Luận văn idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in english and vietnamese

ABSTRACT Althaugh greal allenhon høs beon paid lo idioms by rescarchers and linguists in Vietnam as well as in the world, there has been no study conducted on idioms denoting mtelligenc

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN TIT KIM OANIT

IDIOMS DENOTING “INTELLIGENCE AND UNDERSTANDING” IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS AND

TEACIING IMPLICATIONS

THÂN TICH ĐÓI CHIẾU VÀ GỢI Ý GIẢNG DẠY CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CHỈ SỰ

THONG MINH HIBU BIBT TRONG TIENG ANH VẢ TIỀNG VIỆT

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

: English Linguistics

: 6122 02 I1

HANOT - 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN TIT KIM OANIT

IDIOMS DENOTING “INTELLIGENCE AND UNDERSTANDING” IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS AND

TEACIING IMPLICATIONS

PHAN TICH BOT CHIRU VA GOI ¥ GIANG DAY CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CHỈ SỰ

THONG MINH HIEU BIBT TRONG ‘TLENG ANH VA TIENG VIỆT

MLA Minor Programme Thesis

Field : English Linguisties Code: 602202 01

Supervisor : Nguyễn Huy Kỷ, Ph.D

HANOT - 2014

DECLARATION

1, Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh, hereby certify that the thesis ontitled Idioms denoting

“Intelligence and understanding” in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis and teaching implication is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at VNU University of Languages and

International Studies

Hanoi, July, 2014

Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Apart from the efforts of myself, the success of any study depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others 1 take this opportunity to express

my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion

of this MA thesis I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Dr Nguyén Huy

Ky for his valuable instructions, critical but constructive criticisms, his share of personal experience and expertise I also would like to send my sincere thanks to all

the Isachers in M.A course al VNU University of Languages and Inlernational

Studies for their training and their assistance that has helped me to complete this thesis Last but not least, my profound thanks and deep gratitude go to my family

aud my friends (or their valuable support and crncouragement

ABSTRACT

Althaugh greal allenhon høs beon paid lo idioms by rescarchers and linguists

in Vietnam as well as in the world, there has been no study conducted on idioms denoting mtelligence and understanding in English and Vietnamese This is the reason for the author's choice of the study This thesis has two major purposes: (1)

to find out not only the syntactic but also semantic similarities as well as differences

in the idioms of this type in English and Vietnamese, and (2) to give some teaching, implications for loachers English

In order to fulfill the objectives of the study, contrastive analysis method was

used Moreover, 50 English and 50 Victmmese idiems were collected various

sourees, mainly from dictionaries \'hey were then carefully analyzed with the main focus on their syntactic and semantic features

The results of the analysis mentioned above shows that although the idioms under investigation share some similarities they have notable and interesting differences in terms of their syntactic features especially with regard to their clause and phrase pattems as well as their semantic ones The study suggests that the above-mentioned idioms in English are more difficult to leam than their Vietnamese counterparts, Therefore, more allention should be paid te the leaching of these idioms, especially to such factors as the number of idioms, student level and frequency of practice

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration

1 Rationale of the study

k9

1.1, Previous studies related to the researel eassescssesneeienninmsnaeneieimansennnee

1.3.2 Definition of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding 6 1.3.3 Distinctive features of English idioms .cscsessseeeenensnaenneramansenneeT 1.3.3.1, Syntactic features of Linglish idioms, in neo 1.3.3.2, Semantic features of English idioms " 1.3.3.3, Cultural features of English idioms êeeesecseeecoo, 18 1.4, Distinction between idioms, metaphors, proverbs and fixed expressions .14

1.4.2, ldioms and ProvetD8 co eeirrieireseeeu, T5 1.4.3 Idioms and Fixed Expressions 15

