semantic features of weather proverbs in english and vietnamese = đặc điểm ngữ nghĩa của các câu tục ngữ chỉ thời tiết trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---    --- VŨ THỊ YẾN HỒNG SEMANTIC FEATURES OF WEATHER PRO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-    -

VŨ THỊ YẾN HỒNG

SEMANTIC FEATURES OF WEATHER PROVERBS IN

ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGỮ NGHĨA CỦA CÁC CÂU TỤC NGỮ CHỈ THỜI

TIẾT TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

MA MINOR THESIS (A summary)

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15

HANOI, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………

ABSTRACT ………

TABLE OF CONTENTS………

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES………

P ART 1: INTRODUCTION………

1 Rationale for the research………

2 Research aims and research questions ………

2.1 Research aims………

2.2 Research questions………

3 Scope of the research………

4 Significance of the research ………

5 Structure of the research ………

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Some publications on weather proverbs and some related researches………

1.2 Proverbs………

1.2.1 Definitions of proverbs………

1.2.2 Semantic features of proverbs………

1.3 Weather proverbs………

1.3.1 Definition of weather proverbs………

1.3.2 Semantic fields of weather proverbs………

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………

2.1 Sampling………

2.2 Data collection………

2.3 Data analysis………

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ii iii

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vi vii

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CHAPTER 3: ………

3.1 Semantic features of EWP and VWP………

3.1.1 Anticipating weather changes………

3.1.1.1 Means of anticipating weather changes………

3.1.1.2 Weather Conditions………

3.1.2 Representing weather‟s influence on human life………

3.1.2.1 Weather‟s influence on production………

3.1.2.2 Weather‟s influence on human health………

3.2 Similarities and Differences between EWP and VWP ………

3.2.1 Similarities………

3.2.2 Differences………

3.3 Weather proverbs – A reliable indicator or not?

PART C: CONCLUSIONS ………

1 Recapitulation ………

2 Concluding remarks………

3 Pedagogical implications………

4 Limitations of the study………

5 Suggestions for further study………

REFERENCES………

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EWP: English Weather Proverbs

VWP: Vietnamese Weather Proverbs

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: Percentage of Semantic Fields of EWP and VWP

Figure 2: Means of Anticipating Weather Changes in EWP and VWP

Table 1: Semantic Fields of Weather Conditions in EWP and VWP

Table 2: Weather‟s Influence on Production and Human Health

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the research

Every language has proverbs Learning and understanding them is an important aspect of the mastery of language English language is no exception as it contains a large number of proverbs, which are extensively used as the wisdom of people English language learners, often struggling with a limited vocabulary, find these memorable proverbs easy to learn and fun to use Proverbs add familiarity and comfort to an often strange and stressful situation for older English learners Proverbs can capture a point of view in vivid words

We learn proverbs our entire lives - from our relatives, our teachers, our friends, the media, and our literature These classic sayings contain folk wisdom gathered through time and experience They often capture a common human experience across cultures and languages

Hence, using proverbs in the language teaching not only provides learners with rich vocabulary but also equips them with a good basis of cultural knowledge reflected in the proverbs themselves Through their keen observation of the world, hundreds of human generations have created proverbs and used them The condensed nature of proverbs allows them to be interpreted repeatedly, across time and in different situations They are interesting because they not only tap into universal themes in the human condition, such

as the physiological rhythms of the human life cycle, but they also vary in ways that appear to reflect specific cultural differences In the home and in other community settings alike, proverbs are used to pass on rich cultural traditions, to transmit folklore, and to communicate expected codes of behavior (Matthew S Kaplan, PhD, 2002, p.1)

So far, there have been a large number of researches conducted to investigate different features of proverbs as well as their applicability in language teaching Yet, most of the studies deal with proverbs in general In this paper, the researcher would like to focus only on the English weather proverbs, put them in the comparison and contrast with Vietnamese ones in terms of semantic features

Weather, as we know, has been closely associated with us since we appeared in the world Our life, our work, our feelings are often influenced by weather In the past, before modern scientific weather forecasts existed, people whose lives and livelihood depended

on the weather relied on weather proverbs to predict weather changes Nowadays, even with our access to sophisticated weather prediction techniques (such as satellites, weather balloons, super computers, Doppler radar, and a complex communications network) for production of reasonably accurate daily weather forecasts, many people still utilize common knowledge of the weather through weather proverbs because it is a simple way for them to predict the weather conditions by themselves

