A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON PROPER NAME METAPHORS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Dinh Minh Thu Khoa Ngogi ngu Email: [email protected] Ngdy nhdn bdi: 04/01/2018
Ngay PB ddnh gid: 26/01/2018 Ngdy duyet ddng: 30/01/2018
ABSTRACT
Proper names are a rich source of metaphor with a very fascinatmg underlying cultural interpretation. The article presents a contrastive analysis in some common proper name metaphors in English and in Vietnamese to answer two research questions: 1. How can English and Vietnamese proper name metaphors be interpreted from the semantic perspective? 2. How can English and Vietnamese proper name metaphors be interpreted from the grammatical perspective?
An exploitation of mixed methods enables the researcher to reveal the similarities and differences in Enghsh and Vietnamese proper names metaphors from both semantic and syntactic perspective.
Among 30 studied English cases, there are 18 Vietnamese equivalents m translation. The result can be used for English users in both communication and profession.
Key words: metaphor, proper names, grammar, semantics
NGHIEN c i r u DOI CHIEU AN DU TEN RIENG TRONG TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET TOM TAT
Ten rieng la mot ngu6n sir dung phep m du voi each hieu dua tren cac yeu to van hoa ngam 3n day thu vL Bai bao nay hinh bay k8t qua cua mgt nghien ciiu d6i chieu ve an du trong mot so danh t i rieng ph6 biSn ttong tiSng Anh va tiSng Vi$t. Hai cau hoi duoc dat ra la: 1. An du ttong danh tit rieng titog Anh va tiSng Viet c6 th6 dupe phan tich tir khia canh ngii nghia thi nao? 2. An du ttong danh tir neng ti6ng Anh va tieng Viet co th6 dugc phan tich tu khia canh ngix phap the nao?
Phuong phap nghien cuu tdng hop dupe su dimg, va phan tich d6i chieu lly tiSng Anh lam doi tirpng chinh. Trong 30 vi du tiSng Anh, co su tuong hpp voi 18 danh tir neng ph6 biSn trong tietig Viet. K a qua nghien cira co the phuc vu hOu ich cho ngudi sii dung tiing Anh ttong giao tiep thuang ngay hoac ttong cong viec cu th8 nhu giang day va bien-pliien dich.
Key words: an du, ten rieng, ngii phap, ngii nghia
1. INTRODUCTION of speech in poetic and literary language, or When it comes to metaphor for an " *» "ti'i^^d ^y so-called literate language amiy of ordinary people, it appears that the users: nevertheless, metaphor ,s pervasive phenomenon seems to be a matter of figures every world comer and on everyone's lips.
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For netizens, they chat in the chat room on the intemet. For employees, they expect to have a high salary. Likewise, a university has launched its latest vision to the public. Such authors as Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Turner and Fauconnier (1988), Panther and Radden (1999), Dirven and Porings (2002) have made an impressive contribution to understanding metaphor from diverse perspectives. Vietnamese scholars like Dd Huu Chdu (1981), Vo Dai Quang (2003), Nguyin Hoa (2001, 2004) have also expressed their great eoneem about metaphor. Among various fields where metaphor functions in, its imagery in proper names is really » very fascinating story, illustrated by Pierini (2008) and Ld Minh (2010). Those studies have inspired me to put myself in a contrastive investigation of metaphorical aspects in proper names in English and Vietnamese to find out the similarities and differences between their use and the reasons for such common and different features, from which, the language users, especially the Vietnamese users can exploit the metaphors more effectively in both daily communication and professional tasks of translation and interpretation.
Therefore, the research questions raised are:
1. How can English and Vietnamese proper name metaphors be interpreted from the semantic perspective?
2. How can English and Vietnamese proper name metaphors be interpreted from the grammatical perspective?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. An overview of metaphor Extracted from etymonline dictionary, the terra metaphor came into being from the
late fifteenth, from Middle French metaphore (Old French metafore, I3e.), and directly from Latin melaphora, from Greek meiaphora "a transfer," especially of the sense of one word to a different word, literally "a carrying over," from metapherein
"transfer, carry over; change, alter; to use a word in a strange sense," from meta- "over, across" (see meta-) + pherein "to carry, bear"
(see infer). An illustration is in the word breadwinner which is comprised by bread and winner where both of them carry the meaning of livelihood and earner respectively. Concise Oxford Dictionary supplies the definition of metaphor as
"application of name or descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally applicable." Briefly speaking, a metaphor is a hidden comparison between two unrelated entities by transferring some quality from one to another, creating a powerful figurative effect.
