Luận văn phân tích Đối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗi sợ hãi trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt

Distinetion between idioms, proverbs and some other terms 14 sayings, phrasal verbs, colloqpialisirs Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English idioms denoting idioms fear in 3 2.1.. Wi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, WANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTIES OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THUY

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOTING FEAR UN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

{Phân tích đổi chiéu các thành ngữ chỉ nỗ: sơ hãi trong

Tiếng Anh và Tiếng ViệO

M.A Miinor Pregramante 1 hesis

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 602215

Hanoi, 2010

NGUYEN THI THUY

7 FEAR IN

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF IDIOMS DENOT

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(Phân tích dối chiếu các thành ngữ chỉ nổ: sợ Adi trong

Tiếng Anh và Tiếng ViệO

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 602215 Supervisor: Trần Bá Tiến, M.A

Hanoi, 2010

1.2.1.2 Semantic (atures af English idioms 10

1.1.3 Distinetion between idioms, proverbs and some other terms 14

sayings, phrasal verbs, colloqpialisirs

Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English idioms denoting idioms fear in 3

2.1 Structural features of English idioms denoting cmotion Fear 20 2.1.1 English idioms denoting fear have clause patterns 20

2.2 An English-Vietnamese comparison of syntactic features of idioms denoting

fear

2.2.1, Similatities

2.2.1.1 Vietnamese idioms with clause pattems

2.2.1.2 Viatnamose idioms with phrase pallerns

3.1 Metaphor and metonymy in cognitive linguistics

3.2 Metaphor and metonymy in English idioms denoting fear

3.3 An English-Victnamese comparison of scmantic features of idioms denoting

PARI A: INERODUCLION

1 Rationale

Even having becn living in England for a Jong time, a non-native spcaker who has a

gteat command of English could be easily realized that his English is not mother-tongue language when he is in conversation with an Bnglish speaker Explanation for (his could be his way of using language

Anyone who has already been put in a real communication of the language finds it casy to recognize that tative-speukers” conversations arc far morc interssting and variod

than that with non-native speakers The answer to this is that in their talk native speakers apply several idioms because of their convenience ‘ast, these idioms not only have brief and extraordinary forms, containing key words but they also hold profound meanings They manifest much what the speakers want to say and do not want to say in words The means that can express speakers’ viewpoints, feelings, attitudes and even personality and culttre is their ways of idioms usage Take this example to consider “pull someone's leg” The phrase pudl my leg would causc a lot of difficultics for non-native speakers because it has nothing to do with the description of the action of pulling someone’s leg but just means

“to play a joke on somebody, usually by making them believe something thal is nol Irưe” (Oxford Advanced Learnar’s Dictionary, 7 edition) or simply “to fool somebody”,

Therefore, knowing how to use a language is a completely dittzrent category fom mastering a language Mastery of a language not only needs speakers’ acquisition of several aspocis of language such as

The combination of all he facts mentioned above is the reason for Ihe thesis, In the thesis the author has made an attempt to investigate into English idioms from different aspects ‘Chen there will be a comparison between English idioms and Vietnamese idioms denoting fear

2 s of the study

“The study is carried out for the following aims

Thirdly, the study provides a comparison of English and Vietnamese idioms, then clarifies syntax and semantics of Vietnamese idioms denoting fear

3 Scope of the study

English idioms have a great mumber of idioms denoting Inman feelings A few of

One human emotion that appears daily, therefore has several idioms, but has not been received mueh study is fear lence, in the study ths author concentrates on English idioms denoting fear and put it them in comparison with Vietnamese idioms

4, Methods of the study

‘The approaches and procedures employed to achieve the research goals are as

follows

- To establish a theretical framework for the study, both domestic and foreign publications are critically reviewed and referred to

+ The quantitative method is dominantly uxed for the data statiscties Tn addition, the

contastive analysis approach is employed to compare the two language and cultures

‘Nam (2008), Tử Điển Thành Ngữ và Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (2008)

‘As for websites, they are the tool that is made use of ‘The websites are a huge source of

Data analysis procedures:

Idioms that are related to fear are collected fiom the dictionaries and books

mentioned abovs Then thơ cxamplos are taken fiom websites and books for illustration The last step is to investigate and analyze according to the requirements of the study,

5, Format of the study

The stuly consisis of three parts which are Introduction, Development and

Conelusion

Inireduetion: a brief account of relevant information for carrying out the study is represented They are the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the format of the study

Development, ‘his crucial part concludes four chapters Chapter 1 is ‘Theoretical

Background, which introduces initially necessary theories on the topic from the different aspects involved in idioms and human feelings Chapter Il provides a deep insight into syntactic features of English idioms of fear and the comparison between the two languages, Fnglish and Vielnamese Chapter I has the similar steps as the second chapler

It is concemed with semantic features of English idioms describing fear and its comparison with Vietnamese ones

Conclusion: which includes Recapitulation, Concluding Remarks, and Suggestions for further tescarches,

