Understanding English idioms from the conceptual metaphor theory of cognitive linguistics

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Understanding English idioms from the conceptual
metaphor theory of cognitive linguistics

• Nguyen Ngoc Vu
• Nguyen Thi Thu Van

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Why do we use the past tense?

• Did you know that the conference has started?
• Could you open the door for me?
• I wish you would stop smoking.
• I would rather you didnt talk in class.
• If I were you, I would not do that.
• I wish I were rich.

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What is an idiom?
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What is an idiom?

• A phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear
  from the meaning of its individual words and
  which must be learnt as a whole unit
• (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. 1995)

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Can you predict the meaning of this?

• Loins des yeux, loins du coeur

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Other cases

• To be at the crossroad
• To run out of steam
• The right hand man
• The head of the company
• Look up/ Feel up/ Feel down

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• Why do we use past forms in present time?
• How do we predict the meaning of idioms?

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Conceptual metaphor

• Defined as understanding one conceptual domain in
  terms of another conceptual domain.
• Source domain the conceptual domain from which
  we draw metaphorical expressions.
• Target domain the conceptual domain that we try
  to understand.

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ARGUMENT IS WAR
Source domain War
Target domain Argument
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Structural metaphor

• a conventional metaphor in which one concept is
  understood and expressed in terms of another
  structured concept.
• Examples
• They are at a crossroads in their relationship.
• This relationship isn't going anywhere.
• They're in a dead-end relationship.
• This marriage is on the rocks.
• This relationship has been spinning its wheels
  for years.
• Their marriage has really gone off the track.

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Orientational metaphor

• An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which
  concepts are spatially related to each other, as
  in the following ways
• Up or down
• In or out
• Front or back
• On or off
• Deep or shallow
• Central or peripheral

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Orientational metaphor

• Ex HAPPY IS UP SAD IS DOWN
• I'm feeling up.
• That boosted my spirits.
• Thinking about her always gives me a lift.
• I'm feeling down.
• I fell into a depression.

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Ontological metaphor

• An abstraction, such as an activity, emotion, or
  idea, is represented as something concrete, such
  as an object, substance, container, or person
• Ex THE MIND IS A MACHINE
• He has a screw loose.
• He slipped a cog.
• I could see the wheels turning.
• He churns out ideas.

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MORE IS UP LESS IS DOWN

• They put up the price on that model by five
  dollars.
• They brought their children up in the
  countryside.
• Production went up at the plant by 15 percent.
• The car sped up and passed the slow driver.
• It's really heated up these past few days.
• Can you turn the sound up?
• The local economy has really picked up since the
  new factory was built.
• The quarterly profits went down from the second
  to the third quarter.
• Turn down that horrible music!
• Please keep the noise down in this room!
• It's really cooled down these past few days.
• Computer prices have really come down recently.

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POWER IS OVER/UP WEAKNESS IS UNDER/DOWN

• He was lording it over me.
• The Emperor ruled over a vast area.
• They have come up in the world.
• She's been moved up to a more responsible job.
• The police clamped down on drinking in the
  streets.
• The rebellion was swiftly put down.
• Prisoners are kept under constant surveillance.
• We had to knuckle under and do what we were told.

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THE PAST IS FAR THE PRESENT IS NEAR

• Could you open the door for me?
• Its high time you stopped smoking.
• Would you mind my staying here?
• Did you know that Tom has arrived?
• If I were you, I would take the job.

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Coke versus Pepsi Nike versus Reebok Nintendo
versus Sega - the battle is on amongst the
worlds top brands.

• Aggressive competitive advertising has now
  reached fever pitch extra millions are pouring
  into R D, and the market leaders are under
  constant pressure to slash their prices in a
  cut-throat struggle for market domination. When
  Philip Morris knocked 40c off a packet of
  Marlboro, 47-and-a-half billion was instantly
  wiped off the market. Value of Americas top
  twenty cigarette manufacturers lesser brands went
  to the wall. And thats just one example of how
  fair competition within a free market has rapidly
  escalated into all-out brand war..

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Implications for teaching

• Conventional knowledge plus conceptual metaphor
  motivate meanings of idioms.
• Explicit teaching of conceptual metaphors help
  improve language learning
• Ts should try to get their Ss guess meanings of
  idioms rather than do rote learning.

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What is an idiom?

• A group of words whose meaning is different from
  the meanings of the individual words.
• (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. 2010)