Comparative analysis of the concept of “child” in Mongolian and Korean expressions

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of the metaphorical expressions of “child” in Mongolian and Korean. Therefore, we used the methods and principles of comparative linguistics and language evidence as well as the cognitive metaphors of proverbs, riddles, intuitions, and dream interpretations in the two languages. In Mongolian, the word “child” is defined as “a person who starts a new life by bringing forth a mother’s body”. Likewise, it means “the beginning of something new” in Korean. Thus, the definitions of this word in both languages include “the beginning” and similar semantic meanings. A cognitive metaphor including this word in Mongolian is “a child is a blessing”; a similar metaphor in Korean is “a child is a job”. These metaphors demonstrate features of the languages, cultures, and mentalities of the two languages and the two cultures’ similarities and differences using a human-centered approach.We consider conceptual metaphor as expressed in Lakoff and Johnson's theory. Metaphor is one of the most important terms in cognitive linguistics and refers to the process of establishing cognitive links, or mappings, between several concepts (conceptual structures) pertaining to different domains. Metaphors help in the “understanding and experiencing of one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff, Johnson Citation2003).