A comparative study on idioms containing the word “water” in english and “nước” in vietnamese

LIST OF TABLES Number of tables 4.1 Verb phrase structures of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese 34 4.2 Noun phrase structures idioms containing the w

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON IDIOMS CONTAINING THE

WORD “WATER” IN ENGLISH AND “NƯỚC” IN

VIETNAMESE

(Nghiên cứu so sánh về thành ngữ có chứa từ “water” trong

tiếng Anh và “nước” trong tiếng Việt)

ĐINH THI ̣ THƠM

A special word of thanks goes to my best friends and my colleagues, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my husband for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

This thesis aims to study the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words "Water" in English and "nước" in Vietnamese Both quantitative and quantitative analyzes are used through 160 idioms in English and Vietnamese, along with numerous examples from different language books, short stories and other sources on the internet The findings show that idiomatic expressions containing the word "water" in English and "nước" in Vietnamese have special syntactic and semantic features The study also points out some similarities and differences between idioms containing the words "Water" in English and "nước" in Vietnamese at some points Through analysis of forms of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in

English and Vietnamese, it is deduced that idioms are really important in

communication Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles They bring the vividness and richness to the speakers' speeches This is the reason why the more skillfully a person uses idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative relationshipAt the same time, the study also mentions the implications for teaching and learning idioms as well as for further research

LIST OF TABLES

Number of

tables

4.1 Verb phrase structures of idioms containing the word

“water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

34

4.2 Noun phrase structures idioms containing the word

“water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

42

4.3 Adjective phrase structures idioms containing the word

“water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

46

4.4 Prepositional phrase structures of idioms containing the

word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

48

4.5 Sentence Structures of idioms containing the word

“water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

51

4.6 A Summary of idioms containing the word “water” in

English and “Nước” in Vietnamese in Grammatical Patterns

54

4.7 Statistical Summary of Syntactic Features of idioms

containing the word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

56

4.8 Frequency of Semantic Fields of idioms containing the

word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

71

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 3

1 Rational 3

2 Aims and objectives 4

2.1 Aims 4

2.2 Objectives 4

3 Research questions 5

4 Methods of the study……… 5

5 Scope of the study 5

6 Significance of the study 6

7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Literature review 7

2.2 Theoretical background 9

2.2.1 Culture and the relationship between language and culture 9

2.2.2 Concepts of semantic field 21

2.2.3 Difinition of idioms 176

2.2.4 Main feature of idioms 17

2.2.5 Idioms containing the word “water” 20

2.2.6 Idioms and other 15

2.3 Summary 25

CHAPTER 3: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “WATER” IN ENGLISH AND “NƯỚC” IN VIETNAMESE 26

3.1 Syntactic feature of iddoms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese 26

3.1.1 Phrase structures 26

3.1.2 Sentence Structures 43

3.1.3 Similarities and Differences in Syntactic Features of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese 46

3.2 Semantic feature of idioms contining the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese .47

3.2.1 Semantic fields of idioms containingthe word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese……….

3.2.1.1 Transference of meaning of idioms containing the word “water” in

English and “Nước” in Vietnamese .47

3.2.1.2 Semantic fields of idioms containingthe word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese Error! Bookmark not defined 3.2.2 Similarities and Differences in Semantic Features of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese 58

CHAPTER 4: APPLICATION FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING IDIOMS .60

4.1 Findings and Discussion 60

4.2 Results Pertaining to the Second Question of the Research 65

4.3 Results Pertaining to the Third Question of the Research 67

4.4 Conclusion 67

CHAPTER 5 69

CONCLUSIONS 69

5.1 Conclusions 69

5.2 Limitations and suggestions for further research 70

REFERENCES 72

IN ENGLISH 72

IN VIETNAMESE 74 APPENDICE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Each nation has its own language People naturally speak the language spoken by their forefathers However, English has had worldwide recognition for ages and becomes the most popular language Especially, in open-door period and the trend towards internationalization, English has become an essential tool in international communication and integration Therefore, the need for learning English is increasing not only in quantity but also in quality

Apart from learning practical English for daily communication, for future jobs, for professional advancement, or for knowledge about England - its people, customs and culture – learners study the theory of its language to get a thorough insight into the language Thanks to this language, we can belong to the world as well as to our own country, and especially using idioms is very important in everyday communication for the following reasons

Firstly, idioms play an important part in a language both in written and spoken forms The most effective and interesting way in communication is using idioms because they contain not only the literal meanings but the figurative and expensive meaning as well They are an integral part of a language and they make the language more beautiful and dynamic In English the demand for using idioms is becoming higher because it is spoken all over the world

Secondly, idioms cause us many difficulties in communication Though idioms help speakers and writers communicate more effectively and make the language more interesting, they are not easy at all for everyone to use and master idioms appropriately Listeners and readers also find it really hard to understand idioms because their meanings cannot often be deduced from the individual components

Idioms are used both in written and spoken language to emphasize meanings and make our observation, judgment and explanations more lively and interesting, so they have aesthetic function

In other words, they are really useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in just a few words For example, to express a difficult situation that is

hard to deal with the English people often say “to be in deep water” or to be critical of a plan that others thought was exciting or great they would like to say “to pour cold water on something” If we want to indicate that someone feels

awkward or uncomfortable because he is in a situation which he has not

experienced before, we use the idioms “To be like a fish out of water”

If we want to talk about floating life, the Vietnamese say “bọt nước cánh bèo” We

are attracted by the questions how and why idioms differ from each other between

English and Vietnamese in case of idiomatic containing the word “water”

For these reasons above, the research entitled “A comparative study on idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese” is carried

out with the hope to help learners to achieve proper comprehension and usage of English idiomatic containing the word “water” in English and” nước” in Vietnamese

2 Aims and objectives

2.1 Aims

The study is aimed at finding out the syntactic and semantic characteristics of idioms containing the word “water” in English and” nước” in Vietnamese More importantly, it provides Vietnamese learners of English with a basic knowledge

of the field and enables them to deeply understand, effectively and naturally, use idiomatic expressions in listening, speaking, reading and writing

To some extent, they can be better aware of the beauty of English Explore the English and Vietnamese idioms containing to “water”, “nước” with the main focus on the cultural viewpoint Point out the similarities and differences between the two languages in terms of idioms containing to water

2.2 Objectives

The study intends to:

Firstly, identify and describe the syntactic features of idioms containing the word

“water” in English and” nước” in Vietnamese

Secondly, identify and describe the semantic features of idioms containing the word

“water” in English and” nước” in Vietnamese

Thirdly, offer some implications for teaching and learning idioms containing the word “water” in English and” nước” in Vietnamese

