The Metaphorical Conceptualization of Two Conceptual Domains “Personality” and “Emotion” Through English Speakers’ Language

The Metaphorical Conceptualization of Two Conceptual Domains “Personality” and “Emotion” Through English Speakers’ Language

Thanh Thai Nguyen

Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.806049

Received: 15 May 2024; Revised: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 04 June 2024; Published: 02 July 2024

ABSTRACT

From the theory of conceptual metaphor, this study investigates how the two conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” are conceptualized by English speakers through the language they use and finds out the role of that conceptualization in creating and comprehending the meaning of linguistic expressions referring to “personality” and “emotion”. The study is expected to provide the learners and teachers of English language with more insights into what lexicon can be used to talk about the two conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” in English, avoiding the possibility of misunderstanding due to cultural-cognitive differences. The data was collected from 99 stories in the book “101 healing stories for kids and teens: Using metaphors in therapy” by George W. Burns through the metaphor identification method proposed by the Pragglejaz group (2007). Results show that PERSONALITY is often perceived in relation to more concrete concepts, including: A BUILDING, A DISEASE, A FLUID IN A CONTAINER A CONTAINER, A RESOURCE, A SOCIAL FORCE, and HEAT. Similarly, the category EMOTION is conceptualized as A CONTAINER, A MOVING OBJECT, AN ANIMAL, AN OBJECT, and HEAT. The results also show that English speakers’ perception is the basis for creating and comprehending the meaning of metaphorical linguistic expressions. From the analysis, the study suggests that the teachers of English language should be based the English native speakers’ conceptualization of these two domains “personality” and “emotion” to teach English collocations with “personality traits” and “kinds of emotions” and the the learners of English language should conceptualize and talk about “personality traits” and “kinds of emotions” in the way the native speakers do.

Keywords: conceptual metaphor; mapping; personality; emotion.

INTRODUCTION

Metaphor has long been studied as one of the rhetorical tools used to convey and receive certain events, emotions, ideas or concepts through language (Porta & Last, 2018). In traditional understanding, metaphor is an implicit comparison through visual similarity between two entities (Richards, 1965; Leech, 1969), as in the sentence “Achilles was a lion in the fight” (Evans & Green, 2006) the image of Achilles in battle is implicitly described through the image of the lion in battle with other animals. From this perspective, metaphor is a tool for conveying and receiving meaning based on rules of similarities. However, in the 1980s, Lakoff and Johnson demonstrated in the book “Metaphor we live by” that metaphors “pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action” (p. 3). On that basis, Lakoff and Johnson proposed a new theoretical framework on metaphor, namely, conceptual metaphor. This has posed a significant challenge to the view that metaphors are only used rhetorically in literary language. Therefore, understanding what conceptual metaphor is and examining its role in conveying and receiving messages through language is absolutely necessary to be able to explain how a linguistic community communicates with each other, expressing their perception of the worldview. Specifically in this article, how the two abstract conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” are perceived will be surveyed and described through the language the English speakers use. This study is necessary because it is expected to provide the learners and teachers of English language with more insights into what lexicon can be used to talk about the two conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” in English, avoiding the possibility of misunderstanding due to cultural-cognitive differences. To achieve these goals, the following research questions are posed:

1) How are the two abstract conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” conceptualized by English speakers through the language they use?

2) What is the role of those conceptualizations in conveying and receiving the meaning of linguistic expressions denoting the two domains “personality” and “emotion”?

To address these research questions, the main research method used in this study is the descriptive method. Specifically, based on cognitive linguistic theory, this study:

(1) Surveys to find metaphorical linguistic expressions indicating the categories “personality” and “emotion” from 99 stories in the work “101 healing stories for kids and teens: Using metaphors in therapy” by George W. Burns through the metaphor identification method proposed by the Pragglejaz group (2007) (see Table 1).This study focuses on surveying and describing linguistic expressions that refer to the two domains “personality” and “emotion” in the work “101 healing stories for kids and teens: Using metaphors in therapy” by George W. Burns. This research is carried out within the above scope because this work has many linguistic expressions referring to the two domains “personality” and “emotion”.

Table 1: Metaphor identification method of Pragglejaz group (2007)

To see how this four-step framework works, let us take an example. Let us consider two sentences (1) “a young

guy and a young girl were burning with love” and (2) “the girl’s heart collapsed” picked up from a story (see Appendix) about love. The results coming from Pragglejaz Group’s (2007) four analytical steps are as follows:

Step 1: After reading the entire story (see Appendix), the meanings of (1) and (2) are understood as ‘two lovers loved each other passionately’ and ‘the girl felt disappointed and betrayed by the boy’s unfaithfulness’, respectively.

Step 2: The lexical units in (1) are separated as follows: a /young/ guy/ and/ a /young/ girl/ were burning/ with/ love; and those in (2) are: the/ girl’s/ heart/ collapsed/. /Were burning/ is not separated because it is a phrasal verb.

