A study on english idioms containing the verb “have” with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

This paper is to study semantic and syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and the Vietnamese equivalent verb “có”.. 20 Chapter 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” WITH REFERENCE TO

THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỨA ĐỘNG TỪ “HAVE” TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG

VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

LE THI DUYEN Field: English Language Code: 60220201

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” WITH REFERENCE TO

THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CHỨA ĐỘNG TỪ “HAVE” TRONG SỰ LIÊN HỆ TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG

VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT)

LE THI DUYEN

Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh

Hanoi, 2017

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE”

WITH REFERENCE TO THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English

Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been

used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

(Signature and full name)

Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Thanh

Date:………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis

First of all, I am deeply indebted to my beloved supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr

Le Van Thanh for the invaluable support, enthusiastic guidance, and

encouragement he gave me throughout my research I am truly grateful to him for his advice and suggestions right from the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage Without his untiring patience in reading the manuscript and clarifying my ideas, the thesis would have never been in the current shape

Secondly, I would like to give our thanks to all lectures of Postgraduate Faculty at Hanoi Open University for their valuable teaching and tremendous assistance that have enlightened my study path

Thirdly, I am also indebted to the field workers who were kind enough to tolerate the painstaking task of collecting the data Then my thanks also sent to my classmates at the Master Course Class who have taken time and trouble to alert me

to errors in my thesis and provided me with useful data on which this thesis is based

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to family members whose support and encouragements have greatly contributed to the completion of my study For my little experience and knowledge, I would like to receive more useful comments from lectures and others

ABSTRACT

Idioms are used regularly and naturally in everyday communication, however, the inner meaning of the concept of idioms is still unclear to a lot of people Therefore, The author thinks a study on the subject of idioms in Vietnamese and English is helpful for improving the knowledge of language learners, as well as the students learning English in general This paper is to study semantic and syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and the Vietnamese equivalent verb “có” We have used the combination of descriptive and comparative methods in this study Moreover, both qualitative and quantitative analysis is made use of investigation 536 samples in English and Vietnamese from various linguistic books, dictionaries, short stories, novels and newspapers The findings show that idioms containing the verb “have” have remarkable syntactic and semantic features and that there are some similarities and differences between the two languages We also dealt with the implications for teaching idioms containing the verb “have” as well as for further study And understanding the meaning of idioms in general and idioms containing the verb “have” in particular is the first difficulty of learners and the second one is the way of using idioms in each specific context Idioms are classified in different groups in which the author chooses English idioms containing

the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” to be my subjects

as they occupy a significant role and have special structure, is an appropriate

subject for a study

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EIVH: English Idioms containing the Verb “Have” VIVC: Vietnamese Idioms containing the Verb “Có”

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1 A statistical summary of syntactic features of EIVH and VIVC 32

Table 3.2 Frequency of semantic fields of EIVH and VIVC 47

Figure 1: The necessity of learning EIVH and English idioms 51

Figure 2: Students‟ difficulties when learning EIVH and English idioms 52

Figure 3: Methods to motivate students in learning EIVH and English idioms 53

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

List of tables and figures v

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Scope of the study 2

1.6 Significance of the study 2

1.7 Design of the study 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Previous studies 5

2.2 Review of theoretical background 6

2.2.1 Theories of syntax 6

2.2.2 Theories of semantics 8

2.3 Overview of idioms 10

2.3.1 Definition of idioms 10

2.3.2 Feature of idioms 13

2.3.3 Idioms and other language units 15

2.4 An overview of verbs 18

2.4.1 The verb “have” in English 19

2.4.2 The verb “có” in Vietnamese 20

2.5 Summary 20

Chapter 3: SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “CÓ” 21

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” 21

3.1.1 The structures of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” 26

3.1.1.1 Comparative structures 26

3.1.1.2 Metaphorically descriptive structures 28

3.1.2 Comparison between English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có”in terms of syntactic features … 30

3.1.2.1 Similarities … 30

3.1.2.2 Differences 30

3.2 Semantic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” 33

3.2.1 Symbolic characteristics of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” 33

3.2.1.1 Metaphor 33

3.2.1.2 Metonymy 34

3.2.1.3 Metaphonymy 35

3.2.1.4 Hyperbole 36

3.2.1.5 Simile 37

3.2.1.6 Symmetry 38

3.2.2 Semantic fields of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” 39

3.2.2.1 Human Relationships 39

3.2.2.2 Behaviors and Attitudes 40

3.2.2.3 Human States and Feelings 41

3.2.2.4 Knowing and Understanding 42

3.2.2.5 Business - Work - Job 42

3.2.2.6 Health 43

3.2.2.7 Human personality 43

3.2.2.8 Experience and perception 44

3.2.2.9 Success - Failure 45

3.2.2.10 Situation 45

3.2.2.11 Like and dislike 46

3.2.3 Comparison between English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” in terms of semantic features 46

3.2.3.1 Similarities 46

3.2.3.2 Differences 47

3.3 Summary 48

Chapter 4: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” AND ENGLISH IDIOMS FOR THE FRESHMAN IN THANH HOA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND

FORESTRY 49

4.1 Survey questionnaires 49

4.2 Difficulties of the freshman in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry in learning idioms containing the verb “have” and English idioms 50

4.3 Some suggestions for teaching English idioms containing the verb “have” and English idioms 52

4.4 Summary 57

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 58

5.1 Recapitulation 58

5.2 Concluding remarks 58

5.3 Limitation of the study 59

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 59

REFERENCES 60

APPENDIX 1 63

APPENDIX 2 75

APPENDIX 3 80

APPENDIX 4 82

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study

Idioms are considered interesting and popular phenomena of almost all languages They show the way people perceive and react to the world they inhabit Being able to master idioms is almost essential if we want our English to sound more native-like and less awkward Mastering those tricky idioms will also help better understand native English speakers

Theoretically, being aware of the importance of idioms in daily interaction as well as in learning language, a lot of books and dictionaries have brought us with great benefit For example, in “ Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie, Mackin & McCaig, “ Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukal and Milida , “ Essential Idioms in English” by Dixon, “ Idioms and Idomaticity” by Fernando and Chitra, “ Idioms Structures in English” by Makkai, “ English Idioms and How to use them”

by McMordie, etc

Practically, a lot of researchers have made efforts to study issues and aspects

in this field; they have concentrated on analyzing idioms in syntactic, semantic and some cultural features in idioms denoting color, human body parts or numbers, etc However, an investigation into idioms containing verb “have” has not been dealt with so far As a result, on the basis of the results of the previous studies, the research titled “A study on English idioms containing the verb “have” with

reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” are dealt However, we are not going to

study all idioms relating to all verbs, we just focus on idioms containing the verb

“have” in English and idioms containing the verb “có” in Vietnamese

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The thesis aims at investigating the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent verb “có”, thus suggesting some possible implications for teaching idioms containing the verb “have” for the freshman students in Thanh Hoa College

of Agriculture and Forestry

To achieve the mentioned aims above, the following objectives can be put forward:

- To investigate syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb

“có”;

- To find out the similarities and differences of English idioms containing the verb

“have” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb

“có”;

- To suggest solutions enabling to teach English idioms containing the verb “have”

idioms in particular and English idioms in general for the freshman students in

Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry more effectively and exactly

1.3 Research questions

- What are the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the verb “have”

in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms containing the verb

“có”?

