(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a contrastive analysis of syntactic and semantic features in english and vietnamese proverbs containing the word “eat”

ĐOÀN THỊ THÙY LINHA CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS CONTAINING THE WORD “EAT” Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervis

ĐOÀN THỊ THÙY LINH

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS CONTAINING

THE WORD “EAT”

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Supervisor: TRƯƠNG VĂN ĐỊNH, Ph.D

ĐOÀN THỊ THÙY LINH

PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU ĐẶC ĐIỂM CÚ PHÁP

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ng ữ Anh

Mã s ố: 8220201

Người hướng dẫn: TS TRƯƠNG VĂN ĐỊNH

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis, entitled A contrastive analysis of syntactic and semantic features in English and Vietnamese proverbs containing the word

“eat”, is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain materials published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma

in any other tertiary institution

Binh Đinh 2021

Đoàn Thị Thùy Linh

my thesis would not have been finalized

My special thanks are reserved for the president and the staff of Nha Trang National College of pedagogy, who created favorable conditions for me to conduct the thesis I am also grateful to my friends for their constant encouragement and their help during the period of carrying out the research work

Last but not least, my husband and beloved my son deserves my most sincere thankfulness for their love and strong motivations that have helped me cope with all obstacles in my life and inspired me to greater effort in finishing the study

ABSTRACT

This research aims to investigate the syntactic and semantic features in proverbs containing the word “eat” in English and Vietnamese and to find out the similarities and differences between two languages The data were collected from reliable sources, which consist of dictionaries and publications, both English and Vietnamese This study is carried out on the framework of Quirk et

al.’s theory (1985) for English proverbs and the framework of Diệp Quang Ban (1996) for Vietnamese proverbs The cultural values are also presented in the study The quantitative and qualitative research approaches are also employed to analyze data The findings indicate that both the British and Vietnamese use sentence structures more than phrase structures in proverbs containing the word

“eat” Compound sentences are the most used common with a high rate and comparative sentences are ranked in the lowest position in Vietnamese proverbs; meanwhile, the British tend to use complex sentences in their proverbs more In addition, parallel structures are also used in both English and Vietnamese proverbs containing the word “eat” In term semantic features, the homogeneity

of thinking and perception of the British and Vietnamese can be found in proverbs containing the word “eat” Besides, the contents of the proverbs turn around the same topics such as health, social and family relationship, life experience, human personality and behavior The literal and figurative meaning

is examined to find out the meaning of proverbs

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT… …… ………iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study 3

1.2.1 Aim….……… 3

1.2.2 Objectives………3

1.3 Research Questions 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 4

1.6 Organization of the Study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Overview of proverb 6

2.1.1 Definition of proverb … ……… 6

2.1.2 Classification of proverb……… 7

2.1.3 Distinction between proverbs and idioms ……… 9

2.1.4 Features of the word “eat” in English and Vietnames……….…………13

2.2 Theoretical framework……… …….14

2.3 Some characteristics of Vietnamese and British eating culture……… 26

2.4 Previous Studies………29

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34

3.1 Research Methods 34

3.2 Data Collection 34

3.3 Data Analysis 34

3.4 Validity and Reliability 36

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37

4.1 Comparison and contrast of EPWE and VPWE in terms of syntactic 37

4.2 Comparison and contrast of EPWE and VPWE in terms of semantics 47

4.3 The cultural similarities and differences between EPWE and VPWE 65

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 68

5.1 Main findings 68

5.2 Implications of the study 69

5.3 Limitations 70

5.4 Suggestions for further research 71

REFERENCES …… ………72 APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EPWE English proverbs containing the word “eat” VPWE Vietnamese proverbs containing the word “eat”

LIST OF TABLES

Table

2.1 Distinguishing criteria between proverbs and idioms 12

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

4.2 Statistical summary of sentence structure 43 4.3 Statistical summary of comparative sentence structure 45 4.4 Statistical summary of syntactic feature 46

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the cultural treasures of the peoples of the world, proverb is a very valuable heritage Proverbs were born and passed from generation to generation in human societies very early With the way of conceptualizing and describing the world of its own, proverbs are remarks and experiences about the laws of nature and human society

Proverb is considered the reflection of the typical customs and traditions

of a country It not only reflects natural and social phenomena, productive experiences, and social relationships but also brings cultural values through the language characteristics Proverbs in different countries have different cultural and social contexts It can be seen that proverbs are the windows on a nation’s identities If the window tightly closed, we would fail to decode the real message

of a language in particular and of a culture in general

In a proverb, form and content are always closely linked to form a complete and unified sentence This shows the sustainability of the proverb Each proverb uses specific images, events, and phenomena to express abstract ideas, and uses the particular to express the universal