Step 3: Examining the basic and contextual meaning of each lexical unit in both (1) and (2) shows that: were burning in (1) and heart and collapsed in (2) are used in metaphorical meanings, but not in their basic meanings. Regarding the basic meaning, burning in (1) is a state of something being on fire, heart in (2) is a part of human body, and collapsed in (2) is a state of a building being destroyed. In terms of the contextual meaning, burning in this context indicates a state of passionate love, heart in this context is a symbol of love, and collapsed indicates a state of betrayed love.

Step 4: Given the results of step 3, it is shown that were burning in (1) and heart and collapsed in (2) have both basic meaning and contextual meaning. Obviously, their contextual meanings contrast with their basic meanings but can be understood in comparison with their basic meanings. They, thus, are metaphorical.

(2) Finds out English speaker’s cognitive model of the two domains “personality” and “emotion” through describing and analyzing the meaning of metaphorical linguistic expressions. The process of conceptualizing the two domains will be described through mapping the constituent attributes of the source domain onto the constituent attributes of the target domain “personality” and “emotion”.

(3) Discusses what lexicon can be possibly used to talk about the two conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” in English, avoiding the possibility of misunderstanding due to cultural-cognitive differences.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Cognitive Semantics

The relationship between meaning and structure of language has always been considered central to linguistic research. Studying meaning has attracted the most attention. In the study of semantics, understanding how a language community communicates and receives the meaning of the language they use is central, helping to find the basis on which they create a language to communicate and receive some kind of meaning. Depending on the perspective, researchers conclude that meaning is created in some ways in linguistic expressions. For example, according to Chomsky’s structuralist perspective, meaning is formed based on rules for producing sentences. According to Malinowski and Firth, meaning is determined in relation to context. According to Halliday’s functionalism, meaning refers to the functions of language, specifically the experiential, interpersonal and textual meanings. According to pragmatics, meaning is determined based on speech actions (can be direct or indirect), or implicature (formed between the principle of collaboration and the violation of conversational maxims). Meanwhile, according to cognitive theory, the meaning of words is basically formed by the way people perceive the world through their embodiment.

Therefore, cognitive semantics is a theoretical basis explored to explain how the meaning of language is communicated and received through the way people perceive the world (Ly, 2005; Tran, 2011). Therefore, studying language from a cognitive perspective is studying the meaning communicated and received through language in relation to people’s concept or perceptions of the world (Croft & Cruse, 2004; Geeraerts & Cuyckens, 2007; Robinson & Ellis, 2008). In this regard, the so-called concept is considered the basis for studying meaning in the interrelationship between language and human cognition.

But what is the concept? At first glance, the concept is defined variously, such as a symbol of thinking (Askoldov, cited in Tran (2011)), as a notion (Tsesnokov, cited in Tran (2011)), or as a phenomenon symbolically represented within the human mind (Evans & Green, 2006). These ways of defining concepts are somewhat confusing. However, the further review of literature shows that concept is basically defined not only as the consequence of the process of reflecting the reality into human mind, but also as the result of cognition or conceptualization, and also as the embodiment of man’s knowledge and experience of everyday realities (Ly, 2005). In simple words, concept is the basic unit of consciousness and is the result of the perceptual experience of a phenomenon (Evans & Green, 2006). For example, home is a concept. Although a house basically has walls, a roof, doors, windows, and floors, there are many differences in its shape, as well as people’s concept of it. That difference is the symbolic result of the perceptual experience of an object created by humans usually to: (1) avoid dangerous impacts such as sun, wind, rain, wild animals (this concept may be people’s initial thinking about the function of the house); (2) protect property and self from dangers (this concept may have appeared when humans began to produce goods and had a surplus); (3) refer to a family (Vo, 2017) such as the concept of house in the sentence “I would have called you, but I didn’t want to wake your entire house at seven on a weekend.” referring to family members; (4) refer to the husband or wife in some cases, for example the concept of house in the sentence “My house is away” (translated from Vietnamese) referring to the wife or husband in the family. Thus, concept, the result of the process of conceptualization and perceptual experience, is the picture of human perception of the worldview. It plays a role in influencing how people think, act and use language.

Therefore, studying semantics from a cognitive perspective must originate from understanding conceptualization or concept, the result of the process of conceptualizing or embodiment about objective reality, in the relationship with the language they use to communicate in the community they live.