The reason for the researcher‟s choosing weather proverbs is that more than any other kind of proverbs, they illustrate the process human beings explore the natural world and form their world-view as well as gain experience in dealing with nature, serving their need of economic development If you know many proverbs, and have a little understanding of how weather systems work, you may conclude that proverbs tell you much about the weather Even if the proverbs are not ideally accurate, they will remind us about a weather system and help us learn and remember how weather system works More importantly, weather proverbs make us much more aware of our environment so we can observe and appreciate the many wonderful and intricate things going on in our natural surroundings Proverbs can help us understand and table out various weather situations In addition, studying English weather proverbs (EWP) and Vietnamese weather proverbs (VWP) plays an important role in interpreting and using this type of proverbs

All the points mentioned above are fundamental impetuses that stimulate the researcher to conduct this study

2 Research aims and research questions

2.1 Research aims

First of all, through the investigation into the semantic features of weather proverbs, the researcher aims at discovering linguistic values underlying the literal words

Secondly, the study is to compare and contrast semantic features of weather proverbs in English and in Vietnamese

Thirdly, the study is to equip learners with rich knowledge on Vietnamese proverbs and English proverbs in general and on weather proverbs in particular In addition, some suggestions for teaching and learning English proverbs are also mentioned

2.2 Research questions

1 What are the semantic features of EWP and EWP?

2 What are the similarities and differences between EWP and EWP in terms of their semantic features?

3 Scope of the research

As proverb is a very broad topic, under the constraint of time, experience and shortage of materials, the researcher cannot cover all kinds of proverbs but focus on weather proverbs only In addition, the researcher only concentrates on semantic features although the study would be of greater success if it deals with other linguistic and non-linguistic features of weather proverbs such as pragmatics, culture and syntax However, some aspects of culture are used to explain some different elements between two languages when it is necessary

4 Significance of the research

It is obvious that proverbs occupy a large part in almost every language It is hoped that along with the understanding of the semantic features of proverbs in general and those of weather proverbs in particular, the findings of the study can help learners employ weather proverbs more regularly, spontaneously and effectively Language learners can exploit them as a source of language units to enrich and color their writing and speaking in both academic and daily settings As regards the teaching process, this thesis can also provide such a great reference source in the subject of semantics It can help to improve teachers‟ awareness of the importance of proverbs as an inseparable unit of the linguistic system and the need to include them into the curriculum

5 Structure of the research

The study is composed of three parts:

Part A, Introduction, includes the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

research, significance of the research, and structure of the research

Part B, Development, includes three chapters

Chapter 1, Literature Review, reviews some publications on weather proverbs and

previous studies as well as establishes the theoretical background for the study as the firm foundation with definitions of proverbs and weather proverbs The distinctive and remarkable characteristics of these phenomena will also be unearthed in order to provide

a clear concept from the beginning

Chapter 2, Research Methodology, deals with the research design and procedures In this

chapter, description of the sampling, instruments, the procedure of data collection and analysis for implementing the thesis are mentioned

Chapter 3, Major Findings and Discussions, is the main part of the research, which

includes a generalization about the semantic features of weather proverbs in both languages - English and Vietnamese - and in what ways they are similar to or different from each other The latter discusses some weather proverbs that are not reliable in both languages

Part C, Conclusions, summarizes the main content of the research and draws out

conclusions This part also gives implications for teaching and learning PDW Moreover,

a statement of limitations and suggestions for further research are also indicated in this chapter Apart from that, references and appendices are enclosed for those who are interested in studying the same issues

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Some publications on weather proverbs and previous studies

Up to now, there have been many books and dictionaries on proverbs, especially on weather proverbs, but most of them focus on explaining the meanings as well as the equivalents in other languages

The books entitled “Weather Proverbs: How 600 Proverbs, Sayings, and Poems Accurately Explain Our Weather” written by George Freier was very informative and still

applies In this book, the author defines and classifies weather proverbs He also mentions weather proverbs in terms of semantic fields as well as troubles with some proverbs

“Weather proverbs” is the book written by H H Dunwoody in 1977, including Popular

Weather Prognostics by Ralph Abercrombie & William Marriott and Proverbs Relating to Animals by Dr C C Abbott Proverbs are classified into semantic fields relating to birds, clouds, dew, fish, fog, frost, insects, the moon, plants, rain, rainbows, reptiles, stars, snow, sun, thunder and lightning, trees, wind, years, seasons, months, weeks and days, and general prognostics

The collection “Weather lore; a collection of proverbs, sayings, and rules concerning the weather" by Richard Inwards comprises only those proverbs, sayings, or rules in some

way descriptive or prophetic of the weather and its changes, and does not for the most part include those in which the winds, sun, and clouds are only brought in for purposes of comparison and illustration

While weather proverb books have been published by foreign grammarians, writers, dictionary compilers and linguists, there have not been any Vietnamese books focusing on weather proverbs only We can find weather proverbs in some Vietnamese books as

