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E-ISSN: 2828-335x
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892
METAPHORICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION EMPLOYED BY ANIMAL
LEXICON "DOG" IN ENGLISH AND INDONESIAN PROVERBS: A
COMPARATIVE STUDY
Nitis Asmara Bachrun, Suhandano
Faculty of Cultural Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada
nitisasmara95@mail.ugm.ac.id, suhandano@ugm.ac.id
ABSTRACT
The proverb is a cultural item, embodied in a form of figurative expression, being handed over generations
within a particular speech community. Proverbs carry out certain information regarding the culture of the
speech community, such as the lifestyles, values, and perspectives of the society. Animal lexicon "dog"
becomes the most frequently appeared animal lexicon within proverbs in English and Indonesian languages.
There are 3 major types of concepts being carried out by the lexicon "dog" within the proverbs investigated
in this research, which are the positive human traits, the negative human traits, and situational phenomena.
Meanwhile, there are a total of 20 concepts found to be the target domains of the lexicon "dog" within the
proverbs being examined in this research, which are as follows: 1) despicable person, 2) opportune aptitude,
3) the spiteful one, 4) greedy soul, 5) significant problems, 6) being cornered, 7) an iniquity, 8) companion
faithfulness, 9) futile individual, 10) menace aptitude, 11) fortunate aptitude, 12) the ungrateful one, 13) the
powerful one, 14) insincerity, 15) brave soul, 16) humble background, 17) decisions significance, 18)
perceived aspects, 19) the grateful one, 20) coward. The speech community of the English language has
distinctive points from the speech community of the Indonesian language in their way to metaphorically
conceptualizing the lexicon “dog”. However, there are still typical concepts that appeared as the target
domains of the lexicon “dog” preserved by both of the speech communities.
Keywords: Proverbs, Conceptual Metaphor, Language, Culture
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
INTRODUCTION
There are two types of cultural heritage in major classification. These features are in both
tangible and intangible heritage (UNESCO’s Convention, 2003 in Iacono & Brown (2016).
Tangible heritages are those concrete items of the bequeathed properties such as buildings,
monuments, sites, etc (Palmer, 2005). Meanwhile, in contrast, another form of cultural heritage,
the intangible one, is more of an abstract concept that can be embodied in any form (Elliott &
Schmutz, 2012). The intangible ones are those objects dealing with the speech community,
expressions, knowledge, and skills (Wasko & Faraj, 2000). Experts have promoted ideas that
intangible heritage brings more of cognitive and mental reflection of the realm from the past
generation. Moreover, it contains the sense of arts and other aesthetical aspects of the society
in major. For example, performing arts, social practices, knowledge and practices,
craftsmanship, oral traditions, and other stuff similar (UNESCO’s Convention, 2003 in
Brückner (2010).
Among the other features, oral tradition seems to be the most which have abundant
literature. Mason (2020) argues that an oral tradition is a form of bequeathed items that is
uncertain due to its dependence to society’s reminiscence and verbal transmission. Ki-Zerbo
(1990), Foley (1995), and Devatine (2009) have added that oral tradition as a body of literary
expression that reflects knowledge, beliefs, mannerisms, and thoughts belongs to the realm,
which is intentionally transferred to the future generation in order to conserve the cultural
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian
Proverbs: a Comparative Study
893 2., 3., February 2023
values. Vansina (1965) defines oral traditions as verbal expressions which are transmitted from
the earlier to the following generation. Oral traditions tend to contain artistic elements through
the message delivered in the forms of riddles, tales, legends, myths, epic songs, poems,
proverbs, and so on. (UNESCO’s Convention, 2003). The proverb is one of the oral traditions
that bridge messages over generations through uncommon expressions.
Dorson (1972) defines a proverb as a traditional saying which becomes a part of discourse
implemented in daily life. Furthermore, Mieder (1985) specifies a proverb as a brief familiar
saying about a cultural community that provides facts, norms, and values, also the traditional
views of the community, in a metaphorical condensed structure and tends to role as an advice,
a criticism, or other reflection of thought. Proverbs can be informed about certain things, a
piece of philosophical advice about life in general circumstances, critics towards a particular
situation, and many on. It usually is another form of brief conclusion about what the earlier
generation had undergone through life in the past, yet, another object is emerged to draw the
message. In other words, proverbs is defined as figurative expressions of a realm community
that are affected by the linguistic and socio-cultural experiences and other backgrounds of its
native society (Kammampoal, 2022).
