The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep thanks to my supervisor, MA.Lª ®×nh Th¶o, who has helped me a lot with his advice, directions, comments, criticism and encouragement for the accomplishment of this study. I am also grateful to all teachers in the foreign languages department for their helpful advice and valuable lectures from which I benefited a lot in writing this study. I also really want to express my profound thanks to my family, my friends whose ideas, support and sourrce of materials were great importance to me in carrying out this study.Many thanks to all of them. Vinh, May 2003 Ha Thi Th an h ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A 1 Eng lish Vi n h Un ive rsity 1 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of contents Page Acknowledgement 1 Table of contents 2 Part ONE: Introduction 4 I. Reasons for choosing the subject 4 II. Objects of the study 5 III. Aims of the study 5 IV. Methods of the study 5 V. Design of the study 5 Part TWO: Contents 6 Chapter 1: Theoretical premilinaries 6 I. Background information 6 1. Lexical meaning of word 6 2. The components of lexical meaning 6 2.1. The denotational meaning 6 2.2. The connotational meaning 6 II. Euphemism 7 1. Definition 7 2. Usage of euphemism 8 III. Religional views of death 9 Chapter 2:the diferent ways to express the death in English and Vietnamese 11 I.Words express the death in English and in Vietnamese: 11 1.Verb 13 2.Noun 14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 2 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3.Adjective 16 II.Ways expressing the death: 17 1.In the neutral way 17 2.In the way with love, respect 22 3.In the way with dislike, contempt, humour 22 III. The DEATH in literature: 25 1. Cases using euphemism 25 2. Cases without euphemism 27 3. Change of meaning 28 4. Metaphor 30 IV. Idioms consisting the verb TO DIE, the adjective DEAD, the noun DEATH in English and Vietnamese 32 1.Table of similar English and Vietnamese idioms 33 2.Table of English idioms and theirs equivalents in Vietnamese 36 Chapter 3: Some suggestions for translating and learning the ways to express the death 39 Part THREE: Conclusion 42 References 43 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 3 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ part one Introduction I. Reasons for choosing the subject: Up to now, in theory, the problem of contrastive analysis of single verbs or verb groups among the languages hasn’t been studied much and systematically. There appears, perhaps, to be generally studied and mentioned to any aspect of verb such as: Verbs: Patterns and Practice (Collin Cobuild); Meaning and the English verbs (Geoffrey N.Leech) Death is considered inevitable in one’s cycle of life. People are born, live and die. Death is the end of one’s life and it is such a great fear to talk about death because to die means to stop existing. Different people creat different ways to mention about death; it might be a direct way: to die, to perish . Or might be a round-about way by using euphemism:… to pass away, to go to Heaven, to close one s eyes, to breath the last, to lose one s’ ’ life … Euphemism is used for beloved or respected people whereras slangs are used when the dead is a disliked or contempted one: to kick the bucket, to pop off, to croak, to peg out… In Vietnamese, words expressing death is numerous, too.Word is chosen differently depending on the speaker’s attitude and emotion towards the dead. MA Nguyen Kim Than - a Vietnamese linguist - has collected more than 100 ways of expressing death. Similarly, the chosen words are depedent on the speaker, it might be euphemism: qua ®êi, t¹ thÕ, tõ trÇn, hy sinh or slangs:… ngñm, ngoÎo, ngñ víi giun, ®i ®êi nhµ ma… In addition, there exist various ways in which death is mentioned with a view to lessen the grief and sorrow especially in literature. Many rhetotical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 4 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ means are used to imply the death such as: metaphor, change of meaning, euphemism This interests me very much and urges me to choose the subject:''The different ways to express the death in English and in Vietnamese'' with a hope that this study will also contribute a small part in teaching and learning English. II. Aims of the study: The aims of the study may be listed herebelow: - Helping Vietnamese learners or users of English (intemediate to advanced students) produce language, in other words, to use suitable words to express one’s death. - Giving out some ways to express the death in the 2 languages, aimed at improving the knowledge of culture for Vietnamese users of English: students, translators, learners - Creating condition for later study III. Objects of the study: - Words expressing the death - Diffferent ways to express the death - The meaning of English idioms relating to the verd TO DIE, the noun DEATH, the adjective DEAD and theirs equivalents in Vietnamese. IV. Methods: 1. Contrastive and comparative method 2. Statistic method 3. Analysis and systematic method V. Design of the study: This study consists of 3 main parts: - In troduction - Contents - Conclusion Part One: The''Introduction'' outlines the reasons, aims and the methods of the study Part Two: The ''Contents'' includes 3 chapters: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 5 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Chapter I: Theoretical premilinaries such as: lexical meaning of word, euphemism, slang, different religional views of death… - Chapter II: The different ways to express the death in English and in Vietnamese - Chapter III: Some suggestions for translating and learning the ways to express the death. Part Three: The''Conclusion'' part two Investigation Chapter 1: Theoretical preliminaries I.Background information 1. Lexical meaning of words: is defined as the individual meaning that each word has in the system of language. This meaning brings together the different forms of one and the same word, whereas the grammartical meaning ditinguishes between them. (line15, page30 An Introduction to Semantics-Nguyen Hoa) When we see or hear the word ''house'', the picture or image of a house occurs to our mind: It’s a building made for people to live in, ussually for one family. The basic lexical meaning of a word is retained in all its forms Student – student’s – students – students’ Go – goes – went- gone – going 2.The components of lexical meaning: We may distinguish between two components of lexical meaning: denotation an connotation 2.1. The denotational meaning(denotation): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 6 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The denotational meaning indicates(denotes) or points out things, concepts,etc. For example:''bird'' denotes an animal that can fly.''Father, dad, daddy'' denote the male parent.''Rain, shine'' denote phenomena of nature.When the referent is a concept, an abstract thing, we have significative denotation and when it is an individual object we have demonstrative denotation. 