., going to the race), ACTIONS (e.g.,
giving someone a call)
SUBSTANCE  ACTIVITIES (e.g., a lot of running in the game)
CONTAINER  UNDELINEATED PHYSICAL OBJECTS (e.g., a
clearing in the forest)
 PHYSICAL AND NONPHYSICAL SURFACES
(e.g., land areas, the visual field)

27
 STATES (e.g., in love)
Table 2.3. Metaphorical Mapping between Conceptual Domains
On the base of these mappings, people can use ontological metaphors for various
purposes. Lakoff & Johnson (1980) in their work Metaphor: We live by listed
different kinds of purposes and gave specific examples.
Referring
My fear of insects is driving my wife crazy.
That was a beautiful catch.
Quantifying
It will take a lot of patience to finish this book.
There is so much hatred in the world.
Identifying Aspects
The ugly side of his personality comes out under pressure.
The brutality of war dehumanizes us all.
Identifying causes
The pressure of his responsibilities caused his breakdown.
He did it out of anger.
Setting Goals and Motivating Actions
He went to New York to seek fame and fortune.
Here‘s what you have to do to insure financial security.
Ontological metaphors are also used to comprehend events, actions,
activities, and states. According to the mappings mentioned above, events and
actions are conceptualized metaphorically as concrete objects, activities as
substances, and states as containers. Let us consider some following examples with
various kinds of states conceptualized as containers.
He‘s in love.
We‘re out of trouble now.
He‘s coming out of the coma.

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Personification is also regarded as a form of ontological metaphor. ―In
personification, human qualities are given to nonhuman entities‖ (Kövecses, 2010,
p.39). For instance, theory, life, inflation, cancer and computer are not humans;
however, they are given qualities of human beings as in following examples.
His theory explained to me the behavior of chickens raised in factories.
Life has cheated me.
Abstract or vague concepts can be comprehended in a better way via giving them
human qualities.
2.1.4.2.3.3. Orientational Metaphors
Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation: up-down, in-
out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral. For example, all the
following concepts are characterized by an ―upward‖ orientation, while their
―opposites‖ receive a ―downward‖ orientation (Kövecses, 2010, p.40).
MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN Speak up, please.
HEALTHY IS UP; SICK IS DOWN Lazarus rose from the head.
CONCIOUS IS UP; SAD IS DOWN I‘m on top of the situation.
HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN I‘m feeling up today.
VIRTUE IS UP; LACK IS DOWN She‘s an upstanding citizen.
RATIONAL IS UP; NONRATIONAL
IS DOWN
The discussion fell to an emotional
level.
Table 2.4. Orientational Metaphors
In general, upward orientation normally transfers positive meaning, while
downward orientation with negative one.
2.1.5. Short stories
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary (2000), a short story is
defined as ―a story, usually about imaginary characters and events, that is short
enough to be read from beginning to end without stoping‖ (p.1187). The term often
refers to a work of fiction no longer than 20,000 words and no shorter than 1,000.

29
Short stories tend to be less complex than novels, focusing on only one incident,
with a single plot, a single setting, a limited number of characters, and covering a
short period of time. Short stories have their origins in narrative storytelling and
prose anecdote. As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will
vary by authors. Singer (2000), an award-winning author of children‘s books in a
variety of genres, collected ideas of different writers about the definition of short
stories in her work What is a Short Story?. ―A short stories, in some ways, like a
photograph – a captured moment of time that is crystalline, though sometimes
mysterious, arresting, though perhaps delicate‖ (Singer, 2000, p.38). In other words,
a short story is like the illumination of a match, and all the details have work toward
that illumination.
Scofield (2006) presented the distinctive features between the short story and
the ‗novella‘ or the long story – that form of between about fifty and hundred and
fifty pages (or 20,000 and 40,000 words), too long for a ‗short story‘ and too short
for a novel, in his book The Cambridge introduction to American short story.
Because of the shorter length, a short story usually focuses on one plot, one main
character (a few additional minor characters), and one central theme. In contrast,
“The novella often covers more narrative ground, often deals with a large number
of characters rather than focusing on one or two, and is often divided into parts or
chapters‖ (Scofield, 2006, p.4). In other words, a short story is like a short visit to
other people, while a long one is like a long journey with others. A short story is
cinematically seen as the camera zooming in this one climatic moment, then pulling
back on either side of the moment to show all that leads up to and comes after it.
Regarding the short stories in American, there was a notable revival of
interest in the 1970s and 1980s. Traditionalists including John Updike and Joyce
Carol Oates maintained significant influence on the form. Of the North America‘s
foremost men of letters, John Updike was prolific in a variety of genres, especially
in short stories. His works are highly regarded for its luminous prose style and
commitment to realism, and also provide readers with a detailed social history of
the late twentieth century. To be more specific, they expose the metamorphosis of
middle-class domesticity in an era of greater sexual freedom, rising marital discord,