2A, Data analysis procedure j.csesessessenessnssieenestsneetinee 18

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ¬

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in

3.1.1 Structural features of linglish idioms denoting intelligences and

3.1.2 Anknglish Vietnamese contrasting of syntactic features of idioms denoting

3.1.2.1, Sunilaritics

3.1.2.2 Differences

3.2 Semantic (ealures of Fryglish idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in

contrasting witi Vietamese coutiterparts —-

3 Limitations of the suy

4 Suggestions for further shuđ cọ, 00.101 1e re

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1

vi

PARTA INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

English is a language particularly rieh in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect} which frequently defy logical and grammatical

rules Without idioms English would lose much of ils variety and humor both in

speech and writing, However, the background and etymological origins of most

idioms are at best obscure

There are many sludents who have the chance to travel abroad and when

these students were in the United States, they experienced many difficulties because they did not understand the meaning of many idioms that native speakers used in

their daily conversalions They even [ell embarrassed and frustrated bocause they

could not understand the idioms they heard A strong knowledge of idioms,

therefore, will help students be better speakers and facilitate communication

The fact that a large number of idioms are frequently used in discourse

makes them an important aspect of vocabulary Nonetheless, their characteristic

features cause many difficulties to learners of English First of all, idioms not oly

have brief and cxtraerdinary forms, contain key words but also hold profound

meanings hey manifest much what the speakers want to say and do not want to

say in words This means thal the idioms can express speakers’ viewpoints, feclings,

altitudes and even personalities and culture is their ways of idioms usage Secondly, idioms are based not only on several aspects of language such as semantics, syntax,

phonetics and phonology, pragmatics but also on their flexibilities in language

usage Moreover, they are the combination of culture, language usage and creative competence They are everlasting and passed from generation te generation because

understand more about cultures, people, languages which they are studying

Idioms have attracted a mumber of researchers and linguists who have

researched on idioms and the application in (caching and learning Such as" The

Study cf Idioms and its Application to ESL and Intercultural Communication" (Ito,

Yoko, 1993) In the thesis the author made an attempt to investigate into Linglish

idioms from different aspects

However, there has been no study on idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in English and Viemamese This study is therefore conducted in order 1 [ill the gap We hope thal il will make contribution to mproving learners’ understanding and knowledge of this particular type of idioms and give some suggestions to their teaching and learning

2 Objectives of the study

Ihe study is carried out for the following objectives

First of all, the study tries to analyze and contrast idioms to detect some

similarities, basic differences between pHoms denoting milelligence and

understanding in English and Vietnamese in terms of their syntactic and semantic

features

Sceondly, iW presenis some implications in teaching and leaning English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding,

3 Research questions

The study attempts to answer the following questions:

1 What are some similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese

idioms donotmg inlelligenee and understanding in torms of syntactic and semantic

features?

2, What are some teaching implications for using appropriate idioms denoting

intelligence and understanding in teaching English?

4, Sipnificance of the study

Idioms are considered an interesting and popular phenomenon of every

language Thus, they play an important role in all languages in general,

Lnglish and Vietnamese in particular ‘hey also add color to the language and make the communication more lively and interesting Therefore, effective communication

cannol be achicved successfully without idioms.

This kind of study has significance not only for contrasting language in use, but also for teaching and learning of this type of idioms It also contributes to the

translaion of the idioms from English ito Vietnamese and vice-versa

5 Scape of the study

Due to the limited time, space and the author's ability, the present paper just analyzes and contrasts the idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in Vietnamese, English in terms of their syntactic and semantic features

6 Organization of the study

The study consists of three paris with four chapters as follows

Part A (Introduction) is spared for the presentation of the rationale, objectives, significance, scope, and the structure of the study

Part B (Development)

Chapterl (Literature review) provides the necessary information about the

theoretical background related to idioms

Chapter 2 (Methodology) provides information about the principles thal govern the research and the methods to be employed

Chapter 3 (Data analysis and discussion) presenis the findings oblained and sound

discussions on these findings

Chapter 4 (Some implications for teaching) will be presented ‘his subsection

brings about the practical value to the thesis [rom which readers ean, to different

degrees, benefit

Part C (Conchisions) provides a recapitulation of the main issues and problems

presented in the study and suggestions for further research have been supplied

References

Appendices

PARTB DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Previous studies related to the research

