An analysis of conceptual metaphors in Green Day’s songs

Table of content

Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................1
1.1. Rationale..........................................................................................................................1
1.2. Aims and objectives..........................................................................................................4
1.3. Research questions...........................................................................................................4
1.4. Scope of the study............................................................................................................4
1.5. Structure of the study.......................................................................................................5
II. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................6
2.1. Review of previous studies...............................................................................................6
2.2. On Conceptual Metaphors................................................................................................8
2.2.1. Definitions......................................................................................................................................8
2.2.2. Types of Conceptual Metaphors....................................................................................8
2.3. Summary........................................................................................................................10
III. PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................10
3.1. Research orientations.....................................................................................................10
3.2. Research methods..........................................................................................................11
IV. PROPOSED CHAPTER OUTLINE................................................................................11
References...................................................................................................................14

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

Today, English is an important communication tool in the integration

with the regional and international communities. It is an access to information of
science, engineering. Our country is on the path of innovation. We are committing to
industrialization and modernization of the country. We are also expanding relations
with other countries. Especially since Vietnam joined the WTO, English has been

1
used more and more widely in Vietnam. Thus, teaching and learning foreign
languages in general and English in particular are being carried out seriously by all
schools. Recognizing the important role of English, teachers of English are
responsible for equipping students with basic knowledge of language so that they can
do well in English and they can communicate with foreigners. We always try to
advance in our professional work, getting experiences from other teachers,
colleagues, as well as exploring creative teaching methods to improve the quality of
teaching.

Language is one of the means of communication used by human to express

ideas, thoughts, and feelings in various daily situations. Composers use song lyrics
as media to express ideas and messages to listeners or music lovers. Apart from an
entertainment facility, songs can be used as a media to give opinion and information
to social issues that happened in our lives.

Metaphors are a form of figurative language, which refers to words or

expressions that mean something different from their literal definition. Therefore,
metaphors are not literally easy to understand because they have a special character
that literal expression does not. However, metaphor is one of the dominant builder
elements found not only on poetry, literature or daily language but widely used in
songs to aesthetic purposes to make the works beautiful and good. By using
metaphors, writers as well as composers try to skillfully convey their ideas and
messages about social issues to readers and listeners.

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphors are also known as cognitive

metaphors, refer to the understanding of one idea or conceptual domain in terms of
another. Conceptual metaphors are useful for understanding complex ideas in
simple terms and therefore are frequently used to give insight to abstract theories
and models. (Wikipedia). According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), metaphor
consists of three types. They are structural metaphor, orientational metaphor, and
ontological metaphor (pp. 14-25). The characterization of conceptual metaphor is
set of mappings, in which this set of mappings obtains between basic constituent

2
elements of the source domain and basic constituent elements of the target. To
know a conceptual metaphor is to know the set of mappings that provides much of
the meaning of the metaphorical linguistic expression that make a particular
conceptual metaphor manifest (Kovecses, 2000, p. 14).

Conceptual metaphors are seen in language in our everyday lives.

Conceptual metaphors shape not just our communication, but also shape the way we
think and act. In George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's work, Metaphors We Live By
(1980), we see how everyday language is filled with metaphors we may not always
notice. An example of one of the commonly used conceptual metaphors is
"argument is war". This metaphor shapes our language in the way we view
argument as war or as a battle to be won. It is not uncommon to hear someone say
"He won that argument" or "I attacked every weak point in his argument". The very
way argument is thought of is shaped by this metaphor of arguments being war and
battles that must be won. Argument can be seen in other ways than a battle, but we
use this concept to shape the way we think of argument and the way we go about
arguing.

Green Day is an American rock band formed in 1987 with three members.
The band released several albums with a breakout success such as Grammy Award
for Best Rock Album (2005, 2010), MTV Europe Music Award for Best Rock
(2005, 2009, 2013), Grammy Award for Record of the Year (2006), MTV Video
Music Award for video of the Year (2005), MTV Video Music Award for Best
Rock (2005, 2009), I Heart Radio Music Award for Rock Songs. The band has won
two Tony Awards for American Idiot Album (2004) found popularity with a
younger generation. The composer uses metaphors to reveal thoughts and feelings
about political and social conditions that happen in the United States and make
listeners easily to understand the song lyrics.