Conceptual Metaphor

When it comes to cognitive semantics, conceptual metaphor is a key framework that reflects how people conceptualize the world, by which the language they communicate and receive is significantly influenced. Conceptual metaphor refers to the way people conceptualize the world because, with social development, many new conceptual domains appear but are too abstract for people to describe specifically. But for communication purposes, people need to concretize those abstract conceptual domains to be able to communicate about it accurately. Therefore, humans, through some similarities, often conceptualize abstract conceptual domains in terms of more concrete conceptual domains (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2002, 2010; Croft & Cruse, 2004; Evans & Green, 2006). As a result, people use language that describes concrete domains to talk about abstract domains. For example, the concept of LIFE is considered abstract because it is difficult to describe and feel it specifically through the senses. However, through experiencing the conceptual domain LIFE, people realize that there are some similarities between the conceptual domain LIFE and the conceptual domain JOURNEY, a more specific conceptual domain through human senses. For example, when someone comes to an intersection, they need to make a decision about which way to go. This is quite similar to an event in a person’s life, that is, they need to make a decision in life, maybe about their future career or changing where they live. Therefore, in some cultures, the conceptualization of the conceptual domain LIFE through the conceptual domain JOURNEY has a great influence on how people of that culture use language to talk about life, as well as their thinking and actions. A saying from English-speaking cultures that can be used as an illustration is “I’m at a crossroads in my life.” The meaning of the word crossroads in the sentence above does not really refer to the idea of where two roads meet and intersect but to another idea, which is choices in life. The basis for such an explanation is based on the similarities between the conceptual domain LIFE and the conceptual domain JOURNEY through human experience, as explained above.

A problem that arises here is that in order to convey and receive linguistic metaphors, speakers and listeners need to ensure that, within their culture, they share a common perception of the world. In other words, the message cannot be received or may be received incorrectly due to the difference in perception between the speaker and the listener. Imagine. If in a culture, people do not conceptualize LIFE through the conceptual domain JOURNEY, then everyone cannot agree that the meaning of the word crossroads refers to important decisions in life. In this regard, in different cultures, people have different ways of conceptualizing the worldview, leading to cases where people of one culture communicate with people of another culture using metaphorical words without understanding. Therefore, the need for in-depth discussion on the correct interpretation of metaphorical expressions is urgent. Contextual analysis and cultural understanding must be combined in the interpretation of metaphorical expressions, helping to understand how native speakers use their language. This must be true but what if both the speaker and the listener lack the cultural knowledge of the interlocutor. The answer is that they will use their cultural understanding to convey and receive information.

Mapping

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) stated that mapping is not arbitrary, not any source domain can be chosen to understand a target domain. Instead, mappings are established only when there is a set of correspondences between the source and target domains. As described by Lakoff (1993a, 1993b) and Kövecses (2002, 2010), mapping is a process in which some properties of the source domain correspond to some properties of the target domain consistently in terms of conceptualization. So, mapping is the perception of attributes of the target domain through attributes of the source domain (Fauconnier, 1997). To better understand the operation of mapping, let’s explore the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY given by Lakoff and Johnson (1980).

At first glance, the literal meaning of the sentence “We aren’t going anywhere.” (Kövecses, 2010, p. 8) refers to a journey without a clear destination. The lexical units of the sentence show us the three attributes that make up the journey including: we referring to the people participating in the journey, go referring to the journey, and anywhere indicating the destination. However, when this sentence is uttered by the couple, it can be determined that “We aren’t going anywhere.” is a sentence that conveys a metaphorical meaning, understood through the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY. In this, we no longer refers to travelers but lovers, go no longer refers to a physical journey but events in a love relationship, and anywhere does not refer to the material destination at the end of the journey but to the result of a love relationship. Here, through the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY, the above sentence implies that the relationship is stagnant, the lovers do not want to continue or want to stop their relationship. The above sentence is not a rare case. English has many linguistic expressions based on the idea of LOVE AS A JOURNEY. The following are metaphorical linguistic expressions used to talk about love in that way. “It’s been a bumpy road” is not about the physical obstacles on the road but about the difficulties the lovers experienced in their relationship. “We’ve made a lot of headways” (Kövecses, 2010, p. 8) refers to how much progress the relationship has made but not to how far the traveler has come. Also, “We’re at a crossroads” (Kövecses, 2010, p. 8) refers to important decisions in a relationship but not to decisions about which path to take that the traveler must make.

With the meanings of the linguistic expressions (words in italics) as stated above, a set of correspondences between the constituent attributes of the source domain JOURNEY and the constituent at tributes of the target domain LOVE is presented as follows:

Table 2: The correspondences between source domain JOURNEY and target domain LOVE

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

After surveying 99 healing stories for children by Burns (2005), the study found the domain “personality” is perceived through six source domains and “emotions” through five source domains. The source conceptual domains will be presented, described, and analyzed in the following sections.

