METAPHORICAL FEATURES OF “THE SUN” AND “THE MOON” IN CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE

Abstract

Both China and Vietnam were agricultural countries. Ancient people in these two countries were aware that the movements of the sun, the moon, stars and other heavenly bodies exerted important influences on the development of agriculture as well as the society. Such awareness was also partly derived from the conceptualization of yin and yang, or the negative and the positive (in the broadest sense of these words). The sun and the moon in Chinese and Vietnamese can be named in different ways and have appeared frequently in literature. They display the similarities and differences in human imagination and cognition related to these two heavenly bodies. Hoping to provide readers with a helpful reference material, the article focuses on analysing and contrasting the metaphorical meanings of “the sun” and “the moon” in both languages.