Content - Giang

8/13/2019 Content - Giang

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

In the world today, there are 5,000 to 6,000 living languages, of which English is by far

the most widely used. Approimately !50 million people spea" English as their first language.

About the same number use it as a second language. It is the English language that is used as

the language of aviation, international sport and pop music. #5$ of the world%s mail is in

English, 60$ of the world%s radio stations broadcast in English and more than half of the

world%s periodicals are printed in English. It is also the English language that is used as an

official language in && countries, and as the language of business, commerce and technology

in many others. English is now an effective medium of international communication.

In 'ietnam, English has long been considered as a tool of international communication,

and together with its rising importance, the need of learning English is becoming more and

more urgent. It can%t be denied that all foreign learners in general and 'ietnamese learners in

particular desire to master English as the native spea"ers( however, they usually face a lot ofdifficulties that prevent them from gaining successful conversations. )ne of the reasons for

these problems lies in the way people perceive and use idioms.

Each nation%s language lies in itself similar and different concepts on many fields of life

such as humane values, ways of thin"ing, behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and

traditions, social conventions, etc. *ords and epressions including idioms have formed the

vocabulary system of a language. Idioms are considered as special factors of a language%s

vocabulary system because they reflect cultural specific characteristics of each nation,

including material and spiritual values. +herefore, a lot of researchers have long shown their

concerns for idioms.


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Idioms are used to epress ideas in figurative styles. +hey bring the vividness and

richness to the spea"ers% speeches. +his is the reason why the more s"illfully a person use

idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative

relationship. )ne more important thing is that the general present tendencies are towards

idiomatic usage( therefore, "nowing how to use idioms effectively in the right situations is

becoming essential. -oreover, the most distinguished advantage of idioms is that they do

provide users with a whole new way of epressing concepts linguistically. It can be said that

idioms are the color and vitality of a language.

everal linguists have given a lot of definitions about an idiom basing on its fied

characteristics. /or eample, An idiom is a fied group of words with a special different

meaning from the meaning of several words 2ictionary of English Idioms, 13#34. haring

the same point of view, oang 'an anh 133&4 considered an idiom as a fied group of

words which is firm in terms of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meaning, and is

widely used in daily spea"ing. +he fied characteristics of an idiom are as follows

- Form +he words of an idiom are generally fied. It means that the components

forming an idiom are unchanged in using.

- Structure +he fied characteristic of structure of an idiom is epressed by the fied

order of the components forming an idiom.

In fact, we can see a lot of idioms violating the principles of their fied characteristics

such as to swear like a bargee and to swear like a trooper, to die a dog’s death and to die like

a dog in English, nước đổ đầu vt and nước đổ l! khoai "like water o## a duck’s back$, gi%i gi&

dầm mưa and dầm mưa gi%i gi& "to be e'posed to the sun and socked with dew$ in

'ietnamese. +his gives us some 7uestions as follows

Are the idioms above the idiomatic variants or synonymous idioms?


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What kinds of idioms allow us to use the violation about their fixed characteristics?

What criteria make a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous

idioms?

What are the similarities and differences between idiomatic variants and

synonymous idioms in English and those in Vietnamese?

+he 7uestions above have not been found in any studies about idioms before. +his is

the reason why the author decided to ma"e a further study on this topic. +he thesis, ( stud) on

idiomatic variants and s)non)mous idioms in *nglish and +ietnamese , is epected to be an

interesting and helpful material for foreign language teachers and learners and for people who

are interested in idioms in both English and 'ietnamese.

2. Aims and objectives of the std!

+he study, as entitled, focuses on the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in

English and 'ietnamese. +herefore, the study is aimed to

8 9resent some theoretical bac"ground on idioms.

8 Establish some possible criteria for the distinction between idiomatic variants and

synonymous idioms.

8 :ain an insightful loo" at idioms in general and idiomatic variants and synonymous

idioms in particular in both English and 'ietnamese.

8 *or" out the similarities and differences between English and 'ietnamese in terms of

idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms.

". #co$e of the std!

2ue to the duration of time and the length as well as the references available, this thesis

does focus on the forms and contents of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English

and 'ietnamese. +he author would li"e to pay attention to the following 7uestions


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8 ;omparison can be considered as a cognitive procedure, a scientific thought used in

all processes of perception. It means that it is different from a basic linguistic method.

8 ;ontrastive analysis is a method which has its own principles and techni7ues.

8 emantics89ragmatics, according to 2o uu ;hau, is a mergence of semantics and

pragmatics semantics containing pragmatics and on the contrary4.

2ue to the aims and ob


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Stage 2 >asing on the results from stage 1, the author has ta"en a careful contrastive analysis

to find out the similarities and differences between English and 'ietnamese about the field of

the study.

+he sources for the analysis are from materials and references written by linguists in

English and in 'ietnamese as well as some bilingual reference boo"s available in 'ietnam.

+his will help to ma"e clear both the similarities and the differences between the idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms in English and those in 'ietnamese.

Techni'es fo( anal!)in* mate(ials:

8 English and 'ietnamese idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are investigated

in many of their aspects such as appearances, forms, component orders, characteristics,

meaning colours, figurative styles etc. >asing on this, the author has tried to find out the

similarities and differences between English idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms and

'ietnamese ones.

8 2escription and comparison are carried in the order of different groups of sub


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9art two, 2evelopment, is the heart of the study which directly deals with the idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms in English and 'ietnamese. +his part is divided into three

chapters including chapter I ?iterature review and theoretical bac"ground, chapter II -a


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PART ,: D--/OP&-NT

C0APT-R I: /IT-RATUR- R-I- AND T0-OR-TICA/ ,AC3ROUND

1.1. /ite(at(e (evie4

+here have been a lot of authors whose studies generally relate to idioms. oang 'an

anh 13#!4, @guyen +hien :iap, ?e @hu +ien 134, @guyen Bhac ung 134, oang

'an +hang 1334, +rinh 2uc ien 13354, 9han 'an Cue 13354, 2ang Anh 2ao 133#4

showed their concerns for the ways how to use idioms in literature and in different "inds of

act. tudies on the roles of idioms in traditional culture were carried by some authors such as

2uong Cuang am 13564, 9ham +he @gu 13634, 2inh :ia Bhanh, ;hu Duan 2ien 13#,

13#!4, ;ao uy 2inh 13#&4, ?e ;hi Cue, 'o Cuang @hon 13304 etc. @guyen Duan oa

13354, 9han 'an Cue 13364, @go -inh +huy 0054 gave their own studies on idioms in

'ietnamese in comparison to ussian, English and Fapanese.

ere are some studies directly relating to the field of the study

A #td! on ietnamese Idioms oang 'an anh, 00&4

oang 'an anh is a well8"nown 'ietnamese linguist who had spent a lot of time and

energy on this research. +his study speciali=ed in the ob


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In the study, the author focused on the features of English idioms and made a

contrastive analysis on animal8based comparison idioms in English and 'ietnamese

counterparts. +he author found that, though the animal8based comparison idioms in both

cultures use different animal images to epress ideas, they semantically reflect the personal

characteristics and status of people in the society during the course of historic development of

the two nations. According to her, many animals are positive in English but negative or neutral

in 'ietnamese and vice versa, which creates a lot of interests for learners in accessing and

analy=ing them.

#imile in -n*lish and ietnamese 5 A cont(astive anal!sis ?e +hu a, 001, )G4

In this paper, the author presented a contrastive analysis on the concept, formulation,

cultural traditional function, syntactic function and classification of simile in English and its

'ietnamese e7uivalents. he also pointed out some common mista"es made by 'ietnamese

learners of English and some solutions as well as suggestions for translating simile from

English into 'ietnamese.

A cont(astive anal!sis of -n*lish and ietnamese idioms of com$a(ison 2o Cuynh

Anh, 00&, '@G8;/?4

+he author gave out some theoretical bac"ground about idioms and made some

comparison with other concepts such as proverbs, slang and 7uotations. In the development,

the author made a contrastive analysis of English and 'ietnamese idioms, and then pointed out

some similarities and differences between these two languages. 2ue to the findings, the author

stated out some difficulties of learning English in terms of idioms and raised the awareness of

cultural related factors that should be put into consideration in the teaching process.