The study ends at Reference and Recapitulation

Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages Usage of idioms is integral in human interaction, Be aware of this, recently, much work on idioms has been cartied oul Hence, a great number of definitions of idioms is understandable Every linguist who specializes in different branches will have different way to understand and describe idioms

Jackson & Amvela and Palmer share the similar viewpoint on idiom definition According to Jackson & Amvcla (2000, p.66), “en idiom may be defined as a please the meaning of which cannot be predicted from the individual meanings of the morphenes it comprises” Palmer (1990) states that an idiom i

“Metaphorical’ could be referred to figurative and non-literal characteristics of idioms In the meanwhile, ‘fossilized’ implics unchangeable properly of idioms Tl can be seen from the definitions mentioned above, the linguists have defined idioms just in terms of their

semantics and syntax

In fact, idioms arc mar’s ercation and originated from human cornmunication, (us usage of idioms is integral in haman interaction Idioms have a deep interrelation with the human beings” thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and attitude, which means the speaker’s culture Therefore, it would be a shorleorming in the atlempl to define idioms without regarding their cultural aspect As for her viewpoint on idioms, Fernando (1997, pp.1-30) describes idioms as “conventionalized multiword expressions [ ] individual units whose

components cannot be varied or varied only within definable limits [ ] Nor are the wards

is a two-word compound structure and the maximum limit is a complex clause with no more than two subordinate clauses In terms of institutionalization, idioms are the product

of socially interaction expressions which have conventionstized, therefore, idioms are conventionalized expressions Semantic opacity could be understood as figurativaness and nomtliteralness of idioms In accordance with Fernando, an idiom is made up ftom at least

two words and ils meaning is not inferred from the weaning of cach eonstitusnt or of both

1.1.2 Distinctive features of English idioms

Analysis of the idioms in terms of definition simultaneously demonstrates some features of idioms Idioms should be treated as a special kind of every language They separate thomsclves from regular rules compared with other sozts of a language In other words, only in idioms the unacceptability in both meaning and form of a language could exist, Ia sentence she puts her money where her mouth is inmedialely indicates the meaning via its words, it could be changed into passive voice her money ix put where her niouth is, However, strangely enough, following the same form of every form that could be changed inlo passive vaice Agent — Action — Recipienl, the form mentioned above must not be employed in passive voice, otherwise, it looks odd, Because, in fact pes one's money where one’s mozh is is an idiom, it is therefore necessary to be known as a fixed unit which does not permit of any rearrangement of its elements Put another aspect of idioms inlo consideration, that is scrmmlic one, thers will be one mote aspecis involved in Whether the sentence he loses his shirt should be treated as having a meaning directly through words or an idiom denoting Josing a great deal of money, it will depend on the context it is cmbedded with, That means idioms deal with pragmatics Exploration of features of idioms provides unique and interesting their peculiarities

1.1.2.1 Syntactic features of Kngflsh Idioms

Johnson-Laird (1993, p.iti) slates thal “if manơal language had heen designed hy a

logician, idioms would not exist” Idioms hold distinctive features that cannot be seen in

Fernando (1997), English idioms fluctuate hetween ‘Avo-ward compound structure’ and ‘a complex clause with no more than tvo subordinate clauses’ On ice (set aside for fulure use), fork over (hand over), or wet blanket (dull or boring person who spoils the happiness

of others) are some examples of the smallest structure of idioms Or i the shoe fits, wear it (ađmil the trulh), people who live in glass houses shontda't throw stones (one should not

criticize when one is equally at fault) are dlustration for the maximum limit of idioms

In fact, there are idioms that have only one word “Lemon? (denoting something

defective) is an idiom with only one word Or “fisky” is in Ihe same case

Seidl and Mordie (1978) discover syntactic properties of idioms when syntactic

features and semantic features are put info correlation According to them, an idiom can have a regularly, irregularly or even wrongly grammatical structure Idiom spill the beans reveal a scerct) is a regular structure with the form Verb_ Direct Object, fill somebody's boots/shoes (do somebody’s job ina satisfactory way when they are not there), give me five (hil the inside of somebody’s hand with the inside of your hand as a greeting or Lo celebrate a victory) are in the case, or as free as (the) air us a bird (completely fiee)

possesses the normal form, the comparative form However, consider sell him short, it is

easy lo see that the form of the idiom self somebody short (underestiuale somebody) is

grammatically incorrect The last element short must be an adverb to modify sell Conversely, adjective short which is used to describe height of a person or to measure

length or distance is applied to do the job instead Do something on the aff chance (to do something even though you think thal there is only a small possibility of i Leing

successful), fight shy of something’ of doing something (avoid something or doing

something, not want to do) are the instances of the extraordinary structure

Some idioms that may have regular forms but the meaning is ambiguous The idiom dressed to kill (wear one’s finest clothing) takes the regular form but has obscure ineariing Tl could make sense thal someone prepares for an action of killing someone by wearing clothes if il is nol recognized as an idiom There arc some same instances such as

different strokes for different folky (everyone has different interests and tastes), ealing

someone (bothering or worrying someone), bite the bullet (enchre in a difficult situation) ,

mind one’s P's and Q’s (take care in speech and action), have the world by the rail (be

fal and happy), or calf the shots! the tune (be in contrdl)

