Vinh University Foreign languages department -----------------    ----------------- Graduation thesis A contrastive study between English and Vietnamese idioms of colours embodying metaphors Supervisor: Lª THÞ Khang Student: NguyÔn ThÞ Nh Quúnh Class: 41 A2 Vinh, May 2004 1 Acknowledgements I wish, first of all, to express my sincere thanks to the teacher Lª ThÞ Khang, my supervisor, who gave me valuable advice and suggestions in the course of my writing this graduation paper. Her advice and inspiration encourage me a lot. I also own a debt of gratitude to the teachers in English Department for their deep explanation and useful lectures, especially to my examiner, Dr. Vò ThÞ Hµ for her precious comments, corrections. I do avail myself of this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Scientific Council of English Department to give me chance to do this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends who are always by my side and give help and encouragement. 2 Table of contents Part I introduction Page 1. Rationale 1 2. Objectives 1 3. Scope of study 1 4. Methods of study 2 5. Design of the study 2 Part II body Chapter 1 notions of idioms and metaphors in language study 1. A general view of idioms 3 1.1 Definition of idioms 3 1.2 Classifications of idioms 3 1.3 Distinctions between idioms and free – expressions 4 1.3.1 Similarities 4 1.3.2 Differences 4 1.4 Distinction between idioms and proverbs 5 1.4.1 Similarities 5 1.4.2 Differences 5 1.5 Characteristics of idioms 6 1.5.1 Semantic characteristics 6 1.5.2 Grammatical characteristics 6 2. A general view of metaphors 7 2.1 Definition of metaphors 7 2.2 The embodied motivation for metaphors in thought and language 8 2.3 Distinction between metaphor and metonymy 9 2.3.1 Similarities 9 2.3.2 Differences 10 2.4 Distinction between metaphor and simile 10 2.4.1 Similarities 10 2.4.2 Differences 11 3 2.5 Classifications of metaphors 11 2.5.1 Living metaphors 11 2.5.2 Fade metaphors 11 2.5.3 Dead metaphors 12 3. The use of metaphors in Vietnamese and English idioms 12 4. How important are idioms embodying metaphors in teaching and learning English? 13 Chapter 2 A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of colours embodying metaphors 1. The use of metaphors in idioms of colours 15 1.1 What are idioms of colours? 15 1.2 How are idioms of colours created? 15 1.3 How are metaphors in idioms of colours embodied? 16 2 An Analysis of English idioms embodying metaphors in comparison with Vietnamese ones 16 2.1 An Analysis of metaphorical expressions of English and Vietnamese idioms of colours through a cultural observation 16 2.1.1 Black 16 2.1.2 White 19 2.1.3 Blue and Green 20 2.1.4 Red 23 2.1.5 Others 24 2.2 Some Similar and different typical features of English and Vietnamese idioms of colours 26 2.2.1 Differences of social structures 26 2.2.2 Similarities and tendency of the two cultures to get close each other metaphorical meanings through idioms of colours 27 2.2.2.1 Accidental coincidences of idioms of colours embodying metaphors 27 2.2.2.2 The tendency to get close to each other in the field of culture 27 4 3. Frequency of using different colours in English and Vietnamese idioms of colours 28 4. Semantic features of idioms of colours 30 4.1 Black 31 4.2 Blue and green 31 4.3 White 32 4.4 Red 32 chapter 3 some difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in studying idioms of colours suggested solutions– 1. Difficulties 34 1.1 Difficulty in memorizing 34 1.1.1 Difficulty with English Idioms’ large number 34 1.1.2 Difficulty in classifying 34 1.1.3 Difficulty in non-rhythm 34 1.2 Difficulty in understanding 35 1.2.1 Difficulty with grammatical structures 35 1.2.2 Difficulty with cultural gaps 36 1.3 Difficulties in using English idioms 38 2 The role of teachers in supporting learners 38 2.1 The role of teachers 38 2.2 Suggestions to teachers 39 2.3 Suggested exercises 40 part iii conclusion 44 Appendix References Part I: Introduction 5 1. Rationale The aspiration I chose this subject for my study is derived from my own interest in the figurative meanings of idioms. It is said that metaphor is one of the best devices to contribute to the richness, aliveness and beauty of language in general, and of idioms in particular. Thus, how to use and understand metaphors in language is very necessary. And in order to understand the metaphorical expressions of idioms, we can not rely on their literary meanings but we have to consider their figurative sense. In this study, I would like to take the names of colours as the source of metaphoric expressions of idioms because I think that colours are quite familiar with human being. Whenever the name of any colour is called out, people can have the clear image of it as well as its typical features in their minds. It explains the reason why the names of colours are used metaphorically quite often and naturally in idioms. 2. Objectives After having taken the semantics and the lexicology as the official subjects in the class, I realize that I should have a further study on one certain aspect of these subjects and I have chosen English and Vietnamese idioms of colours basing on their metaphorical expressions. This study aims at introducing readers, specifically English language students some understandings about metaphors and idioms in general, idioms of colours embodying metaphors in particular. Besides, this study aims at making the clear distinction between English idioms of colours embodying metaphors and Vietnamese equivalents in some aspects such as culture, social features, structural and semantic features as well as the degree of using. The study also helps English language learners to define and overcome some difficulties in studying and translating such English metaphorical idioms of colours into Vietnamese equivalents. 