АНГЛИЙСКИЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ ВОСПРИЯТИЯ, КОГНИТИВНЫЕ МЕТАФОРЫ И ИХ ЭКВИВАЛЕНТЫ ВО ВЬЕТНАМСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

Introduction

The concepts that govern our thinking are not simply the product of wisdom. They affect our daily activities to the most trivial details. Our concepts structuralize our feelings, our behavior, and even our relationships with others. At the same time, our conceptual system plays a central role in defining the entities of everyday life. Based on linguistic phenomena, much of our everyday system of concepts is metaphorical. Conceptual/cognitive metaphor is one form of conceptualization, which is a cognitive process of manifesting and forming new concepts. The essence of metaphor is to structuralize our perception, our thoughts, and our activities [7].

One of the most frequent conceptual mechanisms that structuralize language is a conceptual metaphor. A conceptual metaphor is a cognitive mechanism whereby abstract entities are conceptualized through concrete ones, so the source domain A is understood in terms of the target domain B.

In “Love is a Journey” [7], the knowledge of the source domain Journey is used to interpret the target domain Love, leading to the creation of concepts like “this relationship has hit a dead-end street”, “from now on, we’ll go our separate ways”, “their marriage is on the rocks”, or “we’re spinning our wheels”.

LOVE IS A JOURNEY

Look how far we've come.

We're at a crossroads.

We'll just have to go our separate ways.

We can't turn back now.

I don't think this relationship is going anywhere.

Where are we?

We're stuck.

It's been a long, bumpy road.

This relationship is a dead-end street.

We're just spinning our wheels.

Our marriage is on the rocks.

We've gotten off the track.

This relationship is foundering [7, P. 45].

Usually, the source domain is more specific than the target domain. Perception is a specific domain and participates as the source domain in many metaphors, such as Understanding is Seeing [6], [7]. In this metaphor, the source domain Seeing event is mapped to the Understanding event.

Ex: I see what you mean. It’s very clear to me.

In this article, we will examine how English perception verbs cognitive metaphors are formed and what their equivalence is in Vietnamese.

Methods

We have extracted 3,946 sentences containing perception verbs as research data from two English-Vietnamese, Vietnamese-English bilingual novels, namely The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Love After War. After that, cases of specific semantic cognition transferred from English into Vietnamese were tracked down by statistical analysis methods. Also, descriptive, analytical, contrastive, and metaphor identification methods were used to analyze and examine the main ways that these verbs possess cognitive metaphor meanings. The metaphor identification methods used are MIP and MIPVU.

1. Metaphor Identification

Non-structural linguists consider metaphor a semantic deviance or a selection restrictions violation. Dan Fass [4] argued that "metaphor constitutes a violation of selectional restriction rules within a given context."

From the cognitive point of view, Cameron [3] said that "a linguistic expression is considered metaphor if one or more of the elements in that expression are in the source domain and mapped to a certain target domain but there is an irrationality between the two domains that the recipient can interpret as a meaning transition from the source domain."

2. Metaphor Identification Methods

Semino [9] argued that an effective and reliable metaphor identification method must handle these issues:

i. the boundary between the literal and the metaphorical in the identification of linguistic metaphors;

ii. the precise identification of tenor and vehicle in relation to each linguistic metaphor;

iii. the extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors;

iv. the extrapolation of conventional metaphors from patterns of linguistic metaphors in the data.

2.1. MIP Method

The Pragglejaz team [8] suggested a method to identify metaphorically used words in a discourse called MIP (metaphor identification procedure) in 2007. MIP is a simple and effective method to identify metaphors with the following steps:

i. Read the entire text–discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning.

ii. Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse.

iii. (a) For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is, how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation evoked by the text (contextual meaning). Take into account what comes before and after the lexical unit.

(b) For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other contexts than the one in the given context. For our purposes, basic meanings tend to be:

— More concrete; what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste.

— Related to bodily action.

— More precise (as opposed to vague).

— Historically older.

Basic meanings are not necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit.