“Thành ngữ-tục ngữ Việt Nam” by Thùy Linh, “Ca dao tục ngữ Việt Nam” by Thu

Phuong Weather proverbs are also collected and explained their meanings in some

dictionaries such as “Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam” (2000) by Vũ Dung, Vũ Thúy

Especially, the two books “Tục ngữ Việt Nam” (2007) compiled by Ngọc Quang and

“Tổng tập văn học dân gian người Việt Tập 1: Tục ngữ” (2002) compiled by Nguyen

Xuan Kinh and Phan Lan Huong are good reference materials to readers They collect thousands of proverbs which are arranged in smaller units according to the criteria of topic, one of which is weather

Since proverbs are almost the most interesting but difficult part of each language, some studies have been carried out relating to the various aspects of proverbs The study

entitled “An overview of English and Vietnamese proverbs: a contrastive analysis” by Bui

Thi Thuy Van, PhD (2011) investigates some resemblances, differences as well as some gaps between the proverbs in two languages: English and Vietnamese via explanations

and examples Đặng Ngọc Cư (2011) with “A Contrastive Analysis on Linguistic Features

of Proverbs through Parallelism (English versus Vietnamese)” investigates some

similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese proverbs which are in the form of parallelism

Some studies focus on proverbs denoting different semantic fields and their characteristics, but there have not been studies on weather proverbs For example, the

thesis “An investigation into linguistic features of money related proverbs in English and Vietnamese” by Luu Thi Mai Thanh (2011) or the thesis “An investigation English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting family relationships” by Tran Thi Thuy Ngan (2011)

investigate the similarities and differences of the proverbs in the both languages in terms syntactic and semantic features

Meanwhile, Ngo Thi Quynh Hoa (2011) does not study proverbs denoting weather but

she focuses on idioms in her thesis entitled “An investigation into English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather” with the aim at comparing and contrasting the

syntactic and semantic features of this type of Đỗ Thị Minh Ngọc‟s graduation paper (2010) studies weather proverbs in English and Vietnamese, but the study limits the investigation to weather proverbs in English and Vietnamese with the aim of finding out the cultural similarities and differences between two countries Obviously, this paper is the cross-cultural study only

This is the reason why I choose to investigate weather proverbs in English and Vietnamese, and more particularly, in terms of semantics to make a contrast and a comparison between the two languages

1.2 Proverbs

1.2.1 Definitions of proverbs

There are numerous definitions of proverbs According to the standard dictionary definition, a “proverb” is “a short saying in common use that strikingly expresses some obvious truth or familiar experience” (Guralnik and Solomon 1980, p.1144) The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Proverbs (1998) postulates in its introductory remarks the following definition: “A proverb is a traditional saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short and pithy manner” (Simpson/Speake 1998)

Meanwhile, Burridge, in 1981, assumed that “a proverb is a wise saying.” In the book

entitled “How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs”, a proverb is

defined as a typical spoken, conversational form with didactic function and not associated with any particular source (Neal R Norrick, 1985, p.51-55) In other words, a proverb is a short traditional saying expressing a truth or moral instruction (Geddes& Grosset, 1994) George D Freier (1992, p.6) defines a weather proverb as a short, sensible, salty statement about the weather The study of weather proverbs is known as paroemiology Mieder (1993, p.5) defines that “A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.” "A proverb is a standard statement of moral and colloquial imperatives in fixed metaphorical paradigmatic form; it deals with fundamental logical relationships" (Barley 1972, p 741)

As defined in the book "Tục Ngữ, Thành Ngữ Ca Dao và Dân Ca Việt Nam" written by Trần Ngọc Ngải, Chicago, Illinois, USA 1997, a proverb is a saying giving advice or satire According to Lê Gia in his book "Tâm Hồn Mẹ Việt Nam" (1994), a proverb is a saying based on the customs absorbed in people‟s thought and approved and used through

meaning itself and expresses an idea, a comment, an experience, an ethics, a truth or a

criticism” (cited in Tổng tập văn học dân gian người Việt Tập 1: Tục ngữ”, 2002, p.46)

He also distinguishes between a proverb and an idiom as follows: grammatically, a proverb is a complete sentence regardless of how short it is, while an idiom is a phrase or

a word group; semantically, an idiom is a part of a sentence that cannot express a complete idea by itself; as regards genre, an idiom is a set expression while a proverb

is a kind of folklore; and hierarchically, an idiom is treated as a word while a proverb

is considered to be a sentence

Most of the above definitions help to make clear the remarkable features of a proverb In terms of form, it is short and lapidary In terms of content, it expresses a truth, moral instruction, advice and traditional wisdom