Metaphor can be classified in terms of similarities. Do Huu Chau (1981) supphes five types with some overlapped points Nguyen Hoa (2004), discusses seven types of similarities, whereas. They can be presented as follows: (1) similarity of shape (the neck ofthe bottle), (2) sunilarity of position (the peak of the mountam, (3) similarity of movement (She wormed her shirt), (4) similarity of function (The key to success is preparation), (5) similarity of color (an orange light), (6) similarity of size (The giant is coming), (7) similarity of status (He is the top dog in the company), (8) similarity of manner (drill ihe lesson), (9) similarity of effect (Honey, I love you). Although there have been roughly 10 types of metaphor mentioned above, life still reflects more than that number.
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Regarding the source of metaphor, research (Newman, 1997; Nguyen Hoa, 2004) shows that it comes from human parts, animal names, proper names and food and drinks which are respectively illustrated m the following examples:
You broke my heart. Sue, you wrecked my life.
He is the lop dog of the company.
They urged all citizens to boycott the elections.
Don't be a couch potato.
2.2. Studies on proper names Proper names have generally been studied grammatically and semantieally. Studies have pointed out some main features of proper nouns (Pierim, 2008). Fustly, they are linguistic items in the system of nouns, havmg a referential function of pointmg out to existents m the world.
The proper noun Thatcher emerges in the listener/reader the image (or/ and the character) ofthe First Lady in Britain. To be more detailed, from the grammatical perspective, an apparent feature of proper nouns is then initial capitalization in written forms. They can be preceded by a title hke Mrs. Margaret, Lady Margaret or Aunt Margaret. Also mterestingly, they can be seen ending in plural foims or following an article.
There are two Sara Carters in my class.
A James called you this afternoon.
They can be modified by adjectives, restrictive relative clauses or prepositional
He's the famous Tom Hanks.
International tourists expect to see the Hanoi which they know in advertised products.
The Vietnam in my eyes is where my family is living.
Together with those syntactic features, proper nouns carry their fascinating semantic contents (Mill, 1867). They are diachronically motivated, and a meaningful etymon is found in most eases. For example, Richardson comes from Richard as Richard's son. Rose comes from a flower, and Carter comes from a job. But they are synchronieally opaque; as stated by Lyons (1977): "it is widely, though not universally, accepted that proper names do not have sense". However, they certainly have a specific referent in the real world with a complex properties and culture-specific features. Le Minh (2010) presents a study on metaphor in proper names in Vietnamese and equivalents m English with a series of names and then a separate part of discussion with some interesting result but a systematic presentation of the phenomenon would be better. Consequently, my research will provide an overall look at proper name metaphors from two sides of semantics and syntax.
3. THE STUDY 3.1. Methodology
The study is a combination of both secondary research and primary one. Firstly, it bases on a large amount of relevant research on metaphor in proper names conducted by other researchers. In addition, an empirical or primary research project must be carried out on the ground ofthe author's database. Thanks to Thomas (1989), a bank of common proper name metaphors is listed serving the research. The data is then arranged, analysed and contrasted according TAP CHI KHOA HQC, So 27, thang 3/2018 95
to the aim set for the research. From another aspect, a mixed-method of both quantitative and qualitative one is exploited in which the former allows using numbers and categorization, while the latter makes use of the natural setting ofthe studied phenomenon as well as interpretive analysis. Furthermore, as the name of the research suggests, a contrastive analysis method is also exploited to compare and conti-ast the phenomena of metaphor hidden under proper names between English and Vietnamese, in which English is opted as the common ground.
3.2. Findings
3.2.1. Proper name metaphors seen from the semantic perspective
As mentioned above, metaphor can be rooted from similarities between two entities;
therefore, proper names can be read from such relationships as resemblance in appearance, characteristics, and talents.
(1) Similarity in appearance Admittedly, a number of proper names carry the similarity in look, such as Billy Bunter, Peter Pan, and Fauntleroy
The English use Billy Bunter to refer to a fat person, who is a character in the story the "Fat Owl of the Remove" by Frank Richards. Billy is a schoolboy who is fat and always eats somethmg.