Investigating proverbs in a certain sociocultural context is extending across to identify the
perceptions of the related society. There are various ways to investigate the meaning of
proverbs. One of the methods is to examine the linguistic features of the proverbs. The
linguistic features tend to be the certain lexemes being applied in the expression, which usually,
represent another concept (Berlin, 1977). In addition, Suhandono (2015) explains that language
is constructed by a number of elements and lexicon becomes the most prominent feature to
identify the distinguished perspective of community speech. Meanwhile, Kurnia (2013) states
that a proverb is one of the expressions that have metaphors or parables to illustrate another
concept, which commonly is based on observations and life experiences. In line with the issue,
Gibbs and Lakoff (2009) argue that proverbs conceptualize personal and social experiences,
human behavior, abstract thought, and the external world. Meanwhile, Low et al (2010) state
that examining proverbs should occupy the framework of metaphor which is believed as “a
device for seeing something in terms of something else”.
Douthwaite (2011) emphasizes that Conceptual Metaphor is a substantial necessity in
terms of way people mentally draw abstract domains. Eubanks (2012) believes that theories on
Conceptual Metaphor, as an entity of knowledge, is the core instrument in proverbs analysis,
in the term that it assists not only to show the mental processes within but also to give over
aight into the culture. In such a way, the relationship between the lexeme of an object in a
proverb, which roles as the source domain, with the concept which is referred, also reveals the
point of view belonging to the society that reflectsthe particular cultural issue of the realm
community. The proverb is a fixed means to examine the cultural differences among realms
community, in a matter of how the society of the sides have distinctive ways of see the world
in their mental process.
As cultural items bring the characteristics of the countries, it is assumed that English and
Indonesian societies have distinctive occurrences in the process of how the expression is
constructed in metaphorical structure. Nevertheless, it does not rule out the possibility that the
lexeme also has shared identic conceptual metaphors in both cultures. Among the abundant
animal lexemes being applied in both communities, the researcher finds out that the most
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian Proverbs: a
Comparative Study
894 2., 3., February 2023
frequently appeared lexeme in the proverbial expressions refers to one object, which is “dog”.
Thus, this research is to investigate how English and Indonesian proverbs emerge lexeme of
“dog” to represent the conceptual metaphor perceived by the people of both speech
communities.
In response to the background of the study, this research is to investigate whether English
and Indonesian societies as realm communities, who own considerably different socio-cultural
backgrounds, have distinctive perspectives in metaphorically conceptualizing particular
abstract ideas through the animal lexicon “dog” in their proverbial expressions. Hence, it is
necessary to know whether both of the communities, as parts of the universal world, also share
identical perspectives in metaphorically conceptualizing particular abstract ideas through the
lexeme “dog” in their proverbial expressions.
METHOD
By its nature, this study is served by using two methods, qualitative and quantitative. It is
due to what has been implied by MappingⅩ & ARIMI (n.d.), that the quantitative research
design is often insufficient to deal with linguistic and cultural studies, thus, it only attends to
support the qualitative research design in need. The quantitative method is implemented to
count the possibility of the occurrences of the phenomenon, meanwhile, the qualitative method
is applied to serve the description of the data findings and discussion. To hold the validity and
reliability of the data, the researcher decides to use three proverb dictionaries for each of both
languages. For the English proverbs, the researcher uses 1) The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
5
th
ed. (2007), 2) Dictionary of Authentic American Proverbs by Wolfgang Mieder (2021), and
3) English Proverbs by My Ebook Publishing House (2015). On the other hand, the researcher
uses 1) Kamus Peribahasa (1994), 2) Peribahasa Lengkap dan Kesusastraan Melayu Lama
(2010), and 3) 5555 Peribahasa Asli Indonesia (2010), to find out any possible occurrence of
animal lexicon “dog” in Indonesian proverbial expressions.