The study of proverbs helps us to have the opportunity to understand and absorb the quintessence of cultures around the world For language learners, it is not easy to approach proverbs Because to understand proverbs, learners need to understand the culture of that country The study of characteristics of culture and language in proverbs will contribute greatly to teaching foreign languages, helping students not only master languages but also have an extensive view of cultures of countries that use those languages Going into the treasure trove of proverbs of both English-Vietnamese

languages, we find that proverbs containing the word “eat” occupy a considerable number They clearly reflect the cultures of the two countries, vividly showing similarities and differences in customs and life experiences

of the two peoples of British-Vietnamese As a result, proverb has attracted more scholars to carry out their researches in different fields

In reality, some researchers have carried out researches on proverbs in different themes such as weather, animal, friendship, money, human, family, etc For instance, Đỗ Thị Minh Ngọc (2010) researched the cultures of the English and Vietnamese countries through weather proverbs Similarly, Vũ

Thị Yến Hồng (2012) examined natural relationship through the climatic phenomena and animals’ behaviors Mohammad Ali Fatemi, Reza Tahmasebi (2015) also made a contrastive analysis of English and Persian proverbs related to animals

With respect to linguistic fields, some researchers have applied syntactic and semantic features as useful approaches to investigate proverbs Nguyễn Thị Bích Huệ (2016) conducted a study to compare and contrast syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs and idioms denoting weather Another study by Trịnh Thị Hương Giang (2013) investigated the general syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about marriage Similarly, other investigations related proverbs have been done to explore syntactic and semantic features between two languages

So far, there have been a large number of researches conducted to investigate different features of proverbs as well as their applicability in language teaching However, no study has been conducted to deal with linguistic features of proverbs containing the word “eat”

It is for this reason that the author made a study of English and

Vietnamese proverbs containing the word “eat” (EPWE and VPWE) from the syntactic and semantic perspective in order to identify the similarities and differences in meaning and structure between these two languages Hopefully, the findings from this study will be a practical application in language use, contributing to the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study

1.2.1 Aim

This study aims to examine the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features in EPWE and VPWE in order to make a supplemental contribution to the knowledge and the comprehension understanding of syntactic and semantic features in proverbs

1.2.2 Objectives

To achieve this aim, the author will try to fulfill the following objectives:

- To identify and describe syntactic and semantic features of EPWE and VPWE

- To find out similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features

between EPWE and VPWE

- To study cultural similarities and differences between EPWE and VPWE 1.3 Research Questions

To achieve the above aim and objectives, the author collected data and analyzed the data to answer the following questions:

1 What are the syntactic and semantic features of EPWE and VPWE?

2 What are similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features between EPWE and VPWE?

3 What are cultural values shown in proverbs containing the word “eat” in English and Vietnamese?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The thesis focuses only on the study of syntactic and semantic features

in EPWE and VPWE

The data were collected from English and Vietnamese dictionaries and publications

Because of the limitation of references of proverbs, the author randomly collected 146 proverbs (73 English and 73 Vietnamese ones) containing the word “eat” as the data for the analysis with the goal of discovering similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features in English and Vietnamese proverbs

Almost all English proverbs containing the word “eat, eating, eaten” were collected as the data However, there are a number of English proverbs containing the word “eat, eating, eaten” that the author did not use for this study because the author does not understand their meanings

For instance: “He is so hungry, he could eat a horse behind the saddle.”

1.5 Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the study contributes to the studies of linguistic and cultural values shown in proverbs in English and Vietnamese In addition, the study helps to clarify the universality of the theories of proverbs and contribute to perfect the research on proverbs

Practically, the findings of the study will help point out some noteworthy similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese proverbs in general and proverbs containing the word “eat” in particular Therefore, the study will be of great help to those who learn English in providing them with a better understanding of proverbs to maximize the effectiveness in communication and help them avoid culture shock Besides, this research is very useful for English teachers in helping their students to expand their knowledge of proverbs as well

as compile teaching materials related to proverbs

1.6 Organization of the Study

The study is divided into five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1, Introduction, contains the rationale, aims, and objectives, research

questions, the significance of the study, the scope of the study and the organization of the study

Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents the definition of proverbs and idioms,

classification of proverbs, some semantic and syntactic features of proverbs, the relationship between language and culture, then the previous studies related to the features of these theories are given

Chapter 3, Research Methodology, provides a full description of the methods

and procedures to collect process and analyze the data

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussions, focuses on the results of the data

analysis The discussion based on the research results is also made

Chapter 5, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings of the thesis and

draws implications as well as suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the theoretical background related to the study.The first part presents an overview of proverbs The chapter then continues with syntactic and semantic features realized by phrase and sentence structures, stylistic devices and semantic fields Finally, the relevant previous studies are reviewed

2.1 Overview of proverb

2.1.1 Definition of proverb

There have been lot of different definitions of proverbs In English, the author finds definitions about proverbs given by researchers Some definitions can be given as follows:

According to Guralnik and Solomon (1980, p.1144), a proverb is “a short saying in common use that strikingly expresses some obvious truth or familiar experience.”

Jennifer Speake (2008, p.1) defines that “A proverb is a traditional saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short and pithy manner.”