- What are the similarities and the differences between English idioms containing

the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” in terms of

syntactic and semantic features?

- What are the implications for teaching English idioms containing the verb “have”

idioms in particular and English idioms in general for the freshman students in

Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry?

1.4 Methods of the study

The methods of research are determined by object of the research In this

study, we have used the combination of descriptive and comparative methods

Descriptive method was dealt with in the first stage of the research The

idiomatic expressions were described with the help of dictionaries to obtain their

structural and semantic features as well

Comparative method was employed to find out the similarities and differences

in the ways English and Vietnamese people use these idioms in speech and writing

Moreover, this was also a combination of qualitative and quantitative method

We collected and analyzed both qualitative and quantitative data on the purpose of

finding out the relationship of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing

the verb “have” in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalent idioms

containing the verb “có”

Data collection: The study was only deal with English idioms containing the

verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” Together with limited

scope of the research mentioned in this chapter, the data was taken mainly from:

- “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by A.P Cowie et al, 1994

- “NTC‟s English Idioms Dictionary” by Richard A.Spears, 1994

- “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Christtine Ammer, 2006

- “Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam” by Nguyễn Lân, 2003

- “Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” by Nguyễn Lựu, 2002

- “Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” by Viện ngôn ngữ học, 1995 The number of samples being investigate in the research was about 371 idioms containing the verb “have” in English and 165 idioms containing the verb

“có” in Vietnamese These samples were of different genres and register: English and Vietnamese idiom dictionaries, fiction as well as non – fiction, novels, short stories, magazines, newspapers

1.5 Scope of the study

The researcher does not have much ambition to cover all idioms containing all verbs in the two languages because there are quite a lot of ways used

the verbs such as the verbs do, make, take, get,… in English This research,

therefore, is restricted to idioms containing the verb “have” Specifically, the writer

would like to pay attention to idioms containing the most typical verb “have” in

English and idioms containing the equivalent verb “có” in Vietnamese

The study focuses on studying syntactic and semantic features of EIVH and VIVC (with 371 EIVH and 165 VIVC taken from both English and Vietnamese dictionaries of idioms, many examples from books, fiction, websites, magazines, etc.) so as to make crucial contributions to the field of linguistics and give some suggestions for teachng EIVH and English idioms for Vietnamese students in general and the freshman in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry in particular

1.6 Significance of the study

The research is expected to contribute an in - depth description of English

idioms containing the verb “have” (EIVH) in terms of syntactic and semantic features with reference to Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” (VIVC) for

theoretical significance, thus making a certain contribution to teach Vietnamese

learners, and especially freshman students in Thanh Hoa College of Agriculture and Forestry understand and use effetcively EIVH in particular and English idioms in general for practical significance

1.7 Design of the study

The study will include five chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, states the background to the situation, the problems under investigation and justification Also, in this chapter, the rationale for the study, aims and objetcives of the study, research questions, methods of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study and design of the study are presented Chapter 2, Literature review, provides a brief literature review of the prior researches which have some similarities with the study or are closely related to the field being investigated It also provides the theoretical background about some concepts related to the study

Chapter 3, Syntactic and semantic features of EIVH and VIVC, shows what have been found and how they are analyzed The features are accompanied by statistical results and the analysis of the data shown in the tables The most

importance in this chapter is the discussion of the data colletcion and analysis

Chapter 4, Some implications for teaching EIVH and English idioms exactly for students in Thanh Hoa College Agriculture and Forestry

Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides a summary of the development of the study, a brief re-statement of the findings Also, the recapitulation, concluding remarks, the limitations of the study and suggsetions for further studies are cited here

CHAPTER 2:

LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Up to now, there have been a number of studies on different kinds of English and Vietnamese idioms, verbs and related subjetcs The descriptions and analyses are based on the starting point from Chomsky The other descriptions of syntactic and semantic views are through different ages in the history of linguistics as Bullokar in “Brief Grammar for English” (1785).The description makes further progress to the view of Fowler in “English Grammar” (1857), then Sweet in “New English Grammar” (1891)

Palmer (1990) said that idioms are the consequences of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning of the words themselves Semantically, idioms are single units, but they are not single grammatical features and the problem of idioms involves the much wider issue of word formation, by which what would appear to be new and more complex lexemes can be formed from single ones

Cruise (1987) mentioned the traditional definition of idioms as “a lexical complex which is semantically simplex” According to him, “most idioms are homophonous with grammatically well-formed transparent expressions” Besides,

he made the conception of idioms in his book more clearly by distinguishing idioms from collocations and “dead” metaphor

Idioms have also been the subjetc of study, essay and research by many other linguists: Flavel (1994), Collins (1957), etc The interest in idioms cast back a perception of the universality of prefabricated- memorized combination in spoken and in written language Since 1990s, idioms have been studied in relation with their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic functions Linguists have begun to concentrate on the difficulty of understanding idioms in general in terms of meanings of their components

In Vietnamese, idioms have been recognized, colletced and explained systematically A lot of works have been done to make colletcions of Vietnamese idioms in comparison with those in other languages such as English, French, Russian, etc…It should be noticed about the works of Đỗ Hữu Châu (1981), who

wrote “Từ vựng - Ngữ nghĩa Tiếng Việt” In this book, the author analyzed

Vietnamese idioms and showed their semantic and syntactic features Nguyễn Lân

colletced a number of Vietnamese idioms in “ Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt

Nam” (2005) Nguyễn Nhã Bản was best known with “Đặc trưng cấu trúc ngữ nghĩa của thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong ca dao” (2005)

Besides, there have been some other papers which dealt with idioms related

to animals, human body parts, numbers, spatial verbs, These were done by Nguyễn Thị Hiệp (2001), Võ Thanh Quyên (2006)

Recently, there have been some research papers that have close relationship

with the thesis such as: “ A Study of “To Have” and Vietnamese Equivalent” by Nguyễn Bích Ngọc, Vinh University (2008); “ Semantic Features of English and

Vietnamese Idiomatic Verb Phrases” , by Nguyễn Văn Long, Vinh University

(2001), etc

However, the investigation into EIVH has not been carried out yet Therefore, through the reading of those works in English and Vietnamese, I would like to make a systematic description and analysis of EIVH and VIVC in terms of syntactic and semantic features A system of information about EIVH together with

my realization and analyses is just a small part in this field of linguistics Moreover,

a study on EIVH and VIVC is still a deserted field that needs to be exploited to keep up with and fulfill the demands in teaching idioms for EFL students in Vietnam