1.2.2 Semantic features of proverbs

Jack Richards, John Platt and Heidi Weber (1985, p.254) say that, semantic features are the smallest units of meaning in a word The meanings of words may be described as a combination of semantic features

For example, the semantic features (+male) is part of the meaning of father, and so is the feature (+adult) but other features are needed to give the whole concept or sense of father The same feature may be part of the meaning of a number of words For example,

(+movement) is part of the meaning of a whole group of verbs and nouns, e.g run, jump,

walk, gallop

Sometimes, semantic features are established by contrasts and can be stated in terms of (+) or (-), e.g

E.g.: Child: [+human], [-adult)

Man: [+human], [+adult] (+male)

The semantic sphere of proverbs is very wide and cannot limit them The proverbs describe every branch of people's life Regarding content, proverbs usually carry advice and moral lessons which have been drawn from the real experience of life of many

generations In terms of functions, not only do proverbs have aesthetic function as they beautify the speech but they perform educational function as well It is likely that each proverb contains a piece of advice, an admonishment summarized from experience of life They criticize and satirize bad things of society They teach people what is wrong and what is right They show people way to live and to behave in life

From the semantic point of view, proverbs are classified into noticeable themes, such as Friendship, Motherland, Family, Knowledge, Beauty, Health, Work, Weather, and a lot other different subjects For example:

Friendship: Old friends and old wine are best (29: p.19)

(Bạn cũ bạn tốt, rượu cũ rượu ngon - Vietnamese equivalent (V.E))

This proverb means that the things and people that we know well are better than the unfamiliar

Family: “Spare the rod, spoil the child” (29: p.216)

(Yêu cho roi cho vọt, ghét cho ngọt cho bùi – V.E)

When raising and educating children, parents should not “wrap their children in cotton wool” A pampered child can easily become spoilt Gentleness is necessary but seriousness and discipline are important, too If you are ignorant of your child‟s mistake, you will fail to fulfill the educating function of a parent and you will indirectly spoil your child Therefore, punishment at proper time and proper place is vital for the sake of a good education

Behavior: Courtesy costs nothing but gains everything (29: p.119)

(Lời nói chẳng mất tiền mua, lựa lời mà nói cho vừa lòng nhau - V.E)

There is nothing to be lost by behaving in a courteous way A polite and considerate fellow tends to receive above-average treatment from the others in whatever circumstances whereas an impolite and inconsiderate bloke usually gets poor treatment from the others in return

1.3 Weather proverbs

In the proverbs stock exist many types of proverbs, ranging from proverbs about production, proverbs about living customs to proverbs about weather Weather proverbs are chosen to be the main topic of this study Therefore, I hereby would like to make a brief introduction of what weather proverbs are about

1.3.1 Definitions of weather proverbs

We have been attempting to forecast the weather since the beginning of recorded history Long before the invention of radar and other meteorological tools, people relied upon

"natural" clues to approaching weather For example, before it rained, some people often observed that ants moved to higher ground, cows lay down, pine cones opened up, frogs croaked more frequently, and sheep' wool uncurled Over the years, people began to notice other natural clues to upcoming weather, and several weather "sayings" grew up over the years

According to Webster Dictionary, weather proverb is empirical forecasting rules, often expressed in verse and very local in nature; generally traditional in character The usefulness of such rules varies very widely (Source: European Union) For example:

 In English: Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning

Red sky at night, Sailors' delight (25: p.270)

 In Vietnamese: Chuồn chuồn bay thấp thì mưa

Bay cao thì nắng, bay vừa thì râm (33: p.480)

In other words, weather proverb is the kind of folklore representing human observations

of weather and climatic situations These observations are gradually refined into a set of experience on how particular climatic phenomena can indicate the weather situations that follow

When looking at weather proverbs, we should bear in mind that they are usually “human experience” Many of these have a scientific basis and it can be explained why they

"work," others have no such basis but often prove to be true Because climates and

weather patterns differ throughout the world, a weather proverb based on observations in one location may not be accurate in another location

1.3.2 Semantic fields of weather proverbs

A semantic field or a field of meaning is a set of words (or lexemes) related in meaning Linguist Adrienne Lehrer has defined semantic field more specifically as "a set of lexemes which cover a certain conceptual domain and which bear certain specifiable relations to one another" (1985, p.283) Brinton (2000, p.112) defines "semantic field" or

"semantic domain" and relates the linguistic concept to hyponymy: "Related to the concept of hyponymy, but more loosely defined, is the notion of a semantic field or domain A semantic field denotes a segment of reality symbolized by a set of related words The words in a semantic field share a common semantic property” Words in a semantic field are not synonymous, but are all used to talk about the same general phenomenon A meaning of a word is dependent partly on its relation to other words in the same conceptual area