Idioms as an abstract field have drawn much attention from many linguists

and scholars, and so [ar many studies of idioms (rom different angles have beer

done, First of all, the research by [fill (2002), he has an attempt to analyze and seek the nature of idioms in studying in idiomatic structure The researcher pointed out

the importance of idioms in the natural language and its existence in the language

system In particular, he analyzes and clarifies the structure of idioms such as case

for the lexicon, the variability of idioms discussed shows is that all idioms have

tilermal struclure of some kid This distinction dictates how the idioms are allowed

to behave

Another notable researcher is Moreno (2003), who claimed that the meaning the speaker intends lo convey by the use of an idiom is pragmativally (re)conswucted on-line by relevance-driven inferential mechanisms which take as

input a set of highly accessible encyclopedic assumplions from the concepls

encoded by the idiom string and its constituent words The amount of processing

effort invested, and the depth of processing of the encoded concepts, is highly

constrained al every sage by (he scarch for an optimally relevant interpretation He

added that in understanding idioms, conceptual adjustment takes place at word and phrase level that this model can accoumt for why idioms often swing between literal

and figurative meanings, and for why they often exhibit different degrees of

flexibility and productivity in the flow of conversation

Another research on this theme was conducted by Doan Ngoc Diép

(Unpublisted M.A thesis, 2007) "A Study om Structural and Semantic Features of English Idioms of Anger in Comparison with Vietnamese quivaients”, One more paper is "4n Investigation into The Enghsh Wards and Idioms Denoting Happiness”

conducted by Nguyén Thi Van Lam, Nguyén Tus, Tong Vin Bang (1978) whe

made the first significant contribution to the field Since then, a great number of’

companson wilh, English idioms have been camied out by 14 Thanh (1988), Bia

Phụng (1996), Ngưyễn Lân (1997), Vũ Dung, Vũ Thủy Anh, Vũ Quang Hảo (2000), Trân Quang Man (2002)

These researchers in general try to [ind out the similarities and differences in

the use of conceptual idioms for anger, happiness and time in English and

Vietnamese The studies have made contribution to not only the theory and the

appropiate use of conceplual idioms bul the translation work as well

‘The stucies also point out that cultural awareness is at the heart of intercultural communication A lot of this has to do with language and behavior: with pragmatics, beliefs and valucs But inlerenliural communication should also

highlight the areas of commonality as well as divergence in terms of cultural and

linguistic behavior All too often culturally stereotypical behavior is objectified and

described with insufficient reference lo underlying (actors thal help expla and

elucidate A conceptual approach to language can draw into focus areas of

divergence and commonality al another level of awareness and provides an extra

dimension to the understanding of linguistic and cultural norms

1.2 The author’s framework

The sludy has been carried oul according to the following framework

Firstly, the author has pointed out the background knowledge of the idioms, defining of the idioms in general and idioms denoting avelligence and

understanding in particular, the distinctive features of English idioms, syntactic,

semantic, cultural features of English idioms Ihe researcher also shows the

distinction between idioms and metaphors, proverbs, fixed expressions

Secondly, basing on the theorelical background of Cowie, Mackin and

MeCaig (1975) in syntactic and Llallyday (1985) in semantic, the author has

analyzed and contrasted idioms in order to find out the similarities and differences

of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in Fnglish and Vielnamese

Lastly, the rescarcher is dealing with some teaching implications to help teachers in teaching Linglish idioms involving intelligence and understanding

1.3 Idioms

1.3.1 Definitions of idioms

Idioms are an abstract concept and it is therefore difficult to define them Fach lingunst who specializes in different branches tends to have a dilTerent way to understand and describe idioms as illustrated below:

Cruse defines idiom as "an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the

meanings of its parts.” (1986:37) Two olher aulhors Seidle and Mordie (1978:8)

believes that “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone”

Collins (1995) has a different, way to define idioms but shares the idea He considers:

an idiom as a special kind of phrase It is a group of words which has a different

meaning when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word was taken individually | |

Vietuamese linguistic researchers have also tried to define idioms Hoang

Van Hanh (1994) slates that, an idiom is a fixed group of words which is firm in

tenns of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meaning, and is widely used

in daily speaking ((hành ngữ là những cụm từ cổ định, có hình thái cầu trúc bên

vững, có tình bong bẩy về ý nghĩa và được sử dụng rộng rãi trong giao tiếp )

(1984:21)