30
heightened spiritual uncertainty, and increased social unrest (Bendixen & Nagel,
2010). In addition, minimalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most
notably in the work of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie. Among the writers,
Raymond Carver represents a return to realism as a literary mode after the
postmodern experimentation of Barthelme, Gass and others; a realism which owes
much to Hemingway but which also gives the mode a distinctively new inflection,
exploring the strange turns of ordinary life, the odd corners within the familiar
(Scofield, 2006). Other noticeable authors during this period of time include Saul
Bellow (1979), Susan Sontag (1987), Alice Munro (1989), Lorrie Moore (1990),
Rick Bass (1990), Robert Olen Butler (1990) and so on. Their works are considered
as vivid descriptions of American life during that period of time.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the historical background partly had a great
influence of the development of Vietnamese literature in general and the genre of
short story in particular. On April, 30 1975, the Fall of Saigon, or the Liberation of
Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People‘s
Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. The event
marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal
reunification of Vietnam under the Socialist Republic. During the renewal process,
Vietnamese literature in general and short stories in particular experienced
significant changes. Critic Ngo Van Gia (2016) pointed out the biggest achievement
was a change of perception of human lives. Authors adopted a completely new
writing style and became famous. They shifted from war-time aesthetics to peace-
time aesthetics, from praising the war of resistance to focusing on human destinies,
universal values, and questioning and engaging reality.
Before 1975, short stories writers such as Nam Cao, To Hoai and Kim Lan
tended to depict the plight of miserable people in the society with unfeigned vivid
words and flexible descriptions. They specifically concentrated on the lingering
distressful tragedies of their inner souls, indirectly brought forward the prevailing
social problems of this period. After 1975, Vietnam‘s renewal shaped national
culture and inspired artists‘ creativity. Short stories written in this period of time
embodied a different view of life. Authors had freedom to speak out their voices,

31
and reflect the reality of life for the people. If, during the war time, a generation of
writers basically fulfilled their historical responsibility, after the war the subsequent
generation helped form an eventful literary period, winning the hearts of the
audience. Nguyễn Minh Châu, Ma Văn Kháng, Nguyễn Khải, Xuân Thiều and so
on were dominant short stories writers during this period of time. These post-war
generations of authors, who grew up after 1975, led more comfortable lives and had
a new view of reform, contributed a remarkable part to the development of
Vietnamese literature.
2.2. Literature review
The beginnings of Cognitive Linguistics lie around 1975, which is the year
when Lakoff appears to have used the term ―Cognitive Linguistics‖ for the first time
(Dirk & Hubert, 2007, p.591). At this period of time, Lakoff realized that figures of
speech, such as metaphor and metonymy, were not just linguistic decorations, but a
part of everyday speech that affects the ways in which we perceive, think, and act.
He began his collaboration with the philosopher Mark Johnson in 1979, and they
published their seminal book Metaphors We Live By in 1980, which was the first
publication to bring Cognitive Linguistics to the attention of a wider audience. In
this work, Lakoff and Johnson present their strong arguments against the traditional
view of metaphor and introduce a new one that challenged all the aspects of this
widely-share theory in a coherent and systematic way. They claim ―metaphor is
pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action‖ (Lakoff &
Johnson, 1980, p.3). They also introduce the notion of conceptual metaphor and
illustrate their viewpoint with a huge number of linguistic examples. This work is
the main theoretical background and guideline for my thesis.
Since then, a considerable number of researches have been carried out in the
light of cognitive linguistics in the world and in Viet Nam as well. Kövecses (2010)
points out that common target domains include emotion (such as anger, fear, love,
happiness, sadness, shame and pride), desire, morality, thought, society/ nation,
politics, economy, human relationships, communication, time, life and death,
religion, events and actions. To illustrate that, Lakoff and Turner (1989) investigate
metaphors for life and death, as well as time, in literary texts. Johnson (1992) is a

32
discussion of morality as moral accounting. J kel (1995) describes a large system of
metaphors relating to the mind and thought, in which the mind is viewed as a
workshop and thought as the manipulations of tools and objects. K vecses (1986,
1988, 1990, 1991a, 1991b) are analyses of various emotion concepts. Lakoff (1990,
1993) looks at metaphors for events and actions in general. Lakoff (1993, 1994) and
Radden (1997) examine the concept of time as conceptualized in terms of moving
objects. Evans (2004) is a book-length study of time.
In Lakoff and Turner‘s work (1989), More than Cool Reason: A field guide
to poetic metaphor, the conceptual metaphors denoting ―life‖ were mostly examined
on the scope of poems. Other minor researches on the concept of life includes The
Journeys of Life: Examining a Conceptual Metaphor with Semantic and Episodic
Memory Recall (Katz & Taylor, 2008) with a deeper insight into only one
conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY. This conceptual metaphor is also
dicussed by Lakoff (1994) and Winter (1995). In general, the number of the
researches into the conceptual metaphors denoting ―life‖ merely takes up an
insignificant part in comparison with other target domains, which inspires me to
make a further study of this abstract concept.
In Viet Nam, there are some noticeable cognitive linguists, such as Lý Toàn
Thắng (2005), Trần Văn Cơ (2007), Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2007, 2009), Phan Văn Hoà
(2008) and Nguyễn Lai (2009). Lý Toàn Thắng (2005) in his book ―Ngôn ngữ học
tri nhận – Từ lý thuyết đại cương đến thực tiễn tiếng Việt‖ gives an introduction to
cognitive linguistics and presents distinctive features of linguistic models about the
world. Trần Văn Cơ (2007) explains the traditional view of metaphor and points out
the new viewpoint on this figure of speech in the light of cognitive linguistics.
Nguyễn Đức Tồn (2008) and Nguyễn Lai (2009) do research on the use of
conceptual metaphors in idioms and poetry respectively. Besides, there are some
minor researches, carried out in VNU University of Languages and International
Studies, on conceptual metaphors denoting ―economy‖ as human body by Hồ Thị
Hải Yến (2012), conceptual metaphors denoting ―anger‖ by Trần Thị Minh Yến
(2012), and conceptual metaphors denoting ―love‖ in American and Vietnamese
romantic novels from 2008 to 2013 by Lê Thị Khánh Hoà (2012). However, none of

33
them mentioned in detail the conceptual metaphors denoting LIFE, and the
similarities and differences between linguistic expressions deriving from these
metaphors. In the University of Da Nang, Hoàng Nguyên Tôn Ngân (2014) also
made a research on cognitive metaphors denoting the concept of ―life‖, but the
source of analyzed data was taken from English and Vietnamese lyric songs.
To sum up, none of researches have been carried out to examine conceptual
metaphors denoting life in American and Vietnamese short stories during the period
of time 1975 - 1991, which motivates me to make an investigation in this topic.