Furthermore, the data are examined by using the conceptual metaphor theories by Lakoff
and Johnson (1980) which starts by grouping the source domain and mapping them to acquire
the target domain inside the metaphorical expression. After passing through the process of
metaphor conceptualization, the found conceptual metaphors are grouped into the
representation of lexeme dog based on the identical conceptualization. Later, the researcher
processes the data by the findings to answer the research questions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Target Domains of Animal Lexicon “Dog” in English Proverbs
The researcher examines the appeared concepts which are metaphorically constructed
within the animal lexicon "dog" in the English proverbial expressions. Have been collected and
analyzed as well, the 67 proverbial expressions then are grouped into each concept of the target
domains metaphorically conceptualized by the animal lexicon "dog" within the proverbial
expressions in the English language. It is found 16 concepts that are represented by the animal
lexicon "dog" as the source domain. There are distinctive conceptual meanings that have been
resembled with lexicon dog. The lexicon of dog is applied for both types of connotation senses,
according to its polarity, whether it is positive or negative.
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian
Proverbs: a Comparative Study
895 2., 3., February 2023
The detailed information about the quantitative findings of the research investigation on
English proverbial expressions, can be found in the table displayed below.
The quantitative findings of concepts represented by animal lexicon “dog” in English
proverbial expressions
No.
The
represented
concept
Data Example
The
number of
Occurrence(s)
Percentage
of the
occurrence(s)
by the total
occurrences.
1.
opportune
aptitude
“There are no bad dogs, only bad
owners.”
16
23,8%
2.
significant
problems
“At open doors dogs come in.”
9
13,4%
3.
the spiteful
one
“DOGS bark, but the caravan
goes on.”
8
11,9%
4.
futile
individual
“Why KEEP a dog and bark
yourself?”
5
7,5%
5.
menace
aptitude
“Let SLEEPING dogs lie.”
5
7,5%
6.
companion
faithfulness
“If you want a friend, get a dog.”
5
7,5%
7.
being
cornered
“Hungry dogs will eat dirty
puddings.”
5
7,5%
8.
fortunate
aptitude
“Some days you‘re the dog,
and some days you’re the
hydrant.”
3
4,4%
9.
greedy soul
“Two dogs strive for a bone,
and a third runs away with it.”
3
4,4%
10.
decision
significance
“A DOG is for life, not just for
Christmas.”
2
3%
11.
grateful
one
“Feed a DOG for three days and
he will remember your kindness
for three years.”
1
1,5%
12.
powerful
one
“It’s not the size of the dog in the
fight that matters;
it’s the size of the fight in the
dog.”
1
1,5%
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian Proverbs: a
Comparative Study
896 2., 3., February 2023
13.
an iniquity
“If you LIE down with dogs, you
will get up with fleas.”
1
1,5%
14.
Insincerity
“Dogs wag their tail not so much
in love to you as to your bread.”
1
1,5%
15.
ungrateful
one
“The mad dog bites his master.”
1
1,5%
16.
despicable
person
“The DOG returns to its vomit.”
1
1,5%
Total Occurrences
67
100%
The displayed table is as a means to assist the researcher to look for what concept dominates
the target domains being metaphorically represented by the animal lexicon “dog” in English
proverbial expressions. It is to find out the most frequently appeared concept being
metaphorically conceptualized within the animal lexicon "dog" in English proverbial
expressions examined by this study.
The concepts are as follows: 1) the concept of opportune aptitude, 2) the concept of
significant problem, 3) the concept of the spiteful one, 4) the concept of the futile individual,
5) the concept of menace aptitude, 6) the concept of companion faithfulness, 7) the concept of
being cornered, 8) the concept of fortunate aptitude, 9) the concept of greedy soul, 10) the
concept of decision significance, 11) the concept of the grateful one, 12) the concept of the
powerful one, 13) the concept of iniquity, 14) the concept of insincerity, 15) the concept of the
ungrateful one, and 16) the concept of despicable person.