(c) If the lexical unit has a more basic current or contemporary meaning in other contexts than the given context, decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it.

iv. If yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical.

Now, we use this method to identify metaphors of the verb “thấy” in the following utterance: Tôi chưa thấy ai là người Gia Rai nói tiếng Kinh sõi hơn thế.

i. Read the entire text–discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning.

ii. Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse

     Tôi / chưa / thấy / ai / là / người / Gia Rai / nói / tiếng / Kinh / sỏi / hơn / thế.

iii. a) Meaning in context: has another meaning, in relationship with “Tôi” before and “nói tiếng Kinh sỏi hơn thế” after it, the meanings of “thấy” are hear, evaluate, and assess.

b) Basic meaning: is the perception result of “nhìn”, visual recognition.

c) This contextual meaning can be understood.

iv. So, “thấy” has metaphorical meaning. Thấy = heard, evaluate, assess.

2.2. MIPVU Method

The MIP method was still controversial among linguists around the world because the results of metaphorical identification depend more or less on the researcher's intuition. In 2010, Gerard J. S. [5], based on MIP, improved it to be MIPVU and resolved the disagreements about conceptual metaphor. Here is the MIPVU example from Gerard J. S.:

Table 1. MIPVU example

Using MIPVU, we investigate this utterance: Tôi chưa thấy ai là người Gia Rai nói tiếng Kinh sõi hơn thế.

Table 2. Applying MIPVU

Results

English Perception Verbs Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence in Vietnamese

1. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Look” in Vietnamese

Table 3. Equivalence of “look”

a. Look is Ngắm

Ex: She stood in front of the mirror for a very long time, looking at herself intensely, judging every feature on her oval face. Chị cứ đứng thật lâu trước gương, mải mê ngắm nghía, đánh giá từng nét trên khuôn mặt trái xoan của mình.

b. Look is Có vẻ

Ex: He looked as if he had wanted to tell me something for a long time. Có vẻ anh muốn nói điều này từ lâu.

c. Look is Tìm

Ex: Have they thought of looking outside the house? Họ có nghĩ đến việc tìm kiếm ở bên ngoài ngôi nhà không?

d. Look is Xem xét

Ex: I looked at the uncooked pot of rice. Tôi đã xem lại xoong cơm đã sống nhăn hộ ông lão đoạn gào lên.

e. Look is Kiểm tra

Ex: Someone was appointed to look into my case. Và người ta cử người đi kiểm tra thật.

f. Look is Trông coi

Ex: He asked you to look after it. Thày nhờ trông nhà kia mà.

g. Look is Quan sát

Ex: It was only when you looked at others of his generation that you could truly see the difference between him and them. Quan sát lớp bạn đồng liêu của ông mới thấy họ khác ông lắm.

h. Look is Nghĩ

Ex: But you do not yourself look upon this as likely? Nhưng chính ngài không nghĩ là có thể ư?

i. Look is Để ý

Ex: Only if one looked closely did one see a bluish-white mist of smoke in the air. Để ý kỹ mới thấy một màn khói trắng xanh giăng mờ trong phòng.

j. Look is Mong muốn

Ex: More than once he had promised himself that if only he received one letter, had one visitor, he would be at ease and not look forward to anything else. Chỉ cần được nhận một lá thư, được đón một khách, được nghe điện thoại thì ông sẽ yên tâm không đòi hỏi gì nữa.

k. Look is Hướng đến

Ex: He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Anh nhanh chóng đi từ cửa sổ này đến cửa sổ khác và dừng lại một lúc trước cửa sổ lớn ngó ra lối đi đưa đến chuồng ngựa.

2. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “See” in Vietnamese

Table 4. Equivalence of “see”

a. See is Xem xét

Ex: Why didn't you see what happens in this world? Ông chả xem người thiên hạ đó?

b. See is Biết

Ex: I wanted to find a woman who I'd never seen before. Tôi muốn tìm kiếm một người đàn bà chưa biết mặt.

c. See is Nhận ra

Ex: Did you not see how my hand trembled while passing you the envelopes? Anh không nhận ra bàn tay em run rẩy khi trao cho anh mấy tấm phong bì ư?

d. See is Gặp

Ex: How can you ask me that the first time you ever saw me? Chẳng lẽ vừa gặp, anh đã hỏi thế sao?

e. See is Hiểu

Ex: Then I do not see the point. Không hiểu sự thể ra sao.

f. See is Tiễn

Ex: Especially when she witnessed her friends seeing their children off to university. Nhất là khi chị chứng kiến cái cảnh bạn bè tiễn đưa con đi đại học.

g. See is Thăm

Ex: I came to see you, daddy. Con đến thăm bố.

h. See is Quan sát

Ex: Tell Quy Anh and her sister to come and see junior skin Bamboo alive. Gọi chị em Quý Anh ra đây mà xem Cu Nhỡ lột da con Sừng Măng.

i. See is Phát hiện

Ex: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally injured? Anh không phát hiện một dấu hiệu nghi vấn gì khi anh chạy đến chỗ bố anh bị nạn à?

j. See is Nhìn nhận

Ex: When the boy had passed his first month, she had taken him to see his paternal grandparents. Con đầy cữ, Thu Hồng bế nó sang xóm bên để nhận ông nội bà nội của nó.

3. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Listen” in Vietnamese

Table 5. Equivalence of “listen”

a. Listen is Biết

Ex: And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events than those which have happened in my own family. Nhưng dù sao, thưa ngài, tôi vẫn ngờ là trong quá trình hoạt động của mình, ngài chưa bao giờ nghe nói đến những chuyện kinh khủng như chuyện đã xảy ra với gia đình tôi.

b. Listen is Trò chuyện

Ex: What a relief it was to listen to someone in the same circumstances as himself. Được chuyện với người cùng cảnh, được cười, sung sướng biết bao!

c. Listen is Xem

Ex: Listen to this. Xem đây!

4. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Hear” in Vietnamese

Table 6. Equivalence of “hear”

a. Hear is Biết

Ex: I also heard that my host's younger brother, V, came back from abroad and was working in a scientific institute in Ha Noi. Tôi còn biết thêm, anh V, em trai anh đã về nước, hiện đang công tác ở một viện nghiên cứu khoa học của Trung ương tại Hà nội.

b. Hear is Nhận ra

Ex: Outside she hears the rain falling heavily, the sound mixing with the even beating of the fan, the atmosphere completely different than it was during the day. Lúc này Vi mới nhận ra tiếng mưa rơi rào rộ, tiếng quạt số thấp chạy êm êm đều đều, nhận ra bầu không khí vây quanh chị đã khác hẳn ban ngày.

c. Hear is Thấy

Ex: I'd never heard a Gia Rai who could speak Vietnamese this well. Tôi chưa thấy ai là người Gia Rai nói tiếng Kinh sõi hơn thế.

d. Hear is Nhận

Ex: The whole family was excited when they heard of the transfer decision. Cả nhà đã háo hức khi nhận được quyết định chuyển vùng.

e. Hear is Nghe lời

Ex: I demanded over and over again to be discharged, but the lady director of the camp wouldn't hear of it. Nhiều lần em đòi ra viện, nhưng chị trạm trưởng nhất định không nghe.

f. Hear is Hiểu

Ex: She couldn't hear what the people around her were saying. Nàng tấp lại phía sau những người đang bàn tán, cố hiểu nhưng chẳng hiểu được những gì họ đang nói.

g. Hear is Muốn

Ex: The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa wouldn’t hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took me away to ’Frisco. Bởi vậy, cha tôi không muốn cuộc đính hôn dài lâu hơn nữa, ông bèn đưa tôi đến San Francisco.

5. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Smell” in Vietnamese

Table 7. Equivalence of “smell”

Smell is Nhận ra

Ex: I could smell a slight odor of alcohol on his breath. Thoáng có mùi rượu.

6. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Taste” in Vietnamese

Table 8. Equivalence of “taste”

a. Taste is Ăn uống

Ex: That evening he called me to his room to taste some wine and gnaw at some fish while he bent my ear. Buổi tối, ông gọi tôi sang phòng ông cùng nhấm nháp.

b. Taste is Cảm thấy

Ex: It tasted good because I'd just begun to feel hungry. Cảm thấy ngon vì lúc này mới thấy đói.

7. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Touch” in Vietnamese

Table 9. Equivalence of “touch”

a. Touch is Chạm

Ex: He felt palpably, as though he were actually touching it. Anh cảm thấy chạm được vào xúc giác nỗi đau khổ của chị.

b. Touch is Gặp

Ex: I felt fortunate that my country hadn't been touched by that same storm. Đất nước Hamania của tôi may mà chưa gặp bão.

8. Metaphorical Meaning’s Equivalence of “Feel” in Vietnamese

Table 10. Equivalence of “feel”

a. Feel is Cảm nhận

Ex: The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Trần nhà chỉ còn cách đầu tôi khoảng một hai sải, và chỉ cần với tay lên là tôi có thể chạm vào bề mặt cứng và ráp của nó.

b. Feel is Dò xét

Ex: ‘Well,’ said I, ‘you said you’d give me one for Christmas, and I was feeling which was the fattest.’ Chị hứa is tặng em một con nhân ngày lễ phục sinh và em xem thử con nào mập nhất.

Discussion

Main Ways English Perception Verbs Convey Cognitive Metaphors

1. Cognitive Object Dominance

These metaphors are formed relying on the dominance of the semantic requirements and characteristics of the cognitive object.

Ex: Mi watched me eating attentively, but I knew clearly that she was not seeing. Mi nhìn tôi ăn chăm chú nhưng tôi biết rõ cô không nhìn thấy gì hết.

In this utterance, the cognitive object of nhìn is tôi ăn. This cognitive object is a process. Therefore, the verb nhìn in this utterance conveys the metaphor meaning of watching.

Table 11. Cognitive object dominance metaphors

2. Cognitive Perceiver Dominance

These metaphors are formed because of the dominance of the semantic requirements and characteristics of the cognitive perceiver.

Ex: Ừ, cô cũng thấy nên để má con toàn quyền!

In this utterance, we can see that the verb thấy is used to describe the thinking of the cognitive perceiver cô. Therefore, the corresponding English translation of the sentence is: I think we should give your mother complete authority here.

Table 12. Cognitive perceiver dominance metaphors

3. Being in the Same Cognition Phase

The percentage of cognitive metaphors formed due to being in the same cognition phase is extremely high. For cognitive metaphors in Vietnamese, the percentage is 93.61%, and in English, it is 98.47%.

The cognitive metaphors formed due to not being in the same cognition phase account for only a small percentage.

Table 13. Metaphors due to being in the same cognition phase

4. Cognitive Spaces Switching

These metaphors are formed due to cognitive spaces switching. This is the switching from the reality space to the assuming space (Ex: look is judging, look is accepting, etc.), from the assuming space to the cognition space (Ex: see is thought, see is understood, etc.), from the reality space to the experience space (Ex: see is known, see is realized, etc.), etc.

5. Cognitive Results Conversion

These metaphors are formed relying on the conversion of the cognitive results of other verbs into the perception verbs. For example, we have many metaphors, such as see is found, see is realized, see is perceived, etc.

6. Perception Organs Conversion

These metaphors are formed because of the conversion of the perception organs. In Vietnamese, the verb thấy of the visual perception and the verb nghe of the hearing perception can be used to convey the cognitive results of all the senses, not just the visual and the hearing only.

Conclusion

The survey results show that the cognitive semantics of the perception verbs are very diverse, various, and special. Among them, the semantic traits with cognitive metaphors account for a large percentage.

The polysemy, sophistication, and subtlety of the perception verbs enrich the language. However, they also cause a huge obstacle to language learners and workers. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the identification of the exact meanings in each linguistic unit when teaching or handling languages.

Further studies of these verbs, as well as their contrastive research between languages, are very essential.

Finally, this research has brought a sense not only in linguistic study but also in language teaching, learning, translating, and interpreting, as well as in many other activities related to languages.