Cross-linguistic Analysis of Metonymic Conceptualization of Personality in English and Vietnamese Idioms Containing "Head", "Face" and “Eyes”

Abstract

Research on idioms from the point of view of cognitive linguistics, in particular through conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy in cognitive semantics, has been steadily growing. While there have been quite a few investigations into the role of conceptual metaphors in meaning formation, conceptual metonymies are still left underexplored. This article examines the role of metonymic conceptualization of personality in English and Vietnamese idioms containing "head", "face" and “eyes” from the conceptual metonymy theory of cognitive linguistics. With analyzed examples from 713 English languages and 947 Vietnamese idioms of body parts collected, the article shows that metonymic conceptualization plays an essential part in the formation of meaning. There are many similarities in the way "head", "face" and “eyes” are conceptualized for personality in both English and Vietnamese cultures. However, why Vietnamese body part idioms use a lot of symbolic pairs, English idioms do not. The study suggests more attention to conceptual metonymy in teaching idioms in order to help students infer idiomatic meanings. Rather than asking students to learn by heart the composite meaning of idioms, teachers should encourage them to guess the idiomatic meaning. Besides, conceptual metonymy should be explained to students since it helps language learners infer idiomatic meaning and retain it longer.