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Theories of syntax

The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek word In linguistics, syntax is a colletcion of rules, standards as well as methods which regulate the structure of sentences in a certain language, specificially order of words (Oxford University Press, 2014)

The word of syntax had been written long before modern grammar official fixed and appeared In old times, syntax concept was ruled by a structure name by grammaire générale which was discovered by Antoine Arnauld in “Grammaire Générale” in 1660 This framework states that human brain thinking processes will refletc straightly into language As a result “there is a single, most natural way to express a thought” (Antoine, 1660) That framework lasts until the 19th

century which been replaced by the development of linguistics and by the argument of progresssive linguists They recognize that it is not true about the state “there is a single, most natural way to express a thought” because of the impact of internal and

external environment on human thinking And so thelogic base for studying

language‟s structure had been denied (Bickerton, 1992)

It only became clear when linguists discovered aand adapte modern theories

of syntax in the late 20th century The famous work “generative grammar” of professor Noam Chomsky is considered as the most popular framework to study and analyze about syntax with the main hypothesis that “language is a configuration

of the human mind” and “syntax is based upon the component structure of sentences”, following the concept that syntax features certainly focus on the

arrangement of a sentence more than its communication purposes (Chomsky, 2002) 2.2.1.1 An overview of predicator adjunct and complement

a Predicator Complement (Cp)

According to Downing and Locke (1995), the term „Predicator Complement‟

is used to refer to any obligatory constituent that is not classed as an Objetc

Types of Predicator Complement

Certain verbs take an obligatory complement but do not passivise or, if they do, the same relationship is not maintained They include:

- The constituent following the relational verbs as have, possess, lack, suit, contain, resemble and fit

- The constituent following verbs of measure as measure, cost, take, weigh

- The constituent following verbs of equal reciprocity as marry, resemble

- The constituent following verbs of movement with the manner as slip creep, slide,…

Realization of the Predicator Complement:

The Predicator Complement can be realized by norminal group, prepositional group, finite clause, and non-finite clause For example:

I have no money

He crawled under the wire - netting

She complains that he doesn‟t write

Tom trust us to let him know the result

b Adjunct (A)

The Adjunct is an optional element of clause structure which can be omitted without affetcing the grammaticality of the clause In the following example, the bracket items are Adjuncts:

(If at all possible) I‟ll see you (tomorrow) (after the show) (with Pete and Susan(outside the main entrance)

The Adjunct element is prototypically realized by prepositional groups and adverbial groups In grammars based on constituency, it is held that adjunct can be realized by almost any class of unit except the verbal group and adjetcive group The following examples illustrate the wide range of forms and meaning traditionally associated with the adjunct element in English:

Did you do that on purpose?

He wrote quickly, in order to finish in time

non- finite clause

Are you going abroad this year?

nominal group

2.2.2 Theories of semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in language It primarily focus on the correlation between the symbolic constistuent of a sentence such as words and phrases and what they demonstrate for, their references First discovered by French linguist Michel Breal, the word semantics relates series of awarenesses from normal using to higher application In simple meaning, itdescribe a range of understanding which could carry out the word choice According to Breal (1890), the difference between semantics and syntax is syntax is just an formal arrangement of constistuents of alanguage without their own meanings, while semantics requires the critical meaning for every use of words

There are many theories of semantics which has been studied and analyzed for centuries and they could generally classified into three basic concepts:

Model theoretic semantics: Discovered by Richard Montague in the late 1960s, this formal theory of ordinary language semantics is about how and in which expressions refletc their relational meaning among themselves And more amazingly, the truth values of a sentence and its reasonable denotations to other sentence are analyzed to a model (Montague, 1960)

Truth conditional semantics: First mentioned by the linguist Donald Davidson in 1973, the theory tries to find the language connetcion with the reality which differenates it from model theoretic semantics Its result shows that every components of a sentence must rely and refletc the truth conditions of themselves in order to carry out the true meaning of the combination There is a simple example for this theory: “Winter is cold” is true only when winter is cold, if two conditions

of the meaning “winter” and “cold” are not logical with each other then the semantics could not be performed

Lexical semantics: is the theory of context It states that the meaning of a word is totally revealed by its situation Each component of the sentence mus collaborate with others in terms of meanings which could depend on their own level and form in order to carry out the meaning of the sentence As a result, it would be easier for the speakers to convenient delivertheir thoughts depending the current

context (Levin, 1991)

2.2.2.1 Metaphor

As claimed by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) “A metaphor consists of a comparison between two dissimilar notions where one notion is to be understood in term of the other notion Metaphor is seen not just as a linguistic embellishment, but also as a primary means by which people make sense of the world around them Therefore it is not surprising that metaphor is mainly used in the meaning transfer

of idioms Idioms, therefore, are formed by a process of metaphorical transfer; that

is, the process involved in the transference of some quality from one objetc to another

2.2.2.2 Metonymy

Metonymy is the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another to

which it is related or with it is associated (In Greek, meta- means „substitution‟ and – onyma means „name‟) According to Galperin, (1977), metonymy is based on a

type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on affinity, but on some kind of association connetcing the two concepts with these meaning represent

number of idiomatic phrases to find out whether metaphor and metonymy can be joined and underlie some idiomatic phrases He shows that metonymy can be at the root of the metaphor, when „the donor domain and the target domain can be joined

in a complex scene, in which they produce a metonymy Also, metonymy can exist within metaphor, when „a metonymically used entity is embedded in a (complex) metaphorical expression, the metonymy functions within the target domain‟

2.2.2.4 Hyperbole

From Galperin‟s viewpoint (1977), “Hyperbole is delibrate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the objetc in question to such a degree as will show its utter absurdity” This stylistic device is used in meaning transfer of idioms

2.2.2.5 Simile

According to Alan Cruse (2006), A simile involves an explicit comparison

between two things or actions The majority of similes include the word like: You

are behaving like a spoit child, Their house is like a renaissance palace As if is also

quite frequent: He treats her as if she were a delicate piece of porcelain Normally

the relevant features of resemblance signalled by a simile are quite circumscribed, and its wording frequently serves to narrow down the possibilities

2.2.2.6 Symmetry

Symmetry (from Greek συμμετρία symmetria "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance Although these two meanings of "symmetry"

can sometimes be told apart, they are related, so they are here discussed together

(Retrieved on https://wikipedia.org)

2.3 Overview of idioms

2.3.1 Definition of idioms

It has long been recognized that expressions such as: to have a foot in both

camps, to have a heart of stone, to sleep like a log,… in English or có chí thì nên; sông có khúc, người có lúc;… are semantically peculiar They are usually described

as idioms We can see that they are groups of words with set meanings that cannot

be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts We are to study some famous definitions of idioms in both languages: English and Vietnamese

In Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (2011): “ An idiom is a word or

phrase which means something different from what it says” - it is usually a

metaphor “An idiom” most often refers to a phrase or expression that cannot be

understood by knowing what the individual words mean For example, “ have a go” means “ have a try at something” The phrase will be misunderstood if it is

interpreted in a literal fashion Another meaning for “idiom” is a specialized language or a distinctive pattern in the usage of a language As such, it can refer to the way a language is used in a given region; in such usage, an idiom isn‟t usually seen as distinctly as a dialetc is, although sometimes „idiom” and “dialetc” are used interchang eably An idiom can similarly refer to the language patterns used within

a certain profession or other subgroup

According to Makkai (1972), an idiom is “ any polylexonic lexeme made up

of more than one minimal free form of word (as defined by morphotatic criteria), each lexeme of which can occur in other environments as the realization of a monoloxonic lexeme” So idioms are units realized by at least two words In

addition, “ the meaning of an idiom is not predictable from its component parts,

which are empty of their usual senses”

Another linguist, Strasler (1976) defines that “ An idiom is a concentration of

more than one lexeme whose meaning is not derived from the meaning of its constituents and which does not consist of a verb plus an adverbial partial or preposition The concentration as such then constitutes a lexeme in its own right and should be centered as such in the lexicon”

Cruise (1987) defines idioms by using the notion of a semantic constituent

He says that we will require two things of an idiom: first, that it be lexically complex, e.g it should consist of more than one lexical constituent; second, that it should be a single minimal semantic constituent Consider this example:

This will cook Arthur‟s goose

The test of recurrent semantic contract reveals that this, will and Arthur are regular semantic constituents; the rest, however, i.e cook‟s goose, constitutes a minimal semantic constituent, which as a whole contrasts recurrently with, say, help

or destroy Cook‟s goose is therefore an idiom An idiom may be briefly

characterized as a lexical complex which is semantically simple

In Vietnamese, Hồ Lê (1976) refers an idiom is a word combination which has stable structure and figurative meaning and is used to describe an image, a phenomenon, a characteristic, or a state Đái Xuân Ninh (1978) defines an idiom is

a set expression whose constituents lose their independence to some extend and

combine into a rather complete and stable units Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) affirms that idioms are set expressions which are stable in morph-structure, complete and figurative in meaning, used widely in daily communication, especially speech

Let‟s have a look at some English and Vietnamese idioms below to clarify the definition of idiom

English Idioms Vietnamese idioms Cheap as dirt Đắt như tôm tươi

Duck soup Nửa hươu nửa vượn

Have a big mouth Có máu mặt

Don‟t put all your eggs in one basket Có cam phụ quýt, có người phụ ta Looking at the above examples, we can see that idioms in both languages are structurally and lexically combined phrases whose meanings are completely different from their component parts

Structurally, the central part of an idiom can be an adjetcive (as example 1),

a noun (as example 2), or a verb (as example 3) An idiom may also be a clause of

a complex sentence (as example 4) All these idioms are structurally and lexically restricted The stability in idioms is very high The structure of an idiom is not anything indivisible; certain modifications are possible within certain boundaries

For example, Tom has a big ball have nothing to do with an enjoyable time No

lexical substitution is possible in comparison with fee or variable

word-combinations For example, we cannot say have a familiar call instead of have a

familiar ring (to sound familiar) although call and ring are synonyms That is to

say, we cannot modify, add extract, or replace components without breaking or distorting their real meaning

Semantically, idioms generally have connotative meaning with various means like comparative, metaphorical, metonymical and so on The connotative meanings are a basic characteristic of idiom that helps investigate whether a phrase

is idiomatic or not It is impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom through the denotative meaning of the component parts In practice, however, there are quite a few idioms whose connotative and denotative meaning is nearly similar in both

English and Vietnamese For example, have a red face (đỏ mặt) in English, or có

mới nới cũ in Vietnamese Idioms are also characterized by stylistic coloring In

other words, they evoke emotions or add expressiveness For example, have a heart

of gold; have money to burn; have green fingers,…

To build a foundational definition for the study, we base on the above features as well as our own observation, then apply the following definition as the

main reference for our research working: “An idiom is a fixed phrase which has

integrity of meaning, making a complete referential unit whose meaning is different from the total meanings of its components, it is non-literal and works as a single word or a phrase”

2.3.2 Features of Idioms

a) Syntactic Features

According to Palmer (1990), an idiom is semantically like a single word but

it structurally does not function like one An idiom is comprised of at least two

words For instance, have an out ( to have an excuse); have a lot on one‟s mind (to have many thing to worry about); có máu mặt;có cam phụ quít; có vỏ mà nỏ có

ruột;… A large number of idioms contain a verb and a noun While the verb may be

replaced in accordance with tenses, the noun can never be changed For example,

with the idiom have a close call (have a narrow escape from something dangerous,

we can have had a close call; but not have close calls Moreover, it is hardy

possible to insert any word between the components of an idiom For instance, the

idioms such as: có chí thì nên; có tật giật mình; have a fit (very angry); have a

pick-me-up (eat or drink something stimulating) cannot be inserted with any words

without destroying their original meanings There are also many syntactic

restrictions that vary from idiom to idiom Some idioms have passive forms; others

do not

Moreover, it was discovered by Cruise (1987) that most idioms are homophonous with grammatically well-formed transparent expressions A few are not well-formed, although some grammatical structure is normally discernible It is interesting that though idioms consist of more than one word, they display to some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expetc in a single word For instance, they typically resist interruption and re-ordering of parts Some of the restriction of syntactic potential of idioms is clearly semantically motivated Idioms tend to resist interruption by material which, as long as it remains “outside” the idiom, is seman tically compatible:

Arthur apparently has a chip on his shoulder

Arthur has a chip, apparently, on his shoulder

(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)

The same is true of ordering Many grammatical processes involving ordering of constituents are ruled out for semantic reasons, particularly those whose semantic function is to highlight a specific semantic constituent But semantically innocuous re-orderings are also to some extent resisted:

re-John has a bee in his bonnet about it

John has a bee about it in his bonnet

(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)

At the same time, idioms show their status as phrases in various ways, too For example if an idiom may be infletced, the infletcional affixes are carried by the grammatically appropriate elements within the idiom, whether or not they are semantic constituents; that is to say, the elements of an idiom retain at least some of their grammatical identity:

John has bees in his bonnet about many things

John has bee-in-his bonnets about many things

(Cruise, Lexical Semantic)

In conclusion, we may say that an idiom‟s syntactic behavior is broadly determined by two factors: the syntactic structure of the literal counterpart of the idiom (if it has one) and the fact that distinguishable syntactic constituents are not semantic constituents

b) Semantic Features

The characteristic of semantic ambiguity is one of the particular features of

idioms Grains and Redman (1986) consider that semantic opacity is one of the

characteristic aspetcs of idioms Most idioms are clearly constructed from components that can also be used in any other combinations without idiomatic constraints Such phrases may possess either a literal or idiomatic meaning That

resulted in their opacity in meanings For example, if somebody has a heart of

stone, it does not mean that he has a heart made of stone, which is regarded as a

literal meaning When the literal meaning is realized to be unsuitable in a context, the idiomatic meaning will take its place The situation and the context where the idiom comes about helps reduce the semantic opacity

Moreover, idioms usually convey users‟ emotion, feelings and attitudes toward the states or events Most idioms are possible to be explained or replaced by another word or group of words Let‟s have a look at the following example:

a Bill, I have a bone to pick with you Where is the money you owe me?

b Bill, I have something to argue about with you Where is the money you owe me?

