Luận văn phân tích Đối chiếu các Đặc Điểm văn hóa Điển hình trong các truyện ngụ ngôn tiếng anh và tiếng việt nói về triết lý cuộc sống

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYÊN VĂN NGHĨA TYPICAL CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYÊN VĂN NGHĨA

TYPICAL CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PIILLOSOPIIY OF LIFE:

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

PHẦN TÍCH ĐÔI CHIẾU CÁC ĐẶC DIEM VAN HOA BIEN HINA

NOI VE TRIET LÝ CUỘC SÓNG

M.A MINOR THESIS

Ficld: English Linguistics

Code: 61 22 15,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ILANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

TYPICAL CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE:

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

PHAN TiCH DOL CHIEU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIÊM VĂN HÓA ĐIỂN HÌNH

TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGỤ NGON TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET

NOI VE TRIET LY CUỘC SÔNG

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor: PHAM XUAN THO, MA

SURMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS,

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN LINGUISTICS

HANOI — 2010

1.1 Rationale of the study

1.2 Aims and research questions

1.3 Significance of the study

1.4, Scope of the study

1.5 Organization of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE VIEW

1.1 Culture

2.2, Fables asa type of Hterature

Page

2.2.2 Fables about philosophy of life

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Subjects

3.1.1 English fables

3.1.2 Viemamese fables

3.3 Data collection and data analysis procedures

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

4.1, Typical cultural features of English fables about philosophy of life

4.1.1 Leatures of the settings and objects

4.1.2 Features of the characters

4.1.3 the features of the language used by the characters

4.14 Features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed

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24

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26 26

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Characters as animals

4.2.3 Features of the language

4.2.4 Features of the way the philosophies of life are expressed

4.3 The simliarities and differences of the TCT% in Engilsh and Vietnamese fabtes abont

ABBREVIATIONS

TCF: Typical oullurel features

CA; Fables with characters as animals

CHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals

CH, Fables with characters as humans

DA; Domestic animals

NDA: Non-domestic animals

‘TC's of characters in Vietnamese fables

Features of the language in the conversations of Vietamese fhbles Features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed in Vietnamese fables

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1, Rationale of the study

The first thing to mention when it comes to choosing the topic of this thesis is that culture itself is a broad and complicated subject matter ‘'here are plenty of aspects in this field As usual, cach of tham is touched upon individually from different angles, depending on the interests of certain authors, Therefore, it is not surprising that different authors give different definitions of cule In addition, it is agreed that gettng a deep understanding about any aspect of cullure is a rzally hard job This is because cullure is not tangible, and it is only perceptive to human sense, For different individuals, the perceptions are not the same, Thus,

there is a variety of presentations on the subject matter

However complicated it is, cullure is still an important factor irr our tifs It distinguishes humans fiom animals, The way people behave and treat cach other makes them different from other living beings It is also agreed that although the world is coming toward common standards in many Gickds like scicnce, tcelmtology and business, there are by no mcans a uniform in culture among the regions or nations in the world It is cultural identities that distinguish groups of peuple Nowadays, in the world of integration, humans are searching for

a common understanding of one another, Culture is really a bridge that brings people closer together, The need to discover certain cultures has become more urgent than ever before

Another reason that inspires the author to carry out this study is the attractiveness of fables,

in this case, fables in English and Vietnamese, Fables arc onc type of folk Tilcrature with stories containing characters as either animals or humans, Stories of this type tell a variety of subject matters like the explanations of phenomena in real life or the teasing of bad habits of Inmnans, Each story is a moral Jesson and through the words and behaviors of characters, we can craw certain philosophies of life The readers become thoughtfill after reading such a fable

Among fables of varius themes, those about philosophies of fife appear to be the mos!

remarkable These are the most attractive of all types of fables The world of animals or

‘humans - mosily in the past, speaks of the moral lessons which are still relevant in present Fife