Paczolay (1998, p.264) gives a definition of proverb as follows:

A proverb is a short statement, having an evident or implied general meaning, related to a certain typical field of general human conditions, attitudes or actions, where it is valid with implied limitations It is known and often quoted in a period

of time in a certain language community, sometimes in a short form (the rest being implied) In common knowledge, it has no known author or literary source

Mieder (1993, p.5) defines that “a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”

Referring to the proverb, Vietnamese researchers also give many different definitions

Vũ Ngọc Phan (1978, p.26) defines proverb as follows: “A proverb is a sentence that expresses an idea, an advice, an experience, a morality, sometimes a criticism.” For example: “Muốn ăn cá phải thả câu dài.” This proverb emphasizes the value of labor and diligence and patience

Sharing Phan’s viewpoint, Phạm Văn Bình (1993, p.8) believes that “A proverb is a complete sentence expressing an idea of comment, of experience,

of morality, of justice or of criticism drawn from the human life.”

Judging proverbs on the angle of folklore literature, Hoàng Tiến Tựu (1990, p.79) states that: “Proverbs are folklore genres aimed at drawing experience, knowledge, giving comments, judgments, and admonitions of the people in the form of short, simple, concise, rhythmic, easy-to-remember and easy-to-transmit statements.”

In short, although there are different ways of expressing the definition

of a proverb, the above-mentioned researchers agree that in terms of form, a proverb is a short and complete sentence that fully expresses an idea; in terms

of content, a proverb expresses a truth, moral instruction, advice, life experience, traditional wisdom and transferred from generation to another

2.1.2 Classification of proverb

It is said that the task of classifying a proverb is as hard as defining it Despite the foregoing constraint, scholars have attempted to categorize the proverbs There exist many different ways of proverb classification among linguists who have based on different categories as origin, meaning and function

Lauhakangas (2014, p.61) creates an international classification system

of proverbs that starts out with thirteen main themes, which for the most part represent basic aspects of human life: practical knowledge of nature, faith and

basic attitudes, basic observations and socio-logic, the world and human life, sense of proportion, concepts of morality, social life, social interaction, communication, social position, agreements and norms, coping and learning, time and sense of time

Another theoretical approach to proverb classification is given by Eugenio (2007, p.36), who divided proverb into six groups as follows:

(i) Proverbs reflecting a general attitude towards life and the rules regulating it; for instance, “If you save, there is no earthly happiness that is not weighed down with tears.”

(ii) Ethical proverbs which recommend certain virtues and condemn some vices, such as, “Don’t postpone what you will do today for tomorrow.” (iii) Proverbs, which transmit a value system That is “To say a young man is like meat that smells bad.”

(iv) Proverbs that convey general truths and observations about life and human nature, for example, “Being too late is a positive thing.”

(v) Humorous proverbs such as “The love of an old man is like a snail that crawls.”

(vi) Splendid proverbs, for example, “Which means A fool loves Wicked behavior, but a man of knowledge delights in wisdom.”

However, Jennifer Speake (2008, p.14) classifies proverbs into three main categories:

The first type takes the form of abstract statements expressing general truths, such as “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

The second type, which includes many of the more colorful examples, use specific observations from everyday experience to make a point that is general; for instance, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

The third type of proverb comprises sayings from particular areas of

traditional wisdom and folklore In this category, we have, for example, the health proverbs “After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile.” and

“Feed a cold, and starve a fever.” In addition, there are traditional country proverbs, which relate to husbandry, the seasons, and the weather

In Vietnam, Chu Xuân Diên, Lương Văn Đang, Phương Tri (1993) also classify proverbs according to many different main themes and main classes such as:

(i) Natural world (weather, labor experience)

(ii) Social life, country and people (eat and drink, clothes, house, transport, work, health, family relationship, family marriage, public relationship, marriage and family, job, etc.)

(iii) Spiritual life, concepts of life and the universe (knowledge, experience, challenges, education, culture, art, etc.)

There appear to be a number of proverb classification systems However, in this study, the author accepts the classification proposed byChu Xuân Diên, Lương Văn Đang, Phương Tri to make the semantic analysis of EPWE and VPWE

2.1.3 Distinction between proverbs and idioms

When studying proverbs, researchers are still confused in distinguishing proverbs from idioms Therefore, in this part, the differences between them will be pointed in the hope of helping the readers have more knowledge of proverbs As stated above, proverb is a complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism What about idioms? The author will research them through some definitions

of the following linguists:

According to John Wright (2002, p.7), idiom is an expression with following features Firstly, idiom is fixed and recognized by native speakers

We cannot make up our own idioms The second feature is that idiom uses language in a non-literal-metaphor-way

In a definition given by Wyatt (2006, p.5), an idiom is “an expression where meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words.”