34
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter aims at describing the research design and methods, data
collection, data analysis, and research procedures used in the study. It is important
to choose the suitable methods and instruments in order to analyze the data in this
study, which guarantee the reliability and the validity of the research.
3.1. Research design and methodology
In this research, both the quantitative and quanlitative method are used in the
process of analyzing the collected data. Besides, Contrastive and Comparative
Analysis are utilized with the aim to find out the similarities and differences of
conceptual metaphors denoting LIFE in American and Vietnamese short stories.
Regarding Contrastive Analysis, pairwise language comparison has been
used in the description of foreign languages at least since the 19th
century in Europe.
Contrastive analysis is an inductive investigation approach based on the distinctive
elements in a language. It involves the comparison of two or more languages or
subsystems of languages in order to determine both the differences and similarities
between them. The theoretical foundations for Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
were formulated in Robert Lado‘s Linguistics Across Cultures (1957). Lado claimed
that ―we can predict and describe the patterns that will cause difficulty in learning,
and those that will not cause difficulty, by comparing systematically the language
and culture to be learnt with the native language and culture of the student.‖
Therefore, contrastive linguistics plays an important role in the creation of language
awareness (Kortmann, 1996; James, 2005; Mair, 2005). In particular, learners can
profit from a direct comparison of their native language with the language to be
learnt, thus making their implicit knowledge of differences explicit. Therefore, it is
considered as a useful tool in pedagogical aspect.
Concerning Comparative Analysis, its two features include (1) an interest in
the explanatory question of why the observed similaries and differences between
cases exist, and (2) reliance on the collection of data on two or more cases, ideally
according to a common framework. The primary reason for comparative analysis is

35
the explanatory interest of gaining a better understanding of the causal processes
involved in the production of an event, feature or relationship. The two
conventional types of comparative analysis focus on the explanation of differences,
and the explanation of similarities.
It is important to distinguish Contrastive Analysis and Comparative
Analysis. Contrastive Analysis is part of applied linguistics and seeks to establish
the similarities and differences between a language learner‘s first language and the
target language (= the one being learnt) in order to attempt to predict where learners
will have difficulties and make mistakes. Meanwhile, Comparative Analysis is part
of historical linguistics and refers to the process of establishing family relationships
and reconstructing proto-languages (= ancestral languages).
In the thesis, Contrastive and Comparative Analysis are used with the aim to
identify the similar and different points between conceptual metaphors denoting
LIFE in the two languages. From that, the implications for teaching, learning and
translating can be extracted, which brings great benefits to English learners.
3.2. Data
On the scope of this study, the data are collected from nineteen American
and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991, written by famous writers
during this period of time.
3.2.1. American short stories
The nineteen American short stories are selected from the two well-known
collections of short stories, specifically The Best American Short Stories of the
Century collected by John Updike and Katrina Kenison (1999), and The Best
American Short Stories edited by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991).
In order to choose the best short stories for the collection The Best American
Short Stories of the Century (1999), the editors read thousand stories published in
American periodicals, and from these, culled about 120 to pass on to the guest
editor, who then makes the final selection. This ensures that The Best American
Short Stories would never be simply a collection of the stories only John Updike
and Katrina Kenison like best. This anthology has been shaped by the tastes and

36
predilections of such varied talents such as Robert Stone, Alice Adams, Louise
Erdrich, Tobias Wolff, Jane Smiley, John Edgar Widerman, Annie Proulx, and
Garrison Keillor. The collections they have assembled are reflections both of who
they are and of the healthy vigor of the American short story at the end of this
century. There are two principles guiding the editors in the process of choosing the
short stories for this collection. First, this selection needs to reflect the century, with
each decade given roughly equal weight – what amounted to between six and eight
stories per decade. Second, it enforces the reflection of an American reality, deals
with characters from the United States and excludes any story that did not take
place on this continent. On the scope of this study, there are seven American short
stories chosen from this selection including:
A silver dish (Saul Bellow, 1979)
Gesturing (John Updike, 1980)
Where I’m calling from (Raymond Carver, 1983)
Janus (Ann Beattie, 1986)
The way we live now (Susan Sontag, 1987)
Menseteung (Alice Munro, 1989)
You’re ugly, too (Lorrie Moore, 1990)
The remaining short stories used for this study are selected from The Best
American Short Stories edited by Alice Adams and Katrina Kenison (1991). Similar
to the collection The Best American Short Stories of the Century (1999), a different
writer or critic has served as guest editor of the anthology, thereby ensuring its
continued diversity. The variety of viewpoints has enlivened the series and resulted
in volumes that reflect the passions and predilections of some of the finest writers at
work today. The qualifications for selection are: (1) original publication in
nationally distributed American periodicals; (2) publication in English by writers
who are American, or who have made the United States their home; and (3)
publication as short stories. There are twelve American short stories chosen from
this study in order to search for LIFE metaphorical expressions, as follows:
The legend of pig-eye (Rick Bass, 1990)
The trip back (Robert Olen Butler, 1990)