With all these reasons, the writer of this research would like to choose the
topic: “An analysis of conceptual metaphors in Green Day’s songs”. Hopefully,
the findings of this study would make a contribution to the process of teaching and

3
 learning English of Vietnamese teachers and students on conceptual metaphors.

1.2. Aims and objectives

The study is intended to fulfill the following objectives:

- To find out the types of conceptual metaphors used in four songs American
Idiot, Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Jesus of Suburbia taken from
American Idiot Album, 2004 by Green Day.

- To explain the conceptual metaphorical language used in the songs

This study is hoped to help Vietnamese students and teachers as well as the readers
bear an awareness of conceptual metaphor and understand conceptual metaphors
used in songs. This research may be used as references in teaching and learning
English through songs as an authentic input for the curriculum in Vietnam. This
research may contribute to the understanding of conceptual metaphors in rock music
genre

1.3. Research questions

In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following
research questions are to be answered:

1. What are the types of conceptual metaphor used in Green Day song lyrics?

2. What are the meanings of conceptual metaphors used in those songs?

1.4. Scope of the study

Due to the scope of a minor thesis, the researcher intends to choose four
Green Day’s songs in American Idiot Album, 2004, namely American Idiot,
Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Jesus of Suburbia. The analytical
framework employed in this research is based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory by
Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Kövecses (2010, 2017). This study mainly focuses
on analyzing the types of conceptual metaphor and metaphorical meanings appeared
in selected songs.

4
1.5. Structure of the study

The thesis begins with Certificate of originality, Acknowledgements,

Abstract and Table of Contents. The content of the study is divided into four
chapters, which are presented as follows:

Chapter 1, “Introduction”, gives the rationale for the study, the aims, the

objectives, the research questions, the methods of the study, the scope of the study,

the significance of the study as well as the structural organization of the study.

Chapter 2, “Literature review”, presents the brief review of the previous

studies related to the study and the basic theoretical concepts for the study.

Chapter 3, “Findings and discussion”, introduces the types of conceptual

metaphors and the discussion of the meanings of conceptual metaphor used in the
selected songs.

Chapter 4, “Conclusion”, makes conclusions on each of the research

objectives, implications, limitations and suggestions for further research.

5
II. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Review of previous studies

There have been several studies of conceptual metaphor in songs. Scholars

explore the nature of knowledge structures needed by readers or listeners during
their interpretation of love, life, change, conditions in its numerous textual forms of
songs. So, there is a sense of constancy behind all these different messages
conveyed in songs.

What is part of our knowledge about love? Or in other words, what is the conent of
our concept of ‘love’? This question led to an extended line of research on the
language of love, the conceptual structure of love (Crisp, 2003; Kövecses, 2000).
The number of pop songs containing words like ‘I want you’ may serve as a
structure of our knowledge of love. Gavelin (2016) investigates the conceptual
metaphors of love in Mariah Carey’s pop songs in comparison with different stages
of her career and she finds out that although the songs are separated by
approximately twenty years, the love metaphors most reflected in her songs were
the same. She also shows that the source concept which was most typically used
was also reflected to describe the target concept. However, the variation of love
metaphors was greater in the later stage of her career.

Harpela (2015) investigates the conceptual metaphors of love pop songs by Kylie
Monogue. The data consists of 33 song lyrics analyzed using in three frameworks of
orientational, structural and ontological metaphors. The findings show that the most
frequent conceptual metaphor was LOVE IS A JOURNEY and the dominant types
of metaphor was structural. She concludes that ontological metaphors are also
abundant in the data and these conceptual metaphors are enticing, seductive and
witty suggestive. Most of the orientational metaphors were found in the data to be
either the pair up-down or here-there and some cases of overlapping in between
types of metaphors.

