Cách diễn đạt thành ngữ về nơi chốn trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt nhìn từ góc độ văn hóa

5 The influence of culture on British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions of places .... Among the idioms relating to different aspects of social life, idiomatic expressions of

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES 

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES 

( CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT THÀNH NGỮ VỀ NƠI CHỐN TRONG TIẾNG ANH

ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NHÌN TỪ GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgment ii

Abstract iii

Table of content iv

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 3

5 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Culture and language 4

1.1.1 Culture and cultural values 4

1.1.2 Relation between language and culture 5

1 1.3 Idioms and their roles in communication 6

1.2 Idioms in the light of semantics 7

1.2.1 Definition 7

1.2.2 Functions of idioms 8

1.2.3 Classification of idioms 9

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1.2.4 Sources of idioms 10

1.2.5 Features of idioms 11

1.3 Distinction of idioms 11

1.3.1 Idioms vs slang 11

1.3.2 Idioms vs proverb 12

1.3.3 Idioms vs collocation 13

1.4 Idioms in the light of culture 13

1.4.1 Idioms as seen from social specification 13

1.4.2 Idioms as seen from social psychology 17

1 5 The influence of culture on British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions of places 18

1.5.1 Influence of culture on British English idiomatic expressions of places 18

1.5.2 Influence of culture on Vietnamese idiomatic expressions of places 20

1.6 Previous studies on idioms 24

CHAPTER 2: DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS OF PLACES IN BRITISH ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 26

2.1 Idiomatic expressions of places in British English 26

2.1.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the geographical names 26

2.1.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘ house and home” 28

2.1.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘earth’ 29

2.1.4 Idiomatic expressions containing the word: sea/ ocean/river 30

2.2 Idiomatic expressions of places in Vietnamese 31

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2.2.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the geographical names 31

2.2.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘ house and home” 35

2.2.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘earth’ 35

2.2 4 Idiomatic expressions containing the word: sea/ ocean/river 36

2.3 Findings 37

2.4 Summary 40

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Recaptulation 41

2 Implications 42

3 Suggestions for further study 42

References 43 Appendix I

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

It is common knowledge that the language of each culture lies in its self similar and different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as human values, attitude to life, behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and tradition, social conventions etc

As the special form of language, idioms not only help to enrich the language and culture, but it also reflects the social life Thus, the ability to understand idioms is important for the successful communication The difficult comprehension of language in the form of idioms is more likely to lead to communication breakdown for those from different language communities than any other forms of verbal language Failure to grasp the meanings of idioms can impinge upon an individual‟s understanding of language in social, academic and business settings In order to enhance the success of communication, the study of the relationship between the idioms and cultures is significant and promising

In British and Vietnamese culture and language, idioms are of great importance for its common use and its figurative way of expressing the ideas The idioms benefit people in communication thanks to the provision with the way of expressing concepts linguistically, that is the ability to convey meanings without verboseness It can be said that idioms bring the color and vitality for the language and the vividness and depth for the speaker‟s speech Knowing how to use idioms effectively in the right situation is becoming crucial for all the speakers of English From the front of cultural view, it becomes easy and interesting to come to know the meaning of the idioms because British English and Vietnamese idioms themselves are crucial and active part of culture They play a great role of retaining, passing traditional culture down to the next generation, reflecting people‟s typical cultural factors and they will continue their progressive influence on people‟s real life

Traditionally, the study of idiomatic expressions has been associated with the study of literature, the use of idioms is the genius of national language that helps learners know more about the language, custom and culture of the countries all over the world In communication, the presence of idiomatic expressions has formed the academic manner of speaking The idioms of any languages makes a great contribution to the speciality of that language and also indicates the cultural values of the language because idioms often originated from the social life or original literature such as wars, festivals, celebrations, movies and the Bible

Among the idioms relating to different aspects of social life, idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese specify the typical features of cultural values connected to social life Idiomatic expressions of places contain much knowledge about mankind and surrounding world Each idiom of place is connected to a local specification and cultural background that conveys ideas about the lifestyles and stereotype of the nation and the country Specifically, the idioms of places refer to the human emotion, behavior, life style and reflect the expectation and wishes of people in their social lives Hence, studying on the similarities and differences between the idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese has been one of the researcher‟s concerns and the study on the topic “Idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese as seen from cultural perspective” is carried out The study will be served as an interesting and helpful material for those who care for cultural patterns in intercultural communication and cross- cultural communication

2 Aims of the study:

The study aims at

- helping the learners establish a background understanding on the relationship between idioms and culture by analysing the features of idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese;

- indicating influence of British culture and Vietnamese culture on language in general and idiomatic expressions of places in this particular aspect;

- showing some similarities and differences between British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions in terms of local specification in which meaning of the idioms and human attitude are revealed;

- raising people‟s cultural awareness in teaching and learning British English and Vietnamese idioms

3 Scope of the study:

The study will focus on idiomatic expressions of places in British English and

Vietnamese which are taken from outstanding sources in English: Oxford Idioms-

Dictionary for Learners of English, Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture and in Vietnamese: Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam ( Nguyễn Lân), Đi Tìm Điển Tích Thành Ngữ ( Tiêu Hà Minh), Thành Ngữ Anh Việt ( Bùi Phụng), Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ, Tục Ngữ, Ca dao Anh Việt Thông Dụng