A std! on com$a(ative idioms f(om clt(al $e(s$ective 2o +hi +hu +rang, 006,

'@G8;/?4


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In this study, the author analy=ed and discussed English and 'ietnamese comparative

idioms in the light of culture and she found out some similarities and differences in the way

and the reason why people from the two cultures convey their comparative idioms.

Idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms in ietnamese @guyen +hi -inh

9huong, 0064

+his is a study written in 'ietnamese. In the study, the author gave some theoretical

bac"ground relating to 'ietnamese idioms in general and their idiomatic variants and

synonymous idioms in particular. >asing on the forms and contents, some criteria were given

to ma"e a clear distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in 'ietnamese.

he also carried an investigation on these due to their forms and meanings.

1.2. Theo(etical bac6*(ond

1.2.1. Clt(e and the (elationshi$ bet4een lan*a*e and clt(e

;ulture has a great influence on the origin and development of language. +his is the

season why content of language is closely lin"ed to culture. >esides words and epressions,

idioms are considered as special language units because they reflect cultural characteristics of

different countries.

1.2.1.1. Clt(e and its cha(acte(istics

;ulture is what ma"es you a stranger when you are away from home. It includes all

beliefs and epectations about how people should spea" and act which have become a "ind of

second nature to you as a result of social learning.

A way of thin"ing about culture is to contrast it with nature. @ature refers to what is

born and grows organically from the ?atin nascere to be born4( culture refers to

what has been grown and groomed from the ?atin colere to cultivate4

Bramsch, 000 &4


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According to :oodenough%s famous definition 135# 16#4, the term culture is used in

the sense of whatever a person must "now in order to function in a particular society.

ociety%s culture consists of whatever it is one has to "now or believe in order to

operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept

for any one of themselves.

;ulture, therefore, is the "now8how that a person must possess to get through the tas"

of daily living( only for a few does it re7uire a "nowledge of some, or much, music, literature,

and the arts.

ome scientists also compare the nature of culture to an iceberg, which is mostly

hidden under water. +he part of culture that is eposed is not always that which creates cross8

cultural difficulties( but the hidden aspects of culture have significant effects on behavior and

on interactions with others.

;haracteristics of culture proposed by 9orter and amovar 133& 14

8 ulture is not innate, it is learnt. /act has shown that members of culture learn their

patterns of behaviors and ways of thin"ing until they have become internali=ed. +he power

and influence of these behaviors and perceptions can be seen in the ways in which people

ac7uire culture.

8 ulture is transmissible. +he symbols of a culture are what enable us to pass on the

content and patterns of a culture. 9eople can use spo"en words as well as nonverbal actions as

symbols to spread culture.

8 ulture is d)namic. As with communication, culture is on going and sub


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assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture. In other words, culture also

defines the boundaries of different groups. +he notion of selectivity also suggests that cultures

tend to separate one group from another. If one culture selects wor" as an end Fapan4 while

another emphasi=es wor" as a means to an end -eico4, we have cultural separation.

8 Facets o# culture are interrelated . As all clearly states Hou touch a culture in one

place and everything else is affected 9orter and omovar, 133& 1!4. +his characteristic

shows that culture is li"e a comple system.

8 ulture is ethnocentric. Beesing notes that ethnocentrism is a universal tendency for

any people to put its own culture and society in a central position of priority and worth

9orter and omovar, 133& 1!4. Ethnocentrism, therefore, becomes the perceptual window

through which a culture interprets and ritain and @orthern Ireland. :reat >ritain is the largest island in

the cluster of islands, or archipelago, "nown as the >ritish Isles. England is the largest and

most populous division of the island of :reat >ritain, ma"ing the outh and East. *ales is on

the *est and cotland is to the @orth. @orthern Ireland is located in the @ortheast corner of

Ireland, the second largest island in the >ritish Isles. Among these four cultural regions, the


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English culture is considered a representative and often used to refer to the entire country%s

culture.

+o other Europeans, the best "nown 7uality of the >ritish, especially of the English is

reserve. +hey are people who often "eep certain distance to strangers, do not tal" much

about themselves, do not show much emotion and seldom get ecited. +his fact tends to give

their communicators the impression of coldness.

Apart from reserve, a typical English man is epected to be modest and humorous.

Any self8praise is felt to be ill8bred and it is ideal to laugh at oneself8 at one%s own faults, one%s

own failures and embarrassment. e also tends to epect those characters in others and

distrusts eaggerated promises and shows of affection, especially if they are epressed in

flowery language.

9oliteness is a hallmar" of >ritish society though their habits of politeness are on the

whole very informal. +here are no complicated greetings, for instance, a simple good

morning or a cheery wave of the hands across the street is 7uite satisfactory( handsha"es are

only echanged on a first introduction, or on special occasions, or as a to"en of agreement or

congratulation. All politeness is based on the elementary rule of showing consideration for

others, and fitly ac"nowledging the consideration they show to you.

-oreover, sportsmanship is highly valued in >ritain with rules showing generosity to

one%s opponent and good temper in defeat. It is also an ideal that is applied to life in general.

+his is proved by the number of sporting terms used in ordinary speech. )ne of the most

elementary rules of life is never hit a man when he%s down, in other words, never ta"e

advantage of another%s misfortune.

In short, we can say that although the Gnited Bingdom covers only a small area of the

earth surface, the >ritish, on the one hand, represent people of many different origins and


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cultures( on the other hand, they are very different in some ways from people of other

continents.

1.2.1.". Cha(acte(istics of ietnamese clt(e

+he 'ietnamese culture is said to be an agricultural one with the most distinguishing

products as rice, vegetables and fish. ?iving in an agricultural country created democracy and

hierarchy, unity, and collective and independent spirit in 'ietnamese people. +hey are also

greatly affected by Hin and Hang philosophy, clearly epressed in harmony tendency between

people with people and with the nature. In their social and communicative relationships, the

'ietnamese prefer feelings to reasons, spirit to material, subtlety and reserve to rough and

violence. In their spiritual life, they idoli=e fertility8 a belief praises multiply with the genitals

as its symbol.

+hough at any development period, to every 'ietnamese person, motherland is the most

miraculous and nothing can compare to it. +hey have fought for centuries, against a lot of

enemies, to protect and hand it down to their ancestors. +he second distinguishing feature

when tal"ing about 'ietnamese cultural identity is the durable relationship between

individuals and their family, between families and village, and to a broader term, the

motherland. :enerally spea"ing, 'ietnamese people are those of duty and responsibility.

Another feature of no less importance is the personalism in 'ietnamese culture, which is

opposite with individualism in *estern culture. 'ietnamese people are those of various and

diversified relationship and strongly controlled by such complicated relationships. In the 'iet

community, to a person%s children, he is a father( to his wife, he is a husband( to his

grandparents, he is a nephew( to his neighbors, he also a family%s child and a member of a

large family.


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In general, 'ietnamese culture is an undetechable part of outh8East Asian culture

space with typical features of a wet8rice civili=ation and 'ietnamese people are said to be very

hard8wor"ing, brave and faithful in their living and behaviors.

1.2.1.%. /an*a*e and clt(e

According to Bramsch 000!4 language is the principle means whereby we conduct

our social lives. *hen it is used in contets of communication, it is bound up with culture in

multiple and comple ways.

Bramsch argued that the words people utter epress facts, ideas or events that are

communicable. *ords also reflect their authors% attitudes and beliefs, their points of view,

which are also those of others. In both cases, language epresses cultural reality.

owever, members of a community belonging to different social groups do not only

epress eperience, they also create eperience through language. +hey give meanings to it

through the medium they choose to communicate with each other, for eample, spea"ing face

to face, writing a letter or reading a newspaper. +he way in which people use the spo"en,

written or visual medium itself creates meanings that are understandable to the groups they

belong to, for eample, through the spea"er%s tone of voice, accent, conversational style,

gestures and facial epressions. +hrough all its verbal or nonverbal aspects, we find that

language embodies cultural reality.

?anguage is also a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value.

pea"ers identify themselves and others through their use of language as a symbol of their

social identity. +he prohibition of its use is often perceived by its spea"ers as a re


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+he theory of linguistic relativity does not claim that linguistic structure constrains

what people can thin" or perceive, only that it tends to influence what they routinely do thing.