If you don't go on a diet now, you will end up a Billy Bunter.
There exists such a person in Vietnamese getting his name from Vu Trpng Phung' novel Luck, em cha/ em Cha who is pampered eating all the day and doing nothing, becoming obese.
It will be disgusting of a Vietnamese child to be.
The phrase em Cha is a variant of em cha (I don't/1 refuse) always shps out of his lips when he refuses.
Cho con dn it thoi Chd rdi ddy. (L^^s food for him. He is becoming Cha.)
In order to describe a never-grow-old person, the name Peter Pan occurs in English.
He is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie.
He has a Peter Pan 'sface.
Beside the forever - young boy is the very elegantly-dressed little boy Little Lorde Fauntleroy in F H Burnett's novel. The Fauntleroy suit, so well-described by Burnett and reabsed in Reginald Birch's detailed pen- and-ink drawings, created a fad for formal dress for American middle-class children as a velvet cut-away jacket and matching knee pants worn with a fancy blouse with a large lace or ruffled collar.
The hoy appeared to me in the Fauntleroy suit.
If both Peter Pan and Fauntleroy have positive meanings, the metaphor of plain Jane implying an unattractive woman.
She was Just a plain Jane, which made her upset many times.
In comparison to Vietnamese, Thi Nd is a nick name for an ugly woman, bom by Nam Cao in "Chi Pheo". In eonfrast to this image, Kidu is used to exemplify a beautiful woman, in the masterpiece Truyen Kidu by Nguydn Du.
Trong nguai ta thi Kieu. eon mdy thi Na thi kia, ai nd them nhin.
(The others are Kiiu. you are (Thi) N&. Who wants you?)
(2) Similarity in characteristics Apart from the resemblance in appearance, many proper names hide their metaphorical meanings in the resemblance in 96 TRircfNG DAI HOC HAI PHONG
tt^its. Common illustrations which are to be presented hereby are Alec, Big Brother, Don Juan, Jekyll and Hyde, Othello, Scrooge, Thomas, Tom.
Let's start our analysis with the name Aiex in English. Interestingly, this name is clearly modified by "smart" to make the phrase "smart Alex". The phrase can be written in small letter as smart alec and as its informal form as smart arse or clever Dick.
Gerald Leonard Cohen, m bis book, Studies in Slang Part 1 (1985) suggested that the phrase arose from a smart and confident thief. Alec Hoag, who succeeded in robbing many victims and became the target of the poUce. The phrase is now used with the meaning a person who is arrogant and overconfident.
Don V be such as smart Alex.
Possibly, in Vietnamese culture, there is such a name existing to describing someone who knows all or can predict something before it happens. The character Trang in many folktales reflect such a smart character.
Ndi nhu Trgng vdy.
The second name in our list is Big Brother bom by George Orwell in his novel Nhieteen Eighty-Four being the actual enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state wherein the ruling Party wields total power "for its own sake" over the inhabitants. Therefore, Big Brother refers to either a leader of an authoritarian state or movement or a powerfial government or organization monitoring and directing people's action.
Her ex-husband is a Big Brother.
Another character in British culture is
Don Juan who has a bad behavior and always flirts beautiful girls. This eponymous metaphor is used to describe a lady-killer. The Vietnamese equivalent for it is Sd Khanh.
Unluckily, she met a Don Juan.
That khdng may, cd ta gap phdi mgt ga s& khanh/S& Khanh.
Coming next is Jekyll and Hyde served as an instance of anyone with two sharply contrasting personalities, one gentle and one murderous. The idiom came into life from R L Stevenson' novel when he described two characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde staying in one person with the good and the evil respectively.
/ don't understand him at all He's got to be Jekyll and Hyde.
The fifth eponymous noun is Othello, a character in Shakespeare's play Othello. He is lured into believing that Desdemona, his wife is an adultress. With jealousy, Othello kills her before committing suicide, hi English culture, Othello is used for someone who is jealous. In Vietnamese, a similar image is reflected by Hoan Thu in Truyen Kieu by Nguyen Du. The difference between two languages in expressing a jealous image is the gender.
Her husband is an Othello.
