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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
HOÀNG TH
Ị^ NHUNG
A STUDY OF IDIOMS
CONTAINING TERMS FOR PLANTS
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Field : The English LanguageCode : 60.22.
M.A. THESIS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(A SUMMARY)^ Danang, 2011
The study has been completed at
the College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang Supervisor: H
Ồ^ TH
Ị^ KI
Ề U OANH, Ph.D.
Examiner 1: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan V
ă n Hòa
Examiner 2: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngô
Đ ình Ph
ươ
ng
The thesis will be orally defended at the Examining CommitteeTime: April 28
th, 2011
Venue: University of DanangThis thesis is available at:^ -^ The library of College of Foreign Languages, University ofDanang.- Information Resources Center, University of Danang.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. RATIONALE
In the process of communication, sometimes we come cross some
expressions
that
we
can’t
understand
although
we
can
comprehend the meaning of every single word in them.
The
main
reason
why
we
fail
to
understand
what
these
sentences are all about lies in the low level of linguistic competenceof English idioms. Idiom is often defined as “a group of words whichhave a different meaning when used together from the one it wouldhave if the meaning of each word were taken individually” [9].
In
fact, idioms are frequently heard and read in everyday speech and inliterature
thanks
to
their
succinctness,
vividness
and
especially
quintessence in every language. Idioms in this way bear the culturalcharacteristics of a country in which they are used. Therefore, inorder to understand as well as translate idioms from a language intoanother one, knowledge of not only linguistic aspects but also ofcultural reality has to be involved. As a result, there may be nothingstrange in the fact that gaining an insight into English idioms is notonly a wish but also a necessity to any learners of English. Indeed,the
Oxford
Dictionary
of
English
Idioms
[11]
states
in
its
introduction
that
the
"accurate
and
appropriate
use
of
English
expressions
which
are
in
the
broadest
idiomatic
sense
is
one
distinguishing mark of a native command of the language and areliable measure of the proficiency of foreign learners". These strongproperties of idioms have posed a serious challenge for several
studies among linguists for the last decades such as Collins, V. H. [9],Cruse, D. A. [14] or Mc Carthy, M.; and O'Dell, F. [38].
There have been so far studies on idioms containing such terms as colors, animals, kins and so on. However, none of them researchedinto the idioms related to plants in English and Vietnamese. As aresult, this study focuses on
idioms containing terms for plants
(TsFPs
)^ in English and Vietnamese
to help better teaching English
and Vietnamese as a foreign language
1.2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Thanks to this study, Vietnamese learners could not only have potential source of English and Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPsbut also help Vietnamese learners of English and English learners ofVietnamese know how to use these idioms properly and especiallyavoid negative interferences in translating idioms. Besides, the resultwithdrawn from the study could help learners have a good insightinto the custom, thought and the social
behavior of
the native
speakers of English and Vietnamese. 1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES1.3.1. Aims
This
study
is
carried
out
to
find
out
the
similarities
and
dissimilarities of syntactic and semantic features of English andVietnamese idioms containing TsFPs to help them learn English andVietnamese better. In addition, learners could be aware of the beautyof a foreign language and its cultural features. 1.3.2. Objectives
The study is intended to:- Describe the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing TsFPs.
idioms in Vietnamese and other languages such as English, French,Russian… by Nguy
ễn^
Đình Hùng [60], Bùi Ph
ụng [67].
Furthermore, a number of contrastive studies on the various aspects of idioms have been carried out in Danang University. Forexample, “A Study of Some Characteristics of Structure, Meaningand Culture of English Idioms About Animals” by Ph
ạm Th
ị^ T ố^ Nh
ư
[41]; “A Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese IdiomsUsing the Terms of Human Body Parts” by Nguy
ễn Th
ị^ Hi
ệp [31]…
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1. Definitions of Idioms
The word “idiom” has acquired quite different denotations describing its syntactic and semantic features.