Most often, fields are defined by subject matter, such as machines, buildings or kinship relations If a passage of writing included the words “heart”, “flower”, “chocolate”,

“passion”, the semantic field would most likely be considered “Love” Semantic field is a somewhat elastic term We could group some semantic fields together into a single larger field, for example, Animals and Plants belong to LIVING THINGS In some cases, semantic fields are composed of smaller groupings called lexical sets or sub-fields Within EMOTIONS, we can identify lexical sets of words for Love, Fear, Anger, etc Based on the above opinions, the data collected in the thesis emphasize some semantic fields such as means of anticipating weather changes (climatic phenomena, animals‟ behaviors, vegetative reactions and time) and weather conditions (sunny, rainy, windy, warm, cold, etc.)

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Sampling

Firstly, 4 criteria to select samples are established: 1- the samples have to be proverbs, 2- the samples have to contain words denoting weather, 3- the samples have to imply common weather phenomena, 4- the sources from which the samples are picked up have

to be reliable

With such set criteria, the process of collecting samples is carried out Two hundred EWP and two hundred VWP from English and Vietnamese dictionaries, books and the reliable websites on the Internet are finally assembled to serve for the corpus

2.2 Data collection

The data collection procedure is comprised of two steps:

Step 1 is called the collection of weather proverbs in both English and Vietnamese In this step, the researcher refers to a number of English and Vietnamese proverbs dictionaries and linguistic books as well as some linguistic websites which contain a list of proverbs in order to pick out all the weather proverbs needed for the study Step 2 is carried out with the aim of collecting necessary background knowledge for the research A large amount

of available linguistic books are consulted so that the researcher can obtain a full concept

of all the items she is studying Last but not least, many of the previously conducted researches are referred to so that the researcher can find out what has been studied, what results have been drawn, and what is more and what is new she can contribute in her own research

2.3 Data analysis

The thesis design is based on the combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches The quantitative approach with the statistical tables and charts

is applied in order to calculate and compare the number of proverbs that exist in each

proverb stock, and in each category of proverbs The qualitative approach is applied to

describe semantic features of EWP and VWP It also consists of classification,

comparison, analysis, synthesis and generalization, which help to discover the similarities and differences between EWP and VWP in terms of semantics

Data analysis in qualitative studies is an ongoing process It does not occur at the end of the study as in most quantitative studies (Donna M Mertens, 2005, p.420) Findings are generated and systematically built as successive pieces of data are gathered

In order to successfully achieve all the aim of data analysis process, the contrastive method is carried out with the implementation of the three main stages

Stage 1: Classification

The researcher reads all the data and then divides them into smaller units In this stage, an effort is made to classify the weather proverbs into two categories The first category is proverbs anticipating weather changes The second category is divided into two sub-categories including proverbs expressing weather‟s influence on production and proverbs expressing weather‟s influence on human health

Stage 2: Describing and comparison and contrast

This is the main analytic stage First, the researcher counts up the total number of weather proverbs in English and Vietnamese, and then demonstrates it on the graphs to make a pure comparison on the quantity Next, the researcher sifts through the materials

to identify the resemblances and distinctions in semantic aspects, which are presented

Stage 3: Analysis, synthesis and generalization

After analyzing the semantic features of both English and Vietnamese weather proverbs, the researcher synthesizes all similarities and differences to make a generalization about EWP and VWP Finally, the outcomes of the study serve as a basis in offering some possible suggestions for learning and teaching proverbs

CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Semantic features of EWP and VWP

Man's concern with weather has been well-documented throughout history Humans have sought to understand, predict and control the weather In this study, the researcher would like to discover the purposes that man uses weather proverbs which are to anticipate weather changes and to show the weather‟s influence on human life

 In English

“Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning

Red sky at night, Sailors' delight (25: p.270)

 In Vietnamese

“Vồng rạp mưa rào, vồng cao gió táp” (27: p.184)

(When the rainbow is low, there will be a shower; when the rainbow is high, there will be

Based on the statistics, we can demonstrate the percentage of English weather proverbs and Vietnamese weather proverbs in the following figure:

Figure 1 reveals the percentages of EWP and VWP falling into two categories, namely weather proverbs that merely express weather changes and weather proverbs representing weather‟s influence on human life This figure shows a similarity between EWP and VWP that the percentage of proverbs anticipating weather changes is greater than that showing the weather‟s influence on human life However, there are more VWP than EWP which are used to anticipate weather changes (90,5% versus 81,5%), while the percentage

of proverbs showing the weather‟s influence on human life in Vietnamese is lower than that of in English (9,5% versus 18,5%)

