A study on english proverbs denoting money with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

jj MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI NGA A STUDY OF ENGLISH PROVERBS DENOTING MONEY WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS TÌM HIỂU TỤC NGỮ T

jj

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI NGA

A STUDY OF ENGLISH PROVERBS DENOTING MONEY WITH REFERENCE

TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(TÌM HIỂU TỤC NGỮ TIẾNG ANH VỀ TIỀN TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ VỚI TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG

TIẾNG VIỆT) M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor:Asso Prof Le Van Thanh

Hanoi, 2016

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project

report entitled:A study of English proverbs denoting money with reference to

the Vietnamese equivalents submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2016 Nguyen Thi Nga

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name) Date:

My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lecturers and officers of Faculty of Graduate Studies, Hanoi Open University, who have facilitated me with the best possible conditions during my whole course of studying

Finally, I am very grateful to my parents and my friends who are always by my side in order to help and courage me

ABSTRACT

The Abstract should include the following points:

(i) Major issues presented in the thesis

(ii) Contributions made via the research

(iii) Related issues/problems left for future research

NP: Noun Phrases VP: Verb Phrases PP: Preposition Phrases etc.: Et cetera

PsDM: Proverbs denoting money EPsDM: English proverbs denoting money VPsDM: Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rational: 1

1.2 Aims of the research: 2

1.3 Objectives of research: 2

1.4 Scop of the research: 2

1.5 Significance of the research: 3

1.6 Structure of the research: 3

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of previous studies: 5

2.1.1 Previous studies oversea: 5

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam: 6

2.2 Theoretical background: 7

2.2.1 Theoretical framework: 7

2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax: 7

2.2.1.2 Theory of semantic: 8

2.2.2 Overview of proverbs: 9

2.2.2.1 Definition of English proverbs: 9

2.2.2.2 Definition of Vietnamese proverbs: 10

2.2.2.3 Features of proverbs: 10

2.2.2.4 Classification of English proverbs: 13

2.2.2.5 Distinction between proverbs and idioms: 14

2.2.3 Overview of Money 15

2.2.3.1 Definition of Money 15

2.2.3.2 Proverbs denoting Money: 16

2.3 Summary 17

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research- governing orientation: 18

3.1.1 Research questions: 18

3.1.2 Research setting: 18

3.1.3 Research approaches: 18

3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 19

3.2 Research methods: 19

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods: 19

3.2.2 Data collection techniques 20

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 20

3.3 Summary 21

Chapter 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION 23

4.1 Structural features of English proverbs denoting money: 23

4.1.1 Phrase structures 23

4.1.1.1 Noun Phrases: 23

4.1.2 4.1.2 Sentence Structures 23

4.1.2.1 Simple Sentences 23

4.1.2.2 Compound sentences: 24

4.1.2.3 Complex Sentences 25

4.1.3 Structure similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money 25

4.1.3.1 Similarities 25

4.1.3.2 Differences 28

4.2 Semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

28

4.2.1 Money proverbs about the power of money 29

4.2.2 Money proverbs about money’s effects 31

4.2.3 Money proverbs about money’s drawbacks 33

4.2.4 Money proverbs about money’s relative unimportance 34

4.2.5 Money proverbs about savings 35

4.2.6 Money proverbs about expense 36

4.2.7 Money proverbs about lending and borrowing 37

4.2.8 Money proverbs about the value of time 38

4.2.9 Money proverbs about exchange of goods and services 38

4.2.10 Money proverbs about the rich 38

4.2.11 Money proverbs about money’s sources 39

4.2.12 Money proverbs about the importance of good words 39

4.2.13 Others 40

4.2.13.1 English proverbs 40

4.2.13.2 Vietnamese proverbs 41

4.2.14 Major semantic similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money 43

4.2.14.1 Differences 43

4.2.14.2 Similarities 48

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 53

5.1 Recapitulation 53

5.2 Concluding remarks 54

5.3 Limitations of the current research 55

5.4 Possible implications for teaching and learning English proverbs denoting money 55

5.4.1 For teaching English proverbs denoting money 55

5.4.2 For learning English proverbs denoting money 56

5.5 Suggestions for future research 57

REFERENCES 58

APPENDIXE 1: 62

APPENDIX 2 68

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table 4.1 Semantics features of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money 42 Table 4.2: 45 Table 4.3 English proverbs referring to money and Vietnamese equivalents 49

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rational:

Proverbs play an important role in languages and spirit life of each nation In both daily spoken language and literary language, we often meet the use of many proverbs Proverbs help communication more effectively in ways

of simple but sophisticated expressions For example: "Time is money",

"Money tempts women, women tempt men", "Penny wise, pound foolish", etc…Expressions like these have caught our attention

Moreover, proverbs often reflect country’s customs, cultural and traditional values Therefore,it is neccessary to learn proverbs because when you know proverbs means you know country’s culture as Dr Denis Brutus, a

literature professor at the University of Pittsburgh, the USA (Pittsburgh

University, America, 1995) said: “Through proverbs, I know your point of view, the attitudes of your ancestors Each time I know a new Vietnamese proverb, I become Vietnamese a little I believe when we know all proverbs

of each other, we are brothers”

Being aware of the important of proverbs, many researchers havestudied proverbs They concentrated on analizing the syntaxtic feature, semantic feature as well as cultural feature of provebs denoting family relationship, weather, animals, etc Meanwhile, a study of proverbs denoting money has not been dealt with so far

Theseabove reasons have inspired me to choose the subject entitled :

“A study of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” as the topic of my master graduation thesis I hope

this thesis would help English learners as well as Vietnamese learnersenrich their custom, lifestyle and cultural knowledge; and improve their ability understanding and using proverbs in daily communication

1.2 Aims of the research:

This research studies the meanings of money proverbs in English and Vietnamese equivalents, and, then compare these two groups of proverbs so

as to find out similarities and differences between them in structural and semantic features of proverbs denoting money

(iii) Suggesting some possible implications for teaching and learning English proverbs denoting money

1.4 Scop of the research:

Proverbs play an important part in English and Vietnamese languages However, due to the limitation of time and knowledge, it is impossible to carry out a comprehensive study of all kinds of proverbs In this graduation thesis, only structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting money are analyzed, thus helping us to propose some possible implications for teaching and learning proverbs denoting money English

To complete the research thesis, all the material collection of English proverbs denoting money and their equivalents in Vietnamese with illustrated examples are selected from some reliable dictionaries It is hoped that the outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would be able to make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English at Hanoi University of Business and Technology

1.5 Significance of the research:

In terms of theoretical significance, the research is expected to contribute an in-depth description of English proverbs denoting money when analyzing their structural and semantic features in comparison with Vietnamese equivalents

In terms of practical significance, English proverbs denoting money are usually used in daily life, but there have been no studies dealing with the semantic and structural features of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent As a result, this research focuses on attempt to provide Vietnamese learners of English with better mastering how

to apply this kind of proverbs in sensible ways, how to thoroughly understand, and naturally use them in receptive and productive skills The study is hoped to provide an important opportunity to advance the understanding of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money and to make a major contribution to the process of teaching and learning English

1.6 Structure of the research:

The thesis is divided into five chapters as the follow:

Chapter 1, “Introduction”, provides an overview of the issues to be

covered and the situations in which the study is carried out The aims, the specific objectives, the scope, the significance and the structural organization

of the thesis are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 2, “Literature Review”, discusses the previous studies on

proverbs relating to the area of the research and presents some theoretical preliminaries that could be used as foundation for the process of conducting the research

Chapter 3, “Methodology”, present the research questions and

research approaches with various methods and techniques employed for conducting the whole thesis

Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussion”, describes and analyses the

structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents to find out and discuss the similarities and dissimilarities in term of these features expressed through English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

Chapter 5, “Conclusions and Implications”, summaries the major

findings resulted from the investigation and data analysis, presents the limitations of the study, provides some suggestions for further research and proposes some possible implications for teaching and learning this type of proverbs from English

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

There are two main purposes in this chapter Firstly, it presents a review of previous studies related to English proverbs in general, English proverbs denoting money in particular Secondly, it presents and discusses the theoretical background which guide and inform this research

2.1 Review of previous studies:

Many studies on proverbs have been taken with a lot of topics, such as, animals, family relationship, weather and etc

2.1.1 Previous studies oversea:

Written by the foremost authority on proverbs,Wolfgang

Mieder,“Proverbs: A Handbook” (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), this

reference gives high school students,undergraduates, and general readers a concise yet comprehensive overview of proverbs in world culture The volume begins with definitions and classifications of proverbs and a discussion of their origin and dissemination It then discusses several representative proverbs from around the world This is followed by a review

of scholarship on proverbs The book next looks at how several proverbs have appeared in political speeches, literature, popular culture, and everyday life The handbook closes with a bibliography of print and electronic resources and

a glossary Included are numerous photos illustrating the role of proverbs around the world