There are idioms whose both meaning and form are abnormal The idiom on somebody's own head be it (somebody is alone for responsible for the results of their action or decision) causes difficulties in explaining the form and guessing the meaning as well The same cases are for be in at the finisks (be present when something ends), more foo! you’ them (yow them were very foolish to do something), cut one’s eye teeth (to gol wisor, more mature and more sxpericnced) and so on

‘Another particulacity that makes idioms special is their uniqueness and fixation in their grammatical structure First, their components cannot be varied, which means that idioms do nol aecopt any replacement or

Sccond, rearrangcmnent of any constituents is unacceptable in idioms For example, shoot the breeze, the native speaker of English would find it funny and quite odd if the idiom is caughl info passive voice whenever Ihe form “Subject (agent) — Verb (action) — Object {recipient)” appears as in “the breeze can be shot” Some more instances are paint the town red (carouse and have a good time) into “the town (— be) paint red, make a splash (he successful and attract alteution) inlo “a splash ( be) ade”, feed someone a line (deceive someone) into “someone (_ be) fed” and so on It is also impossible to change the position of idioms’ components, though grammatically it is correct, such as the idiom

shake up or ship ont Shape up or ship aut (behave properly or leave!) must not get

changed by moving the second phrase fo the front of the second phrase as“

ship out or

shape up” Or if the shoe fits, wear it (admit the truth) should not be wear if if the shoe fits,

ot leave someone high and dry (abandon someone) cannot be leave someane dry and high Third, idioms resist any addition and any deletion of their clements, Look at the idiom smell a rat (feel that something is wrong) One could delete and add some elements to

emphasive the event such as “smell a million of tals” This is nol wrong in gramamalical aspocl bul idiomatiestly, it is net right, The reason is thal only the combination of Ihe three components “smet?", “a”, and “rat” could create the meaning, fee! that something is wrong

‘Thus, addition of any other words to idioms’ fixed expression is completely unacceptable

capacity of doing something) is impossible to become “can't put wards together”

Most of English idioms follow the strict roles mentioned above, though there are some exceptions Asa matter of cowse, only a small number of idioms could permit some limited changes in the parts that are not fixed and not key ones According to Hernando (1997), an idionm may be varied in tơnns of number and tense (inflectional changes) or the replacement of one structure word like an article by another or by zero Consider the example for the idiom Hold a gun to somebody's head (force somebody to do something thal thoy do not want to do by making throats)

He had to sack a lumdred workers last week He didn't want to, but the bank was holding a gun to his head

(Oxford Idioms Dictionary, 2006)

‘The past continuous is used for the original idiom hold a gun Yo somebody's head in

rogard with granunatical rulc, and “wi

third and singular,

The similar exception happens to the following instances, such as drink io somebody's health (drink to congratulate someone) could be

At the party, they drank ta the health of the chief quest

(Bui Phung, 2hanh Net Anh - 481)

‘The article “ke” and the preposition “of” have been applied to the sentence,

n the agrcoment of number with “the bank” — the

remaining the possessive adjective

Or in the eves of somebody (in somebody’ s point of view) could be in other way to

express

Jn your teacher's eves, you are intelligent

(Bùi Phụng, Thành Ngữ Anh - PiệD) Although substitution hardly ever appears in English idioms, in fact in some cases

it happens based on the similarity in both part of speech and meaning, which will be illustrated by the examples below

it’s not the reason ta make the feathers fly, dear!

(Pham Vin Binh, fue Ngữ Nabe Anh d thank Ngit Tiéng Anh Gita Hình Ảnh)

“Feather” in the idiom make the feathers fly (quarrel, scuffle) could be replaced by “fur”

to become make the fier fly without changing its original meaning “Feathers” and “fur” share the same part of speech — noun as direct object, and the similar semantic meaning,

henee, they can interchange each other Move heaven and earth and move mauntains both denole “do everything you can in order to he

somebody, achicve something’, “get” or

“pour” could replace “put” in put a quart inta a pint pot (try to do something impossible, especially to try to put something into a space which is too small for it): or “quaking” replacing “shaking” and “boots” substituting for “shes” in quaking in your boots (be very wouried or flightened)

According to Cacciari and ‘labossi (1993: xiii) “the difficulties in charactertzing idioms is one of the reasons why idioms have attained fairly little attention even though their relevance is unquestionable” Besides such anomalous features that retain non-native speakers of English from acquiring this language, English idioms is normally recognized to take grammatically commen forts

Cowie, Mackin and McCaig (1975) point out that English idioms can be classified under two general headings which are phrase idioms and clause idioms Within these major groupings are several dominant sub-categories

English idioms could be in the following clausc pattcmns:

© Verb — Adverbial, such as whistle in the dark, prey on sb's mind

® Voth — Subject Complement, snch as tum sour, sound asleep

® Verb Direct Object, such as berad she ruth, bury the hatchet

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

© Verb — Direct Object — Object Complement, such as /eave someone high and dry, paint the town red