1.3.2, Definition of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding

There are no definitions of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding

but it is not difficult to understand them Idioms denoting intelligence and understanding are idioms which point out the ability to lear about, leam from,

specific abilities, which include the following specific abilities

© Adaptability to a new environment or to changes in the current environment

© Capacity for knowledge and the ability to acquire il

© Capacity for reason and abstract thought

© Ability to comprehend relationships

© Abilily to cvaluale and judge

Additional specific abilities might be added to the list, but they would all be

abilities allowing a person to leam about, learn from, understand, and interact with

the environment Enviroument im this defimlion dees not mean the enviromndnt of

the earth, such as the desert, the mountains, etc., although it can mean that kind of

environment It has a wider range of meanings that include a person's immediate

surroundings, including the people around him or her Environment, in this case can

also be something as small as a family, the workplace, or a classroom

1.3.3 Distinctive features of English idioms

Fvery language has its own vivid and colorful idioms which were created by

people when using for a long time Idioms have long and deep national history as

well as local colar Therefore, they have many interesting features

1.3.3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms

According to Bell (1974:3), there are certain essential features which help in

the recogmition of idioms Some of these features are:

12.3.4, 1, Alteration of grammatical rules

Ihe idiomatic expression is not always grammatical, but it is established,

accepted and used by native speakers of the language with a fixed structure and meaning,

Lg It’s ages since we met (singular with a plural noun)

1.3,3.1.2 Conventional phrases

Idioms are special expressions which are almost known and agreed by all the members of a particular community

Fig How are you doing? (xpression used lo ask someone about bis health)

Once in a blue moon (rarely, infrequently)

1.3.3.1 3 Alteration of Word Order

Fnglish Idiomatic expressions, usually, do nol respect the English word

i

order

Lig Itmay be well ahead of time (normal word order)

Thinay well be ahead of time (probably) iliomatie expression

meanings of the words ‘to fury’ and ‘the hatchet’ are different from the meaning of

the whole expression

1.33.1 5 Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are the most conumon type of idioms in English Many of ther

carry idiomatic meanings that cannot be inferred from the form, unless the phrase is

already known

Rg Afier the war began, ihe two countries broke off diplomatic relations (discontinue)

Most automobile companies bring oul new modals each year (Lo show or miroduce)

According to Baker (1992;63), there can be some grammatical and syntactic

restrictions of idioms, ie a speaker or a writer cannot normally do any of the

following with an idiom because the meaning would be changed:

+ Addition: Adding any word to an idiomatic expression may alter its meaning, or remove its idiomatic sense For instance, adding the adverb very to the adjective red

in red herring (Very red herring) affects the figurativeness of its meaning

completely

+Deletion: Deleting the adjective sweef and the article from the expressions have

a sweet tooth and spill the beans would change tolally their meanings Hence, (have

a tooth) and (spill beans) have no idiomatic sense

| Substitution: Idioms accept no replacement of words even if those words are

synonyms.

For example, "the long and short of if’ means the basic facts of a situation, The adjective ong cannot be substituted by another adjective, like ¢all; despite they have nearly the same meaning

+ Modification: Any change in the grammatical structure of an idiom leads to the destruction of the idiom meaning For instance, the expression (stock and barrel

lock) is no mrore idiomatic because of the allered order of the items im the

expression lock, stock and barrel completely

+ Comparative: Adding the comparative form -er to the adjective hot in the

expression "be in hot walter" changes the conventional sense of the idiom which has

the meaning of "be in trouble"

| Passive: The passive form "some beans were spilled" has a different meaning

from ils active one

These restrictions affect the degree of idiomaticality of lexical items, and

they may remove their main feature of figurativeness These characteristics explain

why idioms are considered as rigid structures, almosl impossible lo be decoded However, through a cautious approach, explanations and continuous interest, idioms

may become vital elements in the acquisition of proficiency in a foreign language

According to Strassler (1982;42), Makkai’s book /diom structure in English

(1972) is the most extensive work ever written on idioms Makkai (1972:117)

identifies Iwo major Lypes of idioms: those of encoding and [hose of decoding He

further classifies the later into lexemic and sememic idioms

+ Idioms of Encoding (Identifiable)

Idioms of encoding are those idiosyneratic lexical combinations that have

transparent meanings This type of idioms could be best recognized through making

a comparison between different languages by the use of proper prepositions

Therefore, ‘al’ is used instead of "wilh" in the Fryglish expression ‘drive al 70 mph’

(not drive with as in l'rench).