‘Apart fiom the moral lessons, another attraction in fables is the cultural features embedded in cach story The settings, characters, language, and the way characters treat one another reveal the cultural identities of certain nations, regions and these are the most attractive parts of

fabics

1.2 Aims and research questions

Conducting the stndy, the author sets several limited aims First of all, the stdy is to find out tho typical cullural features (TCEs) in fables in Rryglish as well as in Vicinamnase, As a suatter of fact, there are a number of cultural features in fables, but the author’s focus is only

on the typical ones ‘hat is, only the most remarkable features are taken info account ‘The second thing this study has to do is to contrast these typical cultural features in the fables in the two languages, finding out the similarities and the differences In order to do so, the study will have to search for the answers to the following research questions:

1 Wha aro the typical cultuzal (catnres int English fables about philosophy of life?

2 What are the typical cultural features in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?

3 What are the similarities of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?

4, What are the differences of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?

1.3 Significance of the study

The siudy is of greaf significance to not only cullure researchers bul those whose interests are in applied linguistics as well To those who are interested in cultures, the findings of the study will manifest the TCTs in the fables in two languages, namely English and Vietnamese The readers and thc Icarncrs of English language will have a chance to perecive the TCFs in each language In addition, the study also presents a contrastive analysis between these

features The audience will get a deep understanding abont the similarities and differences between Vietnamese culture and Westem one, For Jeamers of English as a second language, the study helps them become aware of cultural elements in the process of leaming, which has not been paid much attention to so far Meanwhile, this is very important m Lnglish learning

‘because learners arc able to porecive why speakers or writers use differant, language irr different contexts Being aware of cultural elements is also a good way to avaid cultural shocks when they communicate with people from English — speaking countries

1.4 Scope of the study

‘As stated eatlier, culture is a broad field with various aspects This sindy, however, only focuses on the T'CES in a limited number of fables in English and Viemamese l† is also known that fables consist of lots of themes Yet, due to the shortage of snch factors as time, materials and finance, this study only exploits those about philosophy of life, which are very common in the world of fables

1.5 Organization of the study

‘The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapler is the inlroduction, which includes the rationale, aims and research questions, scope as well as the organization of the study The second chapter is the literature view in which the author presents an overview of the publications related to the topic of the tesuarch The methodology uscd in the study is presented in the third chapter It includes a description of the data collection and data analysis procedures used in the study ‘The findings of the study are presented in the fourth chapter, Results

and Discussions The final chapler presents » summary of the findings, limitations of

‘the study as well as suggestions tor further research,

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE VIEW

In this chapter basic concepts relevant to the study will be reviewed with the aim of finding out whal, has been abaul the topic as well as forming a thearetical framework for the stuly

2.1 Culture

As stated earlier, culture is not tangible, oly perceptive to human senses There have been a large number of publications regarding culture from different points of view Some authors do their best to give its definitions: outers both give the definitions and discuss ecrlain aspects of culture, As a consequence, the publications about culture are plentiful not only in number but also in its aspeets as well

As is known, scholars all over the world have defined and regarded eulture differently To fact, it is believed that there is ne commonly - shared definition, According te Gooddenough (1964:36), a proper definition of culture must ultimately derive from the operations by which

we describe particular cultures, Because these operations are still in carly stages of formulation and development, it is not yet possible to state precisely just what we mean when

we speak af a sociely’s cullure TTe adds

43 I ace it, a eociety’s culture consists of whatever it is onc has to know of believe in order to oporate

in u mumer acceptable to ils members, and do so in any role thal they accept for anyone of lhemselvcs Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end product of Ioarning, knowledge, in a most gencral, if relative, sense of the term” {p.36)

By this definition, we should note that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behavior, or emotion It is rather an organization of these things As such, the things people say and do, their social arrangements and events, are products or by — products of their culture as they apply it to the task of perceiving and dealing with their circumstances ‘To those who Imow their culture, these things and events are also signs signifying the cultural forms or mod: s of which thoy are material representations

Given such a definition, it is obviously impossible ta describe a culture properly simply by

describing behavior or social, economic, and ceremonial events and arrangements as observed

material phenomena Goodenough (1964) gives further analysis:

‘What is required is to construct a theory of the conceptual models which they represent and of which they arc artifacts, We test the adequacy of such a theory by our ability to interpret and predict what goos

on ina communily as measured by how ils members, our inforrumls, do so (p.36)