2.2. The connotational meaning: The connotational meaning shows us how things, concepts, etc. are indicated (denoted). It conveys the speaker’s attitude, emotions and so on.''Father, dad, daddy'' as mentioned above, have the same denotational meanings but different connotational meanings. Connotation may consist of emotive change(emotion), evaluation, intensity and stylistic colouring. Stylistic colouring means that a word may be colloquial, bookish, slangy, etc. For example, there are many words to indicate the death and each carries different connotational meaning: To die: familiar/colloquial To pass away: euphematic To kick the bucket: slangy To be gone: rhetorical To rest in peace: literary Connotation plays an important role in such spheres of life as advertising, politics,literature. Many synonyms differ greatly due to their favourable and unfavourable connotations. II Euphemism: 1.Definition: There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, rude, too direct or impolite.Those words are described in a round-about way by using substitutes called euphemisms. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 7 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Euphemisms, which literally means ''speak well''. In using euphemisms, a less unpleasant or offensive effect is achieved. The word ''lavatory'' has naturally produced many euphemisms. Here are some of them:powder room, wash room, rest room, retiring room, water- closet(w.c) Or when we talk about a delicate topic ''pregnancy'', we can use some of the euphemisms for the adjective ''pregnant'': ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E nglish Vinh Un ive rsity 8 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - in an interesting condition - in a delicate condition - in the family way - with a baby coming - big with child 2. Usage of euphemism All the euphemisms that have been described so far are used to avoid the so-called social taboos.Their use, as has already been said, is inspired by social convention. Supertitious taboos gave rise to the use of other type of euphemisms.The reluctance to call things by their proper names is also typical of this type of euphemisms, but this time it is based on a deeply-rooted subconcious fear. Therefore, all the words denoting evil spirits, dangerous animals or the power of nature were taboos. If uttered, it was believed that unspeakable disasters would result not only for the speaker but also for the people near him. That’s why all creatures, objects and phenomena threatening danger were referred to in a round-about descriptive way. So, a dangerous animal might be described as the one- lurking-in- the- wood and a mortal disease as the black death. Even in our modern emancipated times, old supertitious fears still lurk behind words associated with death and fatal diseases. People are not supertitious nowadays and yet they are surprisingly reluctant to use the verb TO DIE which has a long chain of both solemn and humorous substitutes: Solemn Humorous To pass away To be taken To breathe one s last’ To depart from this life To close one s eyes’ To yield(give) up the ghost To go the way of all flesh To go West To kick off To check out To kick the bucket To take a ride To hop the wig To join the silent majority ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh – 40A1 E n glish V inh Un ive rsity 9 The different ways to express the DEATH in English and in Vietnamese ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The slang substitutes seem to lack any proper respect, but the joke is a sort of cover for the same old fear, speak of death and who knows what may happen. III. Religional views of death: Nowadays, there exist thousands of religions on the world and each religion owns a different view of death so its easy to find similar as well as opposite opinions towards death. One of the biggest religions is Buddhism. A Buddhist looks at death as a breaking part of the material of which we are composed. However, Buddhism does not look death as a continuation of the soul but as a awakening. Dying and being reborn has been compared by some Buddhists as a candle flame. When the flame of one is lit, candle is touched to the wick of an unlighted candle. The light passes from one candle to another. The actual flame of the first candle does not pass over but is responssible for lightening the second candle. Nirvana, a state in which there is an extinction of desire and suffering is an absence of self. Buddhism views ignorance rather than sin as the roadblock of Nirvana. When preparing for death, Buddhist generally agrees a personal state of mind while dying is of great importance. While dying the person can be surrounded by friends, family and monks who recite Buddhist scriptures and mantras to help the person achieve a peaceful state of mind. Buddhists believe that to die is to go to Nirvana(về cõi Phật) or to come to the elysium( chốn bồng lai tiên cảnh). Example: -''Ông nội cuả em,nàng tiếp, nh anh thấy cũng không còn bao lâu nữa thì về trời'' (dòng 25, trang 16 - Tỳ vết tâm linh - Bình Nguyên Lộc) -''Thôi thế là hết những lần gặp nhau và hát cho nhau nghe!Anh Trúc Phơng đã đi trên chuyến đò chiêù của mỗi đời ngời về cõi Phật'' ( dòng 15, trang21 - Trúc Phơng đi chuyến đò chiều -Vũ Đức - báo Kiến Thức Ngày Nay số 187, 1995) -''Đức Pháp chủ về Tây phơng cực lạc Con chí thành niệm Phật Di Đà '' ( dòng 40, trang 154 - Thi ca văn hoá Việt - Minh Thông) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ha Thi Thanh 40A1 E n glish V inh Un ive rsity 10 . 2 :the different ways to express the death in english and in vietnamese I.words expressing the death in english and in vietnamese: Words expressing the death. is the reason why we come arcoss various ways to express the death in Vietnamese. II .Different ways to express the death in English and in Vietnamese: In