© Vorb — Indircel Object — Direct Objcot, such as give someone the slip, feed someone «line

© Subject — Verb, such as sb’s knees ave knocking

English idioms could be

= Noun phrase, suchas somehody’s blue-eyed hay, a big girl's blouse

* Adjective phrase, such as black and blue, a bit thick’ strong

= Propositional phrase, such as an the hlink, in black and white

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

= Verb phrase, such as scare the pants off sh, get the shivers

Tn addition to the common patterns of English idioms, thers is occasional appearance of a

areat number of sentence idioms, for example:

They're all yours (passing the responsibility for somebody or the use of something

lo anothar person) You have to lang (you think thore is ñmny side Lo @ situation)

When hell freeses aver (it will never happen)

1.1.2.2 Semantic features of English idioms:

According to Jolmson-Laird (1993, p.vii), “idioms are dlogical and frustrating features of discourse since their meanings da not depend on the meanings of their parts and the syntactic relations of those parts” Bughsh idioms are nol only extraordinary in

terms of thelr syntax as analyzed but their semantics also

With regard to the lexical aspect, English idioms are considered as lexemes since

they satisfy the criteria required for beings storad in the loxioon LLexcrne is delined as “a

word or several words that have a meaning that is not expressed hy: any of its separate

parts” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7” edition) In tact, idioms cause the

confusion on the case whether or not they should have been put into lexical system due ta their abnormal peeuliaritics in terms of syntax and scmantics Unwillingly, they arc

counted for but considered to be the odd exception as stated by DiSciullo and Williams

(1987), there is nothing mors to say about them [idioms] than that (1) they are syntactic objects and (2)they are listed because of their failure to have a predictable property (usually their meaning) The acceptance could be possibly explained as fallows the criteria for being part of the lexicon is listedness, and objects that are listed have been dubbed

listemes by the authors In order for an object to be listed in the Iexicon, if must fave a meaning which cannot be computed compositionally, thus its meaning must be

“memorized” Based on the norms analyzed by both the authors for a word ar a phrase ta tum into a lexeme, an idiom is completely Lo meet the requirements of being a part of the

lexicon Take the time fo consider the example given to illustrate their point:

“Knowledge of language involves in some way a knowledge of particular linguistic objecls — for example, the word transmission and the knowledge that it (1) has a certain morphological farm and (2) refers to a part of a car; mil take to task bas a certain syntactic form and means “rebuke” To the extant that an object does not have the form or interpretation specified by the recursive definitions of the objects of the language, that object and its properties must be “memorized.”

Our overall point is [bal Tistedruss is no more intrinsically characicrislic of words thar’ it is af phrases, Some words and some phrases arz Histed, but infinilcly many

of each are not”

(DiSciullo and William, On the Definition of Word)

Jackendoff (1997) as well as Var Gesiel (1995) are in favor of the ment of

idioms as listemes As one states that an idiont is a lexical item in its right because of its

‘flog a dead horse cannot be deciphered into “to waste the effort by trying to do something that is no longer possible” by separating the idiom into “flog”, “a”, “dead” “horse” and then, joiuting the meanings of these words

According to Gill Philip (2007), the ease with which an idiom can be interpreted is based on its level of semantic transparency as well as trath conditions and other contextual cues, As regards the level of semantic transparency, an idiom varies from opacity to transparencc, An idiom is transparent if the cxpression is straightforwardly connected to its meaning, without much semantic re-elaboration, for example mind! watch your language! can easily bring out the meaning “be careful about what you say in order nol lo upset or offend someone” at first sight At the contrary level to tansparence is opacity when there

is arbitrariness between the idiom’s expression and its meaning, for example, “call the shots” bas nothing to do with “be in control” since [he relationship belween them is unxotivated and the product of conventionalization In the view of Gill Philip, it is not easy to decide whether the idiom is transparent or not, as “it is affected by the individual’s real-world knowledge, awareness of cultural norms, and general familiarity with the phrase”

Sharing the same points of view with Gill Philip in Jdioms, but Fernando makes it more concrete by classifying idioms and bringing out necessary criteria accompanied with, According to Fomando, in her book Idioms and Idiomaticity (1996), the degrce of literalness leads to the classification of idioms into pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms,

© Pure idioms are non-literal and conventionalized, therefore invariant, which means that the meaning is completely figurative The only way to deduce the meaning of

a pure idiom: is to lean and memorize

Consider:

Dog-eat-dog (a situation in business, politics, etc where there is a lot of

competition and people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed)

Get down to the nitty-gritty (slurl discussing the È

© Semi-idioms have at least one literat constituent sense and at least one non-literal

constituent sense ‘Thus invariance or pemmission of restricted variance in the

structure occurs in this kind of idioms ‘There will be a part of the idiom whose meaning can be referred

Consider

4 necessary evil (a thing that is unpleasant or even harmful, bul which must be

accepted because it brings some benefit)

“necessary” is the part that have the literal meaning “must be”

4 new man (a man who shares the work in the home that is traditionally done by

women, such as cleaning, cooking and laking care of the children)