In this regard, the wor" of apir and *holf has led to two insights

8 +here is nowadays recognition that language, as code, reflects cultural preoccupations

and constrains the way people thin".

8 -ore than in *holf%s days, however, we recogni=e how important contet is in

complementing the meanings encoded in the language.

In brief, language and culture always eist together and reinforce each other. +he

relationship between them is so inetricable that we could not understand or appreciate the one

without the "nowledge of the others.

1.2.2. Idioms

1.2.2.1. hat is meant b! 7idioms89

*ords have their own meanings. +hey, however, do not


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words which, ta"en together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom

when they stand aloneM. /or instance, the collocation of kick and the bucket forms an idiom

meaning die, which is not systematically determinable from the meanings of kick and the

bucket . +his idiom or phrasal leeme is formally identical with the phrase kick the bucket

whose meaning is systematically determinable on the basis of the meaning of the leemes of

which it is composed hit a certain t)pe o# container #or liuids with their #oot .

ere are some more definitions of idioms

8 LAn epression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be wor"ed

out from its separate partsM.

?ongman 2ictionary of ?anguage +eaching and Applied ?inguistics, 1334

8 LAn idiom is a fied group of words which is firm in terms of structure, complete and

figurative in terms of meaning, and is widely used in daily spea"ingM

oang 'an anh, 133& 14

8 LAn idiom is a fied group of words with a special different meaning from the

meaning of several wordsM

2ictionary of English Idioms, 13#34

As can be seen from the above definitions, there are different ways of defining an

idiom. In general, most of the linguists share the same point that an idiom is a fied epression

whose meaning can not be wor"ed out by loo"ing at the meaning of its individual words.

1.2.2.2. hat is meant b! 7idiomatic va(iants89

In L>ases of :eneral ?inguisticsM, Fu.D. Dtepanov partly dealt with variants. e said

that phonetic variation of words had its own limitation performed by synonyms. It means that

the forms of the words change but their meanings are the same. +hat a word is pronounced in

two ways ma"es two phonetic variants of a word. N!1 &O


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'ariant is something which differs in form from another thing, though really the

same( as, a variant from a type in natural history( a variant of a story or a word. NO

>asing on these, we can say that idiomatic variants are idioms having the same

meanings and grammatical structures or having different components belonging to the same

field of meaning.

1.2.2.". hat is meant b! 7s!non!mos idioms89

ynonym is one of two or more words commonly words of the same language4

which are e7uivalents of each other, one of two or more words which have very nearly the

same signification, and therefore may often be used interchangeably.

httpPPwww.usingenglish.comPsynonym4

It can be said that ussian linguists have recorded great achievements of synonymy,

especially synonymous idioms. +.A. >ertagaep and '.I Qimin referred to synonymous idioms

synonymous idiomatic groups of words4 in modern ussian. >asing on the structures of

synonymous idioms, they gave the concept of idiomatic variants and the opposite of idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms. +hey supposed that synonymous idioms were idiomatic

groups of words which had the same meanings but different epressive colours belonging to

different functional styles of the language. N# 55O

In 'ietnam, 2o uu ;hau has partly referred to the synonymous idioms. e said L+he

idioms which are about the same as words are mainly synonymous, colorific and descriptiveM.

N#O It means that synonymous idioms are idioms having the same meanings but different

structures or having the same structures but different components belonging to different fields

of meaning.

1.2.2.%. nctions of idioms

Idioms may play different roles. +hey are used to name ob.ects, actions or describe


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situations/ +hey may epress certain generali0ations, advice, make evaluation, emphasi0e1

+raditionally, from the point of view of the function of idioms, we can refer to the

following basis groups

8 idioms with a nominative function 8 e'press concepts and name ob.ects, states,

processes, actions, ualities, etc/ +hey have the structure of a phrase. Eamples while

elephant, pull somebod) 2s leg, cool as a cucumber3 bod) and soul

8 idioms with a communicative function 8 describe situations and e'press independent

statements/ +hey have the structure of a sentence, e.g. all that glitters is not gold, the

coast is clear

8 idioms with both nominative and communicative functions including idioms with a

mied, limited variable structure4, e.g. break the ice - the ice is broken, close the door

on - the door is closed, lead somebod) b) the nose - somebod) is led b) nose

8 idioms without any distinctive nominative and communicative function 8 linguists

usually include here modal and inter


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"adverbial$/ +heir function is not completely identical with that of single words, since their

meaning usually includes a higher degree of both epressiveness and evaluation.

/rom the pragmatic point of view and discourse, some linguists, including /ernando

l3364 spea" about

8 ideational idioms the state and way of the world idioms, epressing namely

actions, events,. situation, people, things, attitudes, emotions, etc.4 red herring, bur)

the hatchet, as white as a sheet

8 interpersonal idioms epressing greetings, agreement, re


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1.". #mma(!

+here have been a lot of authors whose studies generally relate to idioms. owever, no

studies directly relating to idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and

'ietnamese are "nown to us. +his is the reason why we carry a study on idiomatic variants

and synonymous idioms in both English and 'ietnamese.

It can be said that culture has a great influence on the origin and development of

language. ;ontent of language is closely lin"ed to culture. >esides words and epressions,

idioms are considered as special language units because they reflect cultural characteristics of

different countries.

In general, idioms in both English and 'ietnamese are fied groups of words which

have settled forms and figurative meanings and reflect their own nation%s culture values,

including material and spiritual values.

Idiomatic variants are idioms which have the same meanings and grammatical

structures or have different components belonging to the same field of meaning.

ynonymous idioms are idioms which have the same meanings but different structures

or have the same structures but different components belonging to different fields of meaning.

Idioms are used to name ob


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C0APT-R II: &A;OR C0ARACT-RI#TIC# O -N3/I#0 AND I-TNA&-#-

IDIO

2.1. Cha(acte(istics of idioms

2.1.1. Cha(acte(istics of -n*lish idioms

According to many linguists, a group of words which has a fied structure, indivisible

meaning, and can appear in speech li"e a word is called an idiom. +herefore, idioms can be

distinguished by their grammatical and semantic features.

2.1.1.1. 3(ammatical feat(es

It is very easy to reali=e that most idioms are fied epressions. +here are no changes

in structure, word order and leicology. *e can ta"e the idiom black and blue of bruises4 as

an eample. It would sound uncanny if we changed it into blue and black . It means that it

wouldnKt ma"e sense. -oreover, when an idiom is used in a complete sentence, it is hardly

change into passive voice. ?et us consider the idiom to stu## one’s #ace in the sentence She is

stu##ing her #ace with chocolates he is eating a lot of chocolates4( It would be unnatural to

say 6er #ace is stu##ed with chocolates.

owever, some other idioms are more fleible( we can ma"e some changes if they

donKt lose their idiomatic meaning. +his means that idioms are only fied in some of their

parts but not all. +he alteration of component words can help to form a different idiom of the

same or different meaning. Appearing on the mass media is in this way of using. +hey no

longer "eep the full form of the idiom but add some more components to ma"e it more vivid,

particularly effective when writing articles. *e can change the tense of the verb in the idiom

to give someone the cold shoulder to treat someone in a cold or unfriendly way4, or the verb

in to have one’s #inger with to get one’s #inger/


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In addition, idioms may ta"e many different forms or structures. ome idioms are noun

phrases such as tender age, a black sheep, #ort) winks, etc. ome are verb phrases such as to

spare one’s blushes, to do someone proud, to cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth , etc. +he

most important thing is that an idiom can have its own regular, irregular or even incorrect

grammatical structure. to be at large is an eample of grammatical irregularity. +he idiom is

formed by verb 7 preposition 7 ad.ective. In English, no structure li"e this is normally

accepted because an ad


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public means to discuss or argue about one’s personal a##airs in public, etc. All those

eamples show that the nuances of idiomatic meanings are very complicated. +hey mainly

depend on the nuances of their "ey components.

2.1.2. Cha(acte(istics of ietnamese idioms

In 'ietnamese, idioms are considered as very special language units because they

reflect 'ietnamese cultural characteristics. +he forms and contents of idioms are also

distinguished by grammatical and semantic features.