37
The point (Charles D’Ambrosio, JR, 1990)
Oil and water (Millicent Dillion, 1990)
The body shop (Elizabeth Graver, 1990)
Houdini (Siri Hustvedt, 1990)
Bologoye (Mikhail Lossel, 1990)
Glossolalia (David Jauss, 1990)
Viva la Tropicana (Leonard Michaels, 1990)
Willing (Lorie Moore, 1990)
Friend of my youth (Alice Munro, 1990)
American, Abroad (Joyce Carol Oates, 1990)
Each short story faithfully reflects different pieces of life in America, which
becomes the valuable source for this thesis, in order to find out LIFE metaphorical
expressions.
3.2.2 Vietnamese short stories
In terms of Vietnamese data, the nineteen short stories are selected from the
collections of typical authors during the period of time from 1975 to 1991,
including Nguyễn Khải truyện ngắn 1 selected by Nguyễn Phan Hách and Nguyễn
Khắc Trường (2003), Truyện ngắn Nguyễn Minh Châu, tác phẩm và lời bình by
Tuấn Thành and Vũ Nguyễn (2007), Truyện ngắn Ma Văn Kháng by Trung Trung
Đỉnh and Nguyễn Khắc Trường (2008), and Xuân Thiều toàn tập, tập 3 by Ngô
Vĩnh Bình (2015).
Nguyễn Minh Châu is considered as the outstanding successor in the
Vietnamese prose, and the person who paved the way for the brilliant talented
young writers later as well. His career lasted for three decades (1960 – 1989), with a
significant number of well-known literal works. On the scope of this study, there are
merely five short stories chosen as the source of data analyzed, specifically Chuyến
bay (1983), Khách ở quê ra (1984), Bến quê (1985), Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa (1987),
and Phiên Chợ Giát (1989). All these works closely describe the real life of
ordinary people, and reflect their way of conceiving the abstract concept of LIFE in
terms of others.

38
Đinh Trọng Đoàn, whose pen name is Ma Văn Kháng, was one of the first
authors in the innovative period of time in Viet Nam, with more than 200 short
stories. Some typical works chosen for the analysis of this study include Vệ sỹ của
Quan Châu (1978), Trung du chiều mưa buồn (1897), Heo may, gió lộng (1991),
and Móng vuốt thời gian (1991).
Themes of works by Nguyễn Khải vary from the country life in the
innovative period of time, the life of soldiers during the war against American army,
the typical social and political issues, to the spiritual and ideological life of
Vietnamese people witnessing the country‘s complicated changes. The short stories
selected for this thesis also reflect Vietnamese people‘s life in an accurate and direct
way, specifically Hai ông già ở Đồng Tháp Mười (1981), Người gặp hằng ngày
(1981), Nắng chiều (1989), Đổi đời (1990), Ông trưởng họ (1991) and Một thời gió
bụi (1991).
At the age of 15, Xuân Thiều joined the patriotic movement, and then
worked for the Vietnamese army. Therefore, the love for the country permeated the
pages of his writing. Although his works do not account for a significant number,
every page, or story closely describes the life of Vietnamese people who had been
writhing to go through the war, won a heroic victory by their own blood and tears,
and kept fighting during the innovative period of time. The short stories analyzed in
this study including Gió từ miền cát (1983), Tháng ngày đã qua (1984), Người mẹ
tội lỗi (1984 - 1985), Thành phố thấp thoáng (1986 – 1987)
3.3. Data collection
The quantity of metaphorical expressions denoting life found in the nineteen
American and nineteen Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991 is the exact
number of 203 samples, specifically 114 lexical units in Vietnamese, and 89
illustrations in English.
The table below will give detailed information of life metaphorical
expressions used for this study in the nineteen American short stories.

39
No. Short stories Authors Years Collected
samples
1. A silver dish Saul Bellow 1979 11
2. Gesturing John Updike 1980 2
3. Where I‘m calling from Raymond Carver 1983 4
4. Janus Ann Beattie 1986 3
5. The way we live now Susan Sontag 1987 10
6. Menseteung Alice Munro 1989 2
7. You‘re ugly, too Lorrie Moore 1990 4
8. The legend of pig - eye Rick Bass 1990 1
9. The trip back Robert Olen Butler 1990 2
10. The point Charles
D‘Ambrosio, JR
1990 6
11. Oil and water Millicent Dillion 1990 1
12. The body shop Elizabeth Graver 1990 1
13. Houdini Siri Hustvedt 1990 1
14. Bologoye Mikhail Lossel 1990 2
15. Glossolalia David Jauss 1990 6
16. Viva la Tropicana Leonard Michaels 1990 12
17. Willing Lorie Moore 1990 6
18. Friend of my youth Alice Munro 1990 7
19. American, Abroad Joyce Carol Oates 1990 8
Table 3.1. American corpus analyzed in the study
Regarding Vietnamese data, the specific number of samples found in each
short story will be presented clearly in the table below:

40
No. Short stories Authors Years Collected
samples
1. Vệ sỹ của Quan Châu Ma Văn Kháng 1978 5
2. Hai ông già ở Đồng Tháp Mười Nguyễn Khải 1981 9
3. Người gặp hằng ngày Nguyễn Khải 1981 5
4. Chuyến bay Nguyễn Minh Châu 1983 3
5. Gió từ miền cát Xuân Thiều 1983 5
6. Khách ở quê ra Nguyễn Minh Châu 1984 23
7. Tháng ngày đã qua Xuân Thiều 1984 8
8. Người mẹ tội lỗi Xuân Thiều 1984-
1985
2
9. Bến quê Nguyễn Minh Châu 1985 4
10. Thành phố thấp thoáng Xuân Thiều 1986-
1987
6
11. Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa Nguyễn Minh Châu 1987 4
12. Trung du chiều mưa buồn Ma Văn Kháng 1987 3
13. Phiên chợ Giát Nguyễn Minh Châu 1989 14
14. Nắng chiều Nguyễn Khải 1989 4
15. Đổi đời Nguyễn Khải 1990 1
16. Ông trưởng họ Nguyễn Khải 1991 5
17. Heo may, gió lộng Ma Văn Kháng 1991 8
18. Móng vuốt thời gian Ma Văn Kháng 1991 3
19. Một thời gió bụi Nguyễn Khải 1991 2
Table 3.2. Vietnamese corpus analyzed in the study
3.4. Data analysis
The two sets of data are analyzed and compared on the basis of the
classification of conceptual metaphors introduced by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) in
their famous work Metaphor: We Live By. There are three different kinds of