+ Idioms of Decoding (Non-Identifiable)

idioms of decoding refer to those non-identifiable and misleading lexical

expressions whose inlerprelation could not be figured oul by using only independently learned linguistic conventions They include expressions like "beat

around the bush" and “fly off the handle’ This type of idioms could be classified

into Texerc and semnesnic

+ Lexemic idioms include:

a Phrasal verbs: e.g., to come up with, to tum off, to take part in,

b Phrasal compounds: e.g black ice, black board

c Incorporating Verbs: e.g man-handle

d Pseudo-Idioms: e.g spick and span, kit and kin

+ Semetnic Idioms, on the other hand, usually, convey pragmalic meanings related

to a particular culture They include:

a Proverbs: e.g Chew of something over, A bird in hand is worth two in the bush

b Familiar Quotations: eg Nola monse stirring

McCarthy and O”Dell (2003:6) give another classification to the English idioms types focusing on their possible combinations:

(i) Verb + object/complement (and /or adverbial)

Kill two birds with one stone (=Produce two useful results by just doing one

action)

(ii) Prepositional phrase

In the blink of an eye (= In an extremely short time.)

(iii) Compound

A bone of contention (= Something which people argue and disagree over.)

Gv) Simile (as + adjective — as or like + a noun)

As dry as a bone (— Very dry indeed)

(vi) Binominal (word + and — word )

Rough and ready (= Crude and lacking sophistication)

(vii) Trinomiat (word + word + and+ ward)

10

Cool, calm and collcetcd (— Rclaxcd, in control, nợt nervous}

(viii) Whole clause or sentence

To cuta long story short (To tell the main poiris, bul nol all the fine delails)

Different from MoCarthy and O'Dell (2003:6), Cowie, Mackin and McCaig

(1975) point out that Inglish idiom can be classified clause patterns as follow:

English idioms could be in the following clause patterns:

® Verb Adverbial, such as whistle in the dark, prey on sb’s mind

© Verb — Subject Complement, such as turn sour, sound asleep

© Verb — DirecL Object, such as bend the ruth, bury the hatchet

® Verb Direct Object - Adverbial, such as play it by ear, string someone along

© Verb — Direct Object — Object Complement, such as leave someone high and dry,

paint the lown red

® Verb — Indirect Object — Direct Object, such as give someone the slip, feed someone a line

@ Subject — Verb, such as sb’s knees are knocking

English idioms could be divided in the following phrase patterns

© Noun phrase, such as somebody's blue-eved boy, a big girl's blouse

© Adjective phrase, such as black and blue, a bit thick! strong

© Prepositional phrase, such as on the blink, in black and white

© Adverbial phrase, such as out of the blue, as regular as clockwork

© Vorb phrase, such as scare the pants off sb, get the shivers

13.3.2, Semantic features of English idioms

According to Femando (1996; 35-36), idioms can be grouped into three sub- classes: pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms

| Pure idioms: A pure idiom a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression whose meaning cannot be understood by adding up the meanings of the words that makes up the phrase For example, the expression "spill the beans” is a pure idiom, bevause ils real meaning has nothing to do with beans

ll

+ Scmi-dioms: A semi-pure, on the other hand, has at least one literal cloment and

one with a non-literal meaning Vor example, "foot the bill’ (ie pay) is one

example of a semi-idiom:

m which foot is the noreliteral clement, whereas tie word

bill is used literally

+ Literal idioms: Literal idioms, such as "on foot" or “on the contrary" are

semantically less complex than the other two, and therefore easier lo understand

even if one is not familiar with these expressions ‘hese expressions may be considered idioms because they are either completely invariant or allow only restricted variation Fernando (1996:37) adn

boundary between these three idiom types

Taking into consideration the fumetion of the phrase, Halliday (1985, as

s (he difficully of drawing a clear

quoted by Fernando (1996:72) groups idioms into ideational, interpersonal and relational idioms

| Ideational idioms: Ideational idioms either signify message content, experiential

phenomena inching ihe sensory, the allective, and the ovalualive, or they

characterize the nature of the message (fernando 1996;72) ‘hese expressions may

describe:

- actions ffear down, spill the beans),

- events (furning point),

- silualions (be in a pickle),

- people and things (a red herring),

- attributes (cut-and-dried),

- evaluations (a watched pot never boils)

- emotions (green w ith envy)

+ Interpersonal idioms: Interpersonal idioms, on the other hand, “fulfill either an

interactional function or they characterize the malure of the message” They can, for

instance, initiate or keep up an interaction between people and maintain politeness

(Femando 1996:73) These expressions include:

- groctings and farewells (good morning),

- direotives (let's face it),

- agreements (say no more},

- "feelers" which cheit opinions (what de you Sink?) and

- rejections (come off it)

+ Relational idioms: [alliday (1985:74) distinguishes relational (or textual) idioms,

which ensure thal the discourse is cohesive amd coherent Examples of relational

idioms are “on the contrary”, “in addition to” and “on the other hand.”

1.3.3.3 Cultural features of English idioms

Tt is common knowledge that language is closely relaled to culture, and can

be regarded as a part of culture, rom this view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other Language is considered as the carrier of culture

which in lum is the content of language We can dig out cultural features from

language and explain language phenomena with culture Idioms as a special form of

language exist in both of these fields and are affected by the factors such as history,

geography, religion, custom, cle They are the heritage of history and product of

cultural evolvement Consequently, we cau leam a lot about culture through

studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the

cultural background behind them

\ The Geographical Factor

Geographical environment plays an important role in shaping one country’s

culture and human beings have no choices and opacities to change the geography

As a result, idioms based on geographical features appear different from one

country to another For example, Britain is an island country with long and has

good, deep harbors ‘he great ports of London, Liverpool and Glasgow are all connected to the sea by rivers All these conditions make the ocean shipping of

Brilain so flourishing As a resull, there are a lot of Enghsh idioms related 10

navigation, Vor example, the phrase “go by the board” means that somebody or something fall from sheep and disappear in the sea It implies that someone is neglected

13

Surounded by the ocean, British people also have a spocial passion for water or instance, to say how extravagant someone is in linglisb, the idiom “spend money like water” is ollen used British people also regard theruselves as fish such

as in “cold fish”, “shy fish” he former means “a person who is very strange” and the latter means “a person who is very shy” When someone feels "not easy", they

say “fect hke a fish oul of wate

+he historical Factors

As we know, any language in a long and splendid history has its magic

power and greal influence on the people who speak or learn itand the development

of the social history influences the language tremendously with the change of the dynasty, the new languages instead of the old languages continuously In the change

of languages, more and more idioms are caused in such trace of the histoncat culture

1.4 Distinction between idioms, metaphors, proverbs and fixed expressions

L414 Idioms and Metaphors

Metaphors constitute a large part of the everyday language ‘They have been

recognized as thelorical devices thal compare lwo seemingly different objects King (2000:216) defines metaphors as ‘describing something by using an analogy with

something quite different’ or example, ‘the words are clear as crystal’ is an idiom

thai expresses tho similarly between the words and the crystal in terms of the

degree of clarity Some other examples of metaphors include "new ideas blossomed

in her mind”, “his temper boiled over” and “inner peace is a stairway to heaven”

King (2000:216) considers that metaphors are beautiful due to their ability to

explain a complex vague expression making it move understandable and clear

According to Maalej (2005), both idioms and metaphors have in common the

fact thal they carmol be understood if taken literally He identifies idioms and

metaphors as culture-specific aspects of a particular language, ie, the non- existence of a direct one to one correspondence between a target language and a source language is the result of culture-specific molaphors He adds thal culture-

14

specific metaphors are best represented in pluascology Native language idioms and set phrases can blend together ethno-specific concepts pertaining to the world view

of il speakers, lo their nalional character, as well as their tradilional social relations,

thus becoming an embodiment of national dispositions and spiritual values They are presented metaphorically indirectly and figuratively, which is why culture-

specific mclaphors produce idioms thal have no corresponding counterparts in

another language (Maalej 2005:215)

