Conceptual Metaphor “WOMEN ARE ANIMALS” In 20th-century Vietnamese Literature

Abstract

From the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics, the paper analyzes the conceptual metaphor WOMEN ARE ANIMALS in 20th-century Vietnamese literary works. The theoretical framework for this study includes the Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), the Great Chain of Being model of Lakoff and Turner (1989), and the Metaphor Identification Procedure of Pragglejaz Group (2007). Through a survey of 50 short stories and novels written by famous Vietnamese authors, 6 low-level metaphors as well as the mapping mechanism from the source domain to the target domain, is discovered and explained. The findings reveal that women are mainly portrayed as wild animals, livestock, pets, or birds. Metaphorical linguistic expressions, then, convey a biased view towards the low and inferior role and position of women in the family and society. Negative ideological values in the representation of women are explored to show that women are considered to be small, weak, dependent on men, and serve as their recreation. Vietnamese people's thinking and cultural characteristics are also reflected in this metaphor.