The Conceptual Domain “Personality”

Personality is an abstract domain, difficult to experience perceptually. It contains many sub-groups such as: self-confidence, selfishness, friendliness, bravery, etc. Personality is considered a typical image of humans in interaction with the world and is one of the bases for distinguishing one person from another because personality has a strong impact on the way people think and act. Despite being difficult to describe, the survey data shows that the conceptual domain PERSONALITY is conceptualized by English speakers through more concrete conceptual domains, which are A BUILDING, A DISEASE, A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, A RESOURCE, A SOCIAL FORCE, and HEAT. The reasons for such a conclusion are that a large number of lexical units used to talk about the concrete conceptual domains, as listed above, are naturally used to talk about the conceptual domain “personality”.

First, as a source domain, A BUILDING is a more concrete conceptual domain through which English speakers use language about the source domain to naturally talk about the target domain PERSONALITY. When comparing the basic meaning and contextual meaning of the word build up in sentences [1] in Extract 1 and [2] in Extract 2, we can see the correspondence between them through mapping: (1) buildings correspond to human personalities; (2) building components correspond to personality sub-groups; (3) the process of building a building corresponds to the process of character formation; (4) the building’s function corresponds to the impact of character; (5) the deterioration of the building corresponds to the change in character. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS A BUILDING, we have a basis to explain why the word build up together with other words such as rebuild, damage, destroy is used to talk about the process of forming human personalities like confidence and courage.

Extract 1 from Story 29“Changing patterns of behavior” (p. 99)

…… Pegleg hopped onto Chad’s ankle, stretched his beak out as far as he possibly could, and plucked the bit of meat from Chad’s fingers. Chad sat with his leg and arm as still as if they had been frozen. In fact, about his only movement was his breathing. Day by day he inched his hand closer toward his body, and day by day Pegleg came just a little closer.

Pegleg isn’t a slow learner, thought Chad. He’s just scared. He has to learn to trust me. [1] I need to go slow and let him build up his confidence.

Chad put his left hand on his thigh while he fed Pegleg with his right. As Pegleg got used to the left hand being there, it was only a matter of days before he was standing on the back of Chad’s hand. The next step was difficult, but Chad took it slowly and patiently……….

Extract 2

from Story 11 “soaring to new heights: a kid story” (p. 63)…… Still the little octopus didn’t

know what to do. The anchor felt strong. If the octopus let go, it would be alone in the water all by itself.

It looked at the fish. The fish nodded encouragingly, and the little octopus began to slowly peel off one tentacle at a time. Having so many legs or arms (and a tentacle is a bit like both) can be nice if you want to hug someone you love, but can make hard work of it if you want to let something go. The last one was the hardest. [2] It needed to hold on just a little longer before building up the courage to set itself free……

Second, the conceptual domain of PERSONALITY is also perceived through the conceptual domain of A DISEASE. This perception is identified through the word contagious in sentence [3] in Extract 3, which is meant to represent the spread of a disease but is used to describe the state of “kind” character. The basis on which English speakers perceive the conceptual domain PERSONALITY through the concept of A DISEASE is due to the similarity between human personality traits and a disease. That is, just as a disease can be contagious, human personality can also be transmitted from one person to another. For example, we are often touched by acts of kindness that someone is doing. In this sense, kindness can be spread from person to person. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS A DISEASE, we have a basis to explain why the word contagious is used to talk about the characteristics of human personality.

Extract 3 from Story 3 “kids can make a difference: a teen story” (p. 50)

…… The next day Trevor went to his local grocery store and other public places in his neighborhood where there were notice boards. He put up signs asking for people to donate any spare blankets or food they didn’t need. The result was surprising. [3] Kindness was contagious. Trevor found so many people were willing to help that within a week he had filled his dad’s garage with food and blankets.[4] What Trevor had started with his kindness grew and spread throughout the community. [5] It wasn’t long before people’s generosity overflowed from his dad’s garage and Trevor and his dad had to look for a bigger building to house all the gifts being donated. Would you believe there are now a number of special warehouses throughout Philadelphia that stock food and blankets to feed and warm the homeless? They are all called “Trevor’s Place. ……

Third, PERSONALITY is perceived by English speakers through the source domain A FLUID IN A CONTAINER. This perception is seen through the meaning of the words spread and overflow in sentence [4] and [5] in Extract 3. The cognitive basis is: the container corresponds to the human body and the liquid inside the container corresponds to human personality traits. Basically, this concept creates a basis for us to argue that human personality traits exist as independent entities within ourselves. They may flow out of the container when the container is full. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, we have a basis to explain why the words spread and over flow are used to talk about the attributes of human personality.

Fourth, PERSONALITY is considered as A RESOURCE that can be accumulated, conserved, used or even exhausted. This is expressed through the word run out of in sentence [6] in Extract 4. In terms of meaning, the verb run out of literally refers to the state of using up a supply of something. Therefore, viewing human personality as a resource is due to the fact that English speakers perceive the disappearance of personality traits as akin to the depletion of resources. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS A RESOURCE, we have a basis to explain why the word run out of is used to talk about the states of human personality.