41
conceptual metaphors, specifically structural metaphors, ontological metaphors
and orientational metaphors.
Lakoff and Johnson (1980) explain that in structural metaphors, ―one
concept is metaphorically structured in terms of another‖ (p.14). Ontological
metaphors relate to our experience of physical objects and substances, which
allows us to pick out parts of our experience and treat them as discrete entities. As a
result, ―we can refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify them – and
by this means, reason about them.‖ (p.25). Orientational metaphors deal with
―spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-
peripheral‖ (p.14).
In order to achieve the aims of this study, the data are both quantitatively and
qualitatively analyzed. Firstly, the quantitative method is used to give statistic
results of the collected data. To be more specific, the data are examined in terms of
the frequencies of structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors in the
nineteen American and nineteen Vietnamese short stories. Secondly, the qualitative
method is applied to analyze and evaluate the collected data into conceptual
metaphors denoting life, as follows:
LIFE IS A JOURNEY LIFE IS A CONTAINER
LIFE IS A WAR LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION
LIFE IS AN ENTITY LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME
LIFE IS A PERSON LIFE IS A MACHINE
LIFE IS A STORY LIFE IS A GAME
Let me take some following example to illustrate that.
LIFE IS A PERSON
Life seemed to want him to do it. (1, p. 563)
LIFE IS A MACHINE
She hadn’t been given the proper tools to make a real life with, she
decided, that was it. (2, p. 298)
3.5. Research procedures

42
With the aim to find out, compare and contrast the conceptual metaphors
denoting LIFE in American and Vietnamese short stories, the following steps are
carried out:
* Step 1: Determine the research topic
* Step 2: Determine the research questions
* Step 3: Present the theoretical background and literature review for the study
* Step 4: State the research methodology of the study
* Step 5: Present the findings and discussions
* Step 6: Point out the similarities and differences between conceptual metaphors
* Step 7: Present the implications for teaching, learning and translating process
* Step 8: State the limitations and suggestions for further studies

43
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this chapter, the conceptual metaphors denoting life in American and
Vietnamese short stories are analyzed in the light of Lakoff and Johnson‘s
framework (1980). The metaphorical expressions manifested in the life conceptual
metaphors are collected from thirty-eight short stories in total, more specifically
nineteen in American and nineteen in Vietnamese. Then, the selected data are
quantitatively analyzed in terms of three kinds of conceptual metaphors including
structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors. Next, the author qualitatively
examined these data on the base of cognitive linguistics. Finally, the two sets of
data are compared and contrast to find out the similarities and differences of
conceptual metaphors denoting life between two languages.
4.1. Quantitative analysis
The abstract concept of life can be fully comprehended through a number of
other more concrete ones. However, in this study, the author merely focuses on
eleven sets of conceptual metaphors as follows:
No. CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS No. CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
1. LIFE IS A JOURNEY 7. LIFE IS PAINS
2. LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME 8. LIFE IS AN ENTITY
3. LIFE IS A MACHINE 9. LIFE IS A CONTAINER
4. LIFE IS A WAR 10. LIFE IS A PERSONAL
POSSESSION
5. LIFE IS A STORY 11. LIFE IS A PERSON
6. LIFE IS A GAME
Table 4.1. Conceptual Metaphors denoting life
The order of these conceptual metaphors is based on their occurrence in the
selected short stories, specifically from the most frequent use to the least one. The

44
table below shows the detailed information of the data‘s quantity used to analyze in
this study.
AMERICAN VIETNAMESE TOTAL
NO.
CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS
NO. % NO. % NO. %
1
STRUCTURAL
METAPHORS
44 21.7% 47 23.2% 91 44.8%
2
ONTOLOGICAL
METAPHORS
45 22.2% 67 33.0% 112 55.2%
3
ORIENTATIONAL
METAPHORS
0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
TOTAL 89 43.8% 114 56.2% 203
Table 4.2. Occurrence and Percentage of Conceptual Metaphors denoting life
in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991
As presented in the table, the total number of metaphorical expressions
denoting life analyzed in this study includes 203 samples, in which Vietnamese
ones accounts for 56.2% with a significant quantity of 114 examples, and English
ones make up 43.8% with 89 ones. All the collected data are quantitatively
examined on the base of Lakoff and Johnson‘s conceptual metaphor classification
(1980), consisting of structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors. Among
the evidences denoting these three kinds of conceptual metaphors found in thirty-
eight short stories in both languages, the data of ontological metaphors take up the
most significant percentage of 55.2% with 112 samples in total, while there are no
words or phrases expressing orientational metaphors. The examples illustrating the
manifestation of structural metaphors make up the second highest proportion of
44.8 with 91 examples, specifically 44 in American, and 47 in Vietnamese.
4.1.1. Structural metaphors