(Nguyễn Đình Hùng) The list of British English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions

will be found in the appendix as the illustrations

4 Methods of the study:

This is a comparative and contrastive study Therefore, the strategic methods used are qualitative and quantitative ones which are conducted by carefully collecting and referring to materials from various sources to have full-blown information of idioms and its cultural background in general The good choice of fifty idiomatic expressions in Vietnamese and fifty idiomatic expressions in British English will be carefully analysed and examined to see the similarities and differences between the two cultures and languages The author‟s own experience in communication and cultural awareness will be

referred to as way of categorizing the field

5 Design of the study:

The study is divided into three main parts: Part A gives a general introduction and stated the reasons, aims and ways for carrying out the study Part B includes two chapters, Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background on culture and idioms in British English and Vietnamese Also, the influence of the two cultures on idiomatic expressions of places will be taken into account Chapter 2 mainly provides a careful analysis of idiomatic expressions of places in British English and Vietnamese concerning the similarities and differences in the aspect of local specification The last part, conclusion concerns with the summaries of main points, the implication and some suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1.1 Culture and language

1.1.1 Culture and cultural values

There have been various notions of culture, but to make it simple to get the ideas of culture, according to Goodenough (1957, 167), the term culture is used in the sense of whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society Porter and Samovar (1994; 12) also clarified that culture does not naturally come into the people‟s mind, members of the culture adapt the patterns of behavior, ways of thingking and build their attitude, beliefs etc fully part of their personality by absorbing them through repeated experience or exposure The power and influence of these perceptions can be seen in the ways in which people acquire culture Culture is transmitted from generation to generation, people use various forms of communication: spoken words, written words, non verbal actions to pass on the content and patterns of the culture in order to spread culture As with communication, culture has been evolving and thus can produce changes in the process of invention Also, every culture presents a limited choice of behavior patterns from the infinite patterns of human experience This selection is made according to the basic assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture In other words, culture defines the boundaries of different cultural groups

Every culture owns its cultural values that are global and abstract The cultural values identify what should be judged as good or evil in order to give rules for behaviors in specific situations Different cultures reflect different values and cultural values seem to have changed, affecting the beliefs, and attitudes of most members of a culture and society Cultural values have been characterised in different ways but they often include: historical value, social value, spiritual value, symbolic value and aesthetic value Specifically, historical value is a concept resting on particular viewpoints of history and presents a special relationship with the past; social value concerns different places or things that tend

to make connections between people and to reinforce a sense of unity and identity; symbolic value is simply understood as the repositories of meaning; aesthetic value is considered a highly problematic area of enquiry involving dispute not only about what is beautiful but also about who has the power and authority to take decisions about what is

beautiful and spiritual value addresses aspects of the religious, the numinous and the sublime (www.demos.co.uk)

In conclusion, culture and cultural values, in anthropology, are the patterns of behavior, beliefs, languages, rituals, art, religion and attitude etc that people living in social groups have created, shared and experienced Culture distinguishes one human group from others and also distinguishes humans from other animals Cultural values are generated and exist in a culture and society as a measure for all social and cultural ativities and thus they are considered an important determinant of a nation and society

1.1.2 Relationship between language and culture

The relationship between language and culture has been interrelated in the sense that language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties In the book

“Language and Culture” Kramsch (1998; 3) states “language is the principle means whereby we conduct our social lives When it is used in contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways.” According to the author, the language people use in communication express facts, ideas or events and reflect the people‟s attitude and beliefs, their point of view, which share the same cultural and social features Also, through language, the experience of a social community is variously created and presented The members of a social community make a great contribution to the language through the medium they choose to communicate The way in which people use different forms of communication: written or verbal and non-verbal medium creates meanings for the language of the community Consequently, thanks to all the verbal and nonverbal aspects of the language, it is found that language embodies and represents cultural reality In addition, language possesses cultural values and consists of a complex system of sign through which people use language as a symbol of the social community and culture to identify themselves in the communication Thus, it can be said that language expresses the cultural identity

In general, language and culture have always been in existence together and reinforced each other The relationship between them is so closely linked that separation is impossible, in other words, it is difficult to master the language without the knowledge of

the culture

1.1.3 Idioms and their roles in communication

Every language and culture is particularly rich in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules Without idioms, language would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech and writing Because idioms, the special form of language, belong to the culture so it posseses the cultural values in which historical value, social value, spiritual, symbolic and aesthetic values are of the main concerns

In communication, idioms are used as the expressions that reflect accumulated human experiences and are built on frequently occurring situations that demonstrate human behavior, social traits, certain habits or tradition in a country They almost represent life lessons and are the heritage of those accumulated events that make up the consciousness of

a nation or humankind in general Every nation has got their own idioms that are specific

to their own culture Hence, learning the specific idioms related to a certain culture helps learn more about the history, customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of it Idioms are also considered as special language units because they can organize and signal

the discourse e.g On the one hand or On the other hand, the listeners can find it easy to

follow the sequence of the conversation and traces back to the previous information or reorganize the ideas in a more logical way The role of idioms here is to create cohesion for the speech and comprehension to the hearers

It can be said that the biggest role in communication that idioms carry is to convey information in a figurative and impressive way The presence of idioms in every aspect of life such as in conversation, on mass media, in game, in sport, in politics, in journals etc has proved that Using fixed expressions and idioms in a conversation will link the ideas and help the listeners avoid verboseness and coarseness and somehow makes the

conversation more pleasing to the ears e.g She asked me why the report wasn‟t finished yet

so I reminded her that Rome wasn‟t built in a day In the example, the meaning conveyed

to the reader is more picturesque and deeper, Rome wasn‟t built in a day means it takes

time, patience and hard work to do a difficult and important job Everyone can take the author‟s ideas absolutely natural and understand the idioms in the whole context Thus, idioms in communication help to express the speaker‟s ideas in a tactful way and have a

great effect on the listeners who not only absorb the meaning of the words but also picture