Finally, clarify the cultural differences and similarities

3 Research questions

The following research questions will be done in the study

1 What are the syntactic and semantic characteristics of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese

2 What are the similarities and differences between idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese in terms of syntax

5 Scope of the study

Idioms have become an interesting object of several recent studies in various languages Within the scope of this study, we wish to confine ourselves to studying idioms containing the word “water” in English and“nước” in Vietnamese in terms

of syntactic and semantic features The similarities and dissimilarities in syntactic and semantic features withdrawn from the study could not be explained on the basis

of the cultural features of the languages in comparison

6 Significance of the study

English and Vietnamese languages are rich in idioms These idiomatic expressions not only exist in literature but also in daily communication and make statements more succinct and vivid Therefore, we can see the importance of idiomatic expressions in conveying speakers’ attitude Moreover, idiomatic expressions may

be culturally bound and this may cause even greater problems for users In this thesis, idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese are studied in terms of two aspects: syntax and semantics The results of this study can

be applied to increase the efficiency of communication and can be of some help to the teaching and learning of idioms containing the word “water” in English and

“nước” in Vietnamese

7 Organization of the study

The study is devided into five chapters

Chapter 1- Introduction: presents a general introduction to the studying rationale, significance of the study, aims and objectives, the scope of the study, research questions, and organization of the study

Chapter 2- Literature Review: involves some of previous studies Also in this chapter, some related notions of idioms and idioms containing the word “water” in English are clarified The theory of idioms is mentioned in this part Common and

distinctive syntactic semantic features of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese will be presented and analyzed

Chapter 3- Findings and Discussion: focuses on the analysis of syntactic and

semantic features of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese idioms containing the word “water” in English are thoroughly

discussed in comparison with their “nước” in Vietnamese As a result, I come up

with the similarities and the differences between idioms containing the word

“water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese At the same time, the percentage of occurrence of idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese are also indicated in this chapter

Chapter 4: Discussion of common errors: analyses by learners of English when

using idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese

Chapter 5- Conclusions: concerning with the summary of the thesis and a brief statement of the findings as well

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Literature review

Up to now, there have been researchers who pay attention to idioms In fact, writers and linguists started studying English idioms at the beginning of the twentieth century and some authors have made great contributions to the collection of English

idioms Among them, Mc Marie with “English Idioms and How to Use them”

(1909), is considered the first author to study the field of English Idioms Other

authors carried out their research on idioms including Smith with “Idioms” (1922), Collins with “A book of English Idioms with Explanation” (1958), Collins with

“American English Idioms” (1986), Broke with “Idioms for Everyday Use” (1994), Cowries, Martin and Cairo with “Oxford Dictionary of Current idiomatic English” (1994), Quick, Douglas Bibber, Rod Bonito and many other authors with “Longman Idiom Dictionary” ” (1998), Teachers and Researchers from Cambridge University with “Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms” (1999)

Their interest in idioms reveal the awareness of the persuasiveness of idioms in language productive skills and the perception of the difficulty of understanding idioms in terms of syntax and semantics as well as the differences between idioms and other language units

There are some famous dictionaries being collected and written by researchers such

as “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Christine Ammer In this

dictionary, the author lists idioms currently used in American English and arranges them into alphabetical categories He also explains their meanings and clarifies

them by examples In “NTC’s English Idioms Dictionary”, Richard A Spears and

Betty Kirk Patrick focus on the meanings, usage and appropriate contexts for each idiomatic phrase They also provide definitions and two or more example to clarify each idiom

The idioms are also arranged into alphabetical order There are also many

dictionaries of idioms such as “Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of English Idioms” by

Helen Warren which is comprehensive dictionary dealing with general idiomatic expressions in current English The author also gives examples and explanations of

unusual features of grammar and usage “Oxford Dictionary of Idioms” by Judith

Siefring provides learners with updated idioms including clear explanations in

typical contexts “Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms” by Paul Heacock

gives clear examples on each idiom as well as their origins etc

For English books about idioms, there are some widely used ones by many learners

of English such as “Idioms Organizer” by Jon Wright In this book, the author

organizes idioms by metaphor, topics and key words He also provides some

exercises for practicing idioms given in each lesson and then a revision “Pocket English Idioms” by Jennifer Seidl &W.Mc Mordie provides a list of 3,000 idioms

with explanations and examples of use It also gives out many exercises with

answers In “English Idioms in Use” by Michael Mc Carthy and Felicity O’Dell,

there are 60 units of vocabulary references and practices including over 1,000 idioms The book is divided into two parts Idioms with explanations, examples and special notes about their usages are presented on the left-hand pages and exercises for practicing them are shown on the right-hand pages

Idioms also attract the attention of many Vietnamese researchers namely Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang They are the two authors who made a significant

contribution in the field of Vietnamese idioms They wrote “Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt”

which is a collection of Vietnamese idioms arranged in alphabetical order with clear explanations and examples extracted from Vietnamese novels, newspapers and

magazines Recently, Nguyễn Lực has just published “Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt” in

which a large amount of idioms, their variant are collected with examples originally extracted from novels, short stories, newspapers and magazines Moreover, Nguyễn

Trần Trụ who wrote “Thành ngữ tục ngữ giải lược” explains meanings of the most

common idioms and proverbs in such simples, clear ways that learners can use this book for consulting and reference purposes

Vietnamese researchers also study, collect and public dictionaries of idioms “Từ điển thành ngữ Việt Nam” by Đặng Hồng Chương is a collection of idioms and

proverbs with clear explanations and origins of the idioms “Từ điển Thành ngữ Tục ngữ việt anh tường giải” by Bùi Phụng displays the most popular Vietnamese

idioms with similar ones in English so that it is easy for foreigners to understand,

learn and use Vietnamese “Sổ tay giải nghĩa thành ngữ tiếng việt” by Nguyễn Đình

Cao – Phan Thị Hồng Xuân gives out very clear explanations for common

Vietnamese idioms as well as practical examples “Các Thành Ngữ Thương mại thường gặp trong Tiếng Anh” by Lê Huy Liêm provides learners with a collection

of English idioms in business field It gives learners clear explanation in Vietnamese with examples in English and translations of English examples into Vietnamese

Finally, there are so many dissertations about idioms done by Vietnamese researchers who gave contrastive analyses on the various aspects of idioms such as