(Spear and Kirkpatrick, NTC‟s English Idioms Dictionary)

Instead of using utterance (b), the speaker uses utterance (a) with an idiom to show his anger to the listener

Clearly, the reason of using an idiom is that it has enough “power” to satisfy the need of imparting different nuances of feelings It is the figurative meaning-metaphor - that makes idioms more telling, more effetcive and more expressive

2.3.3 Idioms and other language units

a Idioms and Phrases

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (2005), “ A phrase

is a group of words which have a particular meaning when used together” It is a

syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the

subjetc-predicate organization of a clause Recognizing the difference between ordinary phrases and idioms is not an easy task Some idioms may be comprehended as phrases and vice versa It is rather impossible to pick up idioms from phrases relying on the grammatical structure only It can be done by analyzing their meanings While the meaning of phrases, the free combinations of words, is the free addition of the meaning of the words existing in a given phrase, the meaning of

idioms cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts E.g to have a wide mouth and to have a big mouth (to be a gossiper) In a word, idioms are bound to be frozen

in form and are not ready to take part in other combinations or to be changed

b Idioms and Collocations

Cruise (1987) defines collocations as “sequences of lexical items which

habitually co-occur, but which are nonetheless fully transparent in the sense that each lexical constituent is also a semantic constituent Such expressions as (to pick

a semantic area at random) fine weather, torrential rain, high winds are examples of collocations These are easy to distinguish from idioms; nonetheless, they do have a

kind of semantic cohesion The semantic cohesion of a collocation is the more mark

if the meaning carried by one (or more) of its constituent elements is highly restricted contextually, and different from its meaning in more neutral contexts From Cowie‟s viewpoint (1994), words which combine with other words, or with

idioms, in particular grammatical constructions are said to collocate with those

words or idioms Collocations are of two kinds:

b1 Restricted collocations: Restricted collocations are sometimes referred to as

„semi-idiom‟ In such combinations, one word has a figurative sense not found outside that limited context The other element appears in a familiar, literal sense

For example, the verb and noun, respetcively, in to jog one‟s memory and the adjetcive and noun in a blind alley Some members of this category allow a degree

of lexicon variation, for instance to have a cardinal error/ sin/ virtue/ grace and in this respetc „restricted‟ collocations resemble „open‟ ones Another point of

similarity is that the literal element is sometimes replaced by a pronoun, or deleted altogether, in sentence where there is an earlier use of the full expression:

For example: The Board didn‟t entertain the idea, and the Senate wouldn‟t

In other respetcs, however, restricted collocations are idiom-like The particular

sense which jog has in to jog one‟s memory occurs in no other text

b2 Open collocations: Most sharply and easily distinguished from idioms in the

strict sense are combinations such as to fill the sink and a broken window The use

of the term „open‟, „free‟, or „loose‟ to refer to such collocations refletcs the fact

that, in each case, both elements (verb and objetc, or adjetcive and noun) are freely

recombinable, as for example in to fill/ empty the sink and to fill the sink/ basin Typically also, in open collocations, each element is used in a common literal sense

To sum up, idioms and collocations share with each other several common features Both of them are fixed groups of words; highly restricted in a given context; and have arbitrary limitation on use Also, idioms include collocations of a special kind

c Idioms and Proverbs

Both proverbs and idioms beautify the language and establish the characteristic style of individual languages Speech or writing studded with proverbs and idioms are generally considered as flowery language, although an overload of it, for the matter of nicety, may not be relished much Lack of knowledge or understanding of proverbs and idioms in a language prevents the learner from understanding the cultural niceties or peculiarities It is suggested that the distinction between, idiom and proverb is sometimes blurred, and that traditional grammarians recognized the special status the proverbs occupy in wisdom, moral,

or didactic literature Modern attitudes and information, however, make a clear

distinction between these two elements, although the overlap between them cannot

be denied

Proverbs are considered as “memorable short sayings of the people,

containing wise words of advice or warning” by Flavell (1994) Also, the Oxford

Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary (1994) defines a proverb as “a well-known phrase

or sentence that gives advice or says something that is generally true”

Many idioms share some of the characteristics of proverbs Furthermore, both idioms and proverbs are stable in structure and are ready units for

reproduction For example, it is rather difficult to distinguish whether Có công mài

sắt có ngày nên kim an idiom or a proverb A further cause for confusion is the

capacity of an idiomatic phrase

However, a proverb is structurally different from an idiom, which could be a noun phrase or verb phrase to be used in a sentence One cannot understand the meaning of an idiom if one knows only the literal meanings constituting the idiom

A proverb, however, could be understood as such to a great extent even though an elaboration of the situation in which the proverb is used is not given Whereas idioms have had to struggle for recognition, proverbs are universally held in high esteem Moreover, while an idiom functions as a single word, a proverb has the characteristics of a sentence The meaning of idioms is equivalent with that of phrases, whereas semantic features of proverbs are judgment, estimates, or confirmations about certain truths

There are, of course, cases in which proverbs are used as idioms For

example, in Vietnamese we have the proverb “ Có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim” which mean that “By hard labour one will succeed, nothing is impossible to a

willing heart” This is an experienced truth and is thus a piece of advice: where

there is a will, there is a way In practice, some types of proverbs are normally used

as certain kinds of idioms as in: có chí thì nên, có mới nới cũ, có bát sứ tình phụ bát

đàn, sông có khúc, người có lúc, etc

On the contrary, some idioms can be inserted as parts of proverbs, as in:

Có cam phụ quít, có người phụ ta

Có xôi có thịt mới nên phần

Here we have the idioms: có cam phụ quít and có xôi có thịt

To sum up, although both proverbs and idioms are equally popular, the thing that differentiates proverbs from idioms is their moralizing purpose, having words

of advice or warning So we would normally expetc a proverb to be cast on the form

of a sentence This leads to a paradoxical situation where many phrases, which are called proverbial, are not proverbs as we have learned the term However, several of the common metaphorical phrases are accepted as proverbs The similarity of proverbs and idioms is both of them are products of people‟s perceptions of things and phenomena of the outside world

2.4 An overview of verbs

First of all, it is without a doubt that verb is the most vital part of a sentence

in English since without this type of word, no complete sentences will be made Secondly, verb is a part of speech that in syntax conveys the meanings of an action,

an occurrence, or a state of being and there are various kinds of verbs Last but not least, a verb has to agree with sentence components such as subjetc or objetc, gender or number Therefore, verbs must have tenses, but it is too far upon the scale

of this setcion Regarding types of verbs, there are four different types in total:

Do you eat dog meat?