Rome wasn‟t built in a day to themselves

However, the frequent use of idioms in a communication may bring the feeling of less comprehensibility because communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information and it requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality The communication process is complete once the listener has understood the speaker Naturally, when speaking the speaker always bears in mind that the message he wants to convey to the listeners must be comprehensible and subjected to the language and cultural community, thus all aspects must be considered and arranged properly

To sum up, idioms are used widely in everyday conversation has shown its popularity and influence on social life In the communicative message, the truth value, the request or advice are conveyed to the listeners and make the language use more flexible and figurative Apparently, the shared knowledge background on idioms, language and culture between the speakers and listeners can help to maintain and enhance the communication

1.2 Idioms in the light of semantics

According to Seidle and Mac Mordie (1988), “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, meaning something different from the individual words of the idioms when they stand alone The way in which the words are put together is often odd, illogical or even grammatically incorrect.” Palmer (1990) argued that idioms as 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 unit words

As Hornby (1995) argues in his Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, an idiom

is a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit Again, the definition in the Oxford

Idioms- Dictionary for Learners of English states that idioms are at the first important or full word „Full‟ words are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives An idiom usually begins

as a phrase with a literal meaning which then starts to be used in a figurative or an

idiomatic way For example; in the past it was a sign of respect to take your hat off to

someone when meeting them or entering their house From this literal meaning, the phrase came to be used more generally to show respect or express admiration for what someone has done Another view is from Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (1992), the author states that “idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts”

In short, idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual words Idioms are composed of more than one word: their constituents show how to some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words An idiom typically resists interruption and re-ordering of its constituents

1.2.2 Functions of idioms

The functions of idioms have different ways of categorizing According to Chitra Fernando (1996, 72), idioms perform the three important functions: ideational, interpersonal and relational functions Her idea was initiated by the theory proposed by Halliday (1985)

- Ideational idioms: (the state and way of the world‟ idioms) signify message content

such as: Actions (e.g: wear different hats), Events (e.g: turning point), Situation (e.g: be in

Queer street), People and things (e.g: a man about town), Attributes (e.g: matter of fact),

Evaluations (e.g: turn back the clock), Emotions (e.g: walk on air), etc

- Interpersonal idioms: fulfill interactional function or characterize the nature of the

message specifically: Greetings and Farewell (e.g bye for now), Directives (e.g never

mind), Agreement (e.g say no more), Rejections (e.g I wasn‟t born yesterday) etc

- Relational idioms: ensure cohesion and aid the coherence of discourse such as:

adversative (e.g on the contrary), Comparison (e.g On the one hand), Causal (so that

when), Concessive (At the same time), Addition (What is more) etc

Other categorization of functions drawn from Moon‟s theory (1998) is:

- Informational: conveying information of different kind; e.g in the red, rub the

shoulders with

- Evaluative: giving the speaker‟s attitude: e.g works wonders, wash one‟s hands off

something

- Situational: expressing conventions, clauses, exclamation, relating to extralingual

context; wall have ears,

- Modalizing: expressing modality, truth values, advice, request: more or less, at all,

in effect

- Organizational: organizing the text, signaling discourse structure: by the way, all in all

In general, idioms are often exploited to name objects, action or describe situations Idioms are fully made use of to express certain generalizations, advice, make evaluation and emphasize Identifying the specific uses of idioms also reveals their more general role

as conventional, familiar ways of saying: idioms are not one-offs as their recurrence in the same type of context show

1.2.3 Classification of idioms

Classification of idioms based on meaning:

According to Chitra Fernando (1996; 35), “idioms yield three sub-classes”: pure idioms, semi-idioms and literal idioms

+ Pure idioms is a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword expression e.g;

Rome wasn‟t built in a day, Get on like a house on fires etc, have nothing to do with Rome built or house and fire In contrast to its literal counterpart meaning, a non- literal meaning

are imposed on the idioms as a whole “it takes time and patience and hard work to do a

difficult or important job” and “ quickly develop a very friendly relationship with someone”

+ Semi-idioms have one or more literal constituents and at least one with a

non-literal subsense usually special to that co-occurrence relation and no other E.g: Foot the

bill, Catch one‟s breath means “pay” and “check” respectively

+ Literal idioms meet the salient criterion for idioms: invariance or restricted variation They are however less semantically complex than pure and semi-idioms For

example: Home sweet home, Home is where the heart is

Classification of idioms based on structures:

As mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (1993), the words and structures are used within an idiom often quite unusual, so is the grammar but they can be mainly devided into: phrase idioms and clause idioms:

+ Clause patterns:

Verb + compliment: Go downhill

Verb + direct object: Ease somebody‟s mind, Pack the house

Verb + direct object + compliment: Paint the town red

Verb + indirect object + direct object: Do somebody credit

Verb + direct object+ adjunct: Sell somebody down the river, Set the Thames on fire

+ Phrase patterns:

Idioms as noun phrase: A no-go area

Idioms as an adjective phrase: As poor as a church mouse

Idioms as a verb phrase: Get to the bottom of thing,

Idioms as a prepositional phrase: On Carey street

Idioms as an adverbial phrase: To the end of the earth

Idioms as an interjection: Take your time

1.2.4 Sources of idioms

In many ways, idioms reflect the history and ways of life of the people who have spoken English over the age Idioms have a variety of sources that originated from the social and cultural life such as farming, means of transport, science, Bible, literature, history, leisure activities etc