1.4.2 idioms and Proverbs

Just like idioms, proverbs ‘are special, fixed, unchanged phrases which have

special, fixed, unchanged meanings’ (Ghazala 1995:142), [hey differ from idioms

in that they display shared cultural wisdom Therefore, proverbs are easily

understandable and, sometimes, the first part of the proverb might be cnough Lo

express the whole meaning Tor instance, ‘do not count your chickens” is used

instead of ‘do not count your chickens before they have hatched’

143 Idioms and Fixed Expressions

There are fixed expressions like "having said that", "as a matter of fact", "not

al all" elo which allow a bitle or no varialion in form, just as idioms do Fixed

expressions, however, are distimguished from idioms since they have almost

transparent meanings ‘Thus, the meaning of "as a matter of fact", for example, can

easily be inferred from the meaning ol its constituents In contrast to idioms is like

“pull a fast one" or "fill the bill” where the meaning of the whole expression is different from the meaning of its parts In spite of its clarity, the meaning of a fixed

expression, as that of an idiom, is not just the sum of meanings of its components

Fixed expressions may bring up in the mind of the reader all the aspects of

experience associated with the different contexts in which the expression is used This characlerisiic seems lo be the cause of the widespread use of fixed and semi-

fixed expressions in any language (Baker 1992: 63)

Although they have many features in common with other forms of non-literal language, idioms have their own characiaristies, Generally speaking, an idiom is a

15

kind of lexical unit in which the whole meaning of the expression is not apparent from the meanings of its components

25 Summary

In the chapter 1, the author has expounded in detail (i) the previous studies related to the research which is foundation for the author to further to develop her own rescarch (ii) he background knowledge of idioms denoting intelligence and understanding , definition of idioms in general and idioms denoting intelligence

and understanding in particular with the distinctive features of idioms from

sytilaclic, semantic Lo cultural feature as well as difference between idioms and

metaphors, proverbs, fixed expressions

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In any research, method plays an important role, is an effective tool to gain

the aim of the study Tn this chapler, the author uses “contrastve analysis” as a

method te contrast, to compare for finding out the similarities and difference between [nglish and Vietnamese idioms denoting intelligence and understanding

wilh the leaching impheations

2.1 Methods employed for the research

The major method which is used for this research is contrastive analysis

According to Gast (2011), contrastive analysis narrowly defined mvestigates the

differences between pairs (or small sets) of languages against the background of similarities and with the purpose of providing input to applied disciplines such as

foreign language leaching and translalion sludies With its largely descriptive focus,

contrastive linguistics provides an interface between theory and application It

makes use of theoretical findings and models of language description but is driven

by the objective of applicability Contrastive studies mostly deal with the

comparison of languages that are ‘socio-culturally linked’, ie, languages whose

speech communities overlap in some way, lypivally through (natural oF instructed)

bilingualism First of all, official documents include joumals and textbooks

involving the background knowledge of the idioms or the dictionaries of idioms are

collected And then the researcher analyses and contrasts the idioms denoting

intelligence and understanding in English and Vietnamese basing on the data which

are collected

2.2 Data collecti

instruments

Because of the particular characteristics of the study, it seems that reading

and reviewing documents are the most inportant and effective way Lo collect

materials for the research Since it’s very hard to find the idioms involving the research, the researcher try to look for and collect the idioms from the dictionaries

and websites im the Internet As for [first source, books which are concerned with

idioms are collected and studied to gather necessary knowledge Main materials ae

1?

