Exploring 'Give' in English and Equivalent Expressions in Vietnamese: A Cognitive Linguistics Approach

Abstract

This study investigates the metaphorical extensions and cognitive schemas of the English verb “give” and its Vietnamese equivalents through a corpus-based and cognitive linguistic approach. Drawing on data from trusted linguistic resources such as the Cambridge Dictionary, COCA, Hoàng Phê Dictionary, and Glosbe, the research explores how the verb "give" is extended metaphorically across various semantic fields (e.g., offer, allow, perform, grant) and how its Vietnamese counterparts (e.g., cho, tặng, biếu, ban) reflect cultural and cognitive distinctions. The study reveals that while both English and Vietnamese share fundamental embodied schema such as TRANSFER, CONTAINER, FORCE, Vietnamese emphasizes social hierarchy, relational politeness, and cultural formality much more explicitly. Through contrastive analysis and real context examples, this research highlights how verbs "give" not only express action but also encode deeply rooted cultural values and cognitive models. The findings have significant implications for language teaching, translation, and cross-cultural understanding by showing that literal translations of “give” may not always capture the intended nuance or function across languages.