In reality, a large of idioms comes from a time when far more people worked on the

land than they do now Many idioms related to farm work such as hay making “till the hay

comes home” or harvesting crop: You reap what you so In the past, travelling by ship was

often the fastest means of transport and there are many idioms connected to the sea and

sailing: A drop in the ocean As our ancestors‟ lives were dominated by the land and the seasons, these days our lives are shaped by science and technology e.g He‟s on live wire Besides, leisure activities have always been a rich source of idioms, from sports: (boxing)

Out for the count or from games to entertainment such as the theatre: Behind the scenes, Take centre stage and from cinema: It‟s a wrap It has been admitted that many idioms

have entered English from literature and history From the rich sources of fables and tales

The streets are paved with gold (from Alice in Wonderland- an English fairy tale) Not

only the idioms come from the English history, many come from ancient legends of Greek

and Roman: An Achilles‟ heel, Cross the Rubicon (from the life of Julius Caesar and

Alexander The Great) The famous historical figures also left their mark on the language

for example: Napoleon with the idiom: Meet his Waterloo (the idiom originated from

Napoleon‟s battle in Waterloo in 1815) Almost all of the idioms come from the daily life

activities and a large part come from the Bible: Salt of the earth

In general, the great importance of an idiom is about its meaning, knowing the sources relating to the idioms are a good way to work out the meaning of an idiom and its use

1.2.5 Features of idioms

As suggested in the theory about idioms given by Chitra Fenando (1996; 3), idioms are commonly accepted as a type of multiword expression or single words It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation It doesn‟t always follow the rules of meaning and grammar The most frequently mentioned features of idioms are:

- Compositeness: idioms are commonly accepted as a type of multiword

expression (Cost the earth, A drop in the ocean, On the high sea etc) though a few scholars

accept even single words as idioms

- Institutionalization: idioms are conventionalized expressions, conventionalization being the end result of initially expressions

- Semantic opacity: the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of its constituents In other words, an idiom is often non-literal

These three features in common word combinations have resulted in the type of multiword expressions indentified by the term: idioms

1.3 Distinction of idioms

1.3.1 Idioms vs slang

“Slangs are very informal words and phrases commonly used in speech, especially between people from the same social groups or who work together, not considered suitable for formal contexts and often not in use for long Slang sometimes restricted to one particular group of people e.g soldiers and children” (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary -1995) Slang is also defined as language that is not usually acceptable in serious speech or writing, including words, expressions, etc regarded as very informal or not polite, and those used among particular groups of people (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English-1978) Slang is a means of identifying and reinforcing certain sub-groups in society, that is the member of this group may not understand other group‟s

communication for instance: cop ( the slang for police) in the criminal world, cool (stylish

and modern ) in the youth‟s language Moreover, slang stands differently from region to

region while idioms are almost the same in the same cultural area For example, the idiom

like death warmed up (being ill) can be understood both in England and America;

meanwhile, such slang as ass kissing (flattering, toadying) are accepted only by the

American One more distinction is that slang is fashionable and soon out of date

In conclusion, idioms and slang are almost fixed in structure and words, but slang is

used among the groups of people whereas idioms are found in every kind of speech

1.3.2 Idioms vs proverb

Flavell (1992) said that proverbs exist in all languages and written collections of them date back to the earliest times Proverbs can be defined as memorable short sayings of the people, containing words of advice or wisdom and often appear in the form of whole sentences - to be adapted into proverbial form Meanwhile, idioms are normally phrases where the whole phrase means something different from the meaning of the separate words

Another distinction that proverbs differ from idioms is stated by Hornby (1995) that

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

gives advice, e.g If the mountain doesn‟t come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the

mountain Vu Ngoc Phan (2000; 39) shared the same view and considered a proverb as a

complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or

criticism.” For example: Trời không chịu đất, đất phải chịu trời

In general, idioms and proverbs share some same features that they are set- expressions with stable components and used in a metaphorical way, their meanings cannot

be deduced from the individual words but must be understood as a whole As they are products of human‟s thought, cultures and processes of labour and daily activities, both idioms and proverbs are orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally

accepted in life

However, proverbs possess its own characteristics: they must have the clause or

sentence (not word) to express justice or an event implying the justice Besides, proverbs have a meaning beyond or other than the sum of the meaning of the individual words e.g: A

man is master in his own house Also, proverbs can stand independently with a complete

meaning e.g: East or West, home is best The way that proverbs show their contents and

meanings is logical and expressive and directly indicate the idea of justice and the idea of comment, experience, morality justice or criticism basing on an action or an event

1.3.3 Idioms vs collocation

Collocation as defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary (1995) is the regular combination of words Or “collocation is an arrangement of words which sounds

natural e.g strong coffee not powerful coffee (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary

English 1978) Another definition of collocation is provided by Oxford Dictionary for Students of English (2002) that “ collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce natural- sounding speech and writing‟‟ for example, in English you

Collocations-say: strong wind but heavy rain Collocation runs through the whole of the English

language No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation Admittedly, language that is collocationally rich is also more precise This is because most single words in English language collocate within broad limits Choosing the right collocation helps to express one self more clearly and be able to convey not just the general meaning, but something quite precise

As mentioned, idioms involve habitual collocation, a collocation of special kind

For instance, A drop in the ocean the collocation of a drop and the ocean makes the

meaning of the resultant combination ambiguous (= a very small amount in comparison to the much larger amount that is needed) - it is not related to the meaning of the individual words, but is sometimes (though not always) nearer to the meaning of a single word

1.4 Idioms in the light of culture

1.4.1 Idioms - as seen from cultural and social specification

It is known that an idiom is an expression not readily analyzable from its grammatical construction or from the meaning of its component parts It is the part of the distinctive form or construction of a particular language that has a specific form or style present only in that language It is also stated that an idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual grammatical rules of a language or from the usual meanings of its constituent elements Unlike many other aspects of language, an idiom does not readily change as time passes Some idioms gain and lose favor in popular culture, but they rarely have any actual shift in their construction People also have a natural tendency to over exaggerate what they mean sometimes, which gives birth to new idioms by accident Likewise, manyidiomatic expressions whose meanings are not often

traceable to literal meanings of their radicals are closely connected to the following specific features :

+ Idioms attached with locality

An idiom is generally a colloquial term requiring some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to use only within a social culture, where conversational parties must possess common cultural references and social values Therefore, idioms are not only considered part of the language, but also part of the culture and society As culture typically is localized, idioms often are useless beyond their local context, nevertheless, some idioms can be more universal than others and easily translated because the metaphoric meaning can be deduced

According to some linguistists, idioms can be seen as the result of social and cultural community communication, they possess the local specification Each idiom presents the special cultural feature of that community It can be seen clearly in such an

idiom as Công tử Bạc Liêu, the literal meaning can be The madarin‟s son in BacLieu

Province in the old time, the idiomatic meaning refers to the person who is very generous and extravagant Bac Lieu is the place in the south of Vietnam where the mandarin‟s son- was born and grown up, his generosity and gallantry were first handed down in the local area then the people in the neighborhood got used to the meaning and the reference The idiom came into being among the local community and gradually become the colloquial expression expanded by the people in Vietnam Actually, the locality shown in each idiom

is a good source to work out the variety in meaning of an idiom The expansion and popularity of idioms in the community and society have proved its great influence in the cultural and social life and its role in communication

+ Idioms attached with basic (human) need

As idioms have its root in the daily life of a community, from the process of production to social and cultural activities, idioms reflect human basic need in life and from the real life reflection, a lot of idioms are in existence The desire for a better life, a happy family or a fair relationship is reflected in harmony with the surrounding environment in idioms

Basic needs refer to those fundamental requirements that serve as the foundation for survival including shelter, food, and clothing Basic needs are attached with the

development of a strong community and a necessary factor to support the development of culture and society In the language and culture of any nation, the recognition of basic need

in literary versions can be found Basic needs are a rich source for the language and culture

to prosper, it can be seen more clearly in the idioms mentioning the basic needs in people‟s

communication such as: to indicate the importance of the shelter: Home sweet home (used

to say how pleasant your home is especially when you really mean that it is not pleasant at

all), Nhà ngang dãy dọc ( literally the idiom refers to the house which is very big and

occupies the large space, idomatically it talks about the prosperity of a community with a

lot of big houses) or to show the influence of food on everyday life : As easy as pie (very easy), ăn chó cả lông (literally “Eat a dog even its fur”, the meaning hiden is to criticize

the greedy people who want to get everything) or to mention the way of wearing and

dressing: Dressed to kill (talks about the woman, wearing the best clothes that attract attention), Quần là áo lượt (literally “the beautiful clothes”, the meaning implied is to talk

about the well-dressed people with their best clothes etc) From the basic needs in life, what is required and essential every day, idioms come into the world and reflect the habit

of people

+ Idioms attached with social development

Idioms are an important part of language and culture that is characterized by its profound meaning and special background Language is a part of culture manifested by man‟s production and the most important function of language is to reflect production made by humankind, people‟s outlook on life and the development of a community The development of society promotes the creation of culture and the creation of new words and expressions in a language including idioms Besides, every aspect of culture affects language directly Owning to this kind of close relationship, language is described as the carrier of culture and the mirror of cultural and social characteristics Different nations and societies possess different cultures, as a result, idioms of different nations must be affected

by their peculiar cultures and social development Idioms are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement thus they reflect the social development Consequently, knowing much about culture and social development through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the social and cultural background behind them are necessarily concerned about in language learning

The following examples can somehow illustrate the social development: Ăn lông ở

lỗ- literally “live in caves and eat raw food”, idiomatically it criticizes the people who live

a wild and dirty, untidy life as the primitive people This idiom reflects a way of life of people from ancient time, primitive and backward They lived like the animals in groups in

caves and ate flesh without fire Another idiom Trời sinh voi, trời sinh cỏ ( literally “If the

God gives birth to elephants, he will also give them grass for food”) mentions the old attitude to the human existence in the world that the things existing in the world have

interaction and support each other to survive Sell somebody down the river- means to act

very unfairly to somebody who trust you, betray somebody you have promised to help This idiom comes from the days of slavery in the US A slave who was sold to an owner further down the Mississippi river would experience worse conditions than in the states further north Thus, the social development illustrated in the idioms obviously tells about

the crucial roles of idioms in language and social culture

+ Idioms attached with cultural transmission

The notion of cultural transmission refers to the possibility that the acquisitions of a culture can be transmitted to descendents and form the basis of cultural development The process of language and culture development can be traced back thanks to the presentation

of idioms The presence and illustration of idioms in communication can somehow show the cultural transmission in this or that way As stated above, all the idioms originate in life and in inventive product of culture and religion, the idioms with the deep root in culture

and religion can be seen such as: Achilles‟ heel (a hidden weakness or fault in somebody

which may be used to harm them This expression is named after the Greek hero Achilles When he was a child, his mother dipped him into the river Styx, which meant that he couldn‟t be injured She held him by his heel, which therefore was not touched by the

water Achilles died after being wounded by an arrow in the heel), Oai oái như Phủ Khoái

xin cơm (literally, people made a lot of noises and moan when asking for food in Khoai‟

District) the idiom criticizes the people who always complaint and moan This originates from the story in ancient time, Khoai Chau district in old Hung Yen province had a lot of fields and farming land, the peasants were hungry and they moaned to ask for food and made the chaotic scene in Khoai Chau

All the examples above can illustrate a fact that idioms from the ancient time are handed down to the next generation and are still in use in various parts of each nation,

Britain and Vietnam Not only the idioms themselves are transmitted but also the origin- the cultural background attached to the idioms – is included in communication Apparently, the idioms and its ancient root make a great contribution to the existence and development of language and culture beyond the domestic border The idioms themselves help to hand down the cultural values and enrich the social and cultural life as well

1.4.2 Idioms as seen from social-psychology

+ Idiomatic expressions referring to human attitude

Idioms present the human attitude toward spiritual and material life because almost idioms are the voices of working people about their life and society accumulated in the form of simple patterns but carry the most meaning Idioms also reflect the attitude and emotion toward to the problems in life Attached with labor, nature and historical, social ups and downs, idioms sophisticatedly reveal the life experience and life style, morality of the working people They reveal the values of life in society which are the beliefs of people and help to define people‟s behavior, attitude to life and society, ways of thinking,

recognition criteria, moral standards and rules of society: When in Rome, do as the Roman

do- means “follow the example of other people and act as they do, especially if you are a

stranger or new to a place or situation”; the delicate comments are shown on production

experience, social behaviour: "Nén bạc đâm tọac tờ giấy"- literally „Money can tear a piece

of paper‟ which implies that money can help to solve every problem; “money talks” ; on humane ideology or precious qualities of working people: “Beauty is only skin deep”; forever truth;“Easy come, easy go” The values of life and human attitude have an

interaction and certain impact on each other and on the way of life of people

In British English and Vietnamese languages, idioms carry the most valuable features of emotional, attitudinal and spiritual representation Thanks to the short phrases and rhyme, idioms are easy to remember and orally handed down and applied in the communication from generation to generation Gradually, idioms are refined and show the meaning though the form can be varied in different regions

+ Idiomatic expressions referring to emotions and behaviors

It is confirmed that idioms make up a large part of people‟s knowledge of language and are a persistent feature of language They can therefore convey all human feelings,

emotions via the flexible and vivid use of language

There are a lot of idioms that people use to describe feelings and emotions The emotions and behaviors shown in idioms may be grouped by the following themes: annoyance, confusion, happiness, love, attraction, pride, confidence, shame, sadness, scare,

surprise, anxiety etc For instance, to indicate when someone is happy: On top of the world,

to show love such as: Fall head over heels in love, or to show the pride or confidence Walk

tall, stand tall etc- to express confusion: Completely at sea etc

The human emotions and behaviors of social and cultural life are expressed and reappeared in the idioms- the special feature of language, the part of culture With the meaning of idioms and the background attached, each idioms is a story itself through which the human emotions and behaviors are described and vividly applied in real life communication

1.5 Influences of British English and Vietnamese cultures on idiomatic expressions of places 1.5.1 Influence of British English culture on idiomatic expressions of places

It has been confirmed that language and culture interact with each other and shape each other Language is the carrier of the culture which in turn is the content of language Idioms as a special form of language carry a large amount of cultural information such as geographical conditions, historical development, customs, religious beliefs and literature of British nation etc Naturally, idioms are influenced by all those aspects because they are also the heritage of culture

+ The influence of geographical factor

Geographical environment plays an important role in shaping one country‟s culture and human beings have no choice and ability to change the geography The influence of the typical features offered by each region and part of the country has brought the variety for the culture and language The idioms, the special form of language, are particularly

influenced by the geography: Carry coals to Newscastle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the

north of English, was once an important coal–mining centre), the idiom implies that people carry something that there is already a lot of Clearly, the place is full of coal where there is

no need to take some more, the idiom presents the feature of Newcastle- a coal mining

centre There are a lot of idioms concerning about the geographical factor: Square Mile,

Ivory tower or On Carey street etc

+ The influence of historical factor: the Roman conquest

British society with its long and splendid history has a magic power and great influence on the culture Also, the social history influences the language tremendously With the changes of history, the language continuously modifies and evolves, more and more idioms come into the world with such a trace of the historical culture as war, for instance: the Roman conquest - the biggest conquest that left the deep imprint in British culture In 55 B.D the commander in chief of Roman Julius Caesar came to Great Britain and Romans reigned over captured Great Britain for nearly four hundred years Four hundred years of Roman reign is enough time to have a tremendous impact on British culture Rome went away but the influences of Great Britain by their culture are still there on the island Idioms

such as Appeal to Caesar; When in Rome, do as Roman do, Rome wasn‟t built in a day,

Fiddle while Rome burns etc have the origins from that

+ The influence of customs and tradition:

British customs and tradition are of great importance in the English language as well, especially in the forming of idioms Because one nation‟s customs and tradition are formed through a long history and firmly rooted in social and cultural life, it is closely related to national psychology and acts as one important influence on idioms Due to that, a lot of idioms are in existence, take the example of the idioms originated in Haloween, one

of the very famous traditional festival of British people: The devil to pay (a lot of trouble)

or the idioms that reflect the traditional view of paying much attention to the shelter

Charity begins at home, English‟s home is his castle In the idioms, the view point on life

originated in everyday life activities and spiritual and material life of British people is obviously noted Indeed, customs and traditional attitude has formed the new assertion of idioms in communication and culture

+ The influence of religion- Christianity

Religion exists in every country and nation and affects people‟s belief and life especially before the modern civilization The origin of religion can be dated back to primitive society when religion was considered a kind of super- nature that could interfere

in people‟s life and get most of people‟s belief There is a lot of religion in existence such as: Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam, etc Among them, Christianity which was brought

by the Roman, has been the main religion in Britain The majorities of the British people believe in Christianity and regard the Bible as one of the most important classical works in

their life Thus, Bible has a large circulation in Britain and concerns nearly all the matters

in life so that it acts not only a classic in religion but also an important supporter of British culture The words such as God, heaven, devils, church are often used in Christianity and

in people‟s communication Numerous figures with religious allusions in the idioms

originated from the Bible are often found e.g As poor as church mouse, one is so poor that

he has not a penny to call his own The salt of the earth-the very good and honest person that you can always depend on, An act of God- an event caused by natural forces which

people can not control or prevent for example a hurricane etc Numerous idioms are generated from the fountain of religion to show that Christianity with its Bible has

confirmed its great influence on English language, especially on idioms

+ The influence of literature:

As a certain nation always owns its literature that is the representation of culture and the essence of the nationality‟s language, the literary language has been gradually accepted and has improved the development of native language In ancient time, people created myths, legends, fables and fairy tales thus, idioms were in existence with these

roots For example: in English fairy tale: The streets are paved with gold, or from the 1001 Arabian Nights: An Aladdin‟s cave Besides, the literary works such as novels, plays and

poems have enriched people‟s spiritual culture and finally provided a plentiful of resources for idioms Among those, William Shakespeare‟s work has contributed much to the stock

of British English idioms Being the talented writer and poet, Shakespeare not only created those great works, but also invented many of the most used expressions in the language of English Many idioms of the worldwide English have first been in the works of

Shakespeare‟s and have found their way to everyday use of English such as: Wear your

heart on your sleeve, All‟s well that ends well etc

1.5.2 Influence of Vietnamese culture on idiomatic expressions of places

The deep root in agriculture has founded the particular colour of Vietnamese culture and formed their view point on life and spiritual values In the Vietnamese spiritual life, the idioms concerning traditional legends or facts have always proved to be persuasive and impressive in the ways of their communication and comparison As well as the other culture and society, Vietnamese culture has been influenced by the various factors such as factors of geography, religion, literature, customs and tradition and history

+ The influence of geographical factor:

The geography in Vietnamese culture seems obvious and picturesque Vietnamese people are used to the way of comparing and expressing the ideas closely connected with the significance of a typical region that the idioms – the special form of the language-

illustrate perfectly: Trai Cầu Vồng, Yên Thế, gái Nội Duệ, Cầu Lim („Men in Cầu Vồng,

Yên Thế and Women in Nội Duệ, Cầu Lim‟ are well known in the country for their gallantry, heroism and charming beauty The idioms praise the men and women in the regions Many idioms are related to famous places with the historical names or to a famous local people The interesting feature of Vietnamese idioms is that they bring along the local specification and significance of its people The way of expressing the ideas become so persuasive and impressive that the people in the country can both quickly remember the idioms and feel the beauty of the language from this simple way of presenting the ideas In Vietnam, the famous places are often attached with the fame of the local people or the local speciality Due to that reason, idioms can convey the soul of the language to the people and have proved their vitality in the people‟s mind and national culture

+ The influence of religion- Buddhism:

In Vietnam, there are a lot of religions in existence: Buddhism, Christianity, Caodaism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam etc However, the influence of the Buddhism has been significantly acknowledged in Vietnamese social and cultural life The main philosophy of the Buddhism is to direct people to the beauty of life and help people change

to the good Buddhism came into Vietnam from India, from the time entering Vietnam, Buddhism has found its own way to integrate with local religion and national customs and has rooted deeply in the land The Vietnamese in turn has taken the ideology of Buddhism with their tolerance and openness Hence, a lot of Vietnamese idioms with the Buddhism factors reflect social customs and the social significance in different social aspects It can

be realized that Vietnamese has a great deal of idioms and proverbs representing the relationship between religion and society The more significance that Buddhism offers can

be seen clearly in the idioms: Chín phương trời, mười phương Phật-(literally “nine

directions in the geography, ten directions in Buddhism ideology”) to talk about

everywhere; Đất vua, chùa làng- literally “the land belongs to the King and the temple on

the land is the property of the village”, the idiom means that each local area has its own

rules and customs The idioms reflect the social customs and religious habit of the

Vietnamese

Moreover, the significance of reflecting the negative side of society: bad behavior, moral disorder, thanklessness through the use of idioms with great influence of Buddhism has proved that Buddhism in Vietnamese language has deeply rooted in the life of society and culture in terms of social morality The educating of this form of language – idioms has a special value in language and culture but also make a great contribution to the society

+ The influence of customs and tradition:

Vietnam has owned the features of “peasant ideology” with a great deal of typical and traditional Vietnamese agriculture They have established the philosophy and idealogy

to themselves suitable for the nation The village community is the typical feature of argricultural society with a lot of old remnants The society attaches much importance to emotional life and has the tendency to be more favour of images than abstract theory in a flexible and adaptable way The way of life is emotional and relational, appreciate the

unity of relatives, villagers: Nước mất, nhà tan- “if the country is taken by the invaders,

every family will be broken up”, the idiom is the complaint about the miserable situation: broken families and colonized country Also, Vietnamese people highly appreciate the

humaneness and practicality: Giàu nhà quê không bằng ngồi lê Kẻ Chợ -literally “a rich

person in the country side can not be compared to the person who is homeless in Kẻ Chợ”

Kẻ Chợ is the old name for Hanoi today The idiom reveals the old attitude toward life, the appreciation of living and working the urban area more than that in the rural area The place to live and settle down of Vietnamese people epecially the house is often attached with surrounding environment and must be close to the nature with enough space for their

daily activities, they believe: Rộng nhà không bằng rộng bụng literally “the big house is

not as important as by open mind of the host”, the idiom talks about the hospitability of the

host; Nhà rách, vách nát- “if the house is in a bad condition, its walls are also damaged”

The customs and tradition of the Vietnamese have shown the appreciation of the emotional

life and social harmony of the community

+ The influence of historical factor: Han people and ideology

From the second century B.C, Vietnamese people were ruled by generations of China dynasties for over 1000 years, first from the Han dynasty then later the Tang dynasty Ten centuries of domination has left a firm imprint on the social and cultural life

of the northern people Many celebrations and cultural practices came from China but these have evolved over time to suit the Vietnamese way of life and many subtle differences between the two countries have emerged After gaining the independence in the tenth century, Vietnam has built their country on the basis of Buddhism ideology and philosophy There are many idioms mentioning the places of China or the idioms relating

to the Chinese legends, literary works or poems: Sư tử Hà Đông (“The lion in Hà Đông

District”- Hà Đông was a name of the Chinese town in the past, Su tu means a lion but the whole idiom refers to a very jealous woman who was the wife of Trần Quý Thường, a friend of the poet Tô Đông Pha The woman is very aggressive and often shouted at her husband in front of his friends, Tô Đông Pha wrote a poem for Trần Quý Thường which

had the verse Hà Đông sư tử.)

+ The influence of literature

When mentioning the influence of literature on culture, language and idioms, the folk literature and classical literature in which Truyen Kieu- the masterpiece by Nguyen

Du was highly appreciated, are of great importance Folk literature has orally passed down its valuable sources of idioms to the decendents It can be said that the folk literature made

up almost of the stock of idioms in Vietnamese All the legends, fairy tales, fables and historical ups and downs have been reflected evidently in the language and its different

forms of representation: Ăn Bắc, mặc Kinh (literally “eat like the Northern people and

dress like the people in the Imperal city, Hue” The idiom shows Vietnamese people‟s

belief of the way to dress and eat; Nhà vàng, gác tía “ the rich house painted with the

colour of palace, often red and yellow” in the old perception of Vietnamese people, the

idiom often refers to the rich/ high social rank In addition, Vietnamese literature is

worldwide known thanks to the great contribution of Nguyễn Du- the great national poet His masterpiece –Truyện Kiều confirmed his master of national language and heightened the literary language of Vietnamese nation to the noble status and valuable heritage Nguyễn Du succeeded in using the national language in composing the literary works In his work, Nguyen Du made use of a great stock of idioms in his poetic versions and

employed Vietnamese language creatively and variously: Chân trời góc bể literally “the

farthest part of the sea and horizontal line of the sky” The idioms implies the strange and

far away places); Đội trời đạp đất literally “The head wears sky, the legs step on the earth”

but the idiomatic meaning is to Live as a hero in the world The talent of Nguyễn Du lies

in his original and delicate combination of his poetic version and the idioms Sometimes, it

is difficult to clarify whether it is an idiom of the whole community or of his own invention and creation Idioms are everyday spoken language that comes naturally into Nguyễn Du poetic versions and it is his creation that makes the idioms vital and idioms easily get into people‟s mind

1.6 Previous studies on idioms

Idioms have been a various source for the research on the language and cultures so

a variety of studies on the field have been carried out Among the studies on English and Vietnamese idioms as seen from cultural perspective, the following ones have been referred to as the reference materials

A Study on Comparative Idioms from Cultural Perspective-Do Thi Thu Trang (2006, VNU-ULIS) The study focused on the background of idioms and made some

distinctions with the other concepts such as proverbs and slang In the main part, the author carried out the contrastive analysis of comparative English and Vietnamese idioms, thus the similarities and differences are drawn In her findings, the author stated some difficulties of learning English idioms in general and raised the awareness of cultural related factors that should be taken into consideration in the teaching and learning process

A Study on Idiomatic Variants and Synonymous Idioms in English and Vietnamese- Dang Nguyen Giang (2009 VNU-ULIS) His study as entitled, focused on the idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms in English and Vietnamese The author presented some theoretical background on idioms and established some possible criteria for the distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms The study aimed at gaining an insightful look at idioms in general and idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in particular in both English and Vietnamese The study also worked out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms

Idiomatic Expressions Containing the Word “Dog” in English and Vietnamese - Dao Thanh Tu (2007 VNU-ULIS) The study aimed at studying idiomatic expressions

containing the word dog in English and compared with those of Vietnamese ones, the study also established the similarities and different between English and Vietnamese idioms containing the words dog The specific features of English and Vietnamese