3.1.1 Anticipating weather changes

3.1.1.1 Means of anticipating weather changes

Various means of anticipating weather changes can be categorized into the following main ones: climatic phenomena, animals‟ behaviors, vegetative reactions and time Demonstrated on the graph, the percentage of weather proverbs in the subgroups is shown

Anticipating weather changes

Figure 2: Means of anticipating weather changes

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EWP

VWP

Climatic phenomena Animals' behaviors Vegetative reactions Time

is followed by the sub-group with proverbs developed thanks to the observation on animals‟ behaviors with 17% in English and 22,7% in Vietnamese Weather proverbs based on the observation on time rank the third, with 15% in English and 22,1% in Vietnamese Vegetative reactions rank the fourth with 4,9% in English and 6,1% in Vietnamese The last group with the smallest number of weather proverbs is the one holding the weather proverbs built based on the experience in observing others‟ reactions

a Climatic Phenomena

Both English people and Vietnamese people often refer to climatic phenomena such as the clouds, winds, sun-moon, stars, sky and precipitation in order to anticipate a climatic change Therefore, the proverbs built from the observations of such things are included in both languages

+ Moon-Sun

It is clear that the moon and the sun were often observed for weather prognostication The color of the Moon or the Sun seems to affect the weather The red Sun or Moon announces the coming This is illustrated in the following examples:

“Không mưa thì gió, khi mặt trời đỏ như son.” (33: p.489)

(When the sun is red, either rain or wind may be expected)

In EWP, a corona or a halo around the moon indicates rainy or cold weather Meanwhile,

in VWP, the drought is predicted by a corona and the rain is predicted by a halo It proves the difference in regional climate between the two countries Below are some examples:

 In English

“When round the moon there is a burr, the weather will be cold and rough.” (16:

p.93)

 In Vietnamese

“Trăng quầng thì hạn, trăng tán thì mưa.” (33: p.508)

(When the moon is surrounded by a corona, it will be sunny; when the moon is surrounded by a halo, it will be rainy.)

In addition, it is believed that on special days, the appearance of the sun concerns the weather in the future coming days

Lightning and thunder are also signs of weather When the lightning appears, it indicates

a coming rain In addition, the appearance of thunders sometimes foretells good or bad weather

 In English

“Thunder in December presages fine weather.” (16: p.135)

 In Vietnamese

“Chớp đằng Đông, mua dây mà tát.” (33: p.478)

(The flashes of chain lightning in the west announce a coming rain)

“Sấm trước cơm sấm no, sấm sau cơm sấm đói.” (34.673)

(Thunder in the morning announces a rain, which is good for ploughing Thunder in the afternoon announces no rain or little rain, which causes a shortage of water Thus, it is not good for the rice field.)

Rainbows play an essential part in weather predictions A rainbow is an obvious indicator

of rain as it refracts the light and breaks it down into colors Rainbows in the morning to the west usually indicate approaching rain Nevertheless, a rainbow at sunset usually means the rain is about to depart and fair weather is on the way In Vietnamese, to call a rainbow, for example, we have various names such as “cầu vồng”, “mống” (partial rainbow) or “vồng”

● In English

“If two rainbows appear at one time, they presage rain to come.” (16: p.482)

 In Vietnamese

“Cầu vồng móng cụt, không lụt thì bão.” (33: p.476)

(If the rainbow appears short in two ends, there will be either a flood or a storm.)

In English, hoar frost or white frost occurs in the morning, it will rain in the next three days However, in Vietnamese, the appearance of white frost indicates sunny weather For example:

 In English

“Three white frosts bring rain.” (16: p.224)

 In Vietnamese

“Sương muối là mặt đất, ai có thóc đem phơi.” (27: p.183)

(When white frost skims the ground, it will be sunny.)

These above examples indicate that white frost is used in both EWP and VWP Meanwhile, snow, which is also one of the indicators of weather, is rarely used in EWP and it cannot be found in VWP in the collected data

 In English

“If February gives much snow, a fine summer it doth foreshow.” (16: p.196)

By observing the kinds of rain and its appearance, our ancestors could predict whether in the future Here are some examples

Cơn đằng nam vừa làm vừa chơi.” (33: p.483)

(The wind from the East often comes with a sudden heavy rain, so people need to run to avoid rain Meanwhile, the wind from the South often comes with no rain or little rain, so people can amuse themselves at their work.)