® Literal idioms have non-literal element in their meaning, are hence Jess complicated than pure idioms and semi-idioms, Which means that the meaning will immediately be deduced ftom the meanings of every word Invariance and restriction on variance are found in literal idioms

Consider:

Take your chances (make as mich use a3 you can or your opportunities)

in avery nook and cranny (everywhere; all part of a place) Most English idioms are based on conceptual metaphor or metonyiny, which is another salient feature of idioms and known as metaphoricity, This feature explains for the case why the idiom is difficult to be controlled and mastered, The idiom cock-and-buil! story is based on metaphor, denoting @ story thal is unlikely to be trus but is used as an explanation or excuse, Sense of “a! per head” is based on the metonymy, denoting “for each person”,

1.1.2.3, Cultaral features of English idioms

Levorate (1993, p.126) assumes thal (he reason why idioms arc so intriguing is thai they engage imagination, can transform abstract meanings into more concrete ones and enrich the meaning of simple concepts Idiomatic expressions are not a restricted part of the language of popular cullure bul they exist in cvery arca of hunan communication That

is easy to make sense when idioms are the product of human interaction in communication The differences in geography, environment, means of production, national character, and nalional psychology, in olher words, the cullure bring oul the varisly of langnages in

1ã

general and distinctions of the idiom in particular ‘The distinctions of culture explain for ñgualiveness of idioms, Withoul some formdational knowledge, information, or experience and sharing common cultural references of conversational parties, the communication must be a failure as the native speaker applies a great number of idioms in his discourse, which has been su deeply inlegraled into the speaker's culture

For example the idiom according to Hoyle, it never causes any difficulties for the native speakers because they share the same culture, therefore knows who Hoyle is and immediately decode the meaning A nornative spoaker of English is in completely contuary situation if he encounters it for the first time This idiom is concemed with a fact

on an English astronomer named Fred Hoyle and his book Short Treatise on the Game of

Whist The rules and the hints lo win the game that ware given in the book wore so popular and used for long time that the idiom according to Hoyle was formed but the meaning is beyond the expression itself, denoting “in accord with the highest authority, in accord with

a strict set of rule:

chiles’ heel”, “feather in one’s cap” “fishing for information” and

so on arc the products of the British culture

Language is embedded with culture, hence the unchangeablity of idioms through the passage of lime is straightforward Some idioms may gain or loss ihe favor with the popularity, they still exist as the way culture does and there are new idioms to occur by

accident the same way new factors integrate into culture

Take some idioms into consideration lo explore haw the British culture gave birth

to English idioms or int athor words, to find oul the sources of and for English idioms

“Bigwig” 1ocans “an important person” This idiom originates from the fact on the

Bourbon kings of France, Louis XITT (1601 - 1643) who went prematurely bald and took to

wearing a wig Thus, Iislorical events are a huge source for English Tdiams Other cxanples are “according to Hoyle” “armed to the teeth” or “go AWOI.”

“Achillex' heel” (a weak or 4 vulnctable feature) based on the legend of a hero int

& mythology named Achilles The mythology (especially the Grezk mythology) can be courted as anather source “Dressed ta the nines”, “Trojan Horse”, or “benveen Seylla and Charybdis" are of the type

“One fell swoop” (all at the same time; in a single action, especially a sudden or violent one) comes ttom the play Macbeth by Shakespeare The quotation trom literature is also a popular way to create idioms William Shakespeare is supposed to be the writer who

adds several hundred to the English language and idioms as well “Salad days", “absence makes the heart grow fonder”,

the Grex

“Break a leg” (a wish of good luck, do well) is sourced from a superstition ‘The same type could be found in “te have an itchy palm’, “knock on wood”, so on

“Blow off some steam” (to enjoy oneself by relaxing nonmal formalities) is based

on some principles in science “Brand Spanking New” belongs to this case of idioms origin

“Chew the fat” (to talk about unimportant things) is originated Hom culture of other countries, namely, from the Inuit, “Armed fo the teed” is such kind of idioms

“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth” (do not be critical of a gift) is based on some experience in choosing horses I'herefore, practices are a source of idioms

‘Face the music”, “bleed like a stuck pig”, “blowing smoke”, “hack handed compliment”

are other instances

“For the lave of Pete” (be frustrated with this situation) has a reference to the

catholic Saint Peter Therefore, religion is also a source ftom which several English idioms come from, Most of this kind of idioms is from Christianily “If Mohanuned won't come to

the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed", “ninth circle of hell", “practise

what you preach” belong lo such lype of idioms

“Pushing up daivies” (lo be dead) i uslom of growing flowers

or grass over a grave Basing on folklore Lo crcate idioms is one of the sources “Know (on)

which side one's braad is buttered”, “haker's dozen” ov “heer or skitiles” are of this lype

with regard to syntactic and semantic inspects Clichés, slangs and colloquialisms are

necessary to be distinguished to avoid misunderstanding

Lis helter (o make sense of saying before analyving olher terms becanse saying is

the general term that can partly sump up other ones Saying is “a well-kuown phrase or

