Toward a Cognitive Semantic Account of “Flower” in Nguyễn Du’s Tale of Kiều: Frame-Based Cultural Associations (written in Vietnamese)

This study adopts a language–culture framework to explore the associative potential of the Vietnamese lexeme “hoa” (“flower”) in Nguyễn Du’s Tale of Kiều. Drawing on Frame Semantics (Fillmore 1976; Langacker 1987) and a close reading of 122 independent occurrences in the Hà Huy Giáp–Nguyễn Thạch Giang edition, we show how “hoa” simultaneously evokes multiple symbolic domains—life and renewal, transcendent beauty, fleeting impermanence, and passive vulnerability—through interaction with poetic context. We further identify a secondary semantic extension whereby “hoa” metaphorically maps onto female corporeality (beautifying feature; reproductive organ), reflecting culturally grounded conceptual mappings. Our findings illustrate how “hoa” functions as a multifaceted cultural symbol whose rich, context-sensitive associations deepen readers’ interpretive engagement with Kiều’s thematic and affective world. This preliminary analysis offers a model for investigating culturally inflected semantic frames in classical Vietnamese literature.