Target Domains of Animal Lexicon “Dog” in Indonesian Proverbs
According to the investigation, the researcher found most of the data in Kamus Peribahasa
(1994). There were 37 data, by a total of 60 data, found in the literature source. Meanwhile, the
other 23 data were found in the two other literature sources. From the 60 proverbial expressions
urging the animal lexicon "dog" in the Indonesian language, the researcher found out 13 target
domains that were metaphorically represented by the lexicon. In accordance to the data found
in the research investigation, the researcher analyses the concepts that are conceptualized
within the animal lexicon "dog" in proverbial expressions in the Indonesian language.
The detail quantitative information about the research findings regarding to proverbial
expressions in the Indonesian language can be seen in the table below.
No.
The
represented
concept
Data Example
The
number of
Occurrence(s)
Percentage
of the
occurrence(s)
by the total
occurrences.
1.
despicable
person
“Anjing ditepuk mengungkit
ekor.”
25
41,7 %
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian
Proverbs: a Comparative Study
897 2., 3., February 2023
2.
greedy soul
“Seperti anjing berebut
tulang.”
7
11,7 %
3.
an iniquity
“Berinduk semang kepada
janda
bagai berdokoh tali anjing.”
4
6,6 %
4.
being
cornered
“Seperti anjing terpanggang
ekor.”
4
6,6 %
5.
the spiteful
one
“Anjing menyalak kafilah
berlalu.”
3
5 %
6.
humble
background
“Anak anjing itu bolehkah
menjadi
anak musang jebat?”
3
5 %
7.
ungrateful
one
“Pekerti bak anjing terjepit,
mendengkikdengkik minta
dilepaskan
setelah ia menggigit.”
3
5 %
8.
brave soul
“Harimau galak, anjing
berani.”
3
5 %
9.
Insincerity
“Seperti anjing lapar
mendapat tulang, daging
segumpal,
dan sekeping apam.”
2
3,3 %
10.
powerful
one
“Seperti disalak anjing
bertuah.”
2
3,3 %
11.
perceived
aspect
“Bagai anjing beranak
enam.”
2
3,3 %
12.
fortunate
aptitude
“Tuah anjing celakanya
kuda.”
1
1,7 %
13.
the coward
“Seperti anjing bercawat
ekor.”
1
1,7 %
Total Occurrences
60
100%
The table above roles as a supporting instrument for the researcher to see what concept is
the most frequently represented by the animal lexicon “dog” in Indonesian proverbial
expressions. Nevertheless, it is also used to see what concept is being the least frequently
appeared in the animal lexicon “dog” in Indonesian proverbial expressions. By examining
which concept dominates the conceptualized target domains, it assists the researcher to
construe how the Indonesian speech community may acknowledge “dog” as a conceptual
metaphor.
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian Proverbs: a
Comparative Study
898 2., 3., February 2023
From the 60 data being examined, the researcher finds out 13 metaphorically conceptualized
target domains which are being represented by the animal lexicon "dog" as the source domain.
The concepts carried out by the animal lexicon "dog", are as follows: 1) the concept of
despicable person, 2) the concept of greedy soul, 3) the concept of an iniquity, 4) the concept
of being cornered, 5) the concept of the spiteful one, 6) the concept of humble background, 7)
the concept of the ungrateful one, 8) the concept of brave soul, 9) the concept of insincerity,
10) the concept of the powerful one, 11) the concept of perceived aspect, 12) the concept of
fortune aptitude, and 13) the concept of the coward.
Comparative Findings on Target Domains of the Lexicon “Dog” Appeared in Both
English and Indonesian Proverbs
After being compared to the target domains of the animal lexicon "dog" appeared in
Indonesian proverbs found in the research investigation, it is acquired from the investigation
that there are seven target domains of the animal lexicon "dog" appeared in proverbs single-
handedly belong to English proverbs, which do not appear in the proverbs in the Indonesian
language. The first target domain of the lexicon "dog" in English proverbs is the concept in
which dog roles as the representation of opportune aptitude. By common sense, it is a positive
conceptualization of human nature which is later projected to the trait of the lexicon "dog" in
proverbs. The second target domain is the concept of significant problems. Somehow, the
concept senses almost plain, which refers to a depiction of a particular phenomenon. The third
target domain, which is represented by the animal lexicon "dog" in English proverbs, is the
concept of menace aptitude. In its sense, this concept is a strongly negative trait of particular
human behavior. The fourth target domain that appeared only in the lexicon "dog" in English
proverbs is the concept of companion faithfulness. This concept is an abstraction of such a
relationship between companions, in which by its sense, this concept is close to positive nature.