2.1.2.1. 3(ammatical feat(es

-ost of 'ietnamese linguists have had the same point of view about the forms of

'ietnamese idioms. @guyen 'an +u NO said LIdioms are fied epressions whose word

components do not have their own individual meanings and become a solid bloc"M. e

emphasi=ed the combination of the components forming the meaning of idioms. @guyen

+hien :iap N1O did consider an idiom as a fied epression. Although @guyen 2uc 2an N#O

didnKt focus on the forms of 'ietnamese idioms, he dealt with the fiation of idioms. e said

LIdioms are language units which have fied formsM. oang 'an anh 13#4 attached special

importance to the components forming idioms. e affirmed that an idiom was a fied group of

words whose form was unchanged.

It can be said that 'ietnamese idioms are fied groups of words whose forms are

unchanged the fied combination comes from settled words and epressions such as b8t c!

hai ta) "to run a#ter two hares$, m9o m: vớ c! r!n ";he devil looks a#ter his own$, c! ch


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epressions which are not idioms such as b!nh 'e lch sD "the wheel o# histor)$, gia đEnh v>n

h&a "good #amil)$, khoa hc kG thu


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5

as a sweep$ and b!m như đJa đ&i "to stick like a limpet$, whose imagery comes from the

images compared with activities or properties. ome ino8'ietnamese idioms such as nhKt cD

lưLng tiMn "to kill two birds with one stone$, b!n tNn b!n nghi "hal# doubt#ul$ and b!ch ph!t

b!ch trOng "to hit the mark one hundred times out o# one hundred$ also have literal sense

basing on the meanings of their components.

2.2. Classification of idioms

In both English and 'ietnamese there eist many different ways of idiom classification

among linguists who have based on different categories such as motivation, function, origin,

meaning and "ind, etc. owever, each language has its own characteristics and the idiom

classification is also based on different points of view.

2.2.1. Classification of -n*lish idioms

ome authors have classified English idioms into topic groups and countries. +hey

have also listed the amount of idioms belonging to each topic or country.

Idioms b! to$ic

8 Animals the birds and the bees

8 >ody and bodily functions at arm’s length

8 >uildings and construction to drive someone up the wall

8 ;haracter and appearance as cold as ice

8 ;hildren and babies like a kid in a cand) store

8 ;lothes at the drop o# a hat

8 ;olours black and white

8 2eath at death’s door

8 2rin"ing and pubs to turn water in to wine

8 2rugs close but no cigar


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8 /ood as cool as a cucumber

8 /urniture and household fittings to cut a rug

8 :ambling to go #or broke

8 ?aw to bring someone to book

8 -en and women man in the street

8 -oney #or m) mone)

8 -usic to call the tune

8 @ationality and ethnicity #or *ngland

8 @ature as cold as a stone

8 @umbers to #eel like a million

8 9ersonKs name as rich as roesus

8 9lace name to set the ;hames on #ire

8 9lants and flowers to gild the lil)

8 9olice and crime to get awa) with murder

8 9olitics on the stump

8 9rofession or wor" all in a da)’s work

8 eligion at the bottom o# the totem pole

8 e and seuality to pla) the #ield

8 port to drop the ball

8 +echnology and science to hit the airwaves

8 +ime behind the times

8 +ransport and travel to hit the road

8 *ar and conflict war o# words

8 *eather in a #og


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#

Idioms b! cont(!

8 American English as mad as a wrongl) shot hog

8 Australian English to cut down the tall poppies

8 >ritish English b) a long chalk

8 ;anadian English ;he Pountie alwa)s gets his man

8 Indian English to do the need#ul

8 Irish English *ven the dogs in the street know

8 @ew Qealand English across the ditch

8 cottish English to turn the crack

httpPPwww.usingenglish.comPidiom catergory4

>asing on parts of speech, Fennifer eidl *. -c-ordie 134 gave eight groups of

idioms as follows

e! 4o(ds 4ith idiomatic ses

8 Ad


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8 Identical pairs bit b) bit

Idioms 4ith $(e$ositions b), #or, #rom etc

Ph(asal ve(bs act up, call something o##, make something up to someone etc

e(bal idioms blow one’s own trumpet, call a spade a spade, do a bunk etc

Idioms 4ith 6e! 4o(ds f(om s$ecial cate*o(ies

8 Animals bird, bee, bull etc

8 ;olours black, blue, red etc

8 @umbers, si=e, measurement one, inch, mile etc

8 9arts of the body arm, back, nose etc

8 +ime da), minute, night etc

Idioms 4ith com$a(isons

8 ;omparisons with as 1 as as bold as brass

8 ;omparisons with like to go like the wind

>asing on functions, idioms can be also classified as follows

Idioms as non $h(ases

e.g. peace and uiet peaceP calm4 It is nice to have some peace and 7uiet.

the cat’s whiskers wonderful4 he thin"s she is the catKs whis"er.

dog’s dinner over dressed in a showy way4 e was dressed up li"e a dogKs

dinner.

Idioms as ve(b $h(ases

e.g. to ump out o# m) skin give a big


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Idioms as adjective $h(ases

e.g. as good as gold generous, helpful, well8behaved4 e is as good as gold.

hard and #ast can not be changed in any circumstances4 +here are no hard and

fast rules about this.

Idioms as adve(bial $h(ases

e.g. as likel) as not certainlyP surely4 eKll be at home now, as li"ely as not.

Idioms as $(e$ositional $h(ases

e.g. in a black mood a bad moodP temper4 :erry is in a blac" mood.

Idioms as inte(jections

e.g. Qell, R never

Tever sa) die

;ake )our time

Idioms as inde$endent clases

e.g. ( little bird told me It is not necessary for me to tell you who told me this4

2.2.2. Classification of ietnamese idioms

According to ?uong 'an 2ang N3O, 'ietnamese idioms in L+hSnh ngT tiUng 'iVtM4

can be classified as follows

Idioms 4ith th(ee sin*le 4o(ds o( mo(e

e.g. bCn nUi khU "a bosom #riend$

bV hHi tai "#agged out$

treo đầu dW, b!n tht ch& "6e cries wine and sells vinegar$

trX khYng tha, giI khYng thưHng "Teither consideration #or the )oung nor the pit)

#or the old$1


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Idioms 4ith a sin*le 4o(d and a com$ond 4o(d

e.g. bZ hCt tiWu "little bod), great mind$

c[m miMng h\n "mute as a #ish$

c& m!u m?t "to be in com#ortable circumstances$1

Idioms 4ith t4o com$ond 4o(ds

e.g. buYn gian b!n lm 'ung th!ng hCn "an unpropitious period o# time$ 1

Idioms as sim$le sentences

e.g. ch[u chKu đ! 'e "]avid #ights ^oliath$

Wch ng=i đ!) gi\ng "a #rog in a well$

m9o m: vớ c! r!n ";he devil looks a#ter his own$1

Idioms 4ith allite(ations o( com$ond 4o(ds

e.g. hE hI hE h_c "be completel) engrossed in$

l`m nh`m l`m nhIm "to drivel$

>n bớt >n 'Zn "to take a stealth) rake o##$1

Idioms 4ith s!mmet(ical com$a(isons

e.g. n!t như tưHng "as pastr) as so)$

đen như mc "ink)-black$$

n?ng như chE "as heav) as the lead$

ngu[) ngu) như m u) tYm "to turn awa) in anger$1

Idioms 4ith smma(! com$a(isons

e.g. như c! g?p nước "#eel like duck in water$

như đJa ph`i vYi "like a scalded cat$


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như nước đổ đầu vt "like water o## a duck’s back$1

owever, the common structures of 'ietnamese idioms are the structures which have

two balanced members. Idioms are also formed by n thm miMng mưi "loud-mouthed$

m=m loa mZp d`i " loud-spoken$1

8 ;;y ; ad


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v_ng ch9o khZo chUng "( bad workman blames his tools$1

8 22y 2 numeral( , y combinative words4

e.g. nDa nCc nDa mL "neither #lesh nor #ish$

nDa đ:a nDa th, and they are concreti=ed by the following epressions

8 A nhX > A verb or ad noun4

e.g. n&i như vt "to parrot$$

ngang như cua "utterl) nonsensical$

chua như dKm "sour like vinegar$$1

8 A nhX > A verb8ad noun4

e.g. n&i dUi như cuAi "to be a colossal liar$

n&i ngt như đưng "to use hone)ed words$

n&i dXo như ko "to be smooth-tongued$1

8 A nhX > A usually verb( > phrase epressing activity4

e.g. d như d vong "to soothe$

chDi như v?n tht "to abuse someone regularl)$

chDi như h!t ha) "to heap abuses on$1


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8 A nhX > A phrase consisting of a verb and an ad phrase epressing

activity4

e.g. n&i dai như ch& nhai dX r!ch "to talk constantl)$

chu)Mn nV như ngY rang "to chat loudl)$

chu)Mn gin như b8p rang "to chat loudl)$1

2.". Idioms ve(ss othe( lan*a*e nits

*ords and groups of words including idioms ma"e a vocabulary system of a

language. It means that a vocabulary system of a language is very comple. It consists of a lot

of different language units. +herefore, distinguishing idioms and other language units is

necessary.