statement that expresses something abaut life that mast people believe is wise or true” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7” cdilion) A saying also relers Lo “something

that ix said, notable in one respect or another, to be ‘a pithy expression af wisdom or

truth” (Wikipedia.cor) it must be said that sayings are conventionalized by the

clich

popularity There arc several kinds of sayings such as aphorism, ada spigram, cpithel, gnome, aphorism, maxim, idiom, mantra, maxim, molto, platilud:, proverb, quip, sav, Witticism Of the sayings, idioms and proverbs are popular

expressions will not be considered as idioms

A proverb is "a short well-known sentence that states a general truth about life and gives advice" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7 edition) The proverb is deduced from practical experience of humanity, in other words, common sense, therefore, it can be understood literally, that means the meaning could be obtained ftom the meanings of

individual words,

ch as like father like son, nohody's perfact, or practice makes perfect Some properties are fiequently found in proverbs Firstly, it is their simple rhyme and elegant balance, consider: all's well that ends well and slaw but sure wins the race” Secondly, proverbs are oxpressed in hornely and concrole Larms as in olosed mouth catches

no flies Literal meaning, rhythm, balance, and homely expression are key points that make proverbs popular and memorable Notably proverbs can be products of other sayings A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim [fa proverb

is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism

A phrasal verb is “the combination of 2 verb and an adverb or a preposition, or

sometimes both, to give a new meaning" (Oxford Advanced Leamer's Dictionary, 7”

adition), it is used like a verb In respect of meaning, there is seemingly not much difference between a phrasal verb and an idiom, sometimes they are considered to be identical Both idioms and phrasal verbs share the common feature that is the non- compositionality, which means the overall meaning of the phrase is not the sum of its constituents’ meanings However, idioms are not identical to phrasal verbs for their visual differences between them, structure and meaning as well In consideration of the syntactic structure, the first distinction is Wit the idiam docs wat follow any fixed structures Ms structure is varied Some of which have the correctly grammatical one but some are wrong, and illogical in terms of grammatical saucture Meanwhile, the phrasal verb carries one stable structure, That is the verb is combined with one o£ two particles (@ preposition and/or an adverb) For example come through, build up, or wear off Secondly, the phrasal verb takes a small number of verbs and a small rmmber of particles to build up its fora

Whereas, the idiom has a broader source to make up ifs form It makes use of varied verbs,

between the devil and the deep blue sea”, “after a storm come's a calm” or “all roads lead

to Rome” In Lerns of sernantic

‘verbs into three types

= Literal meaning: th: incaning of the verb and the particle do not change

e.g run up the hill (the action of rumiing in the direction of the top of the hill)

* Norliteral caning; the addition of the particlo(s) crcates a multi-word verb that has

a completely different meaning fiom its components It has idiomatic meaning,

e.g run up a large telephone bill ( the increase of the amount of money)

© Semi-literal meaning; the basic meaning, of the verb remains the sane, but the particle

adds an extra meaning

e.g fly an to Los Angeles (the action of continuing to fly to Los Angeles)

One more salicnt characteristic of idioms is their figwativeness duc to the application of metaphoricity, which phrasal verbs cannot have, Underlying the hteral meaning of any idioms is figurative sense thal requires one’s thongliL dednetion, imagination, background knowlsdge and so on For inslinea, behind the clased doors Al the beginning, without knowing it is an idiom, the phrase just gives the idea of the relation

of position (behind) of something with closed doors Howsver, knowledge of mmclaphoricily cnables onc to toalive the phrase is an idiom “

sed doors” is axsuciatod with privacy and secrecy Behind closed doors is associated with something that is secret and that no one is allowed to know Basing on one’s knowledge of metaphoricity the meaning of the idiom “hehind closed doors” could parlly be deduced Wt denotes “in private, without the public being allowed to attend” In the mean while, the meaning of phrasal verbs is fixed, As for the nonsative speaker, it needs to be looked up in the dictionary and learnt by tisarl, In fact, the form of the phrasal verb could be seen in a great munber of idioms, In other words, the most common pattem of idioms is phrasal verbs such 2s “to go dawn the drain”, “to get off my back” or “to hang on somebody's words”

which are in the fortn of phrasal verbs,

17

Colloquialisms is “a linguistic expression used exclusively in familiar, informal conversation and thus nat used in formal speech, writing or paralinguistics”

(Wikipedia.com) Colloquialisms can be a words such as “y'all” (‘you-all’ is used

especially in the southern US to mean you when talking to more than one person (Oxford

Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary, 7° edition), “gonna” (going to’) or “wanna” (want 1o”

or ‘want a); they can be phrases such as “ain’t nodhin” (‘ain’t can be ‘am not / is not / are not? or ‘has not/ have not”; “nothin” is ‘nothing’), colloquialisms can be an entire aphorism, for example “there's more than one way to skin a cat” (a problem gonorally has more than one solution) One remarkable of colloquialisms is their certain geographical area Kor example the colloquialism “red up one’s roonr” (tell one to clean up his ot her