Meanwhile, Loijer (1964:445) employs a well — known definition by ‘I'ylor (1903) that

culture is “ complex whole which includes knowledge, belicfs, arts, morals, law, custom

and any other capability and habits acquired by man as a member of society”, Concerning another aspect of culture, Hoijer (1964:445) claims that some traits of culture are easily

„ (hơn, the sinnilaritios in cultere

borrowed by ons group from neighbouring groups In essa

which mark societies in the same cultural area result fiom contacts and borrowings and ar timited to those features of culture which are easily transmitted form one group to another

Robert Lado (1987) views culture form another approach H2 only focuscs his attention to human behaviour, Krom his point of view, “cultures are structured systems of patterned Đelavioe” (p.111) Int addition, fe cunnecis clare with anthropology According lo him,

“cullural anthropologists have gradually moved from an alomistic definition of enlturc,

pattem

and configuration” (p.111) Le also compares this definition with the assumption by Lidward Sapir (1921) that “all cultural behavior is patterned” (Robert Lado, 1957-111) This point of view is shared by Holliday, Hyde and Kullman (2004), they assume much of the debate on

describing it as more or less haphazard collection of traits, to one which emphas

“culture” in the last fily years or so have been concemed with challenging modets of culture which have emanated from the field of anthropology

Meanwhile, when discussing the concept of culture, Risager (2006:32) briefly presents three

dimensions of the concept of culture desuribsd by the Polish-Brilish sociologist Zygmunt Baumann (1999) They are

‘The hierarchical concept of culture

‘The differential concept of culture The genetic concept of culture

in the hierarchical concept, Tatmann (1999) regards a culture as something that the individual human being or individual society either “has” or “does not have” or “has” at a higher or lower level ‘Chis concept cannot exist in the plural and it is always value-taden ‘he criteria for what “culture” is — and thus the “ideal hnman” — are something for which a struggle lakes place in a sovicty To aftain cullure is actually to atizin an ideal nature: “Ther

an ideal nature of human beings, and the culture means the conscious, strenuous and prolonged effort to attain this ideal, to bring the actual Life - process into line with the highest potential of the human vocation.” (Baumann, 1999.7)

‘The differential concept of culture, according to Baumann (1999), has to de with culture as something thal “marks off group of poople from cach other This concept can be used in plural, Following this concept, a cultue is typically a cohesive unit that various anthropologists have described with the aid of such terms as cthos, genius, pattem, configuration, style and the like Baumann (1999) adds that “a culture has the nature of a system that is sclf— contained and resists mixing; it mainly alters as the result of encounters with other cultures (“cultural clashes”)” Baumann (1999) also assumes that cultures viewed in such a way can he compared, and the comparison can result in enllural universal being collected and categorised Culture can be both “irom the outside” and “‘tiom the inside”, the former involves observing behaviour on the basis of a general or universal apparatus, while the laticr involves listening to and trying to understand what calegories arc rslevant for the indigenous people themselves consciously or unconsciously (Baumamn, 1999, quoted in

Risager, 2006-33)

The goncric concept of culturo, ơn the olher hand, has to do with what is common jo humanity, that which distinguishes humanity dtom nature and all other living creatures One could say that the more one emphasises the diversity of cuttures and their mutual incompalibility, the more one needs, despite everything, ta have # concopt that applies to all humanity The generic concept of culture can give rise to the view that there is only one culttwe, ie human cultuze everywhere and at all times (Baumann, 1999, quoted in Risager, 2006.33)

Like William (1988) and Tink (1988), Risager (1999) distinguishes hetween three concepts af culture that have come into being at diffarent times but all of which can be refound in present

— day understandings of the concept:

‘The individual concept of culture The collective concept of culture The aesthetic concept of culture

‘With regard to the individual concept of culture, Risager (2006) assumes that this concept has

‘bccn known since at Ieast the time of Ciccro, who uses the metaphor expression celfura arsimi , i, cultivation of the soul/mind, and this has to do with the individual’s mental cultivation,

either via God's cullivalion of the soul For the first 16 centuries cultara anim (or from the