“A Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese Idioms Using the Term of Human Body Parts” by Nguyễn Thị Hiệp, “Semantic Features of English and Vietnamese Idiomatic Verb Phrases” by Nguyễn Văn Long, “A Study of Idioms Containing Color Words in English and Vietnamese” by Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hảo, “A contrastive Analysis of Idioms Denoting Human Feelings in English and Vietnamese” by Võ Thanh Quyên, “A Study of Verbs of Earning and Spending Money in English versus Vietnamese” by Trần Thị Ngọc Phúc, “An investigation into Syntactic and Semantic Features of English and Vietnamese Idioms Containing Verbs of Motion” by Nguyễn Thị Phương Thu, “An investigation into Syntactic and Semantic Features of Idioms denoting Causes and Results (English versus Vietnamese) by Nguyễn Thị Thu Mai etc However, up to now there have been no

studies relating idioms containing water This dissertation is therefore entitled “A

study on idioms containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese” to investigate and to make a contrastive analysis about the syntactic

and semantic features of idioms containing the word ”water” in English and

“nước” in Vietnamese

2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.1 Culture and the relationship between language and culture

2.2.1.1 Culture and some characteristics of culture

The word “culture” that hails from the Latin word, “cultura” derived from “colere” (to cultivate) Samovar & Porter (2003) defines culture as “the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving ” (Samovar & Porter, 2003, p.8).Levine and Adelman (1993: XVII) considers culture as “a shared background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values”.Porter, Samovar and McDaniel (2007: 21-30) submit six features of culture as follows:

In the first place, culture is learned We learn unconsciously culture from families, peers, institutions, and media We live in a certain group of people in a society and share certain ideals and shape our lives The ideals we base our lives on is a part of culture Cultural values are transfered from one generation to another The language, the literature and the art forms pass across generations Culture is learned, understood and adopted by the younger generations of society

Secondly, culture is shared It is easy for us to act in appropriate ways as well as predict how others will act as a result of sharing our culture to other members in our group Customs, beliefs, traditions, values are all shared by man in a social situation and adopted by all equally

Thirdly, culture is transmitted Culture is capable of transmitted from one generation to the next Parents pass cultural traits to their children and in return they pass to their children and so on It is transmitted through language Language is a means to pass cultural traits on to future generations

Fourthly, culture is based on symbols A symbol is something that stands for something else Symbols such as gestures, ob jects, flags or religious icons vary cross-culturally They only have meaning when people in a culture agree on their use Language is the most important symbolic component of culture

Fifthly, culture is integrated One must learn about all of aspects of a culture because all of them are related The development of culture is the intergration of its various parts For example, values system is interlinked with morality, customs, beliefs and religion

Finally, culture is dynamic This simply means that cultures interact and change exchange ideas and symbols All cultures change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting to changing environments And because cultures are integrated,

if one component in the system changes, it is likely that the entiresystem must adjust

2.2.1.2 Relationship between language and culture

In his book “Language”, Sapir emphasises that “Languages may spread far beyond

their original home, invading the territory of new races andof new culture spheres

A language may even die out in its primary area and live on among peoples violently hostile to the persons of its original speakers

Further, the accidents of history are constantly rearranged the borders of culture areas without necessary effacing the existing linguistic cleavages (Sapir, 1921: 208) According to Fishman (1985, 1991, and 1996), there are three links between language and culture:

• Language as a part of culture

• Language as an index of culture

• Language as symbols of culture

In his first point of view, language is “an inevitable part”, “a major part” of culture

He emphasizes that language is a part of its “associated” culture, but culture is also

a part of its “associated” language To explain for the second point “language as an index of culture”, he describes “languages reveal the way of thinking or of organizing experience that are common in the associated cultures” In the third point on the relationship between language and culture, Fishman explains that

“language movements and language conflicts utilize languages as symbols to mobilize populations to defend (or attack) and to foster (or reject) the cultures associated with them”

2.2.1.3 Culture in idioms

English is a language with plenty of idiomatic expressions Idiom is a kind of special speech form that is particular in meaning, grammatical structure and usage Idioms are shaped after a long period’s living and working of the local people As it

is said above, it is impossible to explain the idiom from the literal meaning of the individual words Using idioms when speaking is a usual way for the local people

to express their ideas clearly and vividly

Therefore, the differences on geography, history, custom and living habits result in the word-usage in idioms Little knowledge about the history and the culture behind these idioms makes it hard for people to understand them in a right way The cultural context occupies a very important position in idioms learning Learners must understand the specific cultural contex t of the idioms, and then they can understand the idioms

As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture From a dynamic view, language and culture intermingle with each other and shape each other Language is the bearer of culture which in turn is the content

of language Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, and religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern, etc and therefore are closely related to culture

As a result, we can widen our knowledge of culture through studying idioms and on the other hand get better understanding of idioms by examining the cultural background behind them For example, Vietnam is a large agricultural country with the great help of buffalos in the fields It is easy to catch the image of buffalos in Vietnamese idioms like “Trâu chậm uống nước đục”, whereas with similar meaning the English people would say “First come, first served” or “The early bird catches the worm”

2.2.1.4 The image of water in Vietnamese culture

Vietnam has a long history Over 3000 years ago, Vietnamese ancestors lived inside many limestone caves in the Northeast and Northwest of Vietnam These areas were their first home Time by time, their groups became so big that there were not enough space and food for them Finding new areas for living was urgent In the end, they decided to move down the mountains to a delta (the Red River delta at the moment)

Available rivers, lakes, ponds made it easy for them to find lots of fish for food Besides, flat topography with full of water is good for planting different crops especially wet rice It was also the time Vietnam Water Culture and the Red River civilization or wet rice civilization being formed Since then, the Vietnamese people have learnt how to live with water and succeeded in conquering it, using it and taking full advantages of it for their life

Water affects their daily life activities from traffic to livelihood However, Vietnamese people took the advantage of water to defend their country The two famous victories were on Bach Dang river in 938 and 1288 when the Vietnamese fought against Nam Han and Song (Chinese), won independence and freedom after

1000 year domination

Agriculture is an important part in Vietnam’s economic structure even today It makes a considerable contribution to export turnover, GDP and creates the largest amount of jobs, and is the main source of the poor’s income Main products of Vietnamese agriculture are rice, coffee, tea, rubber, sugar and cashew nut Vietnam

is one of the top rice exporting countries in the world Natural conditions in Vietnam have some advantages for agricultural development especially two vast, rich, and flat deltas: Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta which consequently base the two largest cities in the country - Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City When residents in the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta start learning to walk, they also begin to play with water

The childhood memories are imprinted with the sight of water, bathing in the river

or launching paper boats That is why water is friendly to people and people are not afraid of it Water brings people a great deal of free services Daily activities such

as: growing rice, fruit and vegetables, raising poultry, fish and shrimps, etc take place with water There are, however, some certain disadvantages to agriculture brought about by natural factors Rice production is often the main source of incomes for majority of rural population