English Modal Verb is the third type of verb in the English language that expresses modality and often occupies only the initial position in a verb phrase

Some common modal verbs are can, may or must For example:

You must wear a helmet

English Main Verbs is the fourth type to mention in this part Main verbs are dynamic or stative verbs that function as the head of the verb phrase All other verbs that are not auxiliary or modal verbs are main verbs in English For example:

He broke my arm

I killed the man yesterday

In summary, there are four types of verbs as listed in the table below:

A List of Types of Verbs

Types

Copular Verb Modal Verb Auxiliary Verb Main Verb

2.4.1 The verb “have” in English

English verbs are divided into three groups: normal verbs, non - continuous verbs, and mixed verbs:

Normal verbs: Most verbs are "normal verbs." These verbs are usually

physical actions which you can see somebody doing These verbs can be used in all

tenses such as to run, to walk, to eat, to fly, to go, to say, to touch, etc

Non - continuous verbs: These verbs are usually things you cannot see

somebody doing These verbs are rarely used in continuous tenses They include three sub-types:

- Abstract verbs: to be, to want, to cost, to seem, to need, to care, to contain,

to owe, to exist

- Possession verbs: to have, to possess, to own, to belong

- Emotion verbs: to like, to love, to hate, to dislike, to fear, to envy…

Mixed verbs: These verbs have more than one meaning In a way, each meaning is a unique verb Some meanings behave like "Non - continuous verbs,"

while other meanings behave like "Normal verbs" such as to appear, to feel, to

have, to hear, to look, to see, to weigh

2.4.2 The verb “có” in Vietnamese

In Vietnamese, verbs have been studied by some researchers such as Nguyễn Minh Thuyết and Nguyễn Văn Hiệp (1998), Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh (2001)

Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh (2001) classifies verbs into many types and mentions a little in the group of “Động từ xuất hiện, tồn tại, tiêu hủy” (Verb of appearance-

existence- disappearance) He shows a list of verbs in this group including có, còn,

hết, mất, etc

“Động từ “có” dùng để chỉ sự vật tồn tại (có mặt hay không) của người, vật,

hiện tượng hoặc để chỉ sự sở hữu (có hoặc không) của người, vật, hiện tượng đối

với người vật, hiện tượng khác,

For example: Giữa làng có một giếng nước, Ngày xưa có một ông vua ”

In conclusion, in Vietnamese, the verb “có” as a possessive verb is not

distinguished quite as they are in English They are not classified as a certain

category, but being included in another (verbs of existence and appearance) The

verb “có” is the most typically verb that has the shade meaning of possession in

Vietnamese

2.5 Summary

This chapter of the paper has reviewed the previous research related to the

study Verbs and idioms have so far been studied by many researchers and

discussed in many grammar books as well as researches at different levels in both

English and Vietnamese However, no studies have been carried out on EIVH and

VIVC Besides, this chapter has also presented general notions of idioms, verbs and

the verb “have” to be suitable for the analysis of the study To sum up, what has

been considered in this chapter will all serve as the fundamental and essential

theoretical background for the analysis of EIVH and VIVC in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3:

SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE VERB “HAVE” AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS

CONTAINING THE VERB “CÓ”

3.1 Syntactic features of English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có”

Though there are so many fundamental similarities, the constructions of idioms in different languages are quite different Also, idiomatic phrases in different languages are normally differently analysed and classified To make it efficient for

the next setcion, discussed below are three patterns of EIVH And we would try to

find VIVC for each pattern

Pattern A

Subjetc + Have + Complement (Noun phrase)

According to Lock (1996), “Clauses which have linking verbs, like be, look and have do not have Objetcs They have what are called Complements” Mostly,

Complements can be realized by nominal groups, nominal clauses, adjetcive groups, and prepositional phrases

Therefore, most of EIVH, in the shade meaning of Possession, can be formed

with the basic pattern Subjetc + Have + Complement The complement in this pattern is an obligatory constituent and functions as a predicator complement It can

be realized by a nominal group We can find a lot of EIVH with a noun phrase

functioned as a predicator complement as in some idioms: have a ball, have a big

mouth, have a heart, have a heart of gold, etc

Let‟s consider the following examples:

In English:

The kids had a ball playing in the fountain

At first it seemed a good idea, but now it's getting close I'm having second thoughts

She is but a poor lackadaisical creature, and it is my belief has no heart at

all In a word, in adversity she was the best of comforters, in good fortune the most troublesome of friends, having a perfetcly good opinion of herselfalways and an

indomitable resolution to have her own way

(http://www.phrases.net)

While I have your ear, I‟d like to tell you about something I‟m selling

I‟m going to have your number if I can You‟re a real puzzle

(Spear, NTC‟s English Idioms Dictionary)

In Vietnamese, we can find some VIVC with this syntactic pattern, such as

có bát ăn bát để, có đồng ra đồng vào, có máu mặt, có bề nào, có cóc khô gì, etc

Gia đình kẻ khó đã có bát ăn bát để, bà giáo thạo việc đã trở lại bục giảng

và Thẩm, chắc chắn đang tồn tại ở một cấp độ khác hơn

(http://www.mvatoi.com)

Làm quan lấy tiền đưa đến tận mõm lại còn phân biệt có lý với vô lý! Ông

này ác chẳng kém ông trước Này, thấy người ta bảo nhà nào có máu mặt trong

huyện, là cho người đến gây sự kiện tụng để ăn tiền đấy

(Nguyễn Công Hoan tuyển tập)

Ngày xưa - nghĩa là 60 năm về trước, còn đời ông nội ông Lũng, thì ông cụ

vẫn trồng trọt hoa màu ở cái vườn này Tuy đất hẹp, nhưng mùa nào thức ấy, thu

hoạch quanh năm cũng có đồng ra đồng vào

(Nguyễn Công Hoan tuyển tập)

“Các quan” thì nhìn nhau, lắc đầu một cách nhạt nhẽo: - nhà nào nhà nấy chứ nhà

ấy thì suông, còn có cóc khô gì mà mời chúng ta nữa

(Nguyễn Công Hoan tuyển tập)

Pattern B

Subjetc + Have + Complement + Adjunct

The Adjunct is an optional element of a clause pattern which can be omitted without affetcing the grammaticality of the clause The adjunct element is prototypically realized by prepositional or adverbial groups However, there is only the prepositional group that appears in EIVH

The following idioms illustrate this pattern:

Have a bun in the oven

Have a frog in one‟s throat

Have a bee in one‟s bonnet

Have a foot in both camps

Have a good head in one‟s shoulder

Have a hand for someone or something

Have a hand in something

Have egg on one‟s face

…

For examples:

In English:

Her parents were surprised to learn that she had a bun in the oven

besides a shawl (the people laughed at seeing the gawky young officer carrying this

(http://www.bartleby.com/305/1.html)