Extract 4 from Story 24 “learning to think for yourself” (p. 90)

…… Well, on Thursday he got a job working for the butcher. At the end of his work, the butcher gave him a leg of beef. The boy thought his mother would be pleased with his efforts today and, doing what she’d told him, he tied a bit of string around his payment for the day and dragged it all the way home. As he did all the neighborhood dogs followed him, gnawing at the leg of fresh meat. By the time he got home there was nothing but a bare bone. [6] His mother, who was running out of patience, told him off once again. “You silly boy, you should have carried it on your shoulder.” ……

Fifth, human personality somewhat has a strong impact on the way people think and act. On that basis, PERSONALITY is described in sentence [7] in Extract 5 as A SOCIAL FORCE, expressed through the meaning of the word separate. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS A SOCIAL FORCE, we have a basis to explain why the word separate is used to talk about the effects of human personality.

Extract 5 from Story 68 “taking a different view” (p. 168)

…… The second brother added, “I think it is more than that. Since we were little kids we have always been fighting and arguing. Perhaps he wanted us to see that working together gave us an opportunity for happiness. [7] While greed and selfishness separated us, no one was happy.” “I believe,” said the third, “he was possibly teaching us even more. He was saying that no matter how much each of us thinks we are right, we may not have the answer. That sometimes we need to look outside of ourselves. Sometimes somebody else can offer us a helpful idea for solving a problem.” The cowboy just smiled as he mounted his horse, cocked his hat, and prepared to ride on. ……

Sixth, PERSONALITY is perceived through the concept of HEAT through the meaning of the adjective warm in sentence [8] in Extract 6. The adjective warm literally refers to a temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold and has similarities with the influence of personality, specifically friendliness is seen as a type of warmth that warms everything around. Through the conceptualization of PERSONALITY AS HEAT, we have a basis to explain why the word warm is used to talk about the outward manifestation of human personality.

Extract 6 from story 27 “a gesture that changed a whole suburb”

…… Every morning I continued to watch the lollypop man with interest. So far I have not seen anyone fail to wave back—even if a bit stiffly like the businessman or strangers to our suburb. How did they feel, I wondered. [8] What difference does the warm friendliness of a stranger make to your morning? I find it interesting that one person can make such a difference to so many people’s lives by doing one simple thing like waving and smiling warmly. I know I certainly began to look forward to the pleasure of a greeting from this friend I had never met. His cheerfulness warmed the start of my day. With a friendly wave and smiling face he had changed the behavior, and I suspect the feelings, of a whole suburb of morning commuters…….

To sum up, the analysis shows that PERSONALITY is perceived in terms of more concrete concepts, including: A BUILDIN Gas in build up, A DISEASE as in contagious, A FLUID IN A CONTAINER as in spread and overflow, A RESOURCE as in run out, A SOCIAL FORCE as in separate, and HEAT as in warm.

Through these conceptualizations of PERSONALITY, we have a basis to use the words used to talk about A BUILDING such as build up, rebuild, damage, destroy to talk about the process of forming human personalities, the words about A DISEASE such as contagious to talk about the characteristics of human personality, the words about A FLUID IN A CONTAINER such as spread and over flow to talk about the attributes of human personality, the words about A RESOURCE such as run out of to talk about the states of human personality, the words about A SOCIAL FORCE such as separate to talk about the effects of human personality, the words about HEAT such as warm to talk about the outward manifestation of human personality.

The Conceptual Domain “Emotion”

Like the conceptual domain “personality”, “emotion” is also an abstract conceptual and difficult to experience perceptually. The category “emotions” has subgroups such as: anxiety, anger, fear, pride, respect, sadness, happiness, shame, surprise, and love. When examining linguistic expressions about these subgroups of emotions, research has found that EMOTIONS are conceptualized as A CONTAINER, A MOVING OBJECT, AN ANIMAL, AN OBJECT, and HEAT. The reasons for such a conclusion are that a large number of lexical units used to talk about the concrete conceptual domains, as listed above, are naturally used to talk about the conceptual domain “emotion”.

The meaning of the words burst with, burst out and what mood they might be in sentences [9] to [11] in Extracts 7-9 shows that EMOTIONS are conceptualized as A CONTAINER. This concept comes from the fact that when an emotion becomes too intense (like there is too much pressure on the container), one cannot control it (like the container explodes).

Through the conceptualization of EMOTION AS A CONTAINER, we have a basis to explain why the words burst with, burst out and in mood are used to talk about the outward manifestation of human emotion.