16° century, calzea without a logical object) designates a process of mental cultivation, a

pedagogical process Not unfil the 17" century can the concept also signify the result of this

process, Le the mental (intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic) level the person involved has attained One begins to speak of “the cultivated person”, The individual concept of culturz is generally speaking chracterised by a hierarchical understanding of culture (the hrerarchical concept of cuthure) (p36)

‘As for the collective concept of culture, Risager (2006) claims that from the end of the 17 century, a collective concept of culture developed alongside the individual one The collective concept of culture has to bs divided inlo 4 hicrarchical and a non-hictarchical varianL The hierarchical variant is the eatlier, and it deals with either the societal conditions for the individual process of cultivation, or with what “cultivated people” have in common (p.36)

With reforsnee lo Ihe acsthotic eoncopl of culture, Risarger (2006) nsaurnos that in the cours

of symbolic — aesthetic crcativeness.

Like many authors who are interested in culture, Claude T.évi — Stramss (1958), zn Daropean sociologist and anthropologist proposes that all cultures reflect fundamental and universal Principles of human mind Cultures were shared creations of human minds, Meanwhile,

Keesing (1974:78-79) when discussing Lévi — Strauss’s points of view supposes that the mind

imposes culturally paticmed order, a logic of binary contrast, of relations, and transformation,

of a continuous changing and often random world The gulf between the cultural realm, where man imposes his arbitrary order, and the realm of nature becomes a major axis of symbolic polarity: “nature vs, culture” is a fundamental conecptual opposition in many all — times and places

To concluils, there is no limit in the discussion of culima This is a multi-facct subjoeL suatter Yet, through the overview of the publications involved, we can focus our attention on some issues like the definition, concept of culture seen ftom different angles or the relationship between culture and anthropology

2 2, Fables as a type of literature

2.2.1, Fable

There arc many definitions for fables David Emery (2010) views a fable as a short allurgicat nattative making a moral point, traditionally by means of animal charactais who speak and act dike human beings (About.com Guide) ‘The website Questia.com shares this point of view According ta this onting joumal, a fable is a short, pithy, and animat tale, most often told ar written with a moral tagged in the form of a provarb Thus, to convey a moral is the aims of most fables, and the tale is the means by which this is done, providing illustration and competting argument for the moral The aulhor adds that “fable docs nol originate as a folktale, though it may make use of folk material, and can also be composed into a culture and exchanged as traditional oral folklore” (hitp:/www Questia.com)

Similarly, according Wo the fice encyclopedia on Wikipedia, a fable is a ecinel story, in

pose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces off

nature which are “anthromorphized” (given human quality), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a“moral”), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim”,

According to another definition on the ftee encyclopedia, fables can be described as a didactic mode of literature That is, whether a ftble has been handed down from generation to goucration as oral lilcrature, or constructed by a literary tale-tellcr, ils purpose is ta imparl a Jesson ot value, or to give sage advice Fables also provide opportunities to laugh at human folly, when they supply examples of behaviors to be avoided rather than emolated

With referenec to fable characters, this author claims that the characters of a fable may be people, gods, animals or even lifeless objects When animals and objects are used in fables, they think and talk like people, even though they acl like animals or objects For example, in a fable a clay pot might say that it is frightened of being broken,

‘The stories told by fables are usually very simple ‘To understand a fable, the reader or listener does not need to know all about the characters For this reason animals are often used

in fables in a way that is casily understood because it is always the samc, They kcep the same

characteristics from story to story

in a race against each other, and, in another classic fable, a fox which rejects grapes that are out of reach, as probably being sour (“sour grapes"), (Wikipedia)

Th summary, fables belong to fiction in Tileratue, A fable is a sitnple slory with the characters as persons, animals or even inanimate objects At the end of each story, a lesson or

