Proceedings of The 10th International Conference on Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences
Year: 2022
DOI:
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Conceptual Metaphor “Human Beings Are Electronic Devices” In Vietnamese Online Newspapers
Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, Le Vien Lan Huong, Nguyen Kim Cuong, Tran Huy Sang, Ngo Thi Tuyet
ABSTRACT:
This study sought to examine the relationship in the mind map of Vietnamese people between “electronic devices” and “human beings” of the metaphor HUMAN BEINGS ARE ELECTRONIC DEVICES given the ubiquity of the metaphorical expressions with the source domain “electronic devices” in Vietnamese online newspapers. Based on the correlation between experiences and knowledge from source domain mapped onto target domain, this study aimed to decode the conceptual diagram, explain the mapping mechanism between source domain and target domain and unveil the stratification of conceptual thinking. Given the logically-organized mapping scheme of the conceptual metaphor, the article identifies a unique cognitive style in the conceptual structure universally characterized by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The research findings may be beneficial to journalism students who wish to employ conceptual metaphors in writing about physical and mental health; Hospital website builders, medical staff, doctors, researchers, biomedical therapists can use the findings as reference to improve their skills in using conceptual metaphors in articles about health care and protection, health risk alerts, understanding of the operation mechanism of human body as a machine. Furthermore, the research results may offer advertisers suggestion on how to use conceptual metaphors of health care products in a way that strongly impresses consumers’ awareness about product values and changes their shopping behavior.
Keywords: Conceptual metaphor, human beings, electronic devices, machine metaphor, mapping.