6
In Vietnamese context, Nhung (2018) goes further to study the conceptual structure
of love in Ed Sheeran’ songs. She claims that cognitive linguistics may serve as a
basic theory to understand the conceptual metaphor of love. She also confirms that
metaphor is being in every life. She concludes that there are thirteen types of
structural metaphors which conceptualize love in Ed Shereen’s songs. She also
finds out that there are six types of ontological metaphors in the songs. However,
she does not comment on orientational metaphors. At Hanoi Open University, Hà
(2016) focused on the conceptual metaphors used in Carpenter’s love songs. She
argues that cognitive linguistics presents different views of metaphor in different
situations of the daily life. The study found out that the conceptual metaphors of
love in Carpenter’s songs are diverse.

In another work, Kamaliah (2013) focuses on pop songs by Coldplay in the album
Mylo Xyloto in a qualitative case study. The study finds out that the dominant
conceptual metaphors used were about life, love, change and condition such as life
is JOURNEY, CHANGES ARE MOVEMENT, LOVE IS WAR, LESS IS DOWN.

In conclusion, there are numerous studies into the conceptual metaphors of love in
songs and most of the research focused on pop song genre. There is, still, a neglect
to study conceptual metaphor in rock music genre. Özçalışkan (2003) examined
various data sources from literary texts, newspapers, news broadcasts, spontaneous
speech to song lyrics and he tested the universal applicability of the metaphorical
mappings outlined in English and he concluded that a high degree of similarity
between languages in terms of metaphorical mappings. In another work, Grady
(1997) claims that primary metaphors are shared by all human languages. Thus,
there exists a need to study the presentation of conceptual metaphors in the context
of Vietnam so that the readers may bear an awareness of the similarities and
differences in learning or communicating interculturally.

7
2.2. On Conceptual Metaphors

2.2.1. Definitions

2.2.2. Types of Conceptual Metaphors

According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), conceptual metaphors consist of

three types such as structural, orientational, and ontological metaphor.

2.2.2.1. Structural Metaphor

Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 15) defined structural metaphor “cases

where one concept is metaphorically structured in terms of another”. Structural
metaphor often involves using a concept from one domain to structure a concept
from another domain. Structural metaphor based on two domains, source domain
and target domain. Structural metaphor based on systematic correlation in daily
experience.

2.2.2.2. Orientational Metaphor

Orientational Metaphor deals with spatial orientations: up-down, front-

back, on-off, deep-shallow, etc. Orientational Metaphor gives a concept a spatial
orientation, for example, Happy is up taken from Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 15).
The fact that the concept happy is oriented up leads to English expression like “I’m
feeling up today”. Such metaphorical orientations are not arbitrary. They have a
basis in our physical and cultural experience. Though the polar opposition, up-
down, in-out, etc., are physical in nature, the orientational metaphor based on them
can vary from culture to culture. For example, in some cultures the future is in front
of us, whereas in others is in back.

8
2.2.2.3. Ontological Metaphor

Ontological Metaphor, that is, the ways of viewing events, activities,

emotions, ideas, etc., as entities and substances. For example, in metaphor of the
mind is a machine in a sentence We’re still trying to grind out the solution to this
equation. Ontological Metaphor assumes that abstract noun as concrete noun.
Ontological Metaphor serves various purposes, and the various kind of metaphor
there are reflect the kind of purposes served. Take the experience of rising prices,
which can be metaphorically viewed as an entity via the noun inflation. This gives
us a way of referring to the experience:

INFLATION IS AN ENTITY

Inflation is lowering our standard of living Inflation makes me sick

Viewing inflation as an entity allows us to refer to it, quantify it, identify a

particular aspect of it, see it as a cause, act with respect to it (Lakoff and Johnson,
1980, p. 26). Ontological metaphor has other subpart called container metaphor,
that is an abstract entity considered to have the physical form of the container or
some kind of space that has entrance “in” and exits “out”. For instance, he’s in love.
We’re out of trouble now.