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‘moral is often drawn and this is the most typical featre of fable The characters and content of

a fable are always influenced by cultural factors

2.2.2, Fables about phitosophy of life

Itis agreed that fables have a wide range of themes It can be either about human relationships expressed through animal behaviours or the explanation of a natural phenomenon, ot simply it

is about humans’ daily interactions Howevcr, in this study, those about philosophics of life are the major concern ‘fhe question asked here is “What is philosophy of life?” As shown in Dictionary referoneg.com, philosophy of tile is “any philosophical view or vision of the naturc

or purpose of life or of the way that life should be lived” Literally, this definition is satisfactory and clear in the commen sense |owever, in the article “he philosophy of life”

on the website http://www.swami-krishmananda.org, Swami Krishnananda thinks deeply about this definition According to this scholar “Philosophy is a well coordinated and systematised attempt at evaluating life and the universe as a whole, with reference to first principles that undevfic all things as their causos and arc implicit in alt experience” In addition, we

another concept of philosophy by hitp.//www.onueducom: “Philosophy is a quest for a comprehensive understanding of human existence ‘The objective of philosophy is to consider the tational justification of logical inferences, human values, criteria for establishing the claims of knowledge and certainly, and interpretations of the nature of reality”

rom the definition of philosophy it is not a hard job to comprehend what fables about philosophy of fife are, In facl, they are fables with a “moral”, or philosophy of lift in the ond This characteristic is typical among fables in all languages Hence, each of the fables about philosophy of life is a lesson about life, and way of tife We can claim that a fable is something more important than a work of art It is a lesson about life

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the procedures of data collection and data analysis will be onllined Whether the findings are valid and reliable or not depends on the method in which the study is condueted

3.1 Subjects

In this study, the subjects are 15 fables about philosophy of life in English and 15 fables about philosophy of life in Vietnamese

3.1.1 English fables

The 15 English fables come trom the collection of Aesop’s tables , This collection is taken

from the website An Mnglish-Zene.com It is also noted that An Engtish-zone.com is a

webpage for online English tsumning and touching This is a reliable wobsite in terns of academic English and is very wellknown in the field of teaching and leaning English as a foreign language (i1'L) ‘Ihe English language used on this webpage is the standard one; and the collzetion of Acsop’s fables on this webpage is used as the material for reading skills Therefore, these fables are quite reliable for academic purposes

3.1.2 Vielnamese fables

‘The 15 Vietnamese fables in this study ars taken from the book “Lng tap van hoc dan gian nguisi Vial - Tap 10: Trayén ngu ngén” (The great collection of Vietnamese folk literature — Volume 10: Fables) by Social Science Publishing House, Hanei (2003) The book consists of hundreds of fables of different types like prose, poetry In particular, all the fables are collected from different regions of Vietnam, therefore, the regional diversity is guaranteed In

‘this study only those of prose are taken as the subject of the study

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3.2, Data collection and data analysis procedures

15 fables of philosophy of life in English and 15 fables of philosophy of life in Viemamese were chosen from the two sources above They were then carefidly read and analyzed in terms

of the following features in order Lo answer the First two research questions

- The objects and settings ; First, the setting, is the situation in which the story takes place and the characters interact with each other The settings might be either rural, urban or in the mountainous arca, The story might take placc in a room, at the market or in the ficld In addition, there are a large munber of objects in the fables ‘They might be the objects used in everyday life al home or anywhere else These objscls arc very important for finding oul, the cultural features because they are obviously intluenced by cultural factors

- The characters: The characters in fable are diversified ‘They might be human: farmers, merchants, huntsmen, fathers, sons, husbands, wives, friends or children They belong to different social classes at that time It is clear that cultural clements have influenec on them Apart from human characters, there are many fables in which characters are animals, either wild or domestic such as tigars, lions, foxcs, wolves, woascts, hares, lortoises, bulfatos, cows, horses or chickens

- The language used by the characters: in fables, language is used as a means of

communication, The way the charaelcrs make themsclves understood, or the language they usz either direct or indirect is the concem of this study It is clear that language depends on cultural elsments, which are embedded in the words uttered by the characters In addition, we

should boar in thind that language is itself a broad fidld However

the directness and indirectness of the Ianguage used by the characters in the fables, Other Linguistic properties will not be considered