+ Winds

Based on the direction and force of the winds, people can predict the change of the weather

According to EWP, winds from the south may carry gentle rains and winds from the north

or the east often bring bad weather The following instances will shed the light on this point

● In English

“The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow.” (24: p.78)

This proverb means that winds that blow from the north often bring cold weather with them

“When the wind is in the East, „tis neither good for man nor beast.” (36)

Conversely, a westerly wind is the opposite of an easterly wind; it indicates fair or clear weather For instance:

“The wind in the west, is always best.” (24: p.83)

However, according to VWP, winds from the east often precede rainy or stormy weather The following examples illustrate this point

● In Vietnamese

“Mùa nực gió Đông thì đồng đầy nước.” (33: p.493)

(If the east wind blows in the hot season, the fields will be full of rainwater.)

+ Clouds

By learning about and watching clouds, a careful observer can make a fairly reliable prediction of what the weather will do within the next hours or days Both in English and Vietnamese proverbs, clouds are classified by their shape, height or color

Color of the clouds is one of the most popular indicators helping people predict the rainy weather

 In English

“At sunset with a cloud so black,

A westerly wind you shall not lack.” (16: p.103)

 In Vietnamese

“Mây xanh thì nắng, mây trắng thì mưa.” (33: p.491)

(Blue clouds announce a coming sunny day; white clouds announce a coming

 In English

“The higher the clouds, the better the weather.” (36)

 In Vietnamese

“Mây kéo xuống biển thì nắng chang chang,

Mây kéo lên ngàn thì mưa như trút.” (33: p.491)

(Clouds going to the sea expect a sunny day, and clouds going to the mountains expect a heavy rain.)

+ Stars

People, especially fishermen often consider stars as one of the important means of anticipating tomorrow‟s weather by observing their number in the sky The number of the stars in the sky as well as their twinkling can be observed to forecast weather conditions When the sky seems very full of stars, it will be sunny, but when there are few stars on the sky, it will be rainy

 In English

“Numerous falling stars presage wind next day.” (24: p.71)

 In Vietnamese

“Sao ló trời nắng, sao vắng trời mưa.” (33: p.501)

(Dense stars announce a sunny day and sparse ones announce a coming rain)

+ Sky

There are many WP based on sky color to forecast weather in the morning or in the evening The color of the sky carries a wealth of information about the weather There are many proverbs based on sky color in the morning or in the evening For instance, a red sky means rain or dry weather according to the time of the day it occurs: a red sky in the evening signals fair weather to follow while a red sky in the morning predicts bad weather We illustrate this in most of the following examples:

● In English

“Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning

Red sky at night, Sailors' delight (25: p.270)

● In Vietnamese

“Ráng vàng thì gió, ráng đỏ thì mưa.” (33: p.499)

(Yellow sky announces a wind; a red one expects a rain.)

b Animals‟ Behaviors

Animals play a significant part in weather proverbs, with their behavior being interpreted

to indicate weather proceedings.Kinds of animals included in weather proverbs are birds (geese, seagulls, crows, and magpies), insects (dragonflies, crickets, ants, bees, flies, and spiders), mammals (squirrels, cows, cats, dogs,), reptiles/amphibians/fish (frogs, toads) + Birds

Birds can be greatly affected by changes in the weather Depending on how low our feathered friends are flying, we can gauge how bad the weather is going to be It has been said that if birds are flying high, the weather is clear Nevertheless, if they are flying closer to the ground, the air pressure of a storm system is causing them pain at higher altitudes

 In English

“Seagull, seagull, sit on the sand,

It's a sign of rain when you are at hand.” (35)

Seagulls are, of course, a sort of seabirds They are friends of English sailors They help sailors to predict good weather for their sails and bad weather to avoid Added to this, they are a good signal of the land Once sailors see many seabirds flying around, they can know for sure that they are approaching the land and their sails have safely ended

The followings are some more kinds of birds which are mentioned in weather proverbs:

 In English

“When the peacock loudly bawls,

 In Vietnamese

“Én bay thấp mưa ngập bờ ao,

Én bay cao mưa rào lại tạnh” (33: p.487)

(If swallows fly low, washing-boards by pond side will be submerged by rainwater If swallows fly high, the shower will come out.)