In 1985, “How proverbs mean” was carried out by Neal R.Norrick

(publish by Mouton Publisher) It focuses on the proverb as a discrete text

Chapter 4 concerns on the literal reading of proverbs The semantic analysis

of a proverb must begin with its literal reading Chapter 5 defines the standard types of figures in proverbs; in particular it discusses the various types of relation holding between the standard proverbial interpretation and literal

reading of proverbs Chapter 6 concerns on the proverb inventory It pulls together various strands of the analysis to this point, because it amalgamates surface structures, literal reading and standard proverbial interpretation along with the relation between them into inventory entries for proverbs

“The proverbs” by Archer Taylor (Cambridge: Harvard University

Press, 1931),the study of the proverb is not designed to serve merely the interests of students of the proverbs of a single country It concerns itself with fundamental problems in the study of the proverb, problems which have been neglected Although the emphasis throughout is upon English proverbs, the ordinary European languages are draw on, especially Teutonic languages for illustrative materials One of the most valuable features of this work is the formulation and clarification of proverb problems that need to be undertaken

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam:

There are a lot of studies on proverbs in Vietnam with variety of topics, such as, such as: “Tục ngữ và dân ca Việt Nam” by Vu ngoc Phan, “Khảo luận về tục ngữ Việt” by Trieu Nguyen (2006), “Giúp em học thành ngữ, tục ngữ” by Dang Them (2008), “Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ, ca dao Việt Nam”

by Viet Chuong (1995) and so on

Besides that, there are some studies, such as: “An Investigation into Proverbs with Words Denoting Humans in English and Vietnamese” by Bui Thi Hoang Mai (2011), "An investigation into English and Vietnamese Proverbs Denoting Family Relationships” by Tran Thi Thuy Ngan (2012) at Danang University, “A study on marriage-related English and Vietnamese proverbs” by Trinh Thi Huong Giang (2012) at Hanoi University

After examining the studies mentioned above, it can be seen that many linguists, grammarians, compilers of dictionary has been absorbed in proverbs A number of researchers have dealt with proverbs in many aspects but proverbs denoting money are still an open subject

So far there have found no studies engaged in the semantic features of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents This study is being implemented to find the mentioned above features, thus proposing somepossible applications for teaching and learning

In linguistics, syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences More simply, syntax can be defined as the arrangement of words in a sentence The

term syntax is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of

a language

ofgrammar.Traditionally, linguists have recognized a basic distinction between syntaxand morphology (which is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words)

Syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language statement (Semantics is the meaning of these elements.) Syntax applies to computer languages as well as to natural languages Usually, people think of syntax as "word order." However, syntax is also achieved in some languages such as Latin by inflectional case endings Syntax is understood to be the theory of the structure of sentences in a language This view has its direct antecedents in the theory of immediate constituents, in which the function of syntax is to mediate between the observed forms of a sentence and its

meaning: “we could not understand the form of a language if we merely reduced all the complex forms to their ultimate constituents” (Bloomfield 1933:161)

C.W Morris in his Foundations of the Theory of Signs (1938) organizes semiotics, the study of signs, into three areas: syntax (the study of

the interrelation of the signs); semantics (the study of the relation between the signs and the objects to which they apply); and pragmatics (the relationship between the sign system and the user)

2.2.1.2 Theory of semantic:

Whereas syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language statement, semantics is the meaning of these elements Semantics has a thousands-of-year history but the word “semantics” made it earliest entry into the Old English Dictionary only in 1890s Cliff Goddard (1998) remarks that semantics, the study of meaning, is at the center of linguistic

quest to understand the nature of language and human language abilities

Semanticsmeans the meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and sentence structure Semantics largely determine our reading comprehension, how we understand others, and even what decisions we make as a result of our interpretations Semantics can also refer to the branch of study within linguistics that deals with language and how we understand meaning This has been a particularly interesting field for philosophers as they debate the essence of meaning, how we build meaning, how we share meaning with others, and how meaning changes over time

One of the central issues with semantics is the distinction between literal meaning and figurative meaning

With literal meaning, we take concepts at face value For example, if

we said, “fall began with the turning of the leaves”, we would mean that the season began to change when the leaves turned colors

Figurative meaningis a meaning that is not literal; the meaning used is not the meaning of the word or phrase itself, but a different meaning implied

by it This meaning is dependent on culture and history This is the indirect meaning Utilizes similes and metaphors to represent meaning and convey greater emotion For example, “I'm as hungry as a bear” would be a simile and a comparison to show a great need for sustenance