Semantically, it is recognizable from the above examples that there is not a direct link between the meanings of each constituentpart of the idioms and their meaning as a whole
In addition, there are many definitions of idioms that focus on its structural features. They support the viewpoint that an idiom isstructurally and lexically restricted.
Most Vietnamese authors share the same view that idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional, and does not followfrom the meaning of the individual words which make up of it. 2.2.2. The Origins of Idioms 2.2.2.1. Idioms from Living Circumstances2.2.2.2. Idioms from Religion and Belief2.2.2.3. Idioms from Historical Allusion2.2.2.4. Idioms from Traditions and Customs 2.2.3. Typical Features of Idioms
Although the term “idiom” is defined from slightly different angles, lexicographers and linguists hold some similar views aboutpeculiar features of idioms. In this paper, four distinctive features ofidioms are focused in terms of syntactic and semantic aspects. 2.2.3.1. Lexical Integrity and Structural Stability2.2.3.2. Semantic Opacity2.2.3.3. Symbolism / Stylistic Features2.2.3.4. The Inseparability of Culture and Idioms 2.2.4. Idioms and Other Language Units
Idioms bear some syntactic and semantic resemblance with other phraseology units in the language, which sometimes causesome
difficulties
to
distinguish
this
unit
from
the
others.
The
confusion usually exists between idioms and phrases, collocations,proverbs and clichés. 2.2.4.1. Idioms and Phrases2.2.4.2. Idioms and Collocations2.2.4.3. Idioms and Proverbs2.2.4.4. Idioms and Clichés
CHAPTER 3
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
3.1. RESEARCH METHODS
In order to achieve the aims and objectives, in this study, descriptive and contrastive methods are mainly utilized.
The
descriptive
method
is
used
to
describe
in
details
the
syntactic and semantic features through the examples of idioms withTsFPs collected from referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries andInternet websites.
In addition, the contrastive method could be used to identify the similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic features ofidioms containing TsFPs in English and Vietnamese. 3.2. DATA COLLECTION METHODS
The main materials used in the study are colleted from the following major sources:
-^ The
bilingual
magazines,
novels
and
short
stories
and
literature books.
grammar
books
written
by English and Vietnamese
linguists.
- The English-Vietnamese and Vietnamese-English dictionaries.- English journals.- The Internet webpages. 3.3. DATA ANALYSIS
After collecting 400 idioms containing TsFPs from English and Vietnamese books, novels, dictionaries and journals respectively, wecategorize them into two main aspects: syntactic and semantic one.
Syntactically, the classification of the data is mainly based on the
different
structural
categories,
namely:
noun
phrases,
verb
phrases, adjective phrases, prepositional phrases and adverb phrases.
Semantically, the classification is carried out on the basis of typical
semantic
features
of
idioms
containing
TsFPs
in
both
languages 3.4. PROCEDURES
The steps will be involved:- Collecting idioms containing TsFPs in both languages from books, novels, short stories, dictionaries and Internet.
- Analyzing the syntactic and semantic features of
idioms
containing TsFPs in English and Vietnamese.
- Identifying the similarities and differences between the two languages
concerning
idioms
containing
TsFPs
with
regard
to
syntactic and semantic features.
- Suggesting some implications for teaching and learning this popular kind of idioms in English and Vietnamese as a foreignlanguage.
CHAPTER 4
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
SYNTACTIC
FEATURES
OF
IDIOMS
CONTAINING
TsFPs IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE4.1.1. Phrase Structures 4.1.1.1. English and Vietnamese Idioms Containing TsFPs of NounPhrase Patterns
•^
(Article) + Adjective (Adj) + Noun (N)
Table 4.1 shows that there are 13 noun phrase idioms (6.5%), which make up quite a small part of the idioms from plant stocks.The words denoting plants are the head nouns in most of noun phraseidioms under this kind of structures. The adjectives in these idiomsfunctions as pre-modifiers. None of Vietnamese idioms containingTsFPs of this pattern can be found (
In English
hot potato, old bean, bad apple,second banana, top banana, sourgrapes
In Vietnamese
•^
(Article) + Past Participle + Noun
This type of structure is not quite common in Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs (2%). On the contrary, English idiomscontaining TsFPs under this structure are more popular (11%).