- The way the philosuphies of life are expressed: Philosophics of Tile are the theres of the fables in this study There are a number of philosophies of lite in these fables like those about human relationships or the struggle between ths good and the evil The question of how these

study only Foon son

philosophics of life arc expressed - whether implicitly or explicitly is taken into eansidcration

in this study These features are clearly influenced by cultural elements

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In order to answer question 3 and 4: “What are the similarities of typical cultural features

in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life? /What are the differences of typical oultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?”, a comparison between the ‘(C¥’s of fables in English will be compared to those of fables in

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this chapter, the results of the study will be discussed with relevant citations from fables in

English and Vielnamese The four research questions will be answered in lum

4.1 Typical cultural features of English fables about philosophy of life

4.1.1, Features of the settings and objects

Table 1: The TC¥s of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of lift

CA: Fables with characters as animals R: Rural setting

CHA: Fables with characters as Inmans and animals ‘U: Urban setting,

Cll: Fables with characters as humans D: Domestic animals

O: Objects

‘The TCls of the settings and objects in Lnglish fables about philosophy of life are shown in

Table 1 As can be scon from the table, 11 out of 15 fables have got rural settings (73.3%)

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(CITA), and characters as humans (CII) m mal setting are 26.6 %, 20 % and 26.6 %

respectively On the contrary, there arz no fables in which urban setting is employed

‘Table 1 shows that the settings in most of the English fables are rural ‘The rural background consists of “the field” or “the plowland” where farmers work Particularly, in many fables,

“the field” is considercd the setting of the story, The teason for this is that lang ago, farming mainly took place on the farm or in the field Another reason that explams why rural setting is dominant is that these fables were mostly written long ago in the ancient time, when farming, including the raising of cattle and the growing of crops is the most popular cconamic activity

‘Throughout Aesop’s fables, there is a dominance of rural settings, so we can claim that rural sollings ars a Lypical foalurc of fables in Weslem cullures Tt the (ible The farmer and the crane, “the feeding ground’, “plow land newly sown with wheat” ace seen as the major setting Apart fiom “wheaf”, farming production in the West involves many other crops like “vine” in the fable Phe farmer and his son In this fable “farms” and “vineyards” belong to rural setting, They are typical of fuming production in the West,

With reference to mban settings, Table 1 shows that none of the fables has this kind of solling This is quits understandable bccause in ancicnl time mast people curned their livings

by growing crops and raising, cattle, both of which took place on the farm or in the field, At

‘that time there were not many urban areas, so urban life was not typical of the culture of the time, As wresull, urban scttings were nol popular in fables

The TCFs are also manifested via the objects of the fables The total number of the fables with domestic objects is 7 ables (46.724) The cultural features are hidden inside the objects

themsdlves, Some major fouls ars “spades”, and “mattocks” (Farmer und his sons) “the wagon” and “the wheel” (Hercules and the wagoner), the “panniers” (The merchant and his donkey) it is commonly known that spades, mattacks, wagons, wheels, and panniers are the tools used in farming, They wre very useful in daily life of fin

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typical tool in the Wes

cultural identities The “ood” tree is an example: “ He asked a man felling ouks .” (The

Jaunter and the woodman) The oak is a typical tree in forests in Westem cultures

Resides, thers ars many rian-domestic objects which bear certain

In short, the settings and objects in Lasop’s fables embed Luropsan cultural identities not only of the ancient time bul at present They hetp distingnish the Furopean culture with cultures anywhere else These settings and objects are so popular in the West that they have become stereotyped whenever Westem rural life is mentioned

41.2 Features of the characters

Along with the settings and objects, the characters of English fables reveal a lot about TCs

‘They are divided into two groups: characters as animais, as humans, and the characters as both

jurnans and animals, Animals arc divided into Wo subgroups: domestic and non-dom

(DA and NDA); Characters as humans is on the other hand grouped according to many

different norms: family relation (PR), career relation (C), and social relation (SR) The

characteristic of hmmans and animals as the main characters is very common in the world of

CA, Fables with characters as animals

CHA: Fables with characters as immans and animals

CHL: Fables wilh characlers as humans:

DA: Domestic animals

WDA: Non-domestic animals FR: Family-selated relation

C: Career retation

SK: Social relation