2.".1. Idioms ve(ss 4o(ds

L*ords are the smallest language units having their own meanings and fied forms,

and are used to build sentencesM. N3O According to this definition, words have the following

features

8 *ords are independent language units and have their own meanings.

8 *ords are available language units and have their own fied forms.

8 *ords usually have nominative functions. It means that they are the names of things,

phenomena, activities, properties, states, etc.

8 *ords are basic language units used to build sentences.

+he biggest difference between idioms and words is that they are compared with single

words +he smallest idioms consist of at least two single words. -oreover, the determination

of words closely connects concepts. /or eample, hXo l!nh "out o# the wa)$ is a word and khJ

ho c g!) "out o# the wa)$ is an idiom. >oth of these semantically epress the same meaning.

owever, hXo l!nh "out o# the wa)$ has literal meaning which is 7uite ob


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!&

khJ ho c g!) "out o# the wa)$ has figurative meaning containing the spea"erKs emotional

colorings and comments It is a boring hard place to live and wor".

*ords are the smallest language units which are independent and have their own

meanings. +he meanings of compound words such as rain coat, co##ee table and pocket

dictionar) are usually clear and easy to deduce by loo"ing at the literal sense of their

components. owever, it is impossible to understand the meanings of idioms by doing li"e

that ecept comparative idioms in 'ietnamese4 because idioms have figurative meanings.

2.".2. Idioms ve(ss loctions

-ost of the linguists share the same point of view that an idiom is a fied epression

whose meaning can not be wor"ed out by loo"ing at the meaning of its individual words.

LA locution is a fied group of words having been used for a long time and its meaning

comes from the meanings of its componentsM. N3 10O /or eample, r!n sInh ra mL "to skin

a #lint$ 'ietnamese4, as bald as a coot English4 are idioms, but lWn lớp "to give a lesson$

'ietnamese4, go to bed English4 are considered as locutions.

It can be said that the forms of idioms and locutions are the same +hey are all fied

groups of words. owever, the meanings of idioms donKt come from the meanings of their

components( locutions tend to have their own literal sense coming from the meanings of their

components.

2.".". Idioms ve(ss slan*

In )ford Advanced ?earnerKs 2ictionary, slang is defined as follows

L+hey are very informal words and phrases commonly used in speech, especially

between people from the same social groups or who wor" together, not considered suitable for

formal contets and often not in use for longM.


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!5

Although both idioms and slang are almost fied in structures and words, they have

some certain differences.

/irstly, slang is used among some groups of people whereas idioms can be found

everywhere. lang is a means of identifying and reinforcing certain sub8groups in society( the

member of this group may not understand the conversations of other groupsK.

econdly, even in the same cultural area, while idioms are almost the same, slang

stands differently from region to region. /or eample, the idiom like death warmed up "being

ill$ can be understood both in England and the G( meanwhile, such slang as asskissing

"#lattering, toad)ing$, dinge "a black person$ are accepted only by the American.

/inally, it is found that slang is fashionable and soon out of date. /or instance, to

indicate something beautiful, before the *orld *ar II, people used the word top hole, then in

the 13&0s, it was wi0ard , 13#0s ace, comic and in the 130s, it turned to be brills, wicked .

2.".%. Idioms ve(ss $(ove(bs

According to ornby 13354, in his )ford Advanced ?earnerKs 2ictionary, a proverb

is defined as La short well8"nown sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or

gives advice, e.g. fetter sa#e than sorr) or ]on’t put all )our eggs in one basket M. -ore

particularly, 'u @goc 9han 000 !34 considered a proverb as La complete saying epressing

one idea of comment, eperience, morality,


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!6

individual words but must be understood as a whole. It means that any substitutions in any

components of an idiom or a proverb may result in unacceptable changes in the meaning of the

whole group, which ma"e them nonsensical in metaphorical meaning. Apart from this, most

idioms and proverbs use language in a metaphorical way. *e can not usually discover their

meanings by loo"ing up the individual words in a dictionary( their meaning must be

understood metaphorically.

>eside those similarities, both of them still own typical features that distinguish one

from the other. +he first and most obvious difference lies in their grammatical structures.

Idioms are phrases which are parts of sentences( thus, they are e7uivalent to words only.

9roverbs are complete sentences or phrases epressing the whole idea. -oreover, idioms and

proverbs are also different in terms of their functions. 9roverbs are short well8"nown

sentences or phrases that epress a


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!#

In short, beside their common things, idioms are distinguished from proverbs by their

structures and functions.

2.%. #mma(!

Although English and 'ietnamese idioms have some different features about

structures, meanings, functions as well as origins, they both have some similarities as follows

8 Idioms are fied groups of words which are firm in terms of their structures and

leical components.

8 Idioms are complete and figurative in terms of meanings which do not come from

the meanings of their individual components.

8 Idioms have their own epressiveness.

8 :rammatically, idioms are usually groups of words, sometimes sentences.

8 Idioms are semantically considered as words or groups of words.

8 +he function of idioms is naming things, phenomena, processes, properties, etc.

>oth English and 'ietnamese idioms can be classified due to parts of speech, topics or

origins. owever, Idiom categories basing on their grammatical functions are 7uite common.

Each group of idioms has its own grammatical function and can form sentences. +his is the

reason why idioms can function as words. Idioms in both languages are 7uite multiform and

fleible. +herefore, we can not understand idioms clearly without understanding the culture of

each country.

Idioms in both English and 'ietnamese are very different from other language units.

+hese differences are summari=ed in +able 1


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!

Table 1: Idioms ve(ss othe( lan*a*e nits

eat(es Idioms o(ds /octions #lan* P(ove(bs

#t(ct(e fied groups

of words or

sentences

morphemes

or words

groups of words words or

fied

groups of

words

sentences

Relationshi$

amon*

com$onents

close, fied,

available

independent

single

words4,

closeP la

compound

words4

close, fied,

available

close,

fied,

fashionable

close, fied,

available

&eanin* figurative literal literal figurative generali=ed

Nominative

fnction

naming

things,

phenomena,

processes,

propertiesY

naming

things,

phenomena,

processes,

propertiesY

naming

things,

phenomena

, processes,

properties

Y

naming

accounts,

eventsY

#!ntactic

fnction

forming

sentences

forming

sentences

forming

sentences

forming

sentences

sentences

used

independently

-


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!3

C0APT-R III: IDIO&ATIC ARIANT# AND #=NON=&OU# IDIO IN

-N3/I#0 AND I-TNA&-#-

".1. /e4 but their insides are the same content A [ content >4. ynonymous units including

synonymous words and idioms are the eceptions of the synonymous epressions. +herefore,

synonymous idioms can be reali=ed by the following formula

#!non!m!

/orm A \ /orm >;ontent A [ ;ontent >

e.g.

-n*lish


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/orm A \ /orm >not to turn a hair without turning a hair

;ontent A [ ;ontent >almost, nearly

ietnamese

/orm A \ /orm >dC) đB vZn v!)

"to teach the dog to bark$

dC) khJ leo c[)

"to teach the dog to bark$;ontent A [ ;ontent >

to do something unnecessary

*hen studying synonymy, they usually deal with leical and grammatical synonymy.

?eical synonymy is the synonymy of words words and e7uivalent units including idioms4.