2.2.2 Overview of proverbs:

2.2.2.1 Definition of English proverbs:

In the 12th century, Mathieu de Vendome (1984) stated that "A proverb

is a popular phrase, accredited by custom, accepted by the general opinion, expresses the truth that has been proved genuine" Later on, Bartlett Jere Whiting (1932, p.302) gives a quite full description of proverbs as follows:

A proverb is an expression which testifies its origin in form and phrase

It expresses apparently a fundamental truth with alliteration and rhyme A proverb has both a literal and a figurative meaning, and is defined as a popular set phrase having no author, known mostly in different languages, expressing in one sentence a principle, an advice, a genuine or assumed truth

in a general concise form

According to Mieder (1996,p.597), "Proverbs are short, generally known sentences of the folk that contain wisdom, truths, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical fixed and memorable form and that are handed down from generation to generation" For example: "Courtesy costs nothing" implies that you should be careful with your words, otherwise it will cause you some problems The proverb itself conveys an advice on human behaviors in ways of metaphors as Mieder has already defined

In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary(1995), it is said that "A

proverb is a short well-known sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advice"

From all above definitions, we can draw out some common features of proverbs that proverbs are short standard statements having mostly metaphorical meaning, which express truths, advice, wisdoms, etc…In common they have no known authors or literary sources

2.2.2.2 Definition of Vietnamese proverbs:

According to Dương Quảng Hàm (1951), he claims that a proverb itself

contains a full sense either an advice or a wisdom, etc…For example: "Cho

vay mất bạn" indicates an advice that you should not lend money to your friends, if you do so, either you will have to bother them to repay the loan which makes your friends resent you or they will not repay the loan which makes you resent them

Vũ Ngọc Phan (1998,p.50) states that proverbs are the sentences modified many times, used in many regions and handed down from

generation to generation They are short, parallel and rhythmic E.g.: "Giàu bỏ

bạn sang bỏ vợ" (Riches and reputation maybe a reason for a man to forget his old relationships)

Nguyễn Đức Dân (1996,p.358) also studies proverbs and comes to conclusion that proverbs are stable sayings in case of structure which reflect experience, opinions, attitudes of human beings towards nature and society

Most of proverbs hold figurative meanings For example: "Đi một ngày đàng

học một sàng khôn” - The proverb reflects an experience of picking up more knowledge

In short, Vietnamese proverbs are also defined with features similar to English proverbs They are short, rhythmic, memorable; metaphoric meanings; conveying advice, wisdoms, truths, etc…and transferred from generation to another

2.2.2.3 Features of proverbs:

a Structural features:

Proverbs usually appear in the form of a phrase or a sentence Proverb formation can be framed in different syntactic patterns Therefore, before we discuss the syntactic structures of proverbs, it is necessary to take a brief look

on some important concepts like phrases and sentences

a1 Phrases: The structure of a phrase consists of one or more constituents in a particular order There are five phrase types in both English and Vietnamese In this thesis, we investigate only noun phrase and verb

phrase

Noun Phrase

Noun phrases consist of a head, as Quirk et al [28, p.62], which is typically a noun and elements which (either obligatorily or optionally) determine the head and (optionally) modify the head, or complement another element in the phrase

Pre-modifier(s) + Head + Post-modifier(s)

No + money//

no + piper

a2 Sentences:Proverbs appear in a variety of different sentence types; from a syntactic perspective, these sentences may be classified into three distinct types according to the number of clauses and sub-clauses they contain These sentence types are: simple, compound, complex

The most basic sentence is the simple sentence Quirk and Greenbaum

[13, 165] defines simple sentence is a sentence that consisting of only one clause The clause patterns of simple sentences are correspondent to the seven clause types: 1 SV, 2.SVA, 3 SVO, 4 SVC, 5 SVOA, 6 SVOO, 7 SVOC

e.g.: Money talks

Money doesn’t grow on the trees

Money burns a hole in someone’s pocket

Complex sentences contain one clause and one or more subclauses; the subclauses may be adjectival, nominal, or adverbial According to Quirk [14, 987-988], a complex sentence has at least two clauses and one or more bound

or subordinate clauses

e.g.: If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master

Compound sentences possess multiple independent clauses which are separated by a coordinator (in English these are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) There is a grammatical equality in these sentences, which balances the two clauses against one another through a central fulcrum in the shape of the coordinator

e.g.:Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent.