Va anh ta la Hogn Thu. (His wife is Hogn Thu)
One more character to be mentioned is Scrooge, the principal character in Charles Dickens's novel A Christmas Carol. Scrooge is a mean and cold hearted person who despises Christinas and whatever makes others happy. Therefore, Scrooge is used to refer to a misery person.
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You Scrooge!
Such kind of person can be called "Lao hd tien" in Vietnamese.
Next IS Thomas m the phrase
"doubting Thomas", a disciple of Jesus, refused to believe in Jesus' resurrection and demanded to feel Jesus' wounds before being convinced. This phrase usually refers to a skeptical person who always doubts things around him.
/ can't stand explaining everything to that doubting Thomas.
The Vietnamese people have such a name "Tao Thao (da nghi)" (doubting Tao Thdo). It has to be said that this figure does not originate from the Vietnamese culture but it now becomes part of Vietnamese language by the borrowing from the well- known series of novels by the Chinese writer La Quan Trung.
Anh dung Id Tao Thdo (da nghi).
(You Tao Thdo!)
The last metaphor to be discussed in this part is "peeping Tom", a man named Tom watches a woman naked ride to gain a remission ofthe oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants and is struck blind and dead. Since then peeping Tom is used to talk about those who committed voyeurism.
They are some peeping Tom.
Some other metaphors provides the a hidden character in it like an Achilles' heel, a Judas kiss or the Midas touch. Regarding an Achilles' heel, it is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other
attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common. By comparison, a Judas kiss arisen from the Bible as an act appearing to be an act of fiiendship, which is m fact harmful to the recipient. His kiss is a signal for the police force to arrest Jesus. One more interesting case is the Midas touch from Greek mythology for his ability to tum everything he touched mto gold. The two first case of an Achilles' heel and a Judas kiss are ti^nsferred to Vietoamese culture (got chdn Asm and nu hon Juda respectively), and Midas can be somewhat shares the hidden message of the Vietnamese name Thdn Tdi.
So far, that eleven names have been stated in English and seven in Vietnamese have revealed that both cultures overlap in some situations.
(3) Similarities in talent
John Maxwell said that "Talent is a gift, but character is a choice", which is a reason why I separate number (2) from number (3). We have uncovered the underlying meanings of a number of words and phrases related to proper names.
Followings will be well-known eponyms, including James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Superman. All of them are from novels to booming films.
James Bond a fictional British Secret Service agent created m 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, with Bond's cars, guns, and the gadgets. Bond is in the relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as "Bond giris". The metaphorical meaning of James Bond refers to a talented and manly agent.
He is a James Bond with Bond's girls around.
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Then, in order to mention a person who are brilliant and shrewd m logical reasoning to uncover the disguise, Sherlock Holmes can be a popular name.
He is a Sherlock Homes who can help you with the case.
The British author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is Sherlock Holmes' father, who depicts him a gifted agent.
Another fictional hero appearing in American culture is Superman. The former was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in 1933; and subsequently coming into various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success. Superman helps to create the superhero genre who can performs all the tasks, even impossible.
Only a Superman can solve the situation.
Such kinds of character with supernatural ability are widespread in America and Britain as Spiderman, Ironman, Sandman, etc. With the globalization, these characters have become well-known to even a Vietnamese child when he says: "I'm a Superman. "
(4) Similarity in situation
It would be insufficient if the resemblance in cricumstance in prper names was not discuss in the domain of the research. Therefore, Adam, John, Jack, Robinson Crusoe and the like will be presented as follows.
In the fust place, the idiom I don't know him from Adam means not to know someone at all or not be able to distinguish a person from another person.
In the Bible, the first man Adam has no
knowledge or acquaintance with someone.
Besides, when a man fells into robbing Peter to pay Paul, it refers to the case of incurring a debt in order to pay off another
debt. The expression is explained by coming back to the times before the Reformation when Church taxes had to be paid from St. Paul's church in London and to St. Peter's church in Rome. Then, if something happens very fast, it is compared to before you could say Jack Robinson with Jack Robinson being a very volentite gentleman of that appellation, who would call on his neighbours, and be gone before his name cound be announced.
