VietTESOL International Convention 2026

ABSTRACT:
Sleep is a universal human experience, yet its meanings are shaped by culture and expressed through language (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2010). This study, grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, examined how sleep was metaphorically conceptualized through Vietnamese and English idioms and how these conceptualizations reflected cultural values. A corpus comprising 54 Vietnamese idioms and 50 English idioms related to sleep was collected and analyzed. Employing descriptive, thematic, and comparative analysis, the study identified and categorized 23 conceptual metaphor groups. The findings indicated that Vietnamese and English shared several conceptual metaphors, including SLEEP IS WELL-BEING, SLEEP IS PEACE, SLEEP IS UNCONSCIOUSNESS, SLEEP IS INSTABILITY, SLEEP IS HARDSHIP, SLEEP IS NEGLECT, SLEEP IS DEATH, and SLEEP IS SEXUALITY. These shared patterns reflected common embodied experiences associated with rest, stillness, vulnerability, and reduced awareness. However, differences were also observed between the two languages. Vietnamese idioms tended to associate sleep with bodily balance, home, hardship, and communal stability, whereas English idioms more often related sleep to individual responsibility, emotional pressure, recovery, and social function. The study highlighted the different cultural interpretations of a common bodily experience - sleep, reinforcing the influence of culture on human conceptualization of the world (Lakoff & Johnson, 1989).

Keywords: Conceptual metaphor, sleep, idioms, Vietnamese, English, cross-cultural analysis.