In English
bear
fruit,
draw
the
shortest
straw, go bananas, hit the hay,know beans, spill the beans, turna new leaf…
In Vietnamese
ă n cháo lá
ñ a,
ñơ
m^ ñ
ó ng
ọ n tre,
nói nhát g
ừ ng…
•^
Verb + Noun / NP + Prep. P
It is not surprising from Table 4.2 that there are few Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs in this structure. Only 8 Vietnamese idioms(4%) of this structure are colleted. In contrast, the number of Englishidioms in this form occupies 6.5% (N = 13).
In English
can't see the forest for its trees,kick
something
into
the
long
grass, pull someone's chestnut outof the fire…
In Vietnamese
c ạ n ao bèo
ñế
n^ ñấ
t,^ ñ
út mía cho
voi, leo cau
ñế
n bu
ồ ng, th
ả^ h
ổ^ v
ề
r ừ ng,
ñ âm
ñầ
u vào b
ụ i…
•^
Verb + Prep. P
In this pattern, the verb operates as the central component. It is modified by the prepositional phrase. Let’s look at the investigatedsamples below, it is interesting that 39 English idioms in this patternare found in the total number of the idioms collected (19.5%). As foridioms containing TsFPs in Vietnamese, merely 9 idioms (4.5%) ofthis type can be found.
In English
bark up the wrong tree, cut downthe tall poppies, drop like a hot
In Vietnamese
m ọ
c nh
ư^ n
ấ m, b
ắ n nh
ư^ vãi tr
ấ u,
câm nh
ư^ thóc, im nh
ư^ thóc, nín
potato,
grow
like
mushrooms
wither on the vine…
nh ư^ thóc, ch
ế t nh
ư^ ngã r
ạ , ch
ế t
nh ư^ sung r
ụ ng…
•^
Verb + Noun / NP + Noun
Rarely are the idioms containing TsFPs of this pattern found in both languages. In this case, Table 4.2 shows that only 4 idioms (2%)can be collected in English and none of Vietnamese idiom is found.
In English
drive someone bananas, go climb a tree,
give
someone beans, hand someone a lemon.
In Vietnamese
•^
Verb + Noun / NP + Verb
There are only 2 English idioms of this type containing TsFPs (1%) and only one corresponding Vietnamese idiom (0.5%).
In English
bear the grass growdon’t let grass grow under one's feet
In Vietnamese ng ậ
m b
ồ^ hòn làm ng
ọ t
•^
Verb + (Noun / NP) + Sub. Clause
There are only two idioms containing TsFPs (1%)
of this
pattern in English and one idiom in Vietnamese (0.5%).
In English
make hay while the sun shinesknow how many beans make five
In Vietnamese
l ạ y ông tôi
ở^ b ụ i này
•^
Verb + Noun / NP + Verb + Noun / NP
Table 4.2 indicates that no English idioms containing TsFPs in this form can be found from my data, whereas a lot of Vietnameseidioms containing TsFPs appear under this parallel structure (34.5%).In this form, a noun can follow a verb and functions as a direct objectto modify the verb.
In English
In Vietnamese
ă n b
ờ^ ở
b ụ
i,^ ă
n cây nào rào cây
ấ y,
ă n h
ươ ng^
ă n hoa, bòn gio
ñ ãi tr
ấ u, bôi gio trát tr
ấ u, d
ệ t
g ấ m thêu hoa…
4.1.1.3. English Idioms Containing TsFPs of Adjective PhrasePatterns
Table 4.3 reveals that English idioms containing TsFPs of adjective phrase (AP) patterns seem to be popular (19.5%) and one ofthe most typical structures is under the comparative pattern.