Idioms are language units functioning as words( however, they are formed by many

leical words. +herefore, the synonymous idioms are more comple than the synonyms of

words because they are connected with the idiomatic variants. In many cases, it is difficult to

distinguish those phenomena clearly.

e.g.

-n*lish ietnamese

to die a dog’s death to die like a dog

not to turn a hair without turning a hair

to be head over ears in to be over head

and ears in

bja đc bja c!i buổi đc buổi c!i

"da) on da) o##$

mua uan b!n tước mua danh b!n tước

"to bu) and sell status$

tr!nh v dưa g?p v da tr!nh đưc ln

c g?p gKu ch&1

"to .ump out o# the #r)ing pan into the #ire$

".2. Idiomatic va(iants in -n*lish and ietnamese


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Idiomatic variants are available in both English and 'ietnamese. owever, the forms

and contents of idiomatic variants in each language are different.

".2.1. Idiomatic va(iants in -n*lish

It is easy to reali=e that the components, especially verbs and nouns, of an English

idiom can be replaced by units which are synonymous or belong to the same field of meaning.

/or eample, the verb get in the idiom to get one’s back up can be replaced by the verb put ,

but the meaning of the idiom is still the same. *e can see this in a lot of idioms such as to get

one’s blood up to have one’s blood up, to welcome with open arms to greet with open

arms, and to #ind the length o# someone’s #eet to know the length o# someone #eet which are

idiomatic variants.

+he idiomatic variants in English are the other forms of idioms whose meanings are

the same as the original idioms. In other word, when one or more components4 of the original

idiom is are4 replaced by another other components4 belonging to the same field of meaning,

we consider this the idiomatic variant. +hese can be concreti=ed as follows

8 A verb a verb phrase4 replaced by another belonging to the same field of meaning

to get one’s back up to set one’s back up to put one’s back up etc.

8 A noun a noun phrase4 replaced by another belonging to the same field of meaning

to take into one’s head to take into one’s mind etc.

8 An adverb replaced by another belonging to the same field of meaning to come apart

to come asunder etc.

8 A con


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In addition, li"e words, English idioms can form sentences( therefore, some

components of the idioms such as possessive ad


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&!

*hen the components of an idiom are replaced by units which are synonymous or

belong to the same field of meaning, we also call these idiomatic variants dj như h:m dj

như cp "#erocious like a tiger$3 c:ng hAi c:ng thu)@n đ=ng hAi đ=ng thu)@n "to share the

same lot$3 binh h:ng tướng mCnh u[n h:ng tướng mCnh "a strong arm)$3 gi` m: gi` đi\c

gi` đui gi` đi\c "to pretend to be dea# and dumb$3 v đưng cho hưHu chC) vCch đưng cho

hưHu chC) "to teach the dog to bark$3 cHm dXo canh ngt cHm ngon canh ngt cHm lInh

canh ngt "good meals$3 chua như mX - chua như dKm "sour like vinegar$3 d%i n8ng dầm mưa

d%i gi& dầm mưa d%i gi& dầm sưHng d%i gi& dầu mưa "to be e'posed to the sun$3 dCn dI)

n8ng mưa dCn dI) sưHng gi& dCn dI) gi& sưHng "to be used to the hard weather$ etc.

'ietnamese idiomatic variants are 7uite multiform and complicated. ow they are

epressed depends on the spea"ersK habits in different parts of country. >asing on what given

above, it can be said that the variation limitations of words are synonymy. +herefore, the

variation limitations of idioms are synonymous idioms.

".". #!non!mos idioms in -n*lish and ietnamese

Although English and 'ietnamese are two different languages, synonymous idioms in

both are available.

".".1. #!non!mos idioms in -n*lish

It can be said that synonyms are different words with identical or at least similar

meanings. *ords that are synonyms are said to be synonymous and the state of being a

synonym is called synonymy. In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be

synonymous if they have the same connotation.


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ynonyms can be any parts of speech e.g. nouns, verbs, ad


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&5

to swear like a bargee

as busy asas bus) as a heaver

as bus) as a bee

".".2. #!non!mos idioms in ietnamese

In 'ietnam, 2o uu ;hau has partly referred to the synonymous idioms. e said L+he

idioms which are about the same as words are mainly synonymous, colorific and descriptiveM.

N#O

It can be said that idioms are the language units which are about the same as words.

+herefore, they are able to be synonymous with words. /or eample, the following idioms aresynonymous with their bases( however, each of these idioms has its own meaning specifying

different colors of its common root meaning

,ases #!non!mos idioms

ch]m slow4chn cướp

nhanh như c8t

nhanh như chớp

nhanh như gi&

nhanh như điMn1

^en blac"4

đen như mc tIu "ink)-black$

đen như cAt nhI ch!)

đen như c sOng

đen như đ=ng hun


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&6

đen như c tam thKt

đen như uC1

It is easy to reali=e that idioms are usually used in sayings belonging to informallanguage( therefore, they are the language units belonging to this style. Idioms belonging to

formal language are not very common. +hey are usually idioms coming from ino. /or

eample, 'o @guyen :iap, in his ; nh[n d[n mI ra, wrote LCu_n giì phng lS mt î

7u_n rt trng " lu]t, tuyVt î phc tng thXng lVnh, lS mt î 7u_n giSu tinh thjn ôSn

"Ut, đ=ng cam cAng khổ "to share the hard work with each other$M.

-eanwhile, words including bases synonymi=ing idioms created usually have neutral

colors. +his can be shown as the following eamples

&eanin* #!non!mos idioms

ên blac"4

đen như mc tIu "ink)-black$

đen như cAt nhI ch!)

đen như c sOng

đen như đ=ng hun

đen như c tam thKt

đen như uC1

ôSn "Ut solidarity4đ=ng cam cAng khổ "to share the hard work with

each other$1

"eo "iVt meanness4 v8t cổ chI) ra nước "to be a skin#lint$r!n sInh ra mL1

*ords and synonymous idioms can ma"e a clear distinction between them about their

meaning colours. /or eample, in 'ietnamese đen blac"4 normally means Lli"e the colour of


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coalM or Lthe colour of kmc tSuK Indian in"4M. +hey can be used for all ob


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&

the similar and different properties. +he similarities and differences of leical synonymous

units are dialectical because they epress the different images of the same phenomenon.

*ords and idioms are synonymous with each other because the epress the same notions or

the same phenomena of the obasing on the similar and different properties of words and idioms, syntactic

synonymy can be clearly analy=ed. It is affirmed that the similar and different properties of

syntactic synonymous units are the dialectical identicalness of different respects belonging to

the same aspect of study syntactic aspect.

As we "now, one of the criteria usually used to identify the synonymy is the possibility

of replacing one language unit by another. owever, not all words replaced by other are

synonymous and syntactic means is not an eception. +herefore, it is syntactically necessary

to give the principles of fiing group of words, sentence, similar or synonymous sentence

element when it is alone or not. N# 10!O

ome researchers have shown that syntactic synonymous units must have different

structures. N# 111O +herefore, synonymous idioms also have different structures although

they have the same meanings in general. Idioms having the same meanings and structures may

be variants of idioms. *hen idioms are considered as synonymous idioms of other, the

components of these idioms must belong to different fields of leicon.

e.g.

-n*lish ietnamese

not to turn a hair without turning a hair chuAt g?m ch[n m9o vuUt r[u h:m

"to beard the lion in his den$to wrap someone around one’s little #inger đ8p tai gIi chUc m ni che tai


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to have someone at one’s beck and call ";urning a dea# ear to ever)thing$to #ace the music to wake up and smell the

co##ee

dưLng hổ d hoC - nuYi ong ta) !o

"to set a #o' to keep one’s geese$

-./. 9aleps"aia, a ussian linguist, made a clear distinction between syntactic

synonyms and syntactic variants. he showed that syntactic structures including sentences and

parts of sentences are different because of their leical elements. he considered them as

syntactic synonyms. tructures epressing the same content are syntactic variants. -./.

9aleps"aia also gave a definition about syntactic synonymous units. er definition can be

epressed as follows syntactic synonymous units are different structures having the samegrammatical positions and contents. +hey are different because of their original meaning

colours coming from grammatical meanings changed. N# 1O. >asing on this, we can ma"e

a clear distinction between synonyms and variants of idioms in both English and 'ietnamese.