Therefore, people are happy and society is peaceful when rice crops are good Unstable weather with frequent drought or flood has bad impacts on agricultural production The mingling of land, water and human beings for centuries runs deep

in the veins of the Vietnamese people so that the name for their country stands for

“land” and “water” (đất nước) Invaluable life experiences passed on to future generations through folk sayings, such as “Flowing water will wear away stone” (Nước chảy đá mòn) Such proverbs carry philosophical meanings and educate people about self - discipline, treatment of others as well as nature

2.2.1.5 The image of water in English culture

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political name of the country which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster) In prehistoric times most of UK was covered by oak, ash, birch and beech trees As the population began to grow, forests were cut down to clear the land for farming, for use as fuel, and for the building of homes and building of ships By the time of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century vast areas of forests had been cleared The United Kingdom has the third largest economy in Europe

Today, the majority of the UK's economy is within the service and industrial sectors but there is also small amount of agriculture Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force

It contributes around 2% of GDP Around two thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one third to arable crops Agricultural products mainly are arable land, wheat, barley, and sheep

As a result of its industrial history, the United Kingdom has an extensive system of canals, mostly built in the early years of the Industrial Revolution, before the rise of

competition from the railways These canals were vital to the new industries because they carried materials for building factories, for making cotton, iron or pottery goods, and then took these goods away to be sold once they were made Numerous dams and reservoirs store water for drinking and industry

The generation of hydroelectric power is rather limited, supplying less than 2% of British electricity mainly from the Scottish Highlands Livestock products are the main elements of the UK's agricultural output The most common meat animals in the United Kingdom are cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry Recently there have been moves towards organic farming in an attempt to sustain profits and supply farmers’ income by diversifying activities away from pure agriculture Biofuels create new opportunities for farmers against fossil fuel prices, energy security, energy sustainability, and climate change

Although water is important for all civilizations, one can guess from the studies on the UK’s history and socio - economic system that the role of water is less omnipresent in the UK than in Vietnam And we will see later in this thesis that the image of water occurs less often in English than in Vietnamese

2.2.2 Concepts of Semantic Fields

The term “Semantic Field” or “Semantic Domain” is used alternatively for the term

“lexical field” or “lexical set”

Crystal [14, p.104] defines “a semantic and lexical field” as “a named area of meaning in which lexemes interrelate and define each other in specific ways”, such

as the field of “fruit” comprises the lexemes: apple, orange, banana, pear, peach…

According to Finch [18, p.177], semantic field is an area of meaning containing words with related senses Meaning of words cluster together to form fields of meaning, which in turn cluster into even larger fields until the entire language is encompassed Thus, for example, we can define a semantic field of birds containing the words like owls, hawks, pigeons, parrots, herons, quail…

Semantic field is defined by Richards, Platt J and Platt H [29, p.211] as “the organization of related words and expressions into a system which shows their

relationship to one other” For example, kinship terms such as father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt belong to lexical field whose relevant features include generation, sex, membership of the father’s or mother’s side of family

2.2.3 Definition of Idioms

Idioms are among the most difficult but interesting parts of every language They play an integral part in written and spoken language since they help speakers or writers express their opinions and attitudes smoothly and more effectively People use idioms to make their language richer and more colorful and to convey subtle shades of meanings or intentions Idioms are often used to replace a literal word or expression, and many times the idiom better describes the full nuance of meaning Idioms and idiomatic expressions can be more precise than the literal words, often using fewer words but saying more

For example, the expression it runs in the family is shorter and more succinct than saying that a physical or personality trait 'is fairly common throughout one’s extended family and over a number of generations.'"

(Gail Brenner, Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook Webster's New World, 2003)

Idioms, in general, are deeply connected to culture Agar [66] proposes that biculturalism and bilingualism are two sides of the same coin Engaged in the intertwined process of culture change, learners have to understand the full meaning

of idioms." [22]

According to Hornby [25, p.771], an idiom is defined as “a group of words whose meanings is different from the meaning of individual words” Adam Makkai [26] defines “an idiom as the assigning of a new meaning to group of words each of which already has its own meaning

According to Grains and Redman [22], “an idiom is a sequence of words which operates as a single semantic unit, and like many multi-word verbs, the meaning of the whole cannot be deducted from an understanding of the parts”

In the view of Richards [28] “an idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts”

As for F.R.Palmer [27], “an idiom is an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts”

Vietnamese linguistic researchers have given out a number of definitions of idioms Hoàng Văn Hành [44, p.21] states that an idiom is a fixed group of words which is stable in terms of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meanings, and is widely used in daily speaking In “Ngữ Văn 7-tập 1”, idioms are regarded as phrases that have a fixed structure, indicating a complete meaning Hồ Lê [48] states that an idiom is a word combination which has a stable structure and a figurative meaning, and it is used to describe an image, a phenomenon, a characteristic or state, etc

Most authors share the same view that “idiom” should be understood in a broader sense to include both phrases and sentences as regards the scope the term “idiom”

In this thesis I have intended to adopt the definition given by F.R.Palmer [27] because it satisfies my aims of syntactic and semantic analysis of idioms In semantic, an idiom is a fixed group of words or an expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts

2.2.4 Main features of idioms

a Characteristics of English Idioms

According to many linguists, a group of words which has a fixed structure, indivisible meaning, and can appear in speech like a word is called an idioms Therefore, idioms can be distinguished by their grammatical and semantic features

+ Structural Features

An idiom is a fixed group of words Each word is regarded as a component of an idiom An idiom can consist of at least two components Between them, it is impossible to add any other word

Grains and Redman [22] claim that “all idioms grammatically restricted” Idioms typically refuse interruption and re-arrangement of components Moreover, idioms are structurally and lexically restricted We cannot add, modify, omit, or replace components without breaking or distorting their real meaning

The stability in English idioms is very high For example, we cannot replace “duck”

by “chicken” in the idiom be water off a duck’s back Also, we cannot change the position of components in idiom keep head above water In addition, under some certain circumstances, one might need to use a suitable idiom If one component of idiom slips his mind, the message cannot be conveyed It has been recognized by

Palmer [27] that although an idiom is semantically like a single word, it does not function like one Instead, it functions to some degree as a normal sequence

of grammatical words

Idioms have many grammatical restrictions In fact, a large number of idioms contain a verb and a noun, but although the verb may be placed in any tense, the number of noun can rarely be changed

However, there are many syntactic restrictions that vary from idiom to idiom Some idioms have passive forms, some have changeable word order, but others do not In other words, the form of these phrase-length idioms is set and only a limited number of them can be said in any other way without destroying the meaning