b Semantic features:

Proverbs are a type of idioms and a special element of vocabulary Different from other types of idioms, proverbs are “truth-delivering” in semantic This semantic feature of proverbs determines their grammatical forms and functions that are different from those of general vocabulary

Proverbs have different meanings Firstly, as an expression (a phrase, a sentence, or even more than one sentence), it has a literal meaning A literal meaning is the expressional meaning deprival from the collective literary

meaning of all the words in the expression “A little learning is a dangerous

thing” The literal meaning of the sentence is the sentence-in-context meaning

of the proverb in a possible world The above proverb has the meaning with the proposition that a little meaning is a dangerous thing as an assertion This

is its literal meaning

Secondly, most of proverbs also have figurative meaning which is another word for a diagram, display, an image or illustration A figurative meaning is a meaning that is not literal; the meaning used is not the meaning

of the word or phrase itself, but a different meaning implied by it This meaning is dependent on culture and history This is the indirect meaning

2.2.2.4 Classification of English proverbs:

Different categorizations of proverbs have been proposed by different scholars

The first categorization is one outlined by Norrick (How Proverbs

Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs), who analyzed a sample of the proverbs from the oxford dictionary of English Proverbs He developed a more empirically oriented and less grandiose schematization that categorizes proverbs according to the type of figuration they use He distinguished five types of figurative proverbs: synecdoche, metaphoric, metonymic, hyperbolic and paradoxical It must be mentioned that in Norrick's words figurative proverbs have figurative meanings that differ from their literal meaning (http://doclecture.net/1-9486.html)

Milner (cited in Norrick [27, p.51-52]) offered proverb classification system based on the semantic oppositions of proverbs by using positive or negative values

Basing on the semantic oppositions like Milner, Dundes (cited in Norrick [27, 56]), however, used neither the positive value nor negative one

He showed that proverbs can be categorized into two main kinds: oppositional and non-oppositional proverbs

Another theoretical approach to proverb classification is given by

Permyakov (cited in [13, p.229]) According to him, proverbs are models of

real life or conceived situations The situations mentioned here refer to three different situation types involved in proverb usage They are the interaction situation (the situation in which a proverb is actually used), the context situation(the situation to which one refers) and the proverb situation(the situation which is contained in the proverb itself, if taken literally) In one

word, Permyakov helped to build a system of proverb classification based on three aspects: the linguistic aspect, the thematic aspect and logical-semiotic aspect

There appear to be a number of proverb classification systems However, the one that was given by Matti Kuusi will be adopted on the purpose of doing thesis because it meets our demands of semantic analysis of EPsDM and VPsDM

2.2.2.5 Distinction between proverbs and idioms:

According to Hornby (1995), in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, proverb is defined as “a short well-known sentence or phrase that

states a general truth about life or giving advice, E.g Better safe than sorry or

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” More particularly, Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverb as “a complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

It is easy to find out that idiom and proverb have much in common and

it comes as no surprise that they are traditionally studied together The first one is that both idiom and proverb are ready –made They are products of human’s thought, cultures and processes of hard working and learning They are mainly orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally accepted in daily life Secondly, both idiom and proverb are set-expressions with stable and components are not substituted Therefore, their meanings cannot be deduced from individual words but must be understood as a whole

It means that any substitutions in any components of idiom or proverb may result in unacceptable changes in the meaning of whole group, which make them nonsensical in metaphorical meaning Apart from this, most idiom and proverb use language in metaphorical way We cannot usually discover their meanings by looking up the individual words in a dictionary; their meanings must be understood metaphorically

Beside those similarities, both of them still own typical features that distinguish one from the other The first and most obvious difference lies in their grammatical structures Idiom is a phrase which is a part of sentence; thus, it is equivalent to words only Proverb is a complete sentence or a phrase expressing the whole idea

Moreover, idiom and proverb are also different in terms of their functions Proverb is a short well-known sentence or phrase that expresses a judgment, state a general truth about life or advice; it is told to contain three main literature functions which are perceptive function, aesthetic function,

and educational function For example, the proverb “Money makes the mare

go” demonstrates a remark as well as a criticism about the negative side of money Its perceptive function is to make people aware of the bad effect of money which can become the power dominating the society, even the most inanimate things The educational function is to criticize the negative side of money and urge to be aware of that ill effect And its aesthetic function is to exaggerate in a picturesque way to help readers understand the proverb easily