Oxford Idioms (2010), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh-Anh-Việt (2004), Thành Ngữ

‘Tiéng Việt (2009), từ Diễn Thành Ngữ vá Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2008), Từ Diễn

Thánh Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2006) Ás [or the second, they are websiles, the

En.wikipedia.org, News.google.com and Books.google.com In addition, other

previous theses related lo our study are also collected to grab relevant, dala

After the process of researching and collecting data, the information continues to be classified into different categories depending on the requirements of

the research in order (o make if easy for the researcher to find and to analyze the

data Besides collecting and reading the materials from the Internet, the most relevant references from the library at University of languages and international

studies- Hanoi National University have becn seleclively read in ordsr to support the researcher with necessary and useful information

2.3 Data analysis techniques

After the process of reading and collecting data from, (he researcher starts to

analyze, contrast the idioms denoting intelligence and understanding basing on

sytlaclic and semantic features between two languages From tusnerous samples

taken from dictiomaries, in the internet the researcher tries to choose the most

interesting and concrete ones to illustrate important points under the investigation

From that the researcher concludes (he uuplications [or teaching and studying

idioms denoting intelligence and understanding

2.4, Data analysis procedure

The study hegins with a presentation of the theoretical hackground of idioms

with the syntactic and semantic features, and for the purpose of the study, the

researcher collects data While reading these references, an action of selecting

relevant information is taken simullaneously Afler the data is collected, the

researcher starts analyzing and classifying the data into the suitable categories of the thesis purpose After that, the researcher contrasts all the idioms to come the

conclusion on [he first research question: some similarities and differences between

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English and Victnamese idioms denoting intelligence and undorstanding in torms oŸ

syntactic and semantic feature

2.8 Summary

Yo conclude, in this chapter the main methodological points have been presented (i) The major methodology the research (ii) The main methods employed for the research which includes data collecions instrument, data analysis techniques and data analysis procedure

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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANAL,YSIS AND DISCUSSIOXN

In this chapter, the author tries to analyze the idioms collected to detect the

similarities and differences in thew syntaclic and semantic features The [ormer

focuses on clause and phrase patterns while the latter concentrates on the three groups of ideational, interpersonal and relaticnal idioms

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding in cantrastive analysis with Vietnamese counterparts

SLL Structural features of English idioms denoting intelligences and

According Lo Cowie, Mackin and McCaig (1975), Enghsh idioms car be

classified seven distinguishable clause patterns ‘Lhey are (1) Verb _ Adverbial (V- A); (2) Verb _ Complement (V-C), (3) Verb Direct Object (V-0); (4) Verb _

Direct Object _ Adverbial (Y-O-A), (5) Verb _ Direct Object _ Object Complement (V-O-C); (6) Verb _ Indirect Object _ Direct Object (V-0-O); (7) Verb (S-¥) Similarly, Quirk proposed seven clause types (S-V, S-V-C, $-V-O, S-V-A, 8-V-O-

O, S-V-O-A, S-V-O-C) However, in the clause pattems proposed by Cowie,

Mackin and Mccaig, there are optional and obligatory elements while Quitk’s

clauses only have obligatory parts Therefore, the author is going to apply the

clauses of Cowie, Mackin and McCaig as the main foundation for her own study

with reference to Quirk’s classification

A great number of idioms thal denoting intelligence and undersianding follow Ue basic clause pattems

Idioms denote intelligences and

understanding

4 Verb Direct Object Adverbial Hit the nail on the head

s Verb — Direct Object — Object Get wires crossed

Complement

6 Vorb — Tndirect Objeel — Direct Make sense of something

Object

Table 1: Original Clause Pattern and Examples of Idioms of intelligences and understanding

It can be seen from the table that English idioms that indicates intelligence and

understanding exist in all of the clause pattems ‘They are summed up from the main sources: Oxford Idioms Dictionary (2006), English — English — Vietnamese

Dictionary (2004), Learn-English-today.com (2010), Figurative language cross-

cultural and cross-linguislics perspeutive (2005) and statistically analyzed basing on

100 idioms of English and Vietnamese denoting mielligence and understanding

© Verb - Direct Object pattern (V-Od)

With 12 idioms, this pattern makes up 26% of 50 English idioms denoting intelligence and understanding and is the most popular type among the clause

patlerns The pattern is hustraled by the folowing examples

“Put on your thinking cap”: If you tell someone to put their thinking cap on, you

ask them to find an idea or solve a problem by thinking about it

Now here's this week's quiz; i's time ta put your thinking caps on!

(Anh-ngu-cho-nguoi-viet blogspot.com; Retrieved on 3" June 2014)

“Get the picture”: A person who gets the picture understands what is being

explained or described