There was the chairman himself, (the landlord of the house,) a coarse,

rough, heavy built fellow, who, while the songs were proceeding, rolled his eyes

hither and thither, and, seeming to give himself up to joviality, had an eye for everything that was done, and an ear for everything that was said and sharp ones,

Their carriages might frequently be seen in the Queen's Crawley avenue

now; they dined pretty frequently at the Hall (where the cookery was so good that it

was clear Lady Jane very seldom had a hand in it), and in return Pitt and his wife

most energetically dined out in all sorts of weather and at all sorts of distances

The Ministry has its eye upon you, and I know what you want

He was glad to have a friend at hand for the scene which he dreaded

We can find many EIVH in which the adjunct is formed with a To - Infinitive

clause: Have a bone to pick with someone

Have a right to do something

Have a score to settle with someone

Have half a mind to do something

Have hell to pay

Have money to burn

…

For instance:

In English:

Look at the way Tom buys things You‟d think he has money to burn

If Miss Rebecca Sharp had determined in her heart upon making the

conquest of this big beau, I don't think, ladies, we have any right to blame her; for

though the task of husband-hunting is generally, and with becoming modesty, entrusted by young persons to their mammas, recolletc that Miss Sharp had no kind parent to arrange these delicate matters for her, and that if she did not get a husband for herself, there was no one else in the wide world who would take the trouble off her hands

Dear Madam, I have the honour to acknowledge your polite communication,

to which I promptly reply

(http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/cml/tfs.html) When adjunct is a V-ing clause, we can find some idioms as follows:

Have a good thing going

Have another think/guess coming

Have no business doing something

Have something coming to one

Have something going

Have something going with someone

Let us consider some examples:

If you think you are better than me, you have another think coming

Sally has a new business projetc going Her firm will announce a new

product in the spring

I keep worrying about being declared redundant I hate to have

something like that hanging over my head

Obviously, in Vietnamese verbs do not have the „to- infinitive‟ or the „– ing‟ form However, VIVC can be structured in a quite similar way as English ones There can be three sub-groups in which they belong to:

a [có + noun1 (+ mới) + có + noun2 ], as in: có bột mới gột nên hồ; có tích mới

dịch nên tuồn; có da có thịt; có hàng có ngũ; có nước có cá; có người có ta; có nếp có tẻ; có nanh có nọc; có đầu có đũ; có đi có lại; có chúng có bạn; có chừng

có mực; có lươn có quành; có giời có ta, …

Take a look at some examples:

Thôi bây giờ, bình tĩnh lại, anh kể cho tôi nghe câu chuyện cho có đầu có đũa xem nào!

(http://www.mvatoi.com)

Đếm đi đếm lại chỉ còn có Quí, khi biết được còn mỗi Quí thì Đậm đã sắp

30 Nhà Quí ở Lung Giữa, Quí gửi xe sân nhà cộ, làm một vài chuyện nhỏ như chở

Đậm đi chợ không lấy tiền, tiếp Đậm cất cái nhà củi…thì cho là có qua có lại đi

Nhưng ánh mắt Quí ngày càng nồng nàn trói buộc, bắt Đậm phải day dứt giữa nỗi khát khao và tủi hổ

(http://www.mvatoi.com)

b [có + noun1 (+ mà) + không có + noun2 ], as in: có mắt mà không có ngươi; có tiếng mà không có miếng, etc In this structure, the word không adding in front of

the verb có to form the negative meaning However the verbs có can be omitted in

some cases without changing the meaning of the idioms, such as có một không hai

Đời sống ông ấy đã bằng mười ở quê có tiếng mà không có miếng

(Nguyễn Lựu, Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt)

Thành phố nhuốm màu đỏ rực của băng, cờ, khẩu hiệu ngày đêm rầm rập bước chân của thanh niên, phụ nữ Tiền Phong, của Cộng hòa vệ binh, của các đội dân quân cách mạng vũ trang, của dân chúng từ các làng quận xa xôi kéo về tỉnh

mừng ngày hội lớn có một không hai đó

(http://www.maxreading.com/sach-hay/cha-con-nghia-nang)

c [có + noun1 (+ thì) + verb + noun2 ], as in: có cam phụ quít; có cháo đói chè;

có của thì rửa trăm dơ; có gan ăn cướp có gan chịu đòn; có lê quên lựu; có ít xít

ra nhiều; có mới nới cũ; có tật giật mình; có the quên lụa; có vàng quên thau; có thịt đòi xôi; có tình rình trong bụng; có chuông chùa niệm Phật; etc

Có oản anh tình phụ xôi

Có cam phụ quýt có người phụ ta

Có quán tình phụ cây đa

Lòng anh ăn ở thật thà

Coi nó mười tám coi nhà hai mươi

Lòng anh chẳng có như người

(Nguyễn Nhã Bản, Cuộc sống của thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong kho tàng ca dao người Việt)

We can see clearly that the parallel structure seems to dominate in VIVC This will be discussed more in the next part However the important thing to be paid attention here is that the order of this pattern cannot be changed without modifying the original meaning Let‟s have a look at the following examples to clarify this point

Thằng Tí ở trần trùi trụi, mặt mũi có lươn có quành, hai bàn tay bùn đất

còn dính cục, nó xách xâu cá lăng xăng chạy vô nhà

Ba hôm sau tôi ra, vì nó quen mùi, lại bắt tôi tiếp khách nữa Tiên sư bố nó, thật là giời quả báo, xui nên nó bị ô tô đâm phải, gãy mẹ nó ngay một cẳng…Anh ạ,

tôi cho có giời có ta lắm

(http://www.maxreading.com/sach-hay/com-thay-com-co)

Có khăn len nên khăn sợi bị ế, chị em không ai mua nữa Thật là có khế ế

In these examples, the idioms có lươn có quành, có giời có ta, có khế ế chanh can not be changed the order of the two parterns, like có quành có lươn, có ta có giời, or

có chanh ế khế

3.1.1 The structures of English idioms containing the verb “have” and

Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có”

Besides the syntactical analysis discussed above, idioms should also be looked over in term of structural mechanisms Basing on contents and forms, EIVH can be divided into two main groups with two typical structures:

3.1.1.1 Comparative structures

In English, the comparative structure is encountered in EIVH with the

structure: A+ like + B or A + comparative + B, as in have a hide like a rhinoceros

(show insensitivity to attack, criticism, slights or insults), have eyes bigger than

one‟s stomach, have a mouth like the bottom of a parrot‟s cage (have a mouth that

taste unpleasant, e.g after drinking or smoking too much, or during illness), have

more money than sense (spend one‟s money foolishly), have a constitution like a horse/ an ox (be strong and vigorous, be able to do hard work), etc

For examples:

For heaven‟s sake go and fetch me a cup of tea I ‟ve got a mouth like the

bottom of a parrot‟s cage

I cannot eat all this I‟m afraid I have my eyes bigger than my

stomach

(Makkai, Idiom Structures in English)