In contrast, idiom does not express judgments; give advice or state general truth about life, which means it does not have functions of perception and

education but only aesthetic function For example, the idiom “to eat like a

horse” merely describes the ability of eating strongly of someone because of great hunger in figurative and imaginary way, and does not point out any educational lesson or knowledge of life

In short, beside their common things, idiom is distinguished from proverb by its structures and functions

2.2.3 Overview of Money

2.2.3.1 Definition of Money

Everyone uses money We all want it, work for it and think about it

Money is an officially-issued legal tender generally consisting of notes and coin, and is the circulating medium of exchange as defined by a government Money is often synonymous with cash and includes various negotiable instruments such as checks Each country has its own money that

is used as a medium of exchange within that country

(http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/money)

The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.Any item or verifiable record that fulfills these functions can be considered as money

The money supply of a country consists of currency (banknotes and coins) and, depending on the particular definition used, one or more types of bank money (the balances held in checking accounts, savings accounts, and other types of bank accounts) Bank money, which consists only of records (mostly computerized in modern banking), forms by far the largest part of broad money in developed countries

2.2.3.2 Proverbs denoting Money:

First of all, proverbs denoting money (henceforth referred to as money proverbs) have enough criteria of a proverb, short, generally known sentences that contain wisdoms, truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical fixed and memorable form and that are handed from generation to generation Considering the following examples:

Money is the best passport (money can do anything)

Time is money (Time is as precious as money)

Penny wise, pound foolish (Thrifty with small sums and foolish with large sums)

These proverbs are different in terms of grammatical forms and meanings, however, they share the same feature: all of them relate to

monetary Therefore, money proverbs are the ones that contain the word

“money” or the meanings of which are linked to monetary as the words “gold,

silver, wealth, rich-poor”, etc

e.g.: One law for the rich, another for the poor

Gold can open any doors

2.3.Summary

This chapter consists two sections The first one has given a brief description of previous studies related to the research area, which have been done overseas and in Vietnam These are considered as a valuable source of reference The second section is the review of the theoretical background concerning syntax and semantics of proverbs, which later is employed to conduct the whole research thesis Basing on such a foundation, all the structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents will be described, analyzed and discussed in the chapter 4

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter is carried out with a view to mapping out the methods that are utilized in the whole study It consists of two sections: (1) research-governing orientations and (2) research methods

3.1 Research- governing orientation:

(iii) What are some possible implications for teaching and learning English proverbs denoting money?

3.1.2 Research setting:

The study uses data collected from both English and Vietnamese dictionaries The study is carried out in the educational environment with the purpose of helping learnersto understand and use proverbs denoting money from English into Vietnamese effectively

Beside that, the materials of the study are also colleted from different sources that related tothe main topic It took several months for gathering useful data as well as months for analizing and discussing the result from the data collections

3.1.3 Research approaches:

To reach the goal of the study, the writer uses two main research approaches They are quantitative and qualitative approaches The collected

data will be qualitatively analyzed, compared and generalized to highlight their characteristics

At first, the writersearched and collected data from different sources such as dictionaries, books, literature works and internet Second, the data will be described, analyzed in the terms of the structural and semantic features and compared with Vietnamese equivalents under a process of statistical analysis to find the answers to the research questions Finally, certain conclusions and implications for learning and teaching English proverbs denoting money in an effective way are withdrawn

3.1.4 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

The proverbs for this thesis have been collected from the most trusted dictionaries In collecting the proverbs, a largenumber of proverbs denoting money in general have been found Due to the framework of the thesis, only proverbs denoting money express the money have been selected for investigation These proverbs are categorized into groups according to their structural and semantic features, which also are the essential criteria for their classification

3.2 Research methods:

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods:

The goal of this study is to investigatethe English PsDM with Vietnamese equivalents, therefore, the writer choose the descriptive and comparative methods as the major methods

The descriptive method is used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied In this thesis, it is utilized in order to give a full account of the structural and semantic features of EPsDM And the comparative method is to find out the differences and similarities ofEPsDM with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent in structural and semantic features

The supporting methods are analytical, synthetic method and others As

a matter of fact, to investigate in details the structures of PsDM with their different components and semantic features with various nuances of meanings, analytical method is also employed, and then the synthetic method is used for grouping them on the basis of certain criteria according to structural and semantic features Moreover, quite a few of research techniques have been combined, such as statistics, componential analysis, and contrastive analysis