45
The table below gives detailed information about the quantity of American
and Vietnamese lexical units expressing the structural metaphors on the scope of
this study.
NO.
CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS
NO. % NO. % NO. %
1.1.
LIFE IS A
JOURNEY
12 5.9% 23 11.3% 35 17.2%
1.2.
LIFETIME IS
PASSING OF TIME
15 7.4% 10 4.9% 25 12.3%
1.3. LIFE IS A STORY 4 2.0% 5 2.5% 9 4.4%
1.4.
LIFE IS A
MACHINE
6 3.0% 2 1.0% 8 3.9%
1.5. LIFE IS A WAR 5 2.5% 2 1.0% 7 3.4%
1.6. LIFE IS A PAIN 0 0.0% 4 2.0% 4 2.0%
1.7. LIFE IS A GAME 2 1.0% 1 0.5% 3 1.5%
STRUCTURAL
METAPHORS
44 21.7% 47 23.2% 91 44.8%
Table 4.3. Occurrence and Percentage of Structural Metaphors denoting life in
American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991
According to the table, there are 23.2% collected data from Vietnamese short
stories with 47 expressions, and 21.7% from American ones with 44 samples. In
this study, the total number of 91 examples is classified into seven sets of
conceptual metaphors including LIFE IS A JOURNEY, LIFETIME IS PASSING
OF TIME, LIFE IS A STORY, LIFE IS A MACHINE, LIFE IS A WAR, LIFE IS
PAINS, and LIFE IS A GAME. Among the seven mentioned conceptual metaphors,
the data denoting LIFE IS A JOURNEY take up the highest proportion of 17.2 with
35 examples in total, which shows the prevalence of understanding the abstract
concept of life in terms of the more concrete one – a journey in American and

46
Vietnamese short stories. The second position belongs to LIFETIME IS PASSING
OF TIME, accounting for 12.3% with 25 samples, which is much higher than the
following sets of conceptual metaphors, specifically 4.4% of LIFE IS A STORY
with 9 examples, 3.9% of LIFE IS A MACHINE with 8 ones, 3.4% of LIFE IS A
WAR with 7 ones, and 2.0% of LIFE IS A PAIN with 4 ones. The way of
conceptualizing LIFE through the notion of a game is the least common among
American and Vietnamese people, with merely 1.5% of expressions found on the
scope of this study.
Regarding Vietnamese data, the manifestation of LIFE IS A JOURNEY has
the highest frequency of occurrence with 23 samples, accounting for 11.3%, while
the expressions denoting LIFE IS A GAME take the smallest percentage of merely
0.5 with only one example. The second highest proportion belongs to the conceptual
metaphor LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME, i.e. 4.9% with 10 samples. LIFE IS
A STORY and LIFE IS A PAIN take up 2.5% and 2.0% respectively. In particular,
the same quantity of data denoting LIFE IS A MACHINE and LIFE IS A WAR are
found in Vietnamese short stories, specifically merely 1.0% with 2 examples.
In regards to American data, the conceptual metaphor LIFETIME IS
PASSING OF TIME has the most significant number of expressions found in the
given short stories with 15 examples, accounting for 7.4%, while there is no
evidence showing the way of understanding that LIFE is understood in terms of a
pain. About 5.9% of the collected data referring LIFE as a journey has the second
highest frequency of occurrence with 12 samples. LIFE IS A MACHINE and LIFE
IS A WAR make up 3.0% with 6 lexical units, and 2.5% with 5 samples
respectively. The data expressing LIFE IS A STORY with 4 examples double the
quantity of expressions denoting LIFE IS A GAME with 2 lexical units.
To sum up, among the structural metaphors, the conceptual metaphor LIFE
IS A JOURNEY occurs with the highest frequency in both languages, while the
way of understanding – LIFE IS A GAME tends to be uncommon, with the lowest
quantity of evidence on the scope of this study.
4.1.2. Ontological metaphors

47
The table below presents the total data showing the ontological metaphors
found in the thirty-eight American and Vietnamese short stories.
NO.
CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS
NO. % NO. % NO. %
2.1. LIFE IS AN ENTITY 18 8.9% 33 16.3% 51 25.1%
2.2.
LIFE IS A
CONTAINER
12 5.9% 19 9.4% 31 15.3%
2.3.
LIFE IS A
PERSONAL
POSSESSION
8 3.9% 15 7.4% 23 11.3%
2.4. LIFE IS A PERSON 7 3.4% 0 0.0% 7 3.4%
ONTOLOGICAL
METAPHORS
45 22.2% 67 33.0% 112 55.2%
Table 4.4. Occurrence and Percentage of Ontological Metaphors denoting life
in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991
The manifestation of ontological metaphors denoting life is proved on the
base of 112 evidences found in the short stories of both languages, in which 33.0%,
more specifically 67 samples, is found in Vietnamese ones, and approximately
22.0% in American ones with 45 examples. There are four sets of ontological
metaphors examined in this study including LIFE IS AN ENTITY, LIFE IS A
CONTAINER, LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION, and LIFE IS A PERSON.
The conceptual metaphor LIFE IS AN ENTITY has the highest quantity of
examples collected from the given short stories, with a considerable number of 51
lexical units, accounting for 25.1%, wheares the lowest frequency of occurrence
belongs to LIFE IS A PERSON, with 7 samples, making up a much smaller
percentage of merely 3.4%. LIFE IS A CONTAINER has the second position with
31 examples, taking up 15.3%, while about 11.3% of the collected data with 23