+ Semantic features

According to Grains and Redman [22], “semantic opacity” or “semantic ambiguity” can be considered as one of the characteristic features of idioms It is clear that most idioms are constructed from components that can also be used non-idiomatically Such phrases can have either literal or idiomatic meaning This leads to their semantic opacity For example, the idiom “be in hot water” it does not mean you are using hot water for your bath but it means in a difficult situation in which you are likely to be punished which is an idiomatic meaning When the literal meaning is realized to be unsuitable in the context, the idiomatic meaning will take its place The context where an idiom occurs helps to reduce the semantic ambiguity Moreover, quite often it is possible to see the link between the literal sense of the words and the idiomatic meaning

Idioms generally have connotative meanings through various meaning like metaphor, metonymy, and comparison and so on The connotative meaning is a basic characteristic of idioms that helps investigate if a certain phrase is idiomatic

or not It is almost impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom through the denotative meaning of the component parts

Another important semantic feature of idioms we should pay attention to is their expressiveness Idioms often convey users’ emotion, feelings and attitudes towards the situations It is possible for most idioms to be explained or replaced by another words or group of words Hence, what is the reason why people use a certain idiom

in a certain case? It is to satisfy the need impart different nuances of feelings The supremacy of lexicon in each language to express what has been happening around

the world and human life is infinite Occasionally, a word or a string of words cannot absolutely convey emotions and feeling of language users Idioms take its place whenever or wherever this kind of demand come in idioms not only carry out nominal functions, but also include in themselves sensitive meanings

For example, one uses the idioms go through fire and water to experience many difficulties or dangers in order to achieve something

b Characteristics of Vietnamese Idioms

In Vietnamese, idioms are considered as very special language units The form and contents of idioms are also distinguished by grammatical and semantic features

+ Structural features

Most Vietnamese linguists share the same point of view about the forms of Vietnamese idioms Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1975, p43-p52) considers an idiom as a fixed expression Nguyễn Văn Tư states “idioms are fixed expressions whose word components do not have their own individual meaning and become a solid block”

He emphasizes the combination of the components forming the meaning of idioms Hoàng Văn Hành attaches special importance to the components forming idioms

He affirms that an idiom is a fixed group of words whose form is unchanged

It can be said that most of Vietnamese idioms are fixed groups of words whose forms are unchanged: fixed combinations come from settled words and expressions The fixation shows that we cannot change the order of words or use the synonyms

to replace any components of an idiom in a casual way This is a basic feature that helps us to realize idioms easily

+ Semantic features

There have been a lot of different opinions about the semantic features of Vietnamese idioms According to Nguyễn Văn Mệnh (1972) said, an idiom introduce an image, a phenomenon, a state, a personality, an attitude “nội dung của thành ngữ đều là đúc kết kinh nghiệm là kết tinh trí tuệ của quần chúng, đều là sự khái quát hoá hiện thực để rút ra bản chất quy luật mà có” This opinion is quite simple and general In 1986, he gives his own new point of view: Idioms have their own meanings and nominative functions and are used in daily speaking

Nguyễn Thiện Giáp (1975) focuses on the basic semantic features of idioms: Being rich in imagery is a basic feature of idioms “thành ngữ là những cụm từ cố định vừa

có tính chất hoàn chỉnh về nghĩa vừa có tính gợi cảm” Idioms express concepts basing on specific images and symbols The imagery of idioms is made from its metaphor and comparison

Although there have been different ideas about the semantic features of idioms, Vietnamese linguists have all shared the same point of view as follows Firstly, the meaning of an idiom is a perfect whole which does not come from the meanings of individual components added Secondly, the meaning of an idiom expresses the reflection of things or concepts Thirdly, the meaning of an idiom is usually figurative and descriptive

For examble: “Cây khô xuống nước cũng khô, phận nghèo đi tới chỗ mô cũng nghèo”

2.2.5 Idioms containing the word “Water”

a Definition of “water”

The word “water” is used in the different ways such as a difficult situation as in “to

be in deep water” that it is hard to deal with or a relationship as in “blood is thicker than water” etc To understand about “water” clearly, I will present word-classes as well as the meanings of “water” in English

+ Word- classes

“Water” belongs to different word classes depending on the meaning, form and position of the word in a sentence

“Water” is a verb, such as “water down” or “water something down”

Let us consider the following sentence:

Some people say the new regulations water down several laws that protect people who rent apartments in the city Once the bill is introduced, he’s worried that lawmakers will water it down

“Water” is a noun as in “in hot water” Take (2) as an example:

Those e-mails complaining about your boss can land you in hot water

+ The meaning of “water”

“Water” is used to denote a situation that somebody deals with in life as in the example:

The statistics you quoted didn't prove anything, they simply muddied the waters

I came through hell and high water to get to this meeting on time Why don't you

start on time? You'll have to go through hell and high water to accomplish your

goal, but it'll be worth it

In addition, “water” is used to indicate the quantity or frequency of doing something For example:

Carol spends money like water - no wonder she's always broke

Or “water” is used to express the quantity of doing something, such as in (6) & (7):

I'm just treading water until I get an opportunity to try for a job with more

responsibility

He came and he turned water into wine for everything here

b Definition of idioms containing the word “Water”

EIW are a special kind of idioms in which the word “water” is a key word In addition, EIW are one specific group of idioms that demonstrate the way people use EIW in set expressions and how they associate EIW with other things in the world

2.2.6 Idioms and other

Words and group of words including idioms make a vocabulary system of a language It means that a vocabulary system of a language is very complex It consists of a lot of different units Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish them from other language units in order to have a deeper understanding about idioms in general and use them properly in particular

a Idioms and phrases

Idioms and phrases are similarly considered as combination of words But there are major differences between idioms and phrases which are shown in the following table

It is not an easy task to recognize the differences between ordinary phrases and

idioms We can take an example as illustration: (1) “She put her foot in her mouth” (idiom) has the same structure as “She put her bracelet in her drawer” (phrase)

“The drawer in which she put her bracelet was hers” and “Her bracelet was put in her drawer” are sentences related to sentence But “The mouth in which she out her foot was hers” and “Her foot was put into her mouth” do not have the same idiomatic sense of sentence

b Idioms and Collocations

According to Cruse [13], “the term collocation will be used to refer to 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”

“A collocation is a pair or group of words that are often used together This combination sounds natural to native speakers but students of English have to make

an effort to learn them because they are often difficult to guess” For example, it is

natural in English to say “a fast car” or “fast food” (“not a quick car” or “quick food”), “a quick meal” (not a fast meal”) In Vietnamese, we say “gội đầu”, but the

Structure -tend to be frozen in form and

position of the word as “ready-made utterances” or single “items”