Mona Baker (2011, p.67) states that idioms are frozen patterns of language that allow little or no variation in form and often carry meanings that cannot be deduced from their individual components Therefore, by stating this definition she considers five conditions for idioms, which come as follows:

(i) The order of the words in an idiom cannot be changed The way the words are put together is fixed and they cannot change their place

(ii) The words in an idiom cannot be omitted We are the users of the language are not permitted to delete some of the words of a particular element

(iii) There are no extra words that might be added to an idiom

(iv) No words in an idiom can be replaced by another word

(v) The grammatical structures of an idiom cannot also be changed

In a Vietnamese definition, Phạm Văn Bình (1993, p.9) states:

An idiom is a fixed phrase, part of a sentence that many people are used to using

so it is only equivalent to one word The idiom does not present a comment, an experience, or a criticism, so it often has an aesthetic function, not a cognitive function or an educational function

It is not difficult to find out that idiom and proverb have much in common They are products of human’s thought, cultures and processes of hard working and learning They are mainly orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally accepted in daily life They contain and reflect people’s knowledge about objects and phenomena of the objective

world Beside those similarities, both of them still own typical features that distinguish one from the other The first and most obvious difference lies in their grammatical structures Idiom is a fixed phrase that whose meaning cannot often be explained simply by the meanings of the words that make them up Meanwhile, a proverb is a complete saying, fully expressing an idea with the content of commenting on social relations, conveying life experiences, giving moral lessons or criticizing things Let’s see some following examples:

(1) Different as night and day (Ammer, 1992, p.73)

(2) An apple a day keeps the doctor away (Collis, 1992, p.18)

It can be seen that (1) is an idiom because it is a fixed phrase that does not mean “Night is different from day.” The day light is always the clearest light Therefore, when something is called “Different as night and day”, it is really clear and easy to see or understand without a shadow of However, (2)

is a proverb because it is a complete sentence which contains a message It is not just about the act of eating an apple that can keep a doctor away The message of the sentence is that we should try to pursue a healthy diet to stay healthy

On the other hand, when studying the differences between proverbs and idioms, Nguyễn Đình Hùng (2014) focused on their literature functions According to his study, proverb contains three main literature functions, which are perceptive function, aesthetic function, and educational function

For example, the Vietnamese proverb “Thuận vợ thuận chồng tát biển đông cũng cạn.” (literally translated as: When a husband and his wife are of the same mind, there is nothing they cannot achieve.) expresses a comment about the strength of solidarity, a harmonious life and work experience that will bring results, a morality in the husband and wife relationship The

perception function in this proverb is to help people understand that the basis

of the husband and wife relationship is equality, democracy and mutual understanding Its educational function is to contribute to bring the feelings between people and people in a good direction in husband and wife relations

in particular and in social relations in general Its aesthetic function is to convey content, so people have used powerful words and images to make readers easily persuade and absorb In contrast, idiom does not state a comment, a life experience, a moral lesson or a criticism, so it often has an aesthetic function, not a perception function and an educational function For example, in Vietnamese, the idiom “Mặt hoa da phấn” (literally translated as Face is like a flower, skin is like powdery.) only shows the graceful beauty of

a woman, but it does not give any comment, advice or criticism Therefore, although expressed in a glossy, image (aesthetic function), the above idiom does not give people an understanding of life and a lesson about human relations in society (perception function and educational function)

The distinguishing criteria between proverbs and idioms are summarized in Table 2.1

Table 2.1 Distinguishing criteria between proverbs and idioms

structural realization fixed phrases usually complete sentences

literature functions aesthetic function

- aesthetic function

- perception function

- educational function

expression pure concepts

general truths, comments, advices, experiences, criticisms

Through the above analysis, the author can confirm that the difference between idioms and proverbs is basically the difference between a linguistic

phenomenon and a socially conscious phenomenon Therefore, idioms are mainly the object of study of linguistic science As for proverbs, although there are many aspects that deserve attention from linguistic science, they should basically be studied as a phenomenon of social consciousness, a cultural and spiritual phenomenon of the working people

2.1.4 Features of the word “eat” in English and Vietnamese

According to Cambridge dictionary, “eat” refers to some meanings:

(food), as in:

(3) I eat an apple

- To consume by or as if by devouring gradually; wear away; corrode, as in:

(4) The patient was eaten by disease and pain

- To make (a hole, passage, etc.), as by gnawing or corrosion, as in:

(5) Acid ate through the linoleum

- To take a meal, as in:

(6) We'll eat at six o’clock

- To ravage or devastate, as in:

(7) a forest eaten by fire

- To use up, especially wastefully; consume (often followed by up), as in:

(8) Unexpected expenses have been eating up their savings

- To absorb or pay for, as in:

(9) The builder had to eat the cost of the repairs

Similarly, in the Vietnamese dictionary The word “eat” has some meanings:

- Tự cho vào cơ thể thức ăn nuôi sống (To put food in your mouth and swallow to nourish the body), as in:

(10) eat rice, eat an apple

- Ăn uống nhân dịp gì đó (To eat for a special occasion), as in:

(11) ăn cưới (go to a wedding party)

- Nhận lấy, chịu đựng một cái gì đó (To receive of suffer something), as in:

(12) b ị ăn đòn (to be beaten)

- Hợp với nhau, tạo nên sự hài hoà (To combine to create harmony), as in:

(13) ăn ý nhau (agree with each other)

- Gắn, dính chặt vào nhau, khớp với nhau (To stick / match together), as in:

(14) keo dán không ăn (the paste does not stick.)