1.2.1 Concepts of Human Feelings

Oxford Advanced Lcarner's Dictionary (7" cdition) proposcs that feelings azz “a person’s emotions rather than their thoughts or ideas” ‘hus, finding out the definition of turn feelings means exploration of human emotions Tn fel, il is nol easy to define emotion specifically since emotion is the synthesis of many aspeets in which the changes

in body state is the biggest obstacle as one has his own personal state Encyclopedia online views lhl “the emotions are generally understood as representing a synthesis of subjective

experience, expressive behavior, and neurochemical activity” Izard (1977, p.4) has the similar view but makes it detailed by giving the criteria The author proposes that “a

complete definition af emotion must take into account all three of these aspects or

components: (a) the experience or conscious feeling of emotion, th) the processes that

oceur in the brain and nervous system, and (c) the observable expressive patterns of

entotion, particularly those an the face” Of the ideas of emotion, ons that briefly indicates that "the word cmotion includes a broad repertoire of perceptions, expressions of feclings and bodily changes.” (Library thinkquest.org) is easily acceptable

1.2.2 Classifications of Human Feelings

Hurran cmolion is an abstract field, complex and cannot be mare specific as il is

concerned with human state; it is thus not easy to be defined That explains for the fact that

the theorists of psychology have met a great deal of difficulty to have an exact

classification of human emotions into categories Each psychologist proposes a different classification of human emotions when he considers human emotions from different

perspectives Parrot (2001) classifies emotions into primary emotion, secondary emotion

and tertiary emotion Noticeably, the primary emotions are subdivided into six ones

Ekman, Friesen, and Ellsworth (1982) base on face expressions that are similar across

cultures in order to classify human emotions into six basic ones Plutchik (1980), emotions can be classified into eight basic human emotions which have their opposite emotion and grouped into four pairs of opposites James (1884) classifies emotions into four ones which are based on the physiological response to the event While, as for Watson (1936) proposes three fundamental emotions of humans

These classifications are shown in the table by Ortony and Turner (1990), which demonstrates the theorists and their classification of the basic human emotions

ANDREW ORTONY AND TERENCE J TURNER

A Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions

Reference Fundamental Emotions

Anger, aversion, courage, dejection,

Arnold(1960) desire, despair, fear, hate, hope, love,

Gray (1982) Rage and terror, anxiety, joy

Anger, contempt, disgust, distress, fear, Tard L971) guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise

James (1884) Fear, grief, love, rage

Anger, disgust, elation, fear, McDougall (1926) subjection, tender-emotion, wonder

Oatley and Johnson-Laird ‘Anger, disgust, anxiety, happiness,

Panksepp (1982) Expectancy, fear, rage, panic

Acceptance, anger, anticipation, Phntehik SeG) disgust, joy, fear, sadness, surprise

19

‘Anger, interest, contempt disgust, distress, fear, joy, shame, surprise

Weiner and Graham (1984) Happiness, sadness

Figure 1 4 Selection of Lists of "Basic" Emotions

‘As can be seen in the table), of the basic emotions such as sadnesy, happiness and

anger, fear is listed as one of the fimdamental emotions of humans

Fear is defined as “an emotional response to a perceived threat It ts a basic

survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stinudus” (Wikipedia.com) In

other words, it is “she bad feeling that you have when you are in danger, when something

bad might happen, or when a particular thing feightans you” (Oxford Advanced Learner's

Dictionary, 7° cdition) To put it simply, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

defines fear as “the feeling you get when you are afraid or worried that something bad is

going fo happen”

Degree of fear vaties from “mild caution to extreme phobia and paranoia and is

involved in a number of additional cognitive and emotional states including worry, anxiety, iarvor, feight, paranoia, horror, panic, persecution complex ant dread” The definition by

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gives the ica that the slales such as worry and anxiety are considered as slight degrees of fear since both the states worry (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) “the feeling of being anxious about something” and anxiety (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7 cdition) “the state of feeling nervous

or worried that something bad ix going to happen” are to some extent involved with the emotion fear Therefore, in ths study the idioms that denote the emotion fear will slide fiom the light level worry and anxiety to ultimate state dread,

Chapter 2: Syntactic features of English {dioms denoting Fear in comparison with Vietnamese

counterparts

2.1 Structural features of English idioms denoting emotion Fear

2.1.1, English idioms denoting fear have clause patterns

According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1987) as regards elements such as V(erb) and Object) that are constituents of sentences and clauses within sentences, there are seven