-one cannot add, remove any word from idioms or change their orders breaking their meaning

-free combination of the words

-the components have loosely relation and can

be changeable

Meaning -a group of words whose meaning

different from the meanings of the individual words and cannot be inferred from the meanings of its parts

-is a group of words acting as a single part of speech and not containing both a subject and a verb It is a part of

a sentence, and does not express a complete thought

English says, “Wash one’s hair” (“not head”), we say “đánh răng” but the English says “clean one’s teeth”, we say ”đỡ đẻ” but the English says “deliver the baby” Collocations and idioms share several common features Both of them are fixed groups of words, are highly restricted contently and have arbitrary limitation on use

c Idioms and Proverbs

While studying the characteristics of idioms, it is necessary to review them in relation to proverbs It is necessary to distinguish idioms and proverbs although it is not an easy task Many scholars such as Hoàng Văn Hành (44), Nguyễn Lân (47), Bùi Phụng (52) discuss about the differences between idioms and proverbs but no one can get into a perfect conclusion Idioms and proverbs are so alike that from time to time learners feel unfeasible to differentiate between them

Idioms and proverbs share some common features First of all, both of them are reproduced as ready-made speeches In daily life, people naturally accept their existence and use them naturally in everyday speeches Under no circumstances do they dispute the being of either a proverb or an idiom

In addition, idioms and proverbs are fairly common in some other ways Their lexical items are permanent; moreover their meanings are conventional and largely metaphorical In contrast to free expressions in which the member words may differ according to the needs of conversations, the lexical components in proverbs and idioms are consistently presented as single unchangeable collocations or we can say

in another way that all the constituent elements making up the idiom cannot be substituted by others

As the above idiom “một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã”, the number “một” is fixed

and unchangeable An example and proverb is “out of sight, out of mind” The collocations of the phrases in this proverb are not permutable and changeable The proverb will not make sense if it is modified as “out of mind, out of sight” Due to the permanence of member-words in idioms and proverbs, therefore, it is out of the question to make any change in them, even when it merely an inconsiderable change

One more similarity is that the meanings of idioms and proverbs are understood figuratively other than literally Moreover, in many cases, idioms are formed from the basis of proverbs For example: “rotten apple” (one bad person who has a bad effect on others in a group) is the basis to form the proverb “the rotten apple injures its neighbors” (con sâu làm rầu nồi canh) or the case of the idiom “put all your eggs

in one basket” (risk all your money, effort and so on one thing, so that if it is not successful, you have no chance) comes from the proverb “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” or the idiom “có vay có trả” originates from the proverb “có vay có trả mới thỏa lòng nhau”

It is undeniable that idioms and proverbs have close relations and some similarities; they still have some different features An idiom has been considered as a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out by combining the literal meaning

of its individual words A proverb, however, has been defined differently as “a short well-known sentence or phrase that gives advice or says something is generally true

in life” It is also worth noticing that a proverb is not merely the language but one of the most substantial contributions to the folk culture of each country

People, through the treasure of proverbs of a nation, can perceive that nation’s

lands, people and humanity tradition For example, the proverb “be water off a duck’s back” has the Vietnamese equivalent like “nước đổ đầu vịt”

Therefore, in terms of grammar, an idiom is a set expression and a part of sentence such as “nest eggs” (money someone has saved up) while a proverb is defined as a fully made sentence: “Every dog has its day” (Ai giàu ba họ, ai khó ba đời) In terms of semantics, idiomatic expressions can also convey notions whereas semantic features of proverbs are judgments, estimates or confirmations about certain truths, ethnics or criticism

“Tục ngữ là những câu nói ngắn gọn, được sử dụng ổn định trong lời nói, có cấu trúc vững chắc, có ngữ điệu, vần điệu, phản ánh sự đúc kết tri thức đời sống, kinh nghiệm thực tiễn, đạo đức lối sống … của môt dân tộc Mỗi câu tục ngữ tự nó đã diễn đạt một ý trọn vẹn, một nhận xét, một kinh nghiệm sống, hoặc một lời dăn dạy, phê phán đạo lí, v.v

Therefore, the phrases and sentences “một con ngựa đau cả tàu bỏ cỏ”, “tốt gỗ hơn tốt nước sơn”, “plenty of water ran under the bridge” or “you draw water to your own mill” etc are considered as proverbs while “tiêu tiền như nước” “một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã” “nước đổ đầu vịt”, “a fish out of water”, “be dead in the water” etc are considered as idioms

2.3 Summary

Chapter 2 of this research has presented a review of related previous studies on grammatical structures and semantic features relating idiomatic expressions

The study bases its syntactic and semantic analysis on the perspectives of

D.A Cruse, Dixon, Grains, Redman, Mieder, Geoffrey Finch, Rosamund in English and those of Nguyễn Thiện Giáp, Nguyễn Đức Dân, Hoàng Văn Hành, Nguyễn Văn Hiệp in Vietnamese

In addition, this chapter also presents the general notions of English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions The differences between idiomatic expressions and other languages were carefully mentioned as the foundation for idiomatic expressions collection and analysis in chapter 4

CHAPTER 3: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON IDIOMS CONTAININGTHE WORD “WATER” IN ENGLISH

AND “NƯỚC” IN VIETNAMESE

3.1 Syntactic feature of iddoms containing the word “water” in English and

“nước” in Vietnamese

As mentioned in the previous chapter, idioms could be understood in a broader sense to include both phrases and sentences In this chapter, we shall analyze the examples of idiomatic containing the word “water” in English and

“nước” in Vietnamese cited from a large number of material sources and the syntactic features discovered under the form of phrasal structures namely, verb phrases, noun phrases, adjective phrases adverb phrases and prepositional phrases Apart from phrase structures, idiomatic containing the word “water” in English and “nước” in Vietnamese can be found both in simple sentences and

compound sentences

3.1.1 Phrase structures

a Verb Phrases

In the form of verb phrases, idiomatic containing the word “water” in English in

the material are found with general patterns such as Verb + Noun / Noun Phrase/

Adv.P, Verb + Noun / Noun Phrase +Adverb, Verb + Someone / Something +Adverb, Verb + Prepositional Phrase and To Be +Prepositional Phrase

Pattern E1:

With the pattern of Verb + Noun / Noun Phrase/ Adverb Phrase, idiomatic

containing the word “water” in English can have some ones such as muddy

the waters, test the water/waters, tread water, thrown cold water on, etc

To illustrate this structure, let us look at these samples:

The statistics you quoted didn't prove anything, they simply muddied the

waters

[64]