- Hấp thu cho thấm vào, nhiễm vào (To absorb for infiltration), as in:

(15) da ăn nắng (sunburnt skin)

In addition to the original and derivative meaning mentioned above, the word “eat” also has a multitude of other combinations to create new meanings such as ăn gian (cheat), ăn mặc (dress), ăn khớp (match), so on

In this research, the word “eat” in English and Vietnamese proverbs not only mentions to the literal meaning, but “eat” refers to figurative meaning

2.2 Theoretical framework

2.2.1 Syntactic features

As mentioned above… proverbs usually appear in the form of phrases

or sentences Therefore, the author will present some views about phrases and sentences of some linguists

(i) Phrase structures

- The determinative, which includes pre-determiners (all, both, double …), central determiners (a, an, the, this, some…) and post-determiners (numerals, many, few, several…)

- The pre-modification is the component consisting of all the modifying or describing constituents before the head other than the determiners

- The post-modification is the element that contains all the modifying constituents placed after the head

Table 2.2 is the summary of the noun phrase constituents

Table 2.2 Summary of parts of Noun Phrase

(Proposed by Quirk et al.)

Determiner

Pre- Modifier

Post- Modifier

Pre-

Determiner

Central Determiner

Post- Determiner both, all, half

- The, a, an,

my, your…

any, some, this, that, each, either, neither

Cardinal numeral: one, two, three…

Classifier:

- Noun:

beach, bill, water

- Adjective:

red, beautiful, attractive

Qualifier:

- Finite clause: we saw

- Non- finite clause:

reading a book

- Preposition phrase: in March, 2019

- Other noun phrase: that size…

For plural countable nouns : the,

my, your…, these, those,

Ordinal numeral:

first, fourth…., next, last, other, another

For uncountable noun: the,

my, your…, whose, some, any, much,…

Quantifier:

many, a, few,

a few, several, much, a little, little

In the book entitled “Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt” (Vietnamese Grammar), Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1996) points out that Vietnamese noun phrases have two parts: the head and the modification composed of the pre-modification and post-modification This view is also shared by Diệp Quang Ban (1996), who states that a noun phrase consists of three constituents: pre-modification, head noun, post-modification In the pre-modification, all the modifiers add more information in terms of quantity In contrast, all the elements of post-modification give more information about quality The head of a noun phrase can be a word or a group of words in which a classifier is followed by a noun,

a verb, or an adjective

The Vietnamese noun phrases are presented in the examples below:

(16) nhi ều (many) con mèo (cats)

Pre-modification Head noun

(17) con mèo (cat) r ất đẹp (very nice)

Head noun Post- modification

(18) nhi ều (many) con mèo (cats) rất đẹp (very nice)

Pre-modification Head noun Post- modification

In short, according to the viewpoints of the linguists mentioned above,

a noun phrase is treated as a grammatical unit composes of three parts: modification, head, post-modification

b Verb phrases

Quirk et al (1985, p.17) states that the verb element is always a verb phrase According to them, a verb phrase can consist of one verb or more than

one verb and if it consists of more than one verb, the phrase consists of “a head verb preceded by one or more auxiliary verbs.” The verb forms operate

in finite and non-finite verb phrases Finite verb phrases have tense

distinction The non-finite forms of verb are the infinitive, ing- and ed-

participles A non-finite verb phrase consists of one or more such items

Unlike an English verb phrase, in “Ngữ pháp tiếng Việt-Tập 2” text book, when referring to the verb phrase, Diệp Quang Ban (1996, p.62) states that a general structure of a verb phrase consists of three parts: the head part, the pre-modification part, and the post-modification part

The Vietnamese verb phrases are illustrated in the following examples:

Pre-modification Head verb Post- modification

From the above concepts, the author sees that phrasal verbs in Vietnamese are different from those in English However, the discussion reveals that verb phrase is a group of words that has a main or lexical verb, the head The verb phrase is the expansion of a verb

in both the positions Pre-modifications are the modifying, describing or

qualifying constituents preceding the head The head, an adjective or a participle serves as the focus of the phrase Post-modifications are modifying constituents, which follow the head

In Vietnamese, similar to the phrasal verb, an adjective phrase consists

of three elements: pre-modification, head, post-modification (Diệp Quang Ban, 1996)

We can recognize the adjective phrases in the following examples:

(22) quá (too) đẹp (beautiful)

Pre- modification Head adjective

(23) đẹp (beautiful) c ực kỳ (extremely)

Head adjective Post- modification

In general, in terms of structure, adjective phrases are quite similar to verb phrases and consist of three parts arranged in order: pre-modification, head, post-modification