In conducting the investigation, setting up a regular consultancy with supervisor for a guidance and academic exchange is a critical technique to find out a right direction for doing the research successfully

3.2.2 Data collection techniques

The writer collects proverbs denoting money as the materials of the study The data is collected from the trusted sources, such as, The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (1935), Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (2008), The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs (2007) and Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam (2009), Tục ngữ Anh- Việt chọn lọc (2009), Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt- Anh tường giải and some short stories Besides, the data is also selected from internet sources

In brief, the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries of proverbs in two languages are useful instruments to collect data Google search should be accounted because a large number of relevant journals, newspapers, reference materials have been taken thanks to this tool Moreover, frequent talks with the supervisor, lecturers and experts on the field have proved to be a very useful way for the completion of the study Also, the study is carried out on the basis

of the author's personal experience

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques

In this paper, the data is investigated on the basis of semantic perspective The materials are analyzed by two major methods, the descriptive

method and comparative method, to define the similarities and dissimilarities between English PsDM and Vietnamese ones

In order to catch the aims above, data analysis processes are divided into the following stages:

Stage 1: After collecting data from different sources, the data is sorted into groups that have common features Then the writer usessupporting methods to analyze the English and Vietnamese PsDM

Stage 2: From the results in stage 1, the writer implements the contractive analysis to define the differences and similarities between the English and Vietnamese PsDM regard to semantic features

The sources for the analysis are from materials and references written by linguists in English and in Vietnamese as well as some bilingual reference books available in Vietnam This will help to make clear both the similarities and the dissimilarities between PsDM in English and Vietnamese

In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the process of doing this research has come through three major stages Writing the thesis proposal was the first stage in the process which lasted nearly two months from February to April 2016 After the proposal with draft outline having been approved, a material selection from different sources related to main topic of the paper was implemented In order to gather useful materials, this second stage was a long process to collect, sort out all the needed data and took more than four months The last stage began from July to October for analyzing and discussed the results from data collection This was also the time that the paper was completed both in form and content

3.3.Summary

To sum up, this chapter gives an overview of how to carry out the research It has two main parts The first one is research-governing orientations which present research questions need to be dealt with in the

study Two main research approaches are qualitative and the quantitative methods also mentioned in this part Moreover, this section also shows criteria in collecting data The second part is research methods which present major methods and supporting methods used in the study In addition, techniques in collecting and analyzing data will be illustrated in this part

Chapter 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION

This chapter mainly discusses structural and semantic features of English proverbs denoting money with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent To illustrate the findings, a detailed discussion with examples from the corpus is presented

4.1 Structural features of English proverbs denoting money:

4.1.1 Phrase structures

4.1.1.1 Noun Phrases:

[1] (Art) + Adj + N // (Art) + Adj + N

The examples below are the illustration for the pattern above:

The proverbs below are the examples for this pattern

Penny wise// pound foolish

[5] S+V

This kind of structure can be recognized in the following example:

Money talks

[6]S+V+O

This structure can be found in the proverbs bellow:

Money makes the man

Money begets money

Money makes money

Money governs the world

[7] S+V+C

We can recognize this structure in the following examples:

Ready money will go away Muck and money go together Riches bring care and fears

[8] S+V+A

Money doesn’t grow on the trees

Gold goes in at any gate except heaven’s

[9] S+V+O+O

This structure is illustrated in the following example:

Money is measure of all things

 Compound Sentences with Coordinating Conjunctions

Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent.

In this example, there are two co-ordinate main clauses

• The first independent clause: beauty is potent

• The second independent clause: money is omnipotent

• Coordinating conjunction: but

4.1.2.3 Complex Sentences

Put two pennies in a purse, they will draw together

• Main clause: they will draw together

• Subordinate clause: put two pennies together

If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master

• Main clause: it will be thy master

• Subordinate clause: if money be not thy servant

When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out the window

• Main clause: love flies out the window

• Subordinate clause: When poverty comes at the door

He that has money in his purse cannot want a head for his shoulder

• Main clause: He cannot want a head for his shoulder

• Subordinate clause: He has money in his purse

4.1.3 Structure similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

Giàu điếc, sang đui Tiền hết, gạo không Tiền ngắn, mặt dài

Năm tiền có chứng, một quan có cứ Một lần ngại tốn, bốn lần không xong

b Sentence structures

Sentence types of EPsDM VPsDM

S+V Tiền mất, tật mang

Tiền trả,mạ nhổ Tiền múa, chúa cười

Của làm hư nết

Tiền đến đâu mau đến đấy

Compound sentences Mạnh vì gạo, bạo vì tiền

Nhất chơi tiền, nhì giỡn tiền Tiền cưới trao tay,tiền cheo rấp nước

Complex sentences Muốn được việc (thì) phải tốn tiền

Bạc đeo đầymình chẳng bằng thông minh sáng suốt

Có tiền mua thúng thì đụng cho mòn Tiền lĩnh quần chị không bằng tiền chỉ quần em