•^
(CW) + Adj + CW + NP
-^
Adj + Noun + Adjective + Noun
English
Idioms
Containing
TsFPs
of
Prepositional
Phrase Patterns
Syntactically, prepositional phrase pattern of English idioms containing TsFPs has the structure of
Preposition + Noun / NP
. Table
4.4 shows that it is uncommon to find terms involved in plants inEnglish idioms under the form of prepositional phrases (7.0%). Inthis study no idioms under the prepositional phrase pattern are foundin Vietnamese.
The following table 4.5 gives the summary of certain syntactic features of both English and Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs,namely,
noun phrases, verb phrases
and
adjective phrases.
Table 4.
Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms
Containing TsFPs English
Vietnamese
Noun Phrases
[1] (Article) + Adj + N[2] (Article) + Past Participle +
Noun [3] Noun + Noun[4] N / NP + Prep. P[5] N + Sub. Clause[6]
[1]
[2]
[3] Noun + Noun[4] Noun / NP + Prep. P[5]
[6] N + Adj + N + Adj
Verb Phrases
[1] Verb + N / NP[2] Verb + N / NP + Prep. P[3] Verb + Prep. P[4] Verb + N / NP + Noun[5] Verb + N / NP + Verb[6] Verb + (N / NP) +
Sub. Clause [7]
[1] Verb + N / NP[2] Verb + N / NP + Prep. P[3] Verb + Prep. P[4]
[5] Verb + N + Verb[6] Verb + (N / NP) +
Sub. Clause [7] Verb + N / NP + Verb + N /NP
Adj.
Phrases
[1] (CW)+ Adj + CW + NP[2]
[1] (CW)+ Adj + CW + NP[2] Adj + N + Adj + N
Prep.
Phrases
[1] Preposition + N / NP
[1]
Table 4.
Frequency of Semantic Features of Idioms Containing TsFPs in English and Vietnamese
4.4. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN ENGLISH ANDVIETNAMESE IDIOMS CONTAINING TsFPs4.4.1. Similarities
+^ Syntactic features From Table 4.7, we find out that both English and Vietnamese own a system of idioms in certain structure groups such as nounphrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases.
In the structure of noun phrases, idioms containing TsFPs in English and Vietnamese share such common structures as
Noun +
Noun, Noun / NP + Prep. P.
English
Vietnamese
Semantic Features of Idioms Containing
TsFPs in English and Vietnamese
N^
%^
N^
Human physical states
Human personality
Human moods / psychologicalstates
Human actions, behaviors andactivities
Human situations and conditions
Human social status
Human success and failure
Human understanding
Idioms Having Human Implications
Human relationship
Idioms Having Non- human Implications
Total Number
Idioms containing TsFPs in the form of verb phrases are the most popular in both languages with a large number of examplescollected in the corpus. As a result, there are some similar structuresin English and Vietnamese such as
Verb + Noun / NP, Verb + Noun /
NP + Prep. P, Verb + Prep. P.
In term of Adjective Phrase, the structure of
Adj + Prep. P
is
illustrated
in
both
English
and
Vietnamese.
In
English
and
Vietnamese Adjective Phrase Patterns, adjective plays a decisive rolein the meaning of an idiom.
- Semantic featuresFirstly, Vietnamese and English idioms containing TsFPs are employed with the same semantic features related to human beingssuch as physical states, personality, moods or psychological states,actions, behaviors and activities, situations and conditions, humanrelationship…
Secondly, there are some Vietnamese and English idioms from plants carrying more than one semantic feature.
Thirdly, it is easy to understand literal and transparent meaning of an English and Vietnamese idiom containing TsFPs because itsmeaning can be made by associating its individual words’ meaningunder comparative structures.
Fourthly, idioms were created by native speakers, describing their life as well as their culture. Accordingly, in order to decodesemantic mechanisms of English and Vietnamese idioms containingTsFPs, we often base on real-world situation, history allusion andcultural
background.
In
addition,
both
English
and
Vietnamese
idioms
containing
TsFPs
use
some
certain
characters,
things,
concrete events to illustrate abstract ideas or phenomena by themeans of metaphorical devices
4.4.2. Differences
+^ Syntactic featuresApart
from
some
similarities
mentioned
above,
idioms
containing TsFPs in the two languages have a few differences insyntactic features based on the samples investigated.