In 'ietnamese, @guyen uu ;huong, in his doctorate thesis, gave & minor types of

pragmatic synonymous sentences and 1 minor types of semantic synonymous sentences.

Appendi 14 *e only focus on semantic synonymous sentences because they relate to

idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms.

".+. C(ite(ia fo( the distinction bet4een idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms

In both English and 'ietnamese, in order to ma"e a clear distinction between idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms, we focus on two criteria meanings and grammatical

structures. -eanings are based on the same or different images. :rammatical structures are

based on the same or different structures. +he differences between idiomatic variants and

synonymous idioms can be shown as follows 2iagram 1, 4


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Dia*(am 1: Idiomatic va(iants

Idioms

e.g.

-n*lish ietnamese

to take into one’s head

to take into one’s mind1

ng=i như b_t mc

ng=i như b_t Uc

"to sit in silence and do nothing$

Dia*(am 2: #!non!mos idioms

Idioms

e.g.

-n*lish ietnamese

to have a head on one’s shoulders to have

one’s head screwed on the right wa)1

dV tr>ng dV đ9n dHi khYng ra dHi, chuAt

khYng ra chuAt nDa nCc nDa mL "hal#-

8 same meanings

8 same structures

8 same images

Idiomatic va(iants

8 same meanings

8 different structures

8 same meanings

8 same structures

8 different images

#!non!mos idioms


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51

serious$1

as angr) as a bear as angr) as a bull1

rUi như canh h - rUi như gI m8c t&c rUi

như mớ bong bong rUi như ruAt tm "to

be in a stir$1

>asing on two criteria above, we can ma"e a clear distinction between idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms as follows

Idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same meanings

and grammatical structures or have different components belonging to the same field of

meaning. Idioms are said to be synonymous when they have the same meanings but different

structures or have the same structures but different components belonging to different fields of

meaning.

".>. o(ms of idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms in -n*lish and ietnamese

".>.1. o(ms of idiomatic va(iants

As we "now, idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same

meanings and grammatical structures or have different components belonging to the same

field of meaning. >asing on these criteria, we can reali=e idiomatic variants through their

forms as follows

".>.1.1. Phonetic idiomatic va(iants

In English, it seems that there are no phonetic idiomatic variants because English

articulate system is very close and fied.

owever, in 'ietnamese it is not difficult to find out phonetic idiomatic variants such

as trV giV m?t như bIn ta) "change about$, [n Hn s[u nghBa n?ng "to entertain a #eeling o#

gratitude deep in one’s heart$, bu=n như chKu trKu c8n "ver) sad$, chYn rau nhau c8t rUn


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5

"native place$, gI trUng sUng nuYi con "a cock with chicks to raise$, giH cao đ!nh s kh

"long mint little dint$, trưng trIng giang đCi h`i "lenghth)$, d!t nh!t như c!) "as timid as a

rabbit$ etc. It is clear that the meanings of phonetic idiomatic variants in 'ietnamese are the

same and they also have the same meaning colours. @evertheless, they have different style

colours. /or eample, nh!t như c!) is neutral and formal, but d!t như c!) is negative and

informal. +he following eamples ma"e it clearer

L;on ngXi nh!t như c!), bng chc tr ln dqng c`m "hc thXng, mt mnh lun

7ua lXi ^ch tm b ^i, c th tin ^Xc "hxngJM

? Bh_m, k>n "ia bin giiK4

L:ing xng c hi szng, dXng nhX l{i bc v >S ch| ^Xc ci d!t như c!). ;h}ng

n giUt ngay b_y gi ^y.M

Cuang +iUn, k?Sng +~K4

".>.1.2. Idiomatic va(iants basin* on the chan*e of thei( com$onent o(de(s

+his "ind of variants is very rare in English, but it is 7uite common in 'ietnamese.

+hese idiomatic variants have their own different forms

o(m 1: A,CD ? CDA,

+hese idiomatic variants consist of four syllables. It means that they are phrases

consisting of two disyllabic coordinate compound words.

e.g.

A,CD CDA,

chZn th: chZn tCc chZn tCc chZn th:


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5!

";oasts e'changed in a drinking about$

chc trng u)@n cao

"high o##ice and great power$

chC) ngưc chC) 'uYi1

"to move heaven and earth$

u)@n cao chc trng

chC) 'uYi chC) ngưc1

emantically, disyllabic compound words in the idiomatic variants above refer to

phenomena which usually go together. *hen these phenomena are used together, they become

idioms having general meanings.

Although these idiomatic variants have different forms, they have the same meaning

and style colours as their base idioms. owever, how often they are used is sometimes

different. /or eample, the idiomatic variants such as chia loan r phưng "to separate two

lovers$ and cDa hổng s[n ;rEnh ";he on#ucianist School$ are more popular whereas chia

phưng r loan "to separate two lovers$ and s[n ;rEnh cDa hổng ";he on#ucianist School$

are not very often used.

o(m 2: A


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5&

"to have a mean heart$

dCn gi& dI) sưHng

"to be used to the hard weather$

'a chC) cao ba)1

"to run awa)$

dI) gi& dCn sưHng

cao chC) 'a ba)1

o(m ": A


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8 /our syllables idioms coming from ino are 'ietnami=ed and become 'ietnamese

idioms 6I Yng sư tD - sư tD 6I Yng "a tigress$.

8 Idioms having sub.ect - predicate - complement forms changed into complement -

predicate - sub.ect ones are also considered as idiomatic variants 'ưHng bc da da bc

'ưHng "a bag o# bones$.

8 Idioms having LnhX D vi HM forms changed into LnhX H vi DM ones are idiomatic

variants như nước với lDa như lDa với nước "#ire and water$.

".>.1.". Cont(active idiomatic va(iants and the cont(a(!

In English this "ind of idiomatic variants is rare. It sometimes appears on the mass

media. +hey no longer "eep the full form of the idiom but add some more components to

ma"e it more vivid, particularly effective when writing articles.

+here are two "inds of contractive idiomatic variants in 'ietnamese

8 Idiomatic variants are contractions of their base idioms

e.g.

,ase idioms Cont(active idiomatic va(iants

treo đầu dW b!n tht ch&

"6e cries wine and sells vinegar$

ln lInh chja thInh ln u9

"( remed) is worse than disease$

lung bOng như ng


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Cont(active base idioms Idiomatic va(iants

dai như đJa

"as tough as old boots$

đAi tri đCp đKt "to get complete #ree hand in one’s li#e and action$

lWn như di@u

"to get uick promotions$

dai như đJa đ&i

đầu đAi tri ch[n đCp đKt

lWn như di@u g?p gi&

+hese variants are usually used in specific contets( therefore, they are easy to

understand and restore their base idioms.".>.1.%. Idiomatic va(iants comin* f(om idioms of othe( lan*a*es

English idioms can be formed by using borrowings as their components. +he idiom

Saigon moment is an eample in which Saigon is a borrowing coming from 'ietnamese.

owever, idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other languages are not available in

English.

In 'ietnamese, there are a lot of idiomatic variants coming from idioms of other

languages, especially ino. In order to ma"e it easy to understand, ino idioms are

'ietnami=ed and have 'ietnamese meaning colours.

e.g.

#ino Idioms Idiomatic va(iants

binh đa ba đIo

"(n upheaval happening during a calm$

uUc s8c thiWn hưHng1

"beaut)$

đKt bng nổi s&ng

s8c nước hưHng tri1


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5#

In general, the meanings of these idiomatic variants are similar to those of their ino

idioms 'ietnami=ed. owever, ino idioms 'ietnami=ed are more general and formal than

their variants. +his is the reason why ino idioms 'ietnami=ed are usually used in boo"s.

".>.1.+. Idiomatic va(iants 4ith thei( com$onents (e$laced b! s!non!ms

In both English and 'ietnamese, these idiomatic variants are available. owever, they

are more common in 'ietnamese. In English the components of idioms are usually replaced

by others whose meanings are close. -eanwhile, the components of 'ietnamese idioms can

be replaced by synonyms or others whose meanings are close.

e.g.