The fifth target domain that emerged by the lexicon "dog" is the concept of futile individual.
As the term suggests, it refers to the human trait as an individual. However, the nature of futility
tends to have a negative sense. The sixth target domain of the lexicon "dog" in English proverbs
is a concept referred as decision significance. Being in line with the concept of significant
problems, this concept is to give a sight about a particular phenomenon. Thus, this concept is
to be said as the plain one, in a matter of its sense. The last target domain, which single-
handedly belongs to English proverbs, is the concept of the grateful one. It refers to a human
characteristic that senses as a positive trait lives in human beings.
Meanwhile, it is found out that only four concepts as the target domains of animal lexicon
"dog" in Indonesian proverbs which are single-handedly appeared in the Indonesian proverbs.
It is to say that the four-pointed concepts do not come up within the target domains of the
animal lexicon "dog" which emerged in the English proverbs. One of the four target domains
represented by the animal lexicon "dog" in Indonesian proverbs is the concept of humble
background. The concept of humble background refers to certain information about the
background of a one that is considerably below the average standard set out by the speech
community. By its common sense, this target domain is closer to the negative hallmark of
human nature, especially, among the speech community of the Indonesian language. The next
concept metaphorically constructed as the target domain of animal lexicon "dog" in Indonesian
proverbs, is the concept of a brave soul. In reference to the sense it brings, this target domain
Metaphorical Conceptualization Employed by Animal Lexicon "Dog" in English and Indonesian
Proverbs: a Comparative Study
899 2., 3., February 2023
is one of the densely positive traits that may be laid in human beings. The third target domain
metaphorically carried out by the animal lexicon "dog" in Indonesian proverbs is the concept
of perceived aspects. It refers to any ideas and or objects received by the human sense. This
concept is merely preferred to be a phenomenon. The last target domain represented by animal
lexicon "dog" in Indonesian proverbs is the concept of the coward. Somehow, this concept
sensibly is a negative trait under the term of human nature and behaviors.
Somehow, only nine concepts present as the target domains of animal lexicon "dog" in
proverbs in both languages. In another word, these nine concepts are found both in English and
Indonesian proverbs which are figuratively displayed by the animal lexicon "dog" as the source
domain within the metaphorical utterances. The nine concepts as the shared target domains of
animal lexicon "dog" performed within the proverbs in both English and Indonesian languages
are as follows: the concept of despicable person, the concept of the spiteful one, the concept of
greedy soul, the concept of being cornered, the concept of iniquity, the concept of fortunate
aptitude, the concept of ungrateful one, the concept of insincerity, the concept of the powerful
one. All of the concepts mentioned just do bring their own sense, in a matter of whether it is a
positive or negative trait, or even just a possible phenomenon.
CONCLUSION
Most of the proverbs which employ the animal lexicon "dog", in both English and
Indonesian languages, appear to confer many types of concepts as their target domains. Three
types of concepts found in this research are the positive traits of living, the negative traits of
livings, and certain phenomena. Proverbs in both languages employ the three types of concepts
just mentioned above through the metaphorical appearance of the animal lexicon "dog" to
reflect the cultural issues of the speech communities. As the distinctive points to one another,
English proverbs tend to emerge the animal lexicon "dog" as a depiction of positive human
traits. Meanwhile, Indonesian proverbs tend to show up the animal lexicon "dog" as the
portrayal of inappropriate human traits. However, the distinction is assumed to be caused by
the closeness and intimacy of the referred animal with society. The religious issues may also
affect the shape of the culture, where most of Indonesian people are the Islam believers that
they must restrain physical contacts with the referred animal, which is dog, and automatically
leads the people to create such disregarding imagery in the mind. As the fractions of the world,
both speech communities do still have identical concepts equally represented by the animal
lexicon "dog" in proverbs. In conclusion, the speech community of English and the speech
community of Indonesian have considerably distinctive points in the way animal lexicon "dog"
represents certain concepts which also confer the reflection of the cultural identity of the speech
community.
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