Firstly, in the collection of English and Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs, there are some particular structures that one of twolanguages possesses. For example, English idioms of noun phrasepatterns own some that do not belong to the collection of Vietnameseidioms such as
Adj + Noun, Past Participle + Noun, Noun + Sub.
Clause.
On the contrary, Vietnamese idioms of noun phrase patterns own the structure
Noun + Adj + Noun + Adj
that does not exist in
English.
Secondly, it has been proved statistically that idioms containing TsFPs of verb phrase patterns in Vietnamese are more common thanthose in English.
Thirdly, there are no idioms containing TsFPs in the form of prepositional phrases in Vietnamese in comparison with prepositionalstructures in English. The reason for the difference is that the numberof prepositions in Vietnamese is limited in use.
In addition, parallel structures by pairing related words or phrases are illustrated in Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs whichcannot be shared in English not only to give a rhythmic flow andcoherence but to help the writer deliver a powerful message to yourreaders.
Moreover, among the samples investigated, there are no cases of idiom in the form of sentences in English in comparison with thesentence structures in Vietnamese idioms.
- Semantic featuresApart from sharing the common semantic features in common with Vietnamese idioms, English idioms containing TsFPs have theirown semantic feature expressing human success and failure. Becauseof the differences in the customs, historical and cultural backgrounds,religious belief and different geographical environment of Vietnamand the countries where English is used as the native language. Thus,there are some differences in forming idioms and the way idiomsconveying their meanings.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
5.1. CONCLUSIONS
The study has revealed the following results:Syntactically, idioms analyzed are under the phrasal structures. The
phrasal
structures
are
categorized
into
noun
phrases,
verb
phrases,
adjective
phrases
and
prepositional
phrases
in
English.
Similarly, Vietnamese idioms are in the structure of noun phrases,verb phrases and adjective phrases and even sentence structures.
Semantically,
the
meaningful
human
and
non-human
implications
through
idioms
containing
TsFPs
in
English
and
Vietnamese
have
been
analyzed
with
regard
to
many
semantic
features
such
as
human
physical
states
(good
or
bad),
human
personality (good or bad), human moods or psychological states(positive
or
negative),
human
actions
and
activities
(positive,
pod
could be translated literally into
gi ố ng nh
ư^ hai gi
ọ t n
ướ c,
grow
like mushrooms
into
m ọ
c nh
ư^ n
ấ m,
as red as a beet
into
ñỏ
nh
ư^ g
ấ c.
5.2.3.2. Figurative Translation
Due
to
the
complication
in
understanding
the
figurative
meaning of an idiom, we would like to suggest some approaches tothe translation of English idioms containing TsFPs into Vietnamese:
+^
Interpreting
the
denotative
meaning
of
the
given
idiom
containing TsFPs in the source language
Clarifying the connotative meaning of the idiom mentioned+ Elucidating the general meaning of the idiom in the given context in term of semantic features.
Finding the Vietnamese equivalence under the light of the semantic mechanisms that have been discussed. 5.3. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS5.3.1. Limitations
In spite of the fact that we have tried our best to search for necessary
materials, there
could
leave the
possibility
that
the
following shortcomings cannot be avoidable.
- Firstly, this paper could not cover all constructions as well as meanings of idioms containing TsFPs under discussion due to thelimitation of time, lack of relevant materials relating to this topic inboth English and Vietnamese. - Secondly, the deficiency in the origin of idioms containing TsFPs is the factor affecting the semantic mechanism of these idioms. 5.3.2. Suggestions for Further Research
In this thesis, we have confined ourselves to the study of a humble
part
of
syntactic and
semantic
features
of
English
and
Vietnamese idioms containing TsFPs to find out their similarities and
differences. As a result, many other aspects need to be studied infurther researches. For example, the research of the idioms containingTsFPs may be carried out in terms of pragmatic features in Englishand Vietnamese.