From the above examples and analyses, we can see the similarities between EPsDM and VPsDM Both English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money use noun phrases, simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences as given above However, phrases and simple sentences are not used as much as compound and complex sentences

Sentencce types of EPsDM VPsDM

From the above examples, English proverbs denoting money are used

as simple sentences more popular than Vietnamese proverbs denoting money Obviously, Vietnamese proverbs denoting money have compound sentences and complex sentences as main structures

4.2 Semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs denoting money

Money proverbs in English as well as in Vietnamese convey plentiful semantic features They may be the power of money, money’s effects, money’s drawbacks, money’s relative unimportance, savings, expense, lending and borrowing, the value of time, exchange of goods and service, the rich, money’s sources, the importance of good words and others All of them are analyzed below:

4.2.1 Money proverbs about the power of money

It appears most frequently in English money proverbs Among the 210 English money proverbs collected, the proverbs denoting the power of money

hold 50 items (23.81%) and there are 37 words "Money” contained As a

matter of fact, everyone is aware of the importance of money To some extent,

if you have money, you can do a lot of things This is reflected very clearly in proverbs

English uses many ways to express this meaning There may be in

literal meanings such as “Hethat has money has what he wants” Or there may

be in figurative meanings Of them, the second case has a majority over the

first For example: “A golden key opens all doors”, "Money makes the mare

to go”

First, a passport is an important thing to travel abroad You cannot go

to any country without owing a passport In English proverbs, money is

compared with a passport as in “money is a passport to everything”, “Money

is the best passport”. In these proverbs, the metaphorical transference of

meaning is based on the similarity of function

Second, the Queen represents for the supreme power in England It is

noticeable that money is considered to be a Queen It means that money is

extremely powerful, too E.g.: "Money, like a Queen, gives rank and beauty"

Similarly, it cannot be denied that the monarch, the lord’s letter, the members of the parliament gather a lot of might in England Thus, English

praises the value of money in comparison with them E.g “Money is the only

monarch” , “Money will do more than my lord’s letter”, “Money is more

eloquent than a dozen members of the parliament”

Third, it is surprised that the image “A donkey” is mentioned twice in

money proverbs in order to indicate the power of money E.g.: “Money makes

the mare to go” , “An ass laden with gold climbs to the top of the castle” A

mass or an ass means a donkey which is well- known to be slow but with money as a motivation, it can go or climb to the top of the castle That is, if someone is offered money for his doings, he will do anything to achieve it

In English money proverbs, the word “The world” is mentioned a lot Among the 50 proverbs referring to the power of money, “The world” appears

the most (5 times) Usually, the world is enormous and it seems that no one can rule it, whereas money can do anything, even governs the world E.g

“Money makes the world go around”, “Money rules the world”

“Gold” also appears a lot Among the 50 money proverbs, the proverbs containing this word account for 8 items.For examples: “What cannot gold

do ?”, “Gold can open any doors”, etc

“All things”, “Everything”, "Anything” is repeated many times in

money proverbs They are used to directly denote the power of money For

examples:Money answers all things; Patience, time and money accommodate all things; Money will do anything;All things are obedient to money, Money

is the measure of all things ; Love does much, money does everything

In Vietnamese, money proverbs denoting the power of money also make up a big proportion in comparison with others (27/227) Among the 27

proverbs, 23 words “Tiền” are used Unlike English, the Vietnamese ones resort “Tiên”(A fairy) to emphasize the importance of money Among the 11 proverbs containing the word “Tiên”, there is up to 6 proverbs lying in this

part Here is the list: Có tiền tiên hay múa, không tiền ông táo chúa ra sân;

Có tiền mua tiên cũng được ; Đồng tiền là tiên là phật; Nhất chơi tiên, nhì

giỡn tiền ; Nhiều tiền nhiều bạc là tiên trên đời; Có tiền mua tiên cũng được,

không tiền mua lược không xong.

When talking about the power of money, Vietnamese chooses the word

“Bạo” which is a very effective expression “Bạo” is mentioned in 4 proverbs