48
lexical units shows the manifestation of the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A
PERSONAL POSSESSION.
Following the same pattern, in Vietnamese collected data, LIFE IS AN
ENTITY occurs in the highest frequency, accounting for 16.3% with an impressive
number of 33 samples, wheares no expressions showing LIFE IS A PERSON are
found in my data. LIFE IS A CONTAINER is the second common ontological
metaphor with 19 lexical units, accounting for 9.4%. LIFE IS A PERSONAL
POSSESSION makes up a lower percentage of 7.4% with 15 examples.
Similarly, the quantity of expressions denoting LIFE IS AN ENTITY in
American short stories has the most significant proportion of 8.9% with 18
illustrations. The second highest percentage belongs to LIFE IS A CONTAINER
with 12 examples, accounting for 5.9%. LIFE IS A PERSONAL POSSESSION and
LIFE IS A PERSON take up 3.9% and 3.4% respectively.
In general, comprehending life in terms of an entity is the most prevalence
way of thinking in both languages, while the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A
PERSON is uncommon on the scope of this study.
4.1.3. Orientational metaphors
NO.
CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS
NO. % NO. % NO. %
3
ORIENTATIONAL
METAPHORS
0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Table 4.5. Occurrence and Percentage of Orientational Metaphors denoting
life in American and Vietnamese short stories from 1975 to 1991
On the scope of this study, there is no life metaphorical expression denoting
orientational metaphors, accounting for 0.0%, the lowest frequency of occurance in
comparison with the two remaining conceptual metaphors, i.e. structural and
ontological metaphors.

49
4.2. Qualitative analysis
In this study, the total quantity of the collected data in American and
Vietnamese short stories account for the exact number of 203 metaphorical
expressions. Neverthless, merely 135 examples are mentioned to illustrate for the
conceptual metaphors denoting life in the analysis below. In order to help readers
easily recognize parts of speech related to the conceptual metaphors, the key words
in the given examples are written in bold font, and other associcated ones are in
italics.
4.2.1. Conceptual metaphors denoting life in American short stories
4.2.1.1. LIFE IS AN ENTITY
―Once we can identify our experiences as entities or substances, we can refer
to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify them – and, by this means,
reason about them‖ (Lakoff, 1980, p. 25). To be more specific, viewing life as an
entity allows us to refer to it, quantify it, identify to a particular aspect of it, see it as
a cause, act with respect to it, and perhaps even believe that we understand it. Let us
consider some examples denoting the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS AN ENTITY in
American short stories.
Referring
(1) The Reverend Doctor taught him to lift up his eyes, gave him his higher
life. Apart from this higher life, the rest was Chicago — the ways of
Chicago, which came so natural that nobody thought to question them.
(Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 544)
(2) And what about Halina? She puts her life on the line, but my own kid says
no." (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 549)
(3) "It was too strange of a life. That life wasn't you, Woody. (Updike &
Kenison, 1999, p. 560)
(4) I read about that life in the Vidette. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 636)
(5) ―How do you know that?‖ ―Get a life! What am I, an idiot?‖ (Adams &
Kenison, 1991, p. 312)

50
(6) She meant that she caught a whiff of a cheap life, maybe even of drinking
establishments and unsavory men, of hard bargains, which Flora was too
unworldly to notice. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 323)
Life can be seen as an entity – a concrete object in American people‘s mind.
Therefore, someone can refer to it, give others a higher life, put one‘s life on the
line or get a life. Other metaphorical expressions manifested from the conceptual
metaphor LIFE IS AN ENTITY can be found, as follows:
Categorizing
(7) Woodrow was leading a double life, sacred and profane. (Updike &
Kenison, 1999, p. 544)
(8) Although everybody in this part of the world, unless he was crazy, led a
practical life, and you'd have nothing to say to anyone, your neighbors
would have nothing to say to you if communications were not of a practical
sort, Mrs. Skoglund, with all her money, was unworldly — two-thirds out
of this world. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 555)
(9) Pop had carried him back to his side of the line, blood of his blood, the
same thick body walls, the same coarse grain. Not cut out for a spiritual
life. Simply not up to it. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 560)
(10) …everyone is at risk, everyone who has a sexual life, because sexuality is a
chain that links each of us to many others, unknown others, and now the
greatest chain of being has become a chain of death as well. (Updike &
Kenison, 1999, p. 608)
(11) Like most people confined to an institution, she had been divested of a past
life. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 214)
(12) That winter I began parting my hair on the right instead of the left, as my
father did, and whenever the house was empty I worked on changing my
voice, practicing the inflections and accents of my classmates‘ fathers as if
they were clues to a new life. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 244)
(13) She said men have impoverished lives. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 280)
(14) ―You got something better in your miserable life? (Adams & Kenison,
1991, p. 289)

51
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000), an entity is
defined as ―something that exists separately from other things and has its own
identity‖ (p. 419). Therefore, it is possible to classify entities into different groups
with distinctive features. Similarly, the nonconcrete concept of life understood in
term of the more concrete one an entity can be categorized into various types such
as a scared life, a profane life, a practical life, a spiritual life, a sexual life, a
past life, a new life, impoverished lives, and a miserable life. Each type of life
may have their unique characters. To illustrate that, someone leading a sexual life
only considers urgent issues or problems related to sexuality or sex as their priority,
instead of paying much attention into things happened those days as in a past life.
While people living a profane life tend to show a lack of respect for God or holy
things, others having a scared life are always obsessed by the fear of something bad
that might happen. A miserable life is the one full of unhappy or uncomfortable
feelings, which causes the depressive illness among human beings. In addition, with
the use of the article a as in a spiritual life or a new life and the plural form such as
impoverished lives show that life can be countable as a concrete object.
What is more, different aspects of the indefinite concept of life can be
recognized when considering it as an entity, as follows.
Identifying aspects
(15) …plus the usual remorseful assessments of his past life, his pardonable
superficialities, capped by resolves to live better, more deeply, more in
touch with his work and his friends,… (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 605)
(16) A good businessman knows when to stop thinking and to act instead. I drew
close to my wife, but only briefly did my arm rise and hold her. That was
the same as all the other forgotten gestures of my life. (Adams &
Kenison, 1991, p. 94)
(17) There was no forgetting what had happened, trying to enjoy sensations of
light, as if I had time for the mere luxury of being alive. (Adams &
Kenison, 1991, p. 281)
(18) My Flora would be as wrong as hers was right. Rejoicing in the bad turns
done to her and in her own forgiveness, spying on the shambles of her
sister’s life. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 329)