(ii) Sentence structures

Linguists define sentences differently In the traditional definition of sentence, the term “sentence” refers to grammatical unit made up of smaller units Thus, sentences are grammatical unit and are built up from smaller unit (Srijono, 2010) Sentence is a complex system (Kaan, 2020) According to Swan (1995), sentence is a group of words that expresses a statement, command, question or exclamation and consists of one or more clauses, and usually has at least one subject and verb The sentence is an indeterminate unit in the sense that it is often difficult to decide, particularly in spoken language, where one sentence ends and another begins (Quirk et al., 1985, p.47) Therefore, Quirk et al point out that clause is in many ways a more clearly defined unit than the sentence According to them, a sentence consists

of one or more than one clause

In traditional grammar, there are four basic sentence structures: simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentence In this thesis, the author will analyze sentences structures based on Quirk et al.’s theoretical framework (1985)

a Simple sentences

A simple sentence is a sentence including a single independent clause

According to Quirk et al (1985, p.53), there are seven clause types:

- SV (Subject + Verb)

- SVO (Subject + Verb + Direct object)

- SVC (Subject + Verb + Complement)

- SVA (Subject + Verb + Adverbial)

- SVOO (Subject + Verb + Indirect object + Direct object)

- SVOC (Subject + Verb + Direct object + Complement)

- SVOA (Subject + Verb + Direct object + Adverbial)

As in: (24) Big fish eat little fish (SVO) (Speake, 2008, p.55)

(25) Eaten meat is good to pay (SVC) (Margulis, 2000, p.9)

(26) You cannot eat for tomorrow (SVA) (Margulis, 2000, p.30)

b Compound sentences

A compound sentence consists of two or more coordinated main clauses; the clauses of a compound sentence provide classic instances of a paratactic relationship that is they have equivalent function, as in:

(27) Asses fetch the oats and the horses eat them (Margulis, 2000,

p.124)

c Complex sentences

A complex sentence is like a simple sentence in that it consists of only one main clause, but unlike a simple sentence, it has one or more subordinate

clauses functioning as an element of the sentence, as in:

(28) If you won’t work, you shan’t eat (Manser, 2007, p.140)

 Main clause: you shan’t eat

 Subordinate clause: If you won’t work

d Compound- complex sentences

The compound-complex sentence combines elements of compound and complex sentences A compound-complex sentence consists of at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses, as in:

(29) Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime (Manser, 2007, p.112)

e Comparative sentences

According to Quirk et al (1985, p.458), three types of comparison are expressed by the following means:

- Comparison in relation to a higher degree is expressed by the inflected

forms in -er and -est or its periphrastic equivalents with more, as in:

(30) A cake eaten in peace is better than two in trouble (Macadam,

2006, p.1)

- Comparison in relation to the same degree is expressed by as…as (or sometimes so…as), as in:

(31) A broken bannock is as good as eaten (Macadam, 2006, p.15)

- Comparison in relation to a lower degree is expressed by less and least, as in:

(32) The less you eat, the longer you live (Macadam, 2006, p.45)

Besides, the proverbs can be realized basing on the symmetrical structure Norrick (1985, p.51) quotes in his research that “the most important characteristic of a traditional saying is the symmetrical structure of its form and content.”

Furthermore, Mieder (2004, p.6) states that the proverb appears to be a

traditional propositional statement consisting of at least one descriptive element, a descriptive element consisting of a topic and a comment This means that proverbs must have at least two words Proverbs that contain a single descriptive element are non-oppositional Proverbs with two or more descriptive elements may be either oppositional or non-oppositional Therefore, the symmetry creates a balance between two elements of a proverb Let’s consider the following examples in both English and Vietnamese to illustrate symmetric structures, as in:

(33) Eat at pleasure, drink with measure (Margulis, 2000, p.72)

(34) Ăn có chừng, chơi có độ (Vũ Dung, 1993, p.29)

As we can see that both proverbs above are structured into two symmetrical phrases that are logically connected each other They have symmetrical structures with the words class being similar and the syllables being almost the same Therefore, the symmetry of the structure in proverbs may help the readers remember and use them better As the two phrases contain the same numbers of the words, the readers are able to find out if they have read the correct proverbs

In Vietnamese grammar, Diệp Quang Ban (1996, p.106) defines the sentence in Vietnamese as follows:

Sentence is a unit of language study that has an independent grammatical structure (internal and external) and ending intonation, carries a relatively complete meaning or may be accompanied by attitudes, evaluations

of speaker, helping to form and express, convey thoughts and feelings Sentence is also the smallest unit of message in language

He classifies sentences into three categories: simple sentence, compound sentence and complex sentence According to him, a simple sentence is a sentence with only one subject-predicate clause; a compound

sentence is a sentence has two or more subject-predicate clause, there are not any clauses including any clauses; a complex sentence is a sentence consisting of two or more subject-predicate clause in which there is only one clause as the core sentence, the remaining clauses are included within the main sentence, as in:

 Simple sentence:

(35) Hùm d ữ chẳng nỡ ăn thịt con (Nguyễn Đình Hùng, 2007, p.102) (Dog does not eat dog.)

