Budi Awan Marpaung, Alemina Br. Perangin-angin, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
published in the Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Love and Relationship Studies, 6-8 March, 2026
You can see the full video recording of this presentation at the YouTube channel of the International Institute of Love Studies
Introduction
In a romantic poem, to understand the meaning of a metaphor, we use a conceptual metaphor, a set of systematic correspondences between a source domain and a target domain (Kövecses, 2010). Generally, a source domain is portrayed by a concrete word.Research on conceptual metaphors of love has been growing in Western and Eastern cultures (Aksan & Kantar, 2008; Endarto, 2014; Gathigia & Maitaria, 2019; Giang, 2023). While the findings from those studies are insightful, conceptual metaphors of Indonesian culture remain limited.
To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate conceptual metaphors in Indonesian poems created by generations from the 1960s to the 2000s, with a total of 34 romantic poems written by 34 participants from different provinces. This study’s aim is specified in the following questions: what linguistic metaphors form the conceptual metaphors of love found in the poetry? What meanings and emotions are conveyed through the use of these conceptual metaphors within Indonesian culture?
Methodology and methods
Methodology of study employed a combination framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003; Kövecses, 2010) and Metaphorical Pattern Analysis (Stefanowitsch, 2006). From the selected 34 romantic poems, the researchers classified linguistic metaphors containing linguistic metaphors of love, then reduced them. The study took three steps:
(1) Discriminating four target domains (LOVE, THE OBJECT OF LOVE, THE HEART, and SOUL) for conceptual metaphors according to three categories of their source domains (space, force, and relationship), (2) In linguistic metaphors, representing pronouns if the target domains were not found, and (3) Elucidating linguistic metaphors with other expressions.
Highlights of results
After analyzing the data, the researchers identified 25 conceptual metaphors, whose top three are LOVE IS A HUMAN BEING, LOVE IS A UNITY, and LOVE IS A JOURNEY (the researchers prefer to highlight LOVE IS A UNITY).
This is relevant to determine the difference from other cultures. LOVE IS A UNITY realized by, for example: “Part” in “I am no part of you that you think,” and “I want your longing more than just words,” meaning she wants a dynamic relationship. “Together” and “one” in “Someday we sit togetherin the baruga,” “one sarong one hearth,” meaning she is deeply in love and confident of marrying him.
Discussion and conclusions
Results of our study showed that Indonesian poetry of 1960s to 2000s expresses the concept of love through the expressions of unity, which is similar to conceptual metaphors of love identified in other cultures. However, when the concept of love is compared with Mediterranean cultures, such as those in Türkiye, it differs.
This concept emphasizes that the glorious goal is to be united with the beloved; happiness in love can thus be reached. Undoubtedly, feeling close to the beloved requires not only physical proximity but also physical closeness. Furthermore, a couple who truly love each other get married.
Significantly, LOVE IS A CONTAINER likewise supported this view, realized by “I … dragged … affection,” “before you’re halal for my cares, embrace, and kiss.”
References
Aksan, Y., & Kantar, D. (2008). No wellness feels better than this sickness: Love metaphors from a cross-cultural perspective. Metaphor and Symbol, 23(4), 262–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480802426795
Endarto, I. T. (2014). Expressing Love through Metaphors: A Corpus-Based Contrastive Analysis of English and Indonesian. Journal of LLT, 35(2), 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/0021642650350202
Gathigia, M. G., & Maitaria, J. N. (2019). Metaphoric Conceptualisation of “LOVE IS A PLANT” in Gĩkũyũ: A Cognitive-Semantics Perspective. Bulletin of Advanced English Studies, 2(2), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.31559/baes2019.2.2.4
Giang, D. N. (2023). Vietnamese Concepts of Love Through Idioms: A Conceptual Metaphor Approach. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(4), 855–866. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1304.06
Kovecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford university press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press.
Stefanowitsch, A. (2006). Words and their metaphors: A corpus-based approach. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, 171, 63.