52
In general, conceptualizing life in terms of an entity allows us to pick out
parts of the abstract concept and treat them as discrete entities, which helps us
understand life in a deeper way.
4.2.1.2. LIFETIME IS PASSING OF TIME
Time can be calculated in terms of concrete measurement units such as
minutes, hours or years. We can imagine that a day is the time between when it
becomes light in the morning and when it becomes dark in the evening. From these
above arguments, the relationship between lifetime and passing of time can be
linked together. To be more specific, the lifetime is commonly comprehended in
terms of the length of the time that people live, last and die. Let us take some
following examples to interprete this point of view.
(19) Wicked Pop spent most of his life removing stains from people's clothing.
(Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 561)
(20) They had lived here most of their married life. (Updike & Kenison, 1999,
p. 565)
(22) She would try to live life one day at a time, like an alcoholic – drink,
don‘t drink, drink. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 305)
(23) For most of my father’s life, he believed himself Hamlet, Caroline
Carmichael told her friend… (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 341)
(24) ―I spent my whole life,‖ she concluded, ―trying to please my mother, and
never did.‖ (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 375)
(25) He occasionally lost his temper and succumbed to self-pity as he always
had, but for the rest of his life he was as normal and sane as anybody.
(Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 261)
The common expressions used to refer to the notion of time, such as most of,
spend, and the rest of can be found a great deal in American short stories with the
aim to comprehend the lifetime of a person. People can spend most of their life
doing things that they have passions for. Below is a list of additional phrases that
are found to talk about the concept of life.
(27) For about ten years of my life, I had to map out every sentence in my
mind, way ahead, before I said it. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 664)

53
(28) I think for a moment about her money piled on top of my own, what a rich
man I have just become, how, if I liked, I could never work another day in
my life, how I could stay by my daughter‘s side. (Adams & Kenison, 1991,
p. 207)
(29) ―Comrade Litovtsev, according to my records, we‘ve talked twenty times
over the last ten years, both on the phone, and otherwise. That‘s one-third
of your life!‖ (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 239)
(30) But I didn‘t say yes, and in the seven years that remained of his life, we
never came as close to ending the winter that was always, for us, an
unspoken but living part of our present. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 263)
(31) We have lived for years with promises. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 271)
(32) For most of her life, except for the twenty years of exile in her young
womanhood, when she went to normal school, then to college, and married a
man she met there, and traveled with him until the Depression cost him his
traveling job, and bore him a son, in the heart of the Depression, while they
were all living with her parents in the brick city house – except for these
twenty years, she happily inhabited an idea. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p.
369)
(33) Joey had often seen it on him, in the last year of the old man’s life, when
his legs turned white and phlebitis and his nose turned blue with poor
circulation and his eyes sank deeper and deeper into his head and his
deafness worsened. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 378)
Life is considered as the passing of time, or a series of days or years. With
such understanding, people‘s lives can be counted on days or years with the
common phrases such as ten years of my life, another day in my life, over the last
ten years, one-third of your life, in the seven years that remained of his life, the
twenty years of exile, lived for years, the last year of the old man’s life.
Given all these examples, we can see that a large part of the way we speak
about the lifetime in English derives from the way we speak about the passing of
time. In light of such examples, it seems that speakers of English make extensive
use of the domain of the passing of time to think about the highly abstract concept

54
of life. That way of thinking would help people to be more facilitated in the process
of comprehending the more elusive notion of life.
4.2.1.3. LIFE IS A JOURNEY
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000), a journey is
defined as ―an act of travelling from one place to another, especially when they are
far apart‖ (p. 699). Travellers need means of transports to help them quickly reach
their destination. However, they also have to overcome a huge number of
impediments on their way to get their finish points. By such understanding, a
person‘s life is considered as a traveller‘s journey, with their common goals in life
that can be seen as the destinations to be reached. What is more, the journey is not
always easy, and may have obstacles or difficulties. Therefore, there are some
places where a decision has to be made about which direction to go in and whether
to keep travelling together or not. In people‘s lives, hardships or constant ups and
downs are unavoidable; thus, it is really important for human beings to be strong,
brave and determined on the way they choose.
A number of metaphorical expressions manifested from the conceptual
metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY have been found in America short stories during
the period of time from 1975 to 1991.
(34) Subsequently, he proceeded through life. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p.
563)
(36) He was here at Frank Martin's to dry out and to figure how to get his life
back on track. (Updike & Kenison, 1999, p. 586)
(37) He came to America as an immigrant kid. Life was tough. He made his
way. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 282)
(38) In waking life, I was lost. (Adams & Kenison, 1991, p. 314)
On the journey of life, people need to try their best to proceed through life
and reach their destinations. Unfortunately, the path of life is not always smooth or
flat. To get to the finish line, we will have to try lots of different paths, and even be
lost at some points in life. What is more, everybody sometimes has gone through
things that has changed them in a way that they could never go back to the person

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

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

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