METAPHORICAL SEMANTIC COMPARISON ANALYSIS OF WORDS RELATED TO “LIGHT” IN CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE

Mai Thi Ngoc Anh, Nguyen Minh Thu

Abstract


This study applies cognitive linguistic theory and comparative qualitative analysis methods to investigate the perceptual metaphor of words related to “light” in Chinese and Vietnamese. The results showed that both Chinese and Vietnamese use the source domain of “light” to map to target domains such as “openness, transparency, hope, future, righteousness, morality, wisdom, enlightenment, and power.” The differences mainly lie in cultural nuances, while Chinese tends towards philosophical, religious, and political metaphors, Vietnamese is more about human values and folk experiences. The study contributes to affirming the universality of perceptual metaphors and clarifying cultural characteristics in the linguistic perception of the two peoples.

 

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Keywords


“light”, metaphor, mapping, source domain, target domain

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References


A. Vietnamese

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v9i4.6296

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