-n*lish ietnamese

to come apart to come asunder

to have a great mind to to have a good

mind to

to get wise to someone something to be

wise to someone something1

m!t lng m!t dC - m!t lng m!t ruAt

"to be grati#ied at$

n8m đng c!n n8m đng chuYi

"to be on the sa#e side$

bI) mưu tNnh k\ - bI) mưu l

.1.>. Idiomatic va(iants 4ith thei( com$onents (e$laced b! 4o(ds o( e


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-n*lish ietnamese

there is no stopping someone there is no

holding someone

to get a share o# the cake to get a slice o#

the cake

to give it to someone to hand it to

someone1

lng lang dC thO lng lang dC s&i

"to have a mean heart$

>n no v!c n?ng >n no g!nh n?ng "to eat to satiet) and carr) a heav) load$

chiWm khW m:a thUi chiWm khW m:a Ong1

"a##ected b) drought in summer and

waterlogged in autumn$

In general, the fre7uencies of using idiomatic variants and their base idioms in English

are the same. In addition, the meaning and style colours of English idiomatic variants are

similar to those of their base idioms. owever, these are not the same in 'ietnamese. It means

that their pragmatic meanings are different. /or eample, that we can say n8ng như đổ lDa,

n8ng như hầm, or n8ng như thiWu "a scorching sun$ depends on how hot it is.

>asing on the meanings and the forms of idiomatic variants and their base idioms with

their components replaced by words or epressions having the same leical8semantic field, we

can consider this "ind of idiomatic variants as an intermediary between variation and

synonymy.

".>.2. o(ms of s!non!mos idioms

Idioms are said to be synonymous when they have the same meanings but different


meaning. In order to reali=e synonymous idioms, we focus on two criteria meanings and

grammatical structures. -eanings are based on the same or different images. :rammatical


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53

structures are based on the same or different structures. +hese two criteria also help us reali=e

synonymous idioms in both English and 'ietnamese as follows

".>.2.1. i*(ative and lite(al s!non!mos idioms

+hese synonymous idioms are 7uite common in 'ietnamese but not available in

English. +wo idioms are said to be synonymous when they have the same meanings this one

is figurative, and the other is literal4.

e.g.

i*(ative /ite(al

>n tha n&i thi\u

"to be dishonest$

>n đHm n&i đ?t

"to be dishonest$

>n s&ng n&i gi&

"to speak loud and openl)$

cU đKm >n 'Yi1

"to put one’s pride in one’s pocket #or the

sake o# one’s end$

>n gian n&i dUi

>n khYng n&i c&

>n to n&i lớn

cU sUng cU ch\t1

".>.2.2. #!non!mos idioms havin* the same fi*(ative meanin*s basin* on diffe(ent

ima*es

+hese synonymous idioms are available in both English and 'ietnamese. Idioms

having different grammatical structures or different components basing on different images,

but the same meanings are said to be synonymous.

e.g.


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-n*lish ietnamese

to have a head on one’s shoulders to have

one’s head screwed on the right wa)

as bus) as a heaver as bus) as a bee1

ghi lng tCc dC - nhớ như đinh đ&ng vIo

cAt "to engrave #or ever on one’s heart$

chC) như c lYng cYng chC) ngưcchC) 'uYi "to be in a bustle$

r!n sInh ra mL v8t cổ chI) ra nước "to

skin a #lint$1

".@. A$$ea(ances of idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms in -n*lish and

ietnamese

An investigation was carried out among 100 pairs of English idioms having the same

meanings adapted by chance from ocket English !dioms written by Fennifer eidl *.

-c-ordie in 13. Appendi 4 *e also investigated 100 pairs of 'ietnamese idioms having

the same meanings adapted by chance from "h#nh ng$ ti%ng Vi&t "+ietnamese Rdioms$

written by @guyen ?uc and ?uong 'an 2ang in 13#. Appendi !4 +he purpose of the

investigation was to discover the amount of idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both

English and 'ietnamese. >asing on this, we found out how idiomatic variants and

synonymous idioms appear in each language. +he main findings are in +able

Table 2: A$$ea(ances of idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms in -n*lish and

ietnamese

/an*a*e Total $ai(sB Idiomatic va(iants #!non!mos idioms

-n*lish 100 100$4 &6 &6$4 5& 5&$4ietnamese 100 100$4 65 65$4 !5 !5$4

+he table shows that the idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English are

7uite e7ual. Idiomatic variants are &6$ and 5&$ are synonymous idioms. owever, in


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'ietnamese Idiomatic variants are much more common than synonymous idioms. Among 100

pairs of 'ietnamese idioms having the same meanings, 65$ are idiomatic variants, and

synonymous idioms are only !5$.

In general, synonymous idioms in English are much more common than those in

'ietnamese. In contrary, 'ietnamese idiomatic variants are more common than English ones.

It can be said that both English and 'ietnamese people tend to use different idioms having the

same meanings in their everyday conversations. owever, how often they use these idioms

depends on their habits and points of view in each country.

".. #mma(!

Although there are some similarities such as multiform meaning colours, sentence

forming abilities and distinction criteria, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both

languages have some differences

In English, the order of the components of an idiom is fied. owever, in 'ietnamese

we can see that the order of the components of some idioms can change but their meanings are

the same such as n\m m


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In both English and 'ietnamese, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are 7uite

common. In order to ma"e a clear distinction between them, we focus on two criteria

meanings and grammatical structures.

Idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same meanings


meaning.

Idioms are said to be synonymous when they have the same meanings but different


meaning.

Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are available in both English and

'ietnamese( however, their forms and availabilities in each language are different. +hese can

be summari=ed in +able !.

Table ": o(ms of idiomatic va(iants and s!non!mos idioms in -n*lish and ietnamese

Idiomatic va(iants

o(ms -n*lish ietnamese

9honetic idiomatic variants not available availableIdiomatic variants basing on the change of

their component orders

available rare4 available

;ontractive idiomatic variants and the

contrary

available rare4 available

Idiomatic variants coming from idioms of

other languages

not available available

Idiomatic variants with their componentsreplaced by synonyms

available available

Idiomatic variants with their components

replaced by words or epressions having

the same leical8semantic field

available available


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6!

#!non!mos idioms

o(ms -n*lish ietnamese

/igurative and literal synonymous idioms not available availableynonymous idioms having the same

figurative meanings basing on different

images

available available

In general, base idioms are more used and common than their variants and synonyms.

ow often they are used depends on specific contets and spea"ersK habits. It can be said that

idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both English and 'ietnamese have the same

meaning colours but different figurative style colours. Idiomatic variants and synonymous

idioms in 'ietnamese are more comple and multiform than those in English.

>oth English and 'ietnamese people tend to use different idioms having the same

meanings in their everyday conversations. ynonymous idioms in English are much more

common than those in 'ietnamese. In contrary, 'ietnamese idiomatic variants are more

common than English ones.


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PART C: CONC/U#ION

1. Conclsions

In this thesis, the relationship between culture and language is given. >asing on this, the

author interprets why idioms are considered as special language units and what their idiomatic

variants and synonymous idioms are. +he author also gives some criteria to ma"e a clear

distinction between idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in English and 'ietnamese.

+he main findings are as follows

Idioms in both English and 'ietnamese are fied groups of words which have settled

forms and figurative meanings and reflect their own nation%s cultural values, including

material and spiritual values.

Although English and 'ietnamese idioms have some different features about

structures, meanings, functions as well as origins, they both have some similarities

8 Idioms are fied groups of words which are firm in terms of their structures and

leical components.

8 Idioms are complete and figurative in terms of meanings which do not come from

the meanings of their individual components.

8 Idioms have their own epressiveness.

8 :rammatically, idioms are usually groups of words, sometimes sentences.

8 Idioms are semantically considered as words or groups of words.

8 +he function of idioms is naming things, phenomena, processes, propertiesY


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>oth English and 'ietnamese idioms can be classified due to parts of speech, topics or

origins. owever, Idiom categories basing on their grammatical functions are 7uite common.

Each group of idioms has its own grammatical function and can form sentences. +his is the

reason why idioms can function as words. Idioms in both languages are 7uite multiform and

fleible. +herefore, we can not understand idioms clearly without understanding the culture of

each country