Extract 7 from story 48 “learning to laugh” (p. 134)

…… He pulled on a big floppy jacket with brightly colored checks and pushed the tube into a big bulb of water in his pocket. Finally, he slipped into a pair of overgrown shoes and carefully stepped out of his caravan, walking through the canvas flap of the big tent and entering the arena. [9] Almost as soon as the crowd of people saw him they burst out laughing. You see, Clary was the circus clown. ……

Extract 8 from story 61 “facing a moral dilemma: a kid story” (p. 157)

…… Brad wrote out the lines secretly and hid them in his room. [10] Come Sunday night, he was about to burst with the worry of it all. He hadn’t been able to find a way out and knew he had to tell his parents. Over dinner he said, “I got into a bit of trouble at school on Friday and the principal gave me a letter to give to you.” ……

Extract 9 from story 41 “heightening pleasure: a kid story” (p. 123)

…… He enjoyed all the differing sounds that he never heard at home. That first night sleeping at the beach house was always special. [11] It was so wonderful to drift off to the sound of the waves lapping the beach, especially when you never quite knew just what mood they might be in. Sometimes they would be crashing, strong, and powerful, while at other times they were gentle and relaxed—a soothing, swishing sound across the sand. ……

In addition to CONTAINER, EMOTION is also conceptualized as A MOVING OBJECT through the meaning of the words pass, stay, racing, go, stop in sentences [12] to [15] in Extracts 10-12.

In their literal meanings, these words refer to the physical movement of an object. But in these sentences, they are used to talk about the existence and disappearance of a certain emotion. The basis for such perception is that emotions usually only appear for a short period of time, and then gradually return to a balanced state. Through the conceptualization of EMOTION AS A MOVING OBJECT, we have a basis to explain why the words pass, stay, racing, go, stop are used to talk about the states of human emotion.

Extract 10 from story 69 “overcoming fear” (p. 170)

…… Could he check his room—like Philip did with his honey pot—to reassure himself there was no need to be afraid? Like Tabby, could he weigh up whether it was appropriate for him to be afraid? Was there any real risk? If there was, what could he do about it? If there wasn’t, how could he relax and drift into a comfortable sleep? [12] Could he do what Tom did, and remind himself that feelings like fear will pass and won’t stay around forever?……

…… “Sometimes I get frightened if Mom shouts at me,” said Tom. “Not that she shouts very often, which is probably why I get frightened when she does. I guess I know she won’t be angry forever and because she’s not, I won’t be frightened forever. [13] So I tell myself that the feeling will go.

Then I try to do something that feels nice, like give her a hug if she is feeling upset or go outside and play for a while. Usually, I come back feeling better. ……

Extract 11 from story 18 “good, not perfect” (p. 76)

…… [14] He chose to carry on, but when he finished and left the stage his hands felt sweaty, and his heart was racing. He didn’t think about what he had achieved—performing his first solo part in a major production. Instead, he was beating himself up for the sentence that he’d missed. ……

Extract 12 from story 73 “collaborative problem-solving” (p. 178)

…… Now and again, his dad wouldn’t have objected, but every night was a different thing. “You are too big now,” his dad told him. “You need to sleep by yourself.”[15] Well, he tried, but the scary feelings didn’t stop, so he would wait until his dad was asleep, then sneak into his room and sleep on the floor beside his bed. There he drifted off to sleep much easier. ……

As we know, most human emotions are aroused by external factors. For example, the death of a dog can trigger our feelings of sadness; a funny story can make us laugh. However, things don’t always work out that way. In some cases, our emotions depend on how we see things. For example, for people who are always pessimistic about the world they live in, it is difficult for them to feel happy even when they have a lot of money. That way, they will never feel happy or satisfied unless they change their way of thinking. In this respect, we have a basis for conceptualizing emotions as animals.

That is, if we raise an animal with a positive and optimistic attitude, the way we perceive things will also be positive and optimistic. On that basis, EMOTION is conceptualized as AN ANIMAL through the meaning of the words wolf and feed in sentences [16] to [22] in Extract 13. Through the conceptualization of EMOTION AS AN ANIMAL, we have a basis to explain why the words wolf and feed are used to talk about the wild characteristics of human emotion.

Extract 13 from story 4 “feed what you want to grow” (p. 51)

…… “But,” continued the grandfather, “let’s imagine that there is another wolf in the pack who doesn’t think the same way. [16] This wolf has a really mean, nasty face. It pulls back its lips at times to bare its teeth threateningly toward other animals.[17] When it does, they usually feel fear rather than love and respect, for this is the wolf of fear, greed, and hatred. Maybe it is frightened or afraid, and that’s why it’s always on guard.[18] Unfortunately, it hasn’t learned that by being so angry or aggressive to others, by thinking of who or what it hates rather than who or what it loves, it builds a lot of bad feelings in itself and among the other wolves. [19] This wolf is out for number one, whereas the wolf of peace, love, and kindness is looking out for others’ happiness and well-being as well as its own.

“[20] As you can imagine, two such wolves in a pack might be in a struggle to see which one gets its way. [21] The wolf of peace, love, and kindness wants to share those values with everyone, but the wolf of fear, greed, and hatred cares only for itself. It feels bad in itself and leaves the others around it feeling bad.