The comparative structure is typically encountered in Vietnamese idoms

containing the verb có , as có A+ như + B or có A + hơn + B Component A can be

a phrase or a clause Component B helps interpret and clarify A Also, it is able to

reveal itself in combination with and through A We can find some idioms

containing the verb “have” with comparative structure in Vietnamese, such as: có

chồng như ngựa có cương, có vợ có chồng như đũa có đôi, có mắt như không, có

mắt như mù, có còn hơn không Let‟s consider some examples:

Em có chồng rồi như ngựa có cương

Ngõ em em đứng, đường trường anh đi

(Nguyễn Nhã Bản, Cuộc sống của thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong kho tàng ca dao người

Việt)

Vẫn còn những ngày dài phía trước, mai tôi sẽ về thưa với má, dù tôi nói câu

này dù hơi trễ tràng nhưng có còn hơn không, rằng chưa có bao giờ má dạy tôi viết

(http://www.mvatoi.com)

There are also some cases in which the comparative marker is ommited

Such idioms can also classified as idioms of comparison because they could be

structurally rebuilt by adding the word „như‟ between the two entities such as sông

có khúc, người có lúc; buôn có bạn, bán có phường; nói có sách, mách có chứng;

rừng có mạch vách có tai, etc

Thấy tình cảnh nhà bác, tôi thật ái ngại Nhưng thôi, sông có khúc, người

có lúc, mình cứ ăn ở hiền lành, rồi cũng có ngày trời mở cửa cho!

(http://www.maxreading.com/sach-hay/cha-con-nghia-nang)

“Buôn có bạn, bán có phường” đặc biệt trong bối cảnh hội nhập hiện nay

Chỉ có sự thống nhất phương thức kinh doanh, tạo nguồn hàng ổn định mới phát

(http://www.sggp.org.vn/nongnghiepkt/)

However, the comparative structure rarely appears in VIVC Within the number of idioms being investigated, there are only 18 idioms with comparative structure, equal to 10,9%

In similarity, this structure hardly appears in EIVH Among 371 EIVH being investigated, we only find 24 idioms with this structure, equal to 6,5 %

3.1.1.2 Metaphorically descriptive structures

Like other kinds of idioms, EIVH are also constructed on the basis of describing events and phenomena by means of metaphor The surface structures of idioms do not refletc their real meaning Thus to understand the meaning of an idiom, we have

to use imaginative way to describe the relationship between words and events or phenomena Based on the contents of the metaphorical structure, this type of EIVH can be sub-divided as follows:

a EIVH and VIVC with one fact

This kind of idioms consists of only one event or phenomenon Therefore there

is only one picture constructed and refletced

In English, most of EIVH are constructed with this structure such as have a

ball; have a big mouth; have a bright idea, have a familiar ring, have a fit, have a heart, have a voice, have clean hands, have red face, etc

Take a look at some examples:

If Ann had a heart, she‟d have made us feel more welcome

'And-and-good?' asked Fagin, hesitating as though he feared to vex the

other man by being too sanguine 'Not bad, any way,' replied Monks with a smile

'I have been prompt enough this time Let me have a word with you

John wanted to have a voice in deciding on the result also

(http://www.online-literature.com)

In Vietnamese, we can find some idioms such as có máu mặt; có cóc khô gì; có

một không hai; etc

pháp tiến hành thì cũng thế thôi Hễ ai có máu mặt thì phải bỏ tiền ra

(http://www.vnthuquan.org/)

b EIVH and VIVC with two analogical facts

In each idiom of this kind, there are two events or phenomena that are dealt with and refletced They are analogical and in concord with one another

In English, EIVH are not constructed with this structure Among the number of EIVH being investigated, we cannot find any idioms with two analogical facts

In Vietnamese, we can find a lot of VIVC correspondent to this kind such as

có nếp có tẻ; có ngành có ngọn; có nơi có chốn; có chí làm quan; có gan làm giàu;

có trên có dưới; có đi có lại; có vây có cánh; có tình có lý; có thủy có chung; có sừng có gạc; có hoa mừng hoa, có nụ mừng nụ; có đó có đây, etc

For instances:

Có mồm thì cắp, có nắp thì đậy, chớ có đem cái chuyện chú ấy làm nói lung

tung khắp thiên hạ là được

Con bé ấy tôi xem ra ăn ở có trên có dưới, ý tứ lắm Còn cái nết cũng không

đến nỗi, chưa buông tay nọ đã cất tay kia lên rồi

(Nguyễn Lân, Từ điển thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam)

Xin lỗi ông bà, tuy cháu nó đi làm xa nhưng đã có nơi có chốn rồi

(Nguyễn Lựu, Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt)

c EIVH and VIVC with two incompatible facts

Opposite with the type discussed above, each idiom of this type also introduce two events or phenomena, but they are opposite in meaning, or at least not analogical

In English, among the number of EIVH being investigated, there are only a

few idioms of this style such as have pins and needles (have a prickling sensation), have one‟s cake and eat it too (to enjoy both having something and

using it up)

The best thing to do when you have pins and needles in your leg is to stamp

your foot on the floor several times

Don‟t buy a car if you want to walk and stay healthy You can‟t have your cake and eat too

(Makkai, Idiom Structures in English)

In Vietnamese, we can find some VIVC with this type such as có mới nới cũ;

có trăng quên đèn; có thịt đòi xôi; có khế ế chanh; có tật giật mình; có oản phụ xôi; có thực mới vực được đạo; có đỏ mà nỏ có thơm; có thóc mới cho vay gạo;

có tiếng không có miếng; không có tinh lại có tướng, etc Take some examples:

Đời sống của ông ấy bằng mười ở quê Ở quê, có tiếng mà không có miếng

(Nguyễn Lựu, Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt)

Nhưng khốn nỗi, có thực mới vực được đạo, Hộ không thể uống nước lã và

ngồi nhìn vợ con đói rách để viết cái tác phẩm lớn của đời anh

(http://www.mvatoi.com/truyen/)

3.1.2 Comparison between English idioms containing the verb “have” and Vietnamese idioms containing the verb “có” in terms of syntactic features 3.1.2.1 Similarities

Both EIVH and VIVC can take the structure of the constituent such as: verb, complement, and adjunct However, all of them do not always occur at the same time in EIVH and VIVC Besides, both EIVH and VIVC have comparative and metaphorically descriptive structures However, the comparative structure rarely appears in both of the languages

Moreover, the structures of EIVH and VIVC can be changed a little to form various kinds of sentences in the two languages, for example:

Có oản anh tình phụ xôi

Có cam phụ quýt, có người phụ ta

Có quán tình phụ cây đa

Ba năm quán đổ cây đa hãy còn

(Nguyễn Nhã Bản, Cuộc sống của thành ngữ, tục ngữ trong kho tàng ca dao người Việt)

In Vietnamese example, the two parts of the idiom có oản phụ xôi have been

separated and added a subjetc anh to form a full sentence Có oản anh tình phụ

xôi; and in English example, the order of the idiom have right to ask has been

changed to form a question