_ Adwerbil (V-A), @) Vah _ Complement (V-C); (3) Verb Direct Object (V-O); (4) Verb Direct Object Adverbial (V-Q-A), (5) Verb _ Direct Object _ Object Complement (V-O-C); (6) Verb _ Indirect Object _ Direct Objsck (V-O-O), (7) Verb (S-V) Resides odd cascs of grammatical

distinguishable clause types They are (1) Verb

structures, a great mumber of idioms that denote fhar follow the basic clause patterns:

q Vzrb Direct Object Adverbial Soare/Erighten sb out of their wits

5 | Verb — Direct Object — Object Complement Make sb’s blood run cold

6 Verb — Indirect Object — Direct Object Give sb the creeps

Figure 2: Original Clause Pattern and Examples of Idioms of Fear

TL cạn be seen fiom the table (hal English idioms thal indicates fear exist in almost all of the clause pattems Given the statistics are summed up from the main sources: Oxford Idioms Dictionary (2006), English — English — Viemamese Dictionary (2004), Learnenglish-Loday.com (2010), Figurative language cross-cultural and cross-linguistics perspective (2005), in 103 English idioms denoting fear, clause patterns make up 80.6% with 83 idioms while the rest accounts for 19.49% with 20 ones It is noted that the pattem that allows synonyms such as shaking for quaking bul denotes the same mcaning will be regarded as the same patter

© Verb— Adverbial pattern (V-A)

Of the clause patterns, this kind of patterns ranks third with 18 idioms accounting for 21.7% of clause patterns and 17.5% of English idioms denoting fear ‘Che following

cxamples of Fnglish idioms of fear that iTtustrale the pattern

Your eyes are wide open, your heart skipy a beat and you jump out of your skin

21

(Worldofcalvinandhabbes blogspot.com; Retrieved on 29 July 2010)

T way scared witless of going topless in my SOs but P’'m doing it

(Findarticle.com; Retrieved on 29 July 2010)

So just shake, shake, shake like a lettuce leaf

Shake it till the slugs fall off

I dread to think how many words I’ve typed this year I’d imagine there will he

many ntore next year! Hope the quality remains good-ish

(Randombits gerardmegarry.com, Retrieved on 29 July 2020)

‘The prepositional phrases an Ais mind, out af your skin, adverb phrase witless, like a

lettuce leaf, avd nou-finile verb clause ée think function as adverbial in the paler

+ _ Verb — Compiement pattern (V-Cs)

The modern English grammar allows adveibials to function as complement in the

pattem because of their necessary clause elements, without them, the clause is

‘ungrammatieal For example iato a stew in the idiom get info a stew plays the role of complement cven though il is a prepositional phrase that performs as an adverbial The

percentage of the pattem of clause ones is 24.1 and 19.4 of the English idioms denoting

fear ‘he pattern ranks second of the clause pattems with 20 idioms

Some other idioms that denote fear belongs lo the pattern

f ) And I, g0 to pieces und Iwarma hide

Go to pieces and I almost die

(Peter & Gordon, F Go to Pieces)

( )Hern is at his wits end after recently accepting yet another orphaned rhino calf

onto his farm after its mother was poached ( )

(News24 com, Retricvad on 30 July 2010) ( ) When Calvin was lost on a ip to the coo, she became sick with worry, and

was thrilled when his dad brought him back ( )

(Bill Wallerson, Calvin and Hobhes) Complement for subject is realized in varied pattems, it can be noun phrase as pieces,

adverbial complement as at his wits end or adjective phrase as sick with worry

* Verb - Direct Object pattern (V-Od

With 13 idioms the pattern makes up 15.7% of the seven clause pattems and 12.6% of

the English idioms denoting fear and ranks fourth of (he clause patterns As for the pattern,

phrasal verbs such as tear out must be considered as verbs Therefore, the clause tear

somebody out belongs to the Verb - Direct Object pattern The pattern is illustrated by the following examples

(J Lying in the straw, next (o the bodies of her grandparents and her mother, she had forn her hair out in ufis

(Fa wikipedia.org, Retieved on 30 July 2010) 2D is worried that he'll mess up and get burned, and begins to bite his nails

(Gorillaz, Phase One: Celebrity Take Down)

He takes time out to tell Mike Smith how he's sweated blood and tears over the part

(Walesonline.co.uk, Retrieved on 30 July 2010)

© Verb » Direct Object — Adverbial pattern (¥-Od-A)

With 22 idioms, the pattem ranks first of the clause patterns and English idioms

denoting the emotion with 26 5% and 21.3% respectively Adverbial could be realized in

the form af prepositional plwases such as oul of Aiv punts, adverbs such as witless and

adverbial phrases, namely down her spine Some of the phrases are demonstrated in the

following examples

Wendy, hoping to seare Peter out of kis pants, decides to load the deck and enlists

Michael's help in creating a ghostly apparition

(lin wikipedia org, Retrieved on 30 uly 2010)

Angel scares the daylights out af the Stooges, and leads them on several chases

throughout the home

(En.wikipedia.org, Retrieved on 30 July 2010)

She's horrified when Nick tells her Doty is for sale Ie shows no emotion and his

evil grin sends shivers down her spine

(Thesun co.uk; Retrieved on 30 July 2010)

* Verb - Direct Object - Object Complement pattern (V-Od-Co)

Only 6 idioms having the Verb - Direct Object - Object Complement pattem which tanks the fifth of the clausc patterns with 7.2% of clause patterns and 5.8% of English idioms denoting fear Infinitive verbs such as crawl, freeze, noun phrases such as a

(merry) dance, or adjective phrases such as worried are the forms of abject complement