Perhaps the most obvious ontological metaphor is that where the physical

object is further specified as being a person. This allows us to comprehend a wide

variety of experiences with nonhuman entities in terms of human motivations,
characteristics, and activities. In this case, personification included into the
ontological metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 33). Here some examples:

Inflation is eating up our profit

Inflation has attacked the foundation of our economy

Based on these examples, the entity of inflation considered to be able to do

something properly human, that is eating and attacked.

9
2.3. Summary

III. PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research orientations

- Research approach

The research uses qualitative approach to analyze the conceptual metaphors

in selected songs by Green day.

- Research type: descriptive and analytical research

- Data categories

The data sources of the research are in four songs American Idiot, Holiday,
Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Jesus of Suburbia taken from the album of
American Idiot by Green Day, 2004.

- Data collection instruments

In this study, the researcher uses documentary technique in collecting the

data. The method of documentation is to find data which are taken from the four
songs of Green Day.

- Data analysis

The researcher analyzes the data by using the following steps:

+ Identifying the topic of the study

+ Identifying the research questions

+ Choosing four songs in American Idiot Album by Green day.

+ Identifying the kinds of metaphor in each line of the songs by making the table.

+ Identifying the meaning of the kinds of metaphor in the songs.

10
+ Interpreting the data according to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory by Lakoff and
Johnson.

+ Concluding the results

3.2. Research methods

The methods are used in this study include:

- The descriptive method examines with a particular focus on information of songs.

- The qualitative method is used to gather and analyze the kinds of conceptual
metaphor of the selected songs and the metaphorical meaning.

IV. PROPOSED CHAPTER OUTLINE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of contents

List of tables and figures

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study

1.3. Research questions

1.4. Methods of the study

1.5. Scope of the study

1.6. Significance of the study

1.7. Structure of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

11
2.1. Review of previous studies

2.2. Literature

2.3. Metaphors

2.4. Conceptual metaphors

2.5. Types of Conceptual Metaphor

2.5.1. Structural Metaphor

2.5.2. Orientational Metaphor

2.5.3. Ontological Metaphor

2.6. Summary

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. The kinds of conceptual metaphor of the selected songs

3.2. The meaning of conceptual metaphor of the selected songs

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION

4.1. Recapitulation

4.2. Concluding remarks

4.3. Limitation of the study

4.4. Recommendations and suggestions for further research

REFERENCES

APPENDIX
Approved by

SUPERVISOR

( Đã ký)

TS. Trần Thị Lệ Dung

12
Date:……………………
13
References

Crisp, P. (2003). Conceptual metaphor and its expressions. In J. Gavins & G.

Steen (Eds.), Cognitive poetics in practice (pp. 99-114). New York,
NY: Routledge.
Gavelin, E. (2016). Conceptual metaphors: A diachronic study of LOVE
metaphors in Mariah Carey's song lyrics. (Bachelor’s thesis), Umeå
University, Umeå, Sweden.
Grady, J. (1997). Foundations of meaning: Primary metaphors and primary
scenes. (Doctoral dissertation), University of California, Berkeley, CA.
Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3g9427m2
Hà, N. T. (2016). Conceptual metaphors of love in the Capenter’s love songs.
(Master’s thesis), Hanoi Open University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Harpela, J. (2015). Love, Kylie or metaphors of love in the lyrics of Kylie
Minoque. (Master’s thesis), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Kamaliah, S. N. (2013). Conceptual metaphors in Mylo Xyloto Album by
Coldplay. Passage, 1(2), 125-134.
Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and emotion: Language, culture, and body in
human feeling. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2017). Conceptual metaphor theory: Some new proposals.
Lamicus, 1(1), 16-32.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Nhung, Đ. T. T. (2018). Conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics by Ed
Sheeran. (Master’s thesis), Graduate Academy of Social Sciences,
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Özçalışkan, Ş. (2003). In a caravanserai with two doors I am walking day and
night: Metaphors of death and life in Turkish. Cognitive Linguistics,
14(4), 281-320. doi:10.1515/cogl.2003.012

14
15