Verb + Noun / Noun Phrase/ Adv.P

I mentioned my idea to a couple of friends as a way of testing the water and they

were very enthusiastic about it Perhaps you should go to a couple of

meetings to test the waters before you decide whether to join the club

Examining these examples of idiom verb phrases, we can see that they are

extremely tight in structure and they are integrated in the sentences In the

examples, the phrasal verb “thrown on” appears in the idiom

Pattern E2:

In this pattern, idiomatic expressions account for a large number of some

typical ones as follow: cut someone's water off, keep one's head above water,

pour/throw cold water on something, pour oil on troubled waters, throw the

baby out with the bath water, dip your toes in the water, etc

Let’s consider the following examples:

Well, I guess that cuts your water off! That sure cuts off my water! [64]

I was so tired I could hardly keep my head above water [64]

Margaret Thatcher poured cold water on the idea of a European central bank

[64]

I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water There are some

good features of the present system that I think we should retain [64]

If you dip your toes in the water, you try something tentatively because you are not

Pattern E3:

Verb + Noun / Noun Phrase +Adverb

Verb + Someone / Something +Adverb

This pattern accounts for a very small number of idiomatic expressions of verb

phrase such as blow something/somebody out of the water, fish something out of

water, water something down

I will blow him out of the water if he shows up around here The boss blew the whole idea out of the water [64]

They came to court with fresh evidence that would, they said, blow the

Pattern E4:

In this pattern, there are some typical idiomatic expressions as follow: go

through fire and water, blow out of the water, fish in troubled waters, take in fresh water, water down a blame, etc

Take a look at the following examples:

They went through fire and water to ensure the prince's safety [64]

I will blow him out of the water if he shows up around here The boss blew

Frank is fishing in troubled waters by buying more shares of that company They

are supposed to be in financial difficulties The company could make more money

by selling armaments abroad, but they would be fishing in troubled waters

[64]

Pattern E5:

Only few idiomatic expressions of this pattern can be found in our corpus such

as: to be in low water, to be in smooth water, to be in deep water, to be like a fish

out of water, etc

We're going to be in deep water if the bank refuses to authorize a bigger loan

[64]

All the other children in the school had rich, middle-class parents, and she was

beginning to be like a fish out of water

[64]

Verb + Prepositional Phrase

To Be +Prepositional Phrase

We are about to complete the campaign in the mountainous area and the work is in

smooth water

[64]

Vietnamese idioms also consist of many idiomatic expressions containing the word

“nước” in form of verb phrases with some patterns such as: Verb + Noun/ Noun

Phrase+ Verb + Noun/ Noun Phrase, Verb + Như + Noun/Noun Phrase, Verb +

Như + Noun + Verb, Verb/ Verb Phrase + Noun/Noun Phrase and Verb + Như +

Verb + Noun/Noun Phrase

Pattern V1:

Many idiomatic expressions in Vietnamese can be found in this type such as:

Bán nước buôn dân, bán nước cầu vinh, bắc nướcchờ gạo ngời, cắm sào đợi

nước, chọc trời khuấy nước, đo lọ nước mắm đếm củ dưa hành, phản dân hại

nước, đem chuông đi đấm nước người, đổ mồ hôi sôi nước mắt, yêu nước thương

nòi, ngồi chơi xơi nước, etc

Let’s consider the following the examples below:

Mỗi năm người Việt Nam đã phải đổ mồ hôi sôi nước mắt để nộp khoảng chừng

450 triệu phơrang, hầu hết chỉ để nuôi béo bọn ăn bám (Hồ Chí Minh, cited in [49,

p.279])

Ai không nhớ đã đổ mồ hôi sôi nước mắt như thế nào mới có hột lúa ngoài đồng

bữa nay” (Bùi Hiển, cited in [49, p.279])

Làm tay sai cho giặc, phản lại tổ quốc.“Đế quốc Mỹ những tên xâm lược, lũ Ngô

Trần bán nước buôn dân (Nhiều tác giảTừ tuyến đầu tổ quốc, cited in [49, p.54])

Chỉ có bọn chủ tây thì luôn mồm đề cao công trạng bán nước hại dân của vua, và

thường đủ các thứ mề đay nô lệ (Nhiều tác giả, cited in [49, p.55])

Không còn đường nào khác Đế quốcMỹ là kẻ đã phá hoại Hiệp định giơ-ne-vơ, là

kẻ đã vũ trang xâm lược miền Nam Việt Nam, là kẻ đã nuôi dưỡng bọn Ngô Đình

Diệm buôn dân bán nước (Chu Văn, cited in [49, p.55])

Làm tay sai cho giặc, phản lại tổ quốc để được vinh hiển cho bản thân “Đoàn tức

quá mặt hầm hầm chửi: - Ông nội tổ cha cái thằng Lăng Cả bố lẫn con đều bán

nước cầu vinh.(Hà Minh Tuân, cited in [49, p.55])

Phần việc của ta cứ tiến hành đi anh ạ, đừng bắc nước chờ gạo người làm gì

(Cited in [49, p.])

Verb + Noun/ NP+ Verb + Noun/ NP

Chờ đợi viển vông, vô ích, không có kết quả: Nghĩ lòng dù chẳng quyết lòng, cắm

sào đợi nước chờ trong được nào (Nguyễn Huy Tự, cited in [49, p.107])

Chọc trời khuấy nước mặc dầu

Dọc ngang nào biết trên đầu có ai?

(Nguyễn Du, cited in [49, p.155])

Y cũng thừa hiểu, người chọc trời khuấy nước, đến trên đầu người ta, người ta

cũng chẳng còn biết có ai nữa, huống chi cái thứ mình chỉ là một kẻ tiều lại giữ tù (Nguyễn Tuân, cited in [49, p.155])

Nhưng Phụng cũng không thể hoàn toàn tin vào lão địa chủ đã nổi tiếng là đo lọ

nước mắm đếm củ dưa hành này (Nguyễn Thế Phương, cited in [49, p275])

Còn thằng ách khố đỏ, thật tình chú không biết nó Nếu nó chưa đáng tội chết mà

giết nó thì sai Vả lại, bây giờ đã thất thế nó khó mà phản dân hại nước được nữa

(Đỗ Quang Tiến, cited in [49, p.610])

Lân là một kỹ sư trồng trọt giỏi, em được biết như thế, nhưng là một kỹ sư đang

“ngồi chơi xơi nước” ở Bộ rồi được điều về (Nhiều tác giả, cited in [49, p.530])

Đem chuông đi đấm nước người

Đem gà đi chọi ở nơi anh hùng

Những nơi chả đáng chả thông

Cho nên vàng chả đổ đồng với thau

(Ca dao, cited in [49, p.261])

Pattern V2:

