A Comparison On The Application Of Cognitive Metaphor In Chinese Vietnamese Idioms

Research on metaphor is both a new and old topic. It is old because it has a history of over 2000 years in development but is limited within rhetoric. On the other hand, it can be considered new as the research on metaphor under the perspective of conceivability and human thinking has come into existence only in the last 30 years. The concept of metaphor was coined by a famous Greek philosopher named Aristotle 2000 years ago. He stated that metaphor was a form of rhetoric in the verbal aspect. His point of view was approved by many scholars in a long period of time. However, in 1980, two American scholars Lakoff and Johnson introduced the concept of metaphor under the perspective of conceivability. They argued that metaphor was deeply involved in our daily life, languages and activities. The birth of this concept resulted in a new branch for research on metaphor.The author uses Chinese idiom dictionary, vietnamese proverb dictionary and new vietnamese idiom dictionary as research references from which some Chinese and Vietnamese idioms on animals, human feelings and sentiments will be selected for comparison of cognitive metaphor analysis to find out the similarities and differences in the way of thinking and conceivability of The Chinese and Vietnamese people. The objective of such analysis is to provide Chinese language instructors a new way of thinking about Chinese proverbs that is helpful for teaching Chinese idiom in Vietnam.The dissertation consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduce the objectives, mission statements and method of conduct of the dissertation. Besides, chapter one also mentions the current status of metaphor research and the achievements of those researches. Chapter 2 includes mainly metaphor related contents such as metaphor arguments, the principles and classification of cognitive metaphor. In chapter 3, an analysis is conducted by picking some Chinese and Vietnamese idioms about animals, human feelings and sentiments then compare cognitive metaphor analysis in those idioms to finally find out the similarities and differences in those cognitive metaphor models which will help provide better understanding of the similarities and differences in the way of thinking between the Chinese and Vietnamese people. The main content in chapter 4 is about the status of studying and teaching Chinese idioms in Vietnam (by the means of survey). The result of those surveys will be statistically analyzed to find out the common mistakes of Vietnamese students studying and applying Chinese idioms as well as the weaknesses in teaching Chinese idioms in Vietnam. Such statistics will be helpful to the teaching of Chinese idioms.