Conceptual metaphor “FINANCE IS PLANT” in Vietnamese online newspapers

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the metaphorical concept 'FINANCE IS PLANT' in Vietnamese online newspaper from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics. The study employed the conceptual metaphor theory in cognitive linguistics, using descriptive and semantic analysis methods, as well as statistical and classification techniques to establish and analyze the mapping from the source domain of PLANT to the target domain of FINANCE. A total of 110 metaphorical expressions in Vietnamese were examined, revealing three lower cognitive models: “Human activities for plant are human activities for finance”, “The situation of finances is the situation of plants” and “Finance is the name of the Plant”. The study's findings present valuable insights for the teaching, learning, and translation of conceptual metaphors, contributing to the enhancement of communication skills for Vietnamese English learners.

Keywords

• conceptual metaphor;
• mapping;
• finance;
• plant;
• source domain;
• target domain