In addition, a man Uving alone in an isolated dwelling can be called a Robin Crusoe who finds himself alone on a remote desert island in novel by Daniel Defoe. In the same novel, Man Friday, an all-puipose servant of Rohm Cmsoe plays an important role. Robmson Cmsoe names the man, with whom he cannot at first communicate, Friday because they first meet on that day. The character is the source of the expression "Man Friday", used to describe a male personal assistant or servant, especially one who is particularly competent or loyal. Current usage also includes "Girl Friday".
His parents make him a Man Friday.
A quite strange situation is seen with Walter Mitty, a man who constantly escaped from reality into heroic day-dreams in James Thurber's The Secret Life of Water Mitty. If a person is said to be Walter Mitty, it means he is a day-dreamer.
Another metaphor is expressed in the phrase any Tom, Dick or Harry, which is said to come mto existence in the 17th century when the theologian John Owen told a TAP CHI KHOA HQC, S^ 27, thang 3/2018 99
govemmg body at Oxford University tiiat "our critical situation and our common interests were discussed out of journals and newspapers by every Tom, Dick and Harry". Smee then, the phrase has been used to refer to an unspecified person.
He won't talk to any Tom, Dick or Harry.
Last but not least, die phrase keep up with the Joneses illusfrates the action of the neighbours who always want to possess the same expensive objects and do the same things as their fiiends or neighbours, because of worrying about seeming less important socially than they are. The expression was popularized when a comic strip of the same name was created by cartoonist Arthur R.
"Pop" Momand in 1913.
They always keep up with the Joneses.
It is noted that these sitiiations exist m the Viettiamese language without specific names like in the English language.
Among 30 English cases have been semantieally studied, regarding the counterparts in Vietnamese, just 18 eases can have their similar proper names although not all of them are derived from the Vietnamese culhue. Em Cha, Sd Khanh, Hoan Thu, Thi Nd, Trang are these rare corpus. The rest are borrowed from the Chinese culture or the American and English culture but they have been prevalent to even a Vietnamese child.
To sum up, a table can be drawn with 4 types of similarity.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Similarity
Similarity in appearance
SimUarity in characteristics
English Billy Bunter Bond's girl Peter Pan Plain Jane the Fauntleroy suit a Judas kiss an Achilles' heel Big Brother Don Juan doubting Thomas Jekyll and Hyde Othello peeping Tom Scrooge smart Alex
Vietnamese em Chd
T h i N o
Nu hdn Juda Got chan Asin Tdo Thao Sd Khanh Hoan Thu
Trang/ Thanh
Lao ha ti^n
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16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Similarity in talent
SimUarity in situation
the Midas Touch James Bond fronman Sandman Sherlock Holmes Spiderman Superman
any Tom, Dick or Harry before you could say Jack Robinson I don't know him from Adam keep up with the Joneses Man Friday Robin Cmsoe robbing Peter to pay Paul Walter Mitty
Than Tdi James Bond Ngudi sdt Nguoi cat Sherlock Holmes Ngudi nhen Sieu nhdn
Thti Sau Robinson
Table 1: Semantic reading of proper name metaphors in English and Vietnamese
3.2.2. Proper name metaphors seen from the grammatical perspective
So far we have revealed the fascinating underlying stories of the
from the grammatical point of view, these metaphors are distributed either individually or in phrases/ sentences.
Moreover, a shift of word class can be observed in different contexts.
meta
I 2 3 4 5 6
Dhors based on prop ;r names. Seen Metaphors standing alone English
Billy Bunter Don Juan James Bond Ironman Othello Peter Pan
Vietnamese em Cha Sd Khanh.
James Bond ngudi sat Hoan Thu
Metaphor standing in phrases/ sentences
English a Judas kiss an Achilles' heel any Tom, Dick or Harry
Big Brother before you could say Jack Robinson Bond's girl
Vietnamese Nu bdn Juda ThiNd Got chdn Asin
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7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17
Rohm Crusoe Sandman Scrooge Sherlock Holmes Spiderman Superman Walter Mitty
Robinson ngudi cat Lao ha tidn Sherlock Holmes ngudi nhen sieu nhdn
doubting Thomas I don't know him from Adam
Jekyll and Hyde keep up with the Joneses
Man Friday peeping Tom plain Jane
robbing Peter to pay Paul
smart Alex the Midas touch the Fauntleroy suit
Tao T h d o _ _ _ _
Thir Sau T h i N d
Trang/ Thanh Than Tai
Table 2: Grammatical distribution of proper name metaphors in English and Vietnamese
As can be seen from the table above, English is taken as the basement of contrastive analysis and there is not always equivalence of grammatical units of the discussed metaphors m two languages. Among 30 English cases have been semantieally studied, merely 13 occur mdividually while 17 function in phrases or sentences.