“Let us continue to imagine,” said the grandfather, “that two such wolves are in a struggle inside you.” The little boy looked up at his grandfather, wide-eyed. “Which one will win?” he asked eagerly.[22] The grandfather looked down, kindness in his eyes, softness in his voice, and answered, “Whichever one you feed.

Furthermore, we rarely touch, smell, taste, or see our emotions. However, if emotions are an object, a person may try to hide or disguise their emotions. In other words, the conceptualization of EMOTION as AN OBJECT stems from the experience that emotions are an entity separate from us. It can touch us and sometimes we can throw it away. This is shown through the meaning of the words touch and blow away in sentences [23], [24], [25] in Extracts 14-16. Through the conceptualization of EMOTION AS AN OBJECT, we have a basis to explain why the words touch and blow away are used to talk about experiencing human emotion.

Extract 14 from story 53 “an act of kindness” (p. 144)

…… It was a special moment of tenderness. [23] I think we all felt touched about doing something nice for something else, by being part of an act of kindness. In the end, it wasn’t just the joey that benefited. We felt happy for being part of the rescue.

Extract 15 from story 81 “blowing away pain: a kid story” (p. 195)

…… I remembered how she’d laughed and giggled when she’d blown the bubbles, so, before I started to patch up the wound, I went and got our little wire ring and detergent. As she dipped in the ring, held it front of her mouth, and breathed out slowly, a big, big bubble started to form. It glistened in the light. She watched it float into the air, her eyes drying and a smile creeping on to her face. She learned that if she blew faster she could blow a whole stream of bubbles that floated away until they popped. [24] It was as if she were blowing her scary feelings away. Perhaps, if she’d wanted, she might have imagined the scary, hurt feelings sealed inside the bubbles, drifting across the room, away from her. ……

Extract 16 from story 3 “kids can make a difference: a teen story” (p. 50)

…… On the news he saw a story about some homeless people sleeping out in the cold on the streets, in a downtown area of Philadelphia where he lived. Trevor had never really stopped to think how fortunate he was to live in a fairly well-to-do suburb of the same city. [25] The story of the homeless people touched his heart and he began to wonder what he could do to help these people. ……

Finally, the meaning of the verb warm in sentence [26] in Extract 17 shows that EMOTION is conceptualized as HEAT. This comes from our body’s physical experience with emotions. For example, if we feel happy, we often feel excited like we are in a heated room; On the contrary, if we are sad, we feel lonely like in a cold room. Through the conceptualization of EMOTION AS HEAT, we have a basis to explain why the words warm is used to talk about the effects of human emotion.

Extract 17 from story 27 “a gesture that changed a whole suburb” (p. 96)

I find it interesting that one person can make such a difference to so many people’s lives by doing one simple thing like waving and smiling warmly. I know I certainly began to look forward to the pleasure of a greeting from this friend I had never met. [26] His cheerfulness warmed the start of my day. With a friendly wave and smiling face he had changed the behavior, and I suspect the feelings, of a whole suburb of morning commuters.

To sum up, the analysis shows that EMOTION is perceived in terms of more concrete concepts, including: A CONTAINER, A MOVING OBJECT, AN ANIMAL, AN OBJECT, and HEAT. Through these conceptualizations of EMOTION, we have a basis to use the words used to talk about A CONTAINER such as burst with, burst out and in mood to talk about the outward manifestation of human emotion, the words about A MOVING OBJECT such as pass, stay, racing, go, stop to talk about the states of human emotion, the words about AN ANIMAL such as wolf and feed to talk about the wild characteristics of human emotion, the words about AN OBJECT such as touch and blow away to talk about experiencing human emotion, the words about HEAT such as warm to talk about the effects of human emotion.

CONCLUSION

Through analysis of the examined corpus, the two conceptual domains “personality” and “emotion” are perceived and conceptualized by English speakers through many different source conceptual domains. Specifically, the conceptual domain “personality” is perceived in terms of more concrete concepts, including: A BUILDING, A DISEASE, A FLUID IN A CONTAINER, A RESOURCE, A SOCIAL FORCE, and HEAT. Similarly, the conceptual domain “emotion” is conceptualized as A CONTAINER, A MOVING OBJECT, AN ANIMAL, AN OBJECT, and HEAT. It is easy to see that the meaning of the linguistic expressions examined can be inferred once the conceptual metaphor is identified. In particular, the meaning of the identified metaphorical expressions can be explained or understood once the conceptual metaphor or mapping between domains is identified. Therefore, through the analysis of the lexicon used to talk about human personality and emotion, as described above, the study makes two suggestions as follow:

To the teachers of English language, teaching English collocations with “personality traits” and “kinds of emotions” should be based the English native speakers’ conceptualization of these two domains “personality” and “emotion”, instead of asking students to look up in collocation dictionary, which develops the students’ English competence afterwards.