Anh ấy chẳng yêu em nữa thì anh ấy nói thế, chứ em, chị xem, em ăn ở như bát

nước đầy! (Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tú, cited in [49, p.33])

Pattern V3:

In this form, the Vietnamese have some idiomatic expressions such as: dâng lên

như nước vỡ bờ, đi như nước chảy, etc

To understand more about these ones, let’s consider the following examples

Phong trào cách mạng ở P.V đang dâng lên, cùng với phong trào toàn miền Nam

như nước vỡ bờ (Nhiều tác giả, cited in [49, p.220])

Verb + Như + Noun/Noun Phrase

Verb + Như + Noun + Verb

Cao trào đồng khởi ở khắp miền Nam cuồn cuộn dâng lên như nước vỡ bờ

(Nguyễn Thị Định, cited in [49, p.220])

Người đi như nước chảy, nước chảy ngược và nước chảy xuôi (Tô Hoài, cited in

[49, p.270])

Pattern V4:

In this kind of idiomatic expressions, there are some ones such as: Cười ra nước

mắt, dội nuớc lạnh, khóc hết nuớc mắt, thả nước đường, chết đầu nước, etc

Please consider the following examples:

Trong lòng đau khổ đến khóc được mà vẫn phải gượng cười “cời ra nước mắt”hổ

người, Khen ai khéo đặt nên lời ví xưa”(Khuyết danh, cited in [49, p.209])

Khi phát hiện sai lầm và sửa sai, tuyệt đối không nên dội nước lạnh vào quần

chúng cơ bản, làm nguội nhiệt tình và lòng tin tưởng của họ (Trường Chinh, cited in

[49, p.227])

Con bé, mẹ đi lâu không về lại khóc hết nước mắt đây!” (Cited in [49, p.376])

Ý ông muốn thả nước đường ra cho tôi ham, để tôi bỏ đây mà đi chứ gì! (Vũ Thị

Thường, cited in [49, p.686])

Cái chính phủ Trần Trọng Kim này cũng chết đầu nước thôi (Nguyễn Đình Thi,

cited in [49, p.136])

Pattern V5:

According to this kind, there are some idiomatic expressions such as chửi như tát

nước vào mặt, mắng như tát nước vào mặt, mưa như trút nước

Let’s consider the following examples to understand more about these idioms:

Y chửi chúng tôi như tát nước vào mặt suốt cả ngày

(TrầnTứ Bình, cited in [49, p.168]

Ông ấy đã dặn buổi nay tôi phải cày cho xong ruộng ấy,nếu không xong đến trưavề

ăn cơm, ông ấy mắng như tát nước và nói như móc cơm ra

Trong trí óc anh phảng phách khuôn mặt hồng hào của cô tự vệ ở bến phà, đứng soi

đèn xem giấy tờ giữa trời mưa như trút nước

(Nguyến Đình Thi, cited in [49, p.496]

Verb/ Verb Phrase + Noun/Noun Phrase

Verb + Như + Verb + Noun/Noun Phrase

Table 3.1 Verb phrase structures of idiomatic expressions containing

the word “water” in English and “Nước” in Vietnamese

+Adverb

[2] Verb + Như + Noun/Noun Phrase [3] Verb + Someone/ Something

+ Noun/Noun Phrase

b Noun Phrases

Noun phrase structures of idiomatic expressions containing the word “Water”in English account for a significant number of idioms collected After being

analyzed, they are divided into groups including general patterns of Adjective

+ Noun, Adj + Noun + Prepositional Phrase, Adjective + Nounand Adjective + Noun, (Article) Noun/NP + Prep + Noun/NP, Noun/NP +and + Noun/NP, Noun + Prepositional Phrase and Noun/Gerund + Noun

Pattern E6:

With the above structure, there are only few idioms such as murky waters,

uncharted waters, fresh water college

Let’s consider the following examples

I don’t like him at all because he behaves in murky waters [64]

Her parents would like her to study at a fresh water college because she can stay at

In this kind of idiomatic expressions, there are only few idiomatic expressions such

as big drink of water, tall drink of water

Let’s consider the following examples:

She is a big drink of water, but she could be worse The lecture was a big drink of

water [64]

Everybody makes fun of Jonathan because he is a tall drink of water

[64]

Pattern E8:

With this pattern, English idiomatic expressions containing the word “water” can

have some ones such as deep water and hot fire [64]

My life between the deep water and hot fire in the village changed my life's goal

[64]

Pattern E9:

This is the most common pattern of noun phrases Among idiomatic expressions

containing the word “water” having the structure of noun phrases, this pattern

occupies a large number such as: a fish out of water, water under the

bridge, water over the dam, Water of forgetfulness, water off a duck's back,

etc

Let’s consider the following examples

After living in Hong Kong for most of his life, Lee was a fish out of water

in Los Angeles [64]

I should probably have asked for more money when I was offered the job, but hey,

that's water under the bridge now [64]

Insults rolled off John like water off a duck's back The bullets had no effect on the

steel door They fell away like water off a duck's back [64]

Your quarrel with Lena is water over the dam; now you ought to concentrate on

getting along with her George and I were friends once, but that's all water under the

bridge now [64]

Pattern E10:

Adjective + Noun and Adjective + Noun

(Article) Noun/NP + Prep + Noun/NP

Noun/NP + and + Noun/NP

Some idioms in this pattern are found in the corpus such as bread and water, high

mountains and flowing water, milk and water, etc

These are the samples for them:

Wilbur knew that if he got in trouble again it would be at least a year on bread and

water This dinner is terrible again I would rather have bread and water! Why don't

we ever have pizza? [64]

Our “high mountains and flowing water” will continue forever, (describe close

friends) [64]

Pattern E11:

In this pattern, there are some idiomatic expressions are found such as water under

the bridge, diamond of the first water, water of forgetfulness, etc

I should probably have asked for more money when I was offered the job, but hey,

that's water under the bridge now [64]

Pattern E12:

Only some idiomatic expressions in this kind are found such as running water,

water table, water proof, water wagon

Many people drink running water instead of natural water [64]

The latest rains had raised the water table [64]

Vietnamese idioms also consist of many idiomatic containing the word “nước” in

form of verb phrases with some patterns such as Như + Noun + Verb +

Noun/Noun Phrase, Như + Noun +Với + Noun, Như + Noun/Noun Phrase, Noun Phrase + Noun Phrase and Noun + Adj +Noun + Adj

Pattern V6:

There are somes idiomatic expressions in this kind such as: như cá gặp nước, như

nước đổ đầu vịt, như nước vỡ bờ, etc

Let us see these examples

Noun + Prepositional Phrase

Noun/Gerund + Noun

Như + Noun + Verb + Noun/Noun Phrase