(1) Proper names standing alone 13 eponymous metaphors are in the mdividual form in English. Nevertheless, theu equivalents m Vietnamese can be different.
Number 1, 8, 9,10,11 should be named phrases in Vietnamese with the tide em (Baby) for the first and the stmcture of one noun modified by one adjective or another noun for the others.
(2) Proper nouns standing in combination
A more colourful picture is seen in the second occurrence of proper nouns, which can be divided into three subgroups.
Group 1: plain Jane (Thi Nfr), smart Alex (Trang), Big Brother, doubting Thomas (Tao Thao), peeping Tom
In this group, syntactically speaking, all English proper nouns are pre-modified by an adjective or a gerund functioning as an adjective, whereas their equivalents in Vietnamese can be just a single word or also a phrase. Let's look at the pair plain Jane and Thi Nd^. In Vietnamese, the premodifier Thi is a marker ofthe female sex.
Group 2: the Fauntleroy suit. Bond's girl, an Achilles' heel (got chan Asin), a Judas kiss (nu hon Juda), the Midas touch (Th^n Tdi), Man Friday (Thn Sau)
The second group includes the noun phrases with the proper nouns themselves playing the role of pre-raodifier. Also interestingly here, most of the English phrases can be either preceded by a definite 102 TRl/dNG DAI H p c HAI PHONG
or indefinite article, except the phrase Man Friday using appositive.
Group 3: Jekyll and Hyde, I don't know him from Adam, robbing Peter to pay Paul, before you could say Jack Robinson, any Tom, Dick or Harry, keep up with the Joneses
The last group in our consideration conssits of either a noun phrase or a clause.
For the former, Jekyll and Hyde or any Tom, Dick or Harry is a composite expression of two or three names, while for the latter, a verb can be seen with even an independent finite clause of I don't know him from Adam, or I don't know him from Adam. A non-finite clause of ing infinitive or bare infinitive occurs in robbing Peter to pay Paul or keep up with the Joneses.
It is noteworthy that when there is a shift of word class from noun to adjective when these proper names are used in sentences, especially in Vietnamese.
Of 30 illustrations, just I English proper noun functions as adjective to qualify the head, ie. the Fauntleroy suit. By comparison, more Vietnamese nouns can be freated hke adjectives in the followmg examples:
Thdng dy sif khanh ldm. (He is very so"
khanh.)
Cd ta rdt hoan thir. (She is very hoan thir.)
Thanh that. (Really Thanh.) An vua thdi. Cha qua rdi ddy. (Eat less. Too Chd.)
Thang be cha qua. (He is too cha.) From the sentences above, we can see that in Vietnamese, these nouns look like common nouns m such a way that no capital letters are applicable.
4. CONCLUSION
The researcher has managed to provide a deep look at the semantic and grammatical reading of English and Vietnamese proper name metaphors. It has long been believed that metaphor is universal; however, from the analysis, the important point shown is that how to understand each of them will heavily depend on the culture that language belongs to. It is necessary to reaffirm that the English corpora are taken as the ground for the contrastive analysis.
A metaphor can stand alone or function in a phrase or even in a sentence and they all need an understanding of the underlying story to uncover their implication.
Technically speaking, the metaphor and their hidden compared counterpart belongs to two different domains. Despite the fact that there are many eases of metaphors, four of them have been discussed, based on 30 illusfrations of EngUsh, with 18 Vietnamese expressions.
The research is mainly limited to an insight into these phenomena rather than mentioning its pedagogical implications to language study and language practice except for five practical exercises. There is no denial that a deep acquisition of the field will serve the readers/listeners of a foreign text/speech a better understanding of the aforementioned metaphors. In addition, their use of language will become more vivid when they apply these metaphors to communication. Beside their good effect on perception and production, they are especially important for translation/interpretation. Therefore, further studies can be carried out in terms of their practical impact on the language learners and users.
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