 Compound sentence:

(36) Người giàu tham việc, thất nghiệp tham ăn (V Dung, 1993, p 484)

(literally translated as: The rich are greedy for work, the unemployed are greedy for food.)

ngữ), theme-complement (khởi ngữ), complement (định ngữ), and adverbial (trạng ngữ) Without the minor parts, a sentence still can be made as long as there are major parts The examples below are the illustration for the explanation above:

 Subject is a verb:

(38) U ống nước ngọt thì không tốt (Drinking soft drinks is not good.)

is the meaning of proverbs

According to Taylor (1994), it is very difficult to work out the meaning

of a proverb based on the separate word’s meaning in dictionary, even when the meaning of the word is clear, the meaning of a proverb can be a secret There are two kinds of meaning: literal and figurative meaning Firstly, literal meaning is a simple, superficial meaning, expressed through a word, a certain sentence In other words, this is the original meaning, the main meaning that the word or sentence represents The literal meaning can be considered the original meaning of a word or sentence Usually, people first pay attention to the original meaning, and then reflect on the deeper figurative meaning behind it Secondly, most of proverbs also have figurative meaning A figurative meaning is a meaning that is not literal; the meaning used is not the meaning of the word or phrase itself, but a different meaning implied by it This meaning is dependent on culture and history This is the indirect meaning For example, if we say “Big fish eat little fish.” we mean that the big fish always eats the small fish However, with figurative meaning, the proverb “Big fish eat little fish.” points to the predatory nature of human

beings and the vicious cycle of exploitation that exists in the business world; where the rich and the powerful or organizations will exploit, swallow up or destroy those who are weaker, poorer and less powerful

In terms of semantic peculiarities, this part focuses on listing some stylistic devices often used in proverbs namely simile, metaphor and metonymy

(47) The proof of the pudding is in the eating (Margulis, 2000, p.147)

(iii) Metonymy:

Metonymy is a kind of non-literal language in which one entity is used

to refer to another entity that is associated with it in some way (Hurford, Heasley & Smith, 2007, p.338), as in:

(48) Revenge is a dish that can be eaten cold (Speake & Simpson,

1982, p.96)

Similarly, in “The Vietnamese proverbs”, when referring to the meaning of proverbs, Chu Xuân Diên (1993) writes: “Proverbs usually have two meanings: literal and figurative” This is a concept that many people agree with Lê Chí Quế, Võ Quang Nhơn, Nguyễn Hùng Vĩ (2004) assert that proverbs always have two meanings: the literal (or original) meaning and the shadow meaning This concept is not really convincing because we see that a part of proverbs have only literal meanings Some authors do not use the concept of “literal”, “figurative”, but use the concept of “single meaning”,

“multiple meaning” like Hoàng Tiến Tựu (1990) He writes that there are proverbs that have only one meaning But the part of proverbs with multiple meanings account for rather large proportions According to him, proverbs can be divided into two basic categories: single-meaning and multi-meaning Proverbs of single-meaning type are those that can only be understood in a

“literal meaning” For example “Muốn ăn lúa tháng năm, xem trăng rằm tháng tám.” (literally translated as: If you want to eat rice in May, you should see the full moon in August.) Multi - meaning proverbs can be divided into two categories: the first includes those that are understood both “literal meaning” and “figurative meaning” For example, “Ăn trông nồi, ngồi trông hướng.” (literally translated as: Checking the status of the rice pot when eating, watching where direction you are sitting.) The second category consists of sentences that are used only in a “figurative meaning” For example, “Chết không muốn, muốn ăn xôi.”(literally translated as: No one wants to die; however, all want to eat sticky rice.)

As stated above, although there are different expressions, but basically, Hoàng Tiến Tựu also agreed that proverbs have two types of meanings and proverbs of multi-meaning type are actually another way of calling “figurative meanings”

Surveying the above opinions, the author can see that although researchers have different expressions, the common point is that most proverbs have two meanings: literal and figurative

2.3 Some characteristics of Vietnamese and British eating culture

2.3.1 Characteristics of Vietnamese eating culture

Eating not only sustains life but also a culture From the way of eating,

it is possible to partly see the cultural level, the level of aesthetic awareness of

an individual, a family, a region and a nation According to Trần Ngọc Thêm (1996), Vietnamese people attach great importance to eating The word “eat” always appears first in every action of Vietnamese people For example: ăn ở,

ăn mặc, ăn nói, ăn chơi, ăn tiêu, ăn ngủ, ăn nằm, ăn cắp, ăn trộm The Vietnamese eating culture clearly reflects the Vietnamese people’s ability to take advantage of the elements of the natural environment Therefore, the meal of Vietnamese people often includes rice, vegetables, fish, and meat This clearly shows the imprint of the wet rice farming tradition Besides, he

said that Vietnamese eating culture has synthesis and community

(i) Synthesis

The synthesis of the Vietnamese eating style is reflected in the way food is prepared All dishes have a blend, a harmonious combination of many sources of ingredients In food processing, it is necessary to synthesize many types of food, spices Processing must ensure a sufficient structure of five nutrients In addition, the synthesis is also reflected in the way of eating Vietnamese people eat many dishes at the same time The Vietnamese way of eating also synthesizes the deliciousness of many factors: weather, place to eat, friends, relatives, meal atmosphere