“Quạ tắm thì ráo, sáo tắm thì mưa.” (33: p.498)

(If ravens have bath, it will be sunny, but if blackbirds have bath, rain may be expected.) + Insects

A lot of weather proverbs over the years have made claim that insects can predict the weather and that by observing the insects, we humans can make better decisions on how

to dress, what crops to plant or whether to water the lawn or not

 In English

“When ants travel in a straight line, expect rain; when scattered, expect fair weather.” (37)

 In Vietnamese

“Kiến đen tha trứng lên cao,

Thế nào cũng có mưa rào rất to.” (33: p.489)

(When black ants take their eggs to the upland, there will certainly have a heavy shower.) + Mammals

You also can predict weather and other natural events by paying close attention to how mammals around you are behaving For example, it is going to rain when cats start cleaning the backs of their ears; a storm is approaching when cows lie down on the ground or dolphins come to sheltered bays; an earthquake is imminent when pets like

dogs and cats get agitated and start moving around randomly, or cows and horses start making noises and running towards open spaces

+ Reptiles/ambiphians/fish

Reptiles and amphibians are ectothermic, meaning that their body temperature is determined by their environment In order to keep their body in the right temperature range (thermoregulation), they have to move to a warmer area to warm up or a cooler area

to cool down Therefore, much of the behavior of reptiles and amphibians is directly related to the weather The following proverbs refer to some reptiles and amphibians to predict weather

“Cá ngoi mặt nước là trời sắp mưa.” (33: p.476)

“Ốc nổi bờ ao, mưa rào sắp tới.” (27: p.182)

These three proverbs indicate that the coming rain is followed by the oppressive weather and reduced oxygen Therefore, in order to breathe or to catch the air, fish often come up

to the water surface of the pond, and shellfish often appear on the bank of the pond

In general, both English people and Vietnamese people observe the reaction of small animals or insects that are familiar in their neighborhood However, in Vietnamese proverbs, they are often frogs, crows, and crane The animal images in English weather proverbs are also very copious There includes a wide range of animals, from small insects like bees and ants, to even bigger ones like cows, mares, dogs and cats They observe the behaviors of ants, bees, dogs and cats because they are such close and familiar animals that can be seen in any place and at anytime of their daily life They also refer to the image of cows as this kind of animal are very acquainted with English farmers

c Vegetative reactions

The behavior and actions of some plants may correspond to atmospheric changes The leaves of some trees curl or show their undersides or backs to stand rain while other trees wear thicker clothes (outer coverings), yet others take various shapes, to endure the bitter chill of winter:

 In English

“When leaves show their backs (or undersides), it will rain.” (1: p.792)

“If corn husks are thicker than usual, a cold winter is ahead.” (1: p.792)

“If clovers draw the leaves together and bend, expect bad weather.” (1: p.792)

 In Vietnamese

“Trời đang nắng, cỏ gà trắng thì mưa.” (33: p.509)

(When Bermuda grass becomes white while it is sunny, an immediate rain is expected)

“Lá tre trôi lộc, mùa rét xộc đến” (33: p.489)

However, vegetative reactions seem not to be reliable hints for the forecast of a change in the weather, so the people in both countries rarely look at them to guess the forth-coming climatic situations

d Time

It is clear that the weather condition can be predicted based on time that it occurs or by the weather at another time In both English and Vietnamese languages, elements like months, dates or even hours are referred much in weather proverbs

● In English

“Thunder in spring, cold will bring.” (24: p.15)

“A warm January, a cold May.” (16: p.307)

● In Vietnamese

“Tháng sáu heo may, chẳng mưa thì bão.” (33: p.506)

(The slight wind in June expects a rain or a storm.)

“Mưa chẳng qua ngọ, gió chẳng qua mùi.” (33: p.494)

(The rain does not last beyond midday; there will always be a lull at 3 o‟clock in the afternoon.)

The weather on some holidays foretells the weather of the coming days

● In English

“A windy Christmas and a calm Candlemas are signs of a good year.” (24: p.39)

“If it rains on July 10th, it will rain for seven weeks.” (16: p.310)

● In Vietnamese

“Ông tha nhưng bà chẳng tha, còn sợ cái bão mồng ba tháng mười.” (27: p.182)

(Storm may occur on 3 October.)

“A sound in air presaged approaching rain,

And beast to covert scud across the plain” (24: p.91)

● In Vietnamese

“Ao tù vẩn đục mà hôi, bọt nổi lên nước là trời sắp mưa.” (33: p.475)

(When ditches are more offensive and soap is covered with moisture, a rain is expected.)

“Đá đổ mồ hôi, mưa trôi đầy đồng.” (27: p.179)

(The moist exudation from the stones indicates rain.)

In short, means of anticipating weather conditions applied to many weather proverbs in both languages makes these proverbs more vivid and more interesting

3.1.1.2 Weather Conditions

The three important things in human life are food, shelter and cloth These three things change from place to place depending upon the weather that prevails there Now we can understand how the weather affects the human life Predicting weather conditions will help us adjust our daily schedules The weather conditions in the paper are categorized as follows:

Table 1: Semantic fields of Weather Conditions in EWP and VWP

“Mùa nực gió Đông thì đồng đầy nước.” (33: p.493)

(If the East wind blows in the hot season, the fields will be full of rainwater.)