To the learners of English language, their English competence will be developed significantly if they conceptualize the two domains “personality” and “emotion” in the way the native speakers do. This means that it is no use finding the meaning of words used together with “personality traits” and “kinds of emotions” through bilingual dictionary or equivalence translation. This is due to the fact that the same phenomenon can be perceived or conceptualized differently by people of different cultures, speaking different languages. Instead, the learners of English language should conceptualize and talk about “personality traits” and “kinds of emotions” in the way the native speakers do.

As an illustration, in explaining the meaning of the word build up in[1] “I need to go slow and let him build up his confidence”, the teacher simply tells the students the correspondence between the process of building up a house and the process of forming a personality trait. In this regard, it is no need to translate the word build up into students’ first language. As an consequence, the students will possibly use the words about a building to talk about confidence or courage naturally later on.

REFERENCES

1. Croft, W., & Cruse, D.A. (2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
3. Fauconnier, G. (1997). Mappings in thought and language. UK: Cambridge University Press.
4. Geeraerts, D., &Cuyckens, H. (2007). Introducing cognitive linguistics. In D. Geeraerts & H. Cuyckens (Eds.),The oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics (pp. 3-24). New York: Oxford University Press.
5. Kövecses , Z. (2002). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6. Kövecses , Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7. Lakoff, G. (1993a). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed.) (pp. 202-251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Lakoff, G. (1993b). How metaphor structures dreams: The theory of conceptual metaphor applied to dream analysis. Dreaming, 3 (2), 77-98.
9. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
10. Leech, G. (1969). A linguistic guide to English poetry. Harlow: Longman.
11. Ly, T. T. (2005). Cognitive linguistics – From general theory to Vietnamese practice, Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi.
12. Porta, M., & Last, J. M. (2018). A dictionary of public health (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
13. Pragglejaz Group. (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22 (1), 1–39.
14. Richards, I. A. (1965). The philosophy of rhetoric. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15. Robinson, P., &Ellis, NC (2008). An introduction to cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition, and language instruction. In P. Robinson &NC Ellis (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 3-24). New York, NY: Routledge.
16. Steen, G. (1999). From linguistic to conceptual metaphor in five steps. In RW Gibbs & GJ Steen (Eds.), Metaphor in cognitive linguistics (pp. 57-77). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
17. Steen, G. (2009). From linguistic form to conceptual structure in five steps: Analyzing metaphor in poetry. In G. Brone & J. Vandaele (eds.), Cognitive poetics: Goals, gains, gaps (pp. 197-226). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
18. Tran, V. C. (2011). Cognitive linguistics – Dictionary. Phuong Dong Publishing House.
19. Vo, K. H. (2017). “Home”: From concept to word, Journal of Language & Life, 5 (259), 55-58.

APPENDIX

Love Story

One day, a young guy and a young girl were burning with love.

But the guy came from a poor family. The girl’s parents weren’t too happy.

So the young man decided not only to court the girl but to court her parents as well. In time, the parents saw that he was a good man and was worthy of their daughter’s hand.

But there was another problem: The man was a soldier. Soon, war broke out and he was being sent overseas for a year. The week before he left, the man knelt on his knee and asked his lady love, “Will you marry me?” She wiped a tear, said yes, and they were engaged. They agreed that when he got back in one year, they would get married.

But tragedy struck. A few days after he left, the girl had a major vehicular accident. It was a head-on collision.

When she woke up in the hospital, she saw her father and mother crying. Immediately, she knew there was something wrong.

She later found out that she suffered brain injury. The part of her brain that controlled her face muscles was damaged. Her once lovely face was now disfigured. She cried as she saw herself in the mirror. “Yesterday, I was beautiful. Today; I’m a monster.” Her body was also covered with so many ugly wounds.

Right there and then, she decided to release her fiancé from their promise. She knew he wouldn’t want her anymore. She would forget about him and never see him again.

For one year, the soldier wrote many letters-but she wouldn’t answer.

He phoned her many times but she wouldn’t return her calls.

But after one year, the mother walked into her room and announced, “He’s back from the war.”

The girl shouted “No! Please don’t tell him about me. Don’t tell him I’m here!”

The mother said, “He’s getting married,” and handed her a wedding invitation.

The girl’s heart collapsed. She knew she still loved him-but she had to forget him now.

With great sadness, she opened the wedding invitation.

And then she saw her name on it!

Confused, she asked, “What is this?”

That was when the young man entered her room with a bouquet of flowers. He knelt beside her and asked,

“Will you marry me?”

The girl covered her face with her hands and said, “I’m ugly!”

The man said, “Without your permission, your mother sent me your photos. When I saw your photos, I realized that nothing has changed. You’re still the person I fell in love. You’re still as beautiful as ever. Because I love you!”

The story was retrieved from https://www.wattpad.com/71835140-short-stories-english-collection-love-story