(ii) Community

The community is reflected in the collective eating culture of the

Vietnamese, the expression of community is eating together While eating, Vietnamese people like to chat together The rice cooker and fish sauce cup are two symbols of community in the meal Eating speed and seat selection are also two factors in Vietnamese eating culture During a meal, Vietnamese people do not eat too fast or too slow, do not sit for too long and eat too much

or too little, do not eat all the food or leave it unfinished The Vietnamese proverb has a sentence: “Ăn trông nồi, ngồi trông hướng.” This proves that the sitting position in a meal is a very important cultural behavior

Similarly, Thái Văn Sinh (2020, pp 1-4) presents that the eating culture

of a Vietnamese family is imbued with traditional oriental culture It is represented by the following characteristics:

(i) Utensils

Vietnamese people use chopsticks and spoons for eating The Vietnamese culture of using chopsticks is very taboo When serving food to others, you must turn the chopsticks or have a pair of shared chopsticks

(ii) Table manners

The Vietnamese family meal is often a symbol of the whole family gathering around the tray of rice Vietnamese people often gather to eat after a hard day’s work For them, family meals are also an opportunity for members

to show care and love for each other They like talking to each other while eating to make the warm atmosphere They often talk about happy things and future plans The aesthetic arrangement of dishes is often overlooked They often focus more on the quality and quantity of the dishes Especially, the dishes are all served at the same time The dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares the food This shows concern, sharing and encouragement with other family members Before eating, younger members will request permission from each of the older members The permissions often are “con /

cháu mời ông bà, bố mẹ và anh chị xơi cơm.” This shows etiquette and respect for adults In addition, the eater does not eat too quickly and too much

or does not eat too slowly to keep others waiting When guests come to the house to eat, the host offers to serve the food for the guests by chopsticks not

by passing the whole plate

(iii) Seating

The sitting position is a very important cultural behavior during a meal Grandparents and parents often sit in a solemn and convenient position Younger people often sit in a different position to serve older people

2.3.2 Characteristics of British eating culture

According to Barrow (2007), the British generally pay a lot of attention

to good table manners He pointed out the British eating culture based on the following three characteristics:

(i) Utensils

British people eat most of their food with cutlery such as knives, forks and spoons They eat continental style, with fork in the left hand and the knife in the right They eat soup in a plate The food they do not eat with knives, forks and spoons consist of sandwiches, scrip, corn on the cob and fruit At the end of the meal, fork and knife should put side by side in the middle of the plate

(ii) Table manners

In Britain, everyone has his or her own plate of food During the eating process, the British are little word ones In other words, they do not talk much while eating They eat slowly and chew with their mouth close They avoid making noise when shoveling food into mouth Before eating, British people say the word “grace” and then everybody starts eating

(ii) Seating

British people usually sit around round tables for meals because this

represents equality When the family has guests, the seating arrangement will comply with the following rules:

- The male guest of honor sits on the hostess’ right

- The next most important man sits on her left

- The female guest of honor sits on the host’s right

- The second most important woman sits on the host’s left

- Men and women should be alternately seated

Regarding Vietnamese proverbs studies, there have been many studies

by many well-known linguists Among those are Chu Xuân Diên (1998) with

“Tục ngữ Việt Nam” who showed his profound understanding and clear distinction between idioms and proverbs in his book Mã Giang Lân (2012) and Thu Phương (2010) share the same ideas of classifying Vietnamese proverbs as every aspect of our lives in two books “Tục ngữ, ca dao Việt

Nam” and “Ca dao, tục ngữ Việt Nam” respectively In addition, Nguyễn Lân (2014) compiled a dictionary in which proverbs were both literally and figuratively explained in the alphabetic order Nguyễn Đình Hùng (2007) collected a number of English proverbs and their Vietnamese equivalences, which were helpful for learners of English Finally, Vũ Ngọc Phan (2010) made a collection of proverbs and folksongs in terms of content and classified them into many categories

Apart from the researches above, some foreign researchers have carried out many studies on various fields Mohammad Ali Fatemi, Reza Tahmasebi ( 2015) with the work “Contrastive Analysis of English and Persian Proverbs Related to Animals” indicated that to interpret the indirect message of

proverbs it is necessary to be familiar with culture of the society Otherwise, maybe some misunderstandings come up Translating the proverbs word by word to interpret the meaning is unsuccessful The results also showed that for all English proverbs that related to animals, sometimes there is no equivalence or it could be very hard to find the exact or even the appropriate equivalence Ochilova Noila Farmonovna (2014) investigated the semantic structures of English phraseological units and proverbs with proper names The paper focuses on the linguistic-cultural aspects and usage of phraseological units and proverbs containing personal beings Zhangruie (2004), a Chinese scholar carried out the study on Chinese and English Proverbs and Their Translation The results indicated that the similarities between English and Chinese proverbs mainly lie in their origin, some of their features and practical values Chinese culture is deeply influenced by Buddhism and many proverbs are from Buddhist records The Bible is essential to British and American culture It is said that their culture is not integrated without the Bible