Vietnamese Concepts of Love Through Idioms: A Conceptual Metaphor Approach

Abstract

Love (romantic love) is an abstract concept that requires explanation. In addition to the universality of the concept, each nation has their own constructs of love, which can be expressed through idioms. Idioms represent special linguistic units because they contain cultural characteristics and national views. Idioms also reflect the colour and variety of human social activities and thus play an important role in the linguistic ontologisation of love. This paper aims to explore the Vietnamese concepts of love through idioms from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Conceptual metaphor theory (introduced by Lakoff & Johnson, 1980/2003) is a tool that allows the abstract target domain (LOVE) to be understood through more tangible source domains. To collect the data, a hand search of Vietnamese idiom dictionaries was conducted to establish a corpus of 126 entries, from which nine common conceptual metaphors were identified. Results from this study show that Vietnamese people regard LOVE as a predestined fate, in which the beauty of love in conjunction with nostalgia, passion, compatibility and closeness is praised, faithfulness in love is appreciated and revered, and inappropriate relationships and betrayal in love are opposed and condemned.