The Phenomenon of Conceptual Integration in the Language of Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry

Abstract

This article employs Conceptual Integration Theory (Fauconnier & Turner) to examine meaning-construction mechanisms in contemporary Vietnamese poetry from 2010 to 2024. Based on a corpus of representative poetry collections, the study reveals that contemporary Vietnamese poetry is distinguished by strong multi-domain cognitive blending, which generates emergent meanings beyond conventional two-domain conceptual metaphors. Five dominant blending patterns are identified: human–nature, reality–surreality, self–language, religion–philosophy–existence, and technology– human experience. Through cognitive operations such as compression, completion, elaboration, and boundary-blurring, poetic imagery becomes fluid and dynamic, reflecting a renewed cognitive–aesthetic orientation of poetic subjectivity. The findings affirm that poetry functions not only as an expressive medium but also as a cognitive mode through which language constructs experiential worlds. The study thereby reinforces the applicability of cognitive linguistics to Vietnamese literary analysis and suggests directions for further research in cognitive poetics