3. Scope of the study As a graduate paper, it is impossible to cover all the matters concerning idioms and metaphors. Therefore, in my study I will only focus on one narrow aspect of idioms, 6 that is, English idioms of colours embodying metaphors in comparison with Vietnamese counterparts. I choose to analyze this very topic since the metaphorical expressions of colours are plentiful and interesting both in Vietnamese and in English. They also cause great difficulties to learners due to differences in culture. Through this study, they can understand more and more about the ways which colours are metaphorically used in idioms. Therefore, the investigated issues to the paper are as follows: - An overview of metaphors and idioms in language study - A contrastive study between English and Vietnamese idioms of colours embodying metaphors - Some difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in studying idioms of colours and suggested solutions 4. Methods of the study + Contrastive and comparative methods + Statistic method + Analytic and systematic method 5. Design of the study Part I: Introduction 1 Rationale 2 Scope of study 3 Methods of study Part II: Content Chapter 1: Notions of idioms and metaphors in language study Chapter 2: A contrastive study between English and Vietnamese idioms of colours embodying metaphors Chapter 3: Some difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in studying idioms of colours – suggested solutions Part III: Conclusion Appendix 7 References Part ii: body chapter 1 notions of idioms and metaphors in language study 1. A general view of idioms 1.1 Definition of idioms We all recognize that in any language, there are always phrases or sentences whose meanings are not easy to understand, even we know the member-word meanings. Such a phrase or sentence is often constructed with an idiomatic expression or an idiom in other words. So, what is the concise definition of idioms? Many definitions have been offered by different linguists. According to English Language Dictionary (25; 718) “Idioms is a group of words which, when they are used together in a particular combination, have a different meaning from the one they would have if you look at the meaning of all the individual words in the group”. As in the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (19; 172), an idiom is seen as “an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning can not be worked out from its separate parts” As defined in English Idioms (23; 13), “an idiom is a number of words which, when taken together, have different meaning from the individual meanings of each word”. From above definitions, there are different ways of defining an idiom. However, we see that most linguists share the same point “an idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning can not be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual words” and we also follow this view because idioms are metaphorical rather than literal meaning and their meaning is either partly (e.g. sweet as honey as black as pitch‘ ’ ‘ ’) or completely (e.g. to have one heart in someone s boots‘ ’ ’) different from the meaning of all components. 1.2 Classifications of idioms 8 Because idioms are very rich in number, they should be well classified for learners’ sake. In fact, there have been some ways to classify idioms given out by many linguistics based on motivation, subjects, usage, etc. But in this paper, we would like to focus only on one main of them: the classification based on semantic features because it affects much on the main part of the study – Chapter 2. According to V.V. Vingradov. Vingradov (26; website), idioms include three kinds: 1) Phraseological fusions: are completely non-motivated idioms with fixed form. They may be called ‘completely idiomatic’ because the meaning of whole unit is indivisible and is not a sum of the meaning of its components. Eg: beat about the‘ bush’. Here ‘beat’ means to hit somebody or something hard repeatedly, esp with a stick, ‘bush’ means a plant that grows thickly with several stems coming from the root, but idiomatic meaning is to talk about something without coming to the main point. 2) Phraseological unities: These idioms are the same as the first kind in term of that its idiomatic meaning is not the sum of the meaning of its components. The difference, however, is that they can be guessed based on their components’ meaning. Eg: give someone a green light‘ ’ can be guessed as ‘to give someone permission to someone start’. 3) Phraseological combinations: are clearly motivated idioms. They contain one component used in its direct meaning, and the others’ meanings change. In Phraseological combinations, words being changed are main one. Eg: a black look‘ ’. In this idiom one component ‘look’ is used in its direct meaning, but the meaning of the word ‘black’ is being changed. So, the idiom means ‘A look that express angry’. 1.3 Distinction between idioms and free-expressions 1.3.1 Similarities Both idioms and free-expressions are groups of more than two words combined with each other to a definite syntactic rule. 1.3.2 Differences In terms of meaning, idioms differ from free-expressions. The meaning of a free expression is the total of the meaning of its components. For instance, this phrase ‘a 9 good book’ has the meaning of ‘book’ and the meaning of ‘good’, which defines the quality of the book. Thus, a free-expression often has a compounding naming function: object (phenomenon) + quality (Eg: a free atmosphere); action + state (Eg: to work hard). The meaning of an idiom is indivisible and it is not the sum of meaning of its components. Like words, idioms have pure naming function, not compounding naming function. Many idioms can be substituted by one word such as: ‘hand over head’ is replaced by ‘easy’. One difference between idioms and free expressions is that idioms are ready- made units of a language collected in the native speakers’ mind and reproduced in speech, and free-expressions are created in speech due to speakers’ communication intentions. 1.4 Distinction between idioms and proverbs 1.4.1 Similarities Both idioms and proverbs are set-expressions. Their components are often stable and cannot be substituted. Thus, their meanings cannot be deduced from individual words but must be understood as a whole. Apart from this, most idioms and proverbs are in non-literal way. Their meanings are traditional and mostly figurative. We cannot usually discover their meanings by looking up the individual words in a dictionary. Their meanings must be understood metaphorically. The followings are examples: At the meeting, I felt a bit out of my depth A cat may look at the King The phrase ‘out of my depth’ is an idiomatic expression. If you only base on individual words to find out the meaning of the expression, you will be at a loss. You should think of it in a figurative way. If you are ‘out of your depth’ you might be in the sea, but you are more likely to be in a situation that you do not understand for some reasons. And as for the second sentence, this is a proverb. Its literal meaning can be expressed in Vietnamese as “chó mÌo nhá còng d¸m ngã mÆt vua”. But translating it metaphorically as follow: Ignorant and innocent people usually do not know what is difficult and dangerous to avoid. 1.4.2 Differences 10 . figurative meaning. To make it clearer, we can see the sentence thật tội nghiệp cho anh ấy phải sống trong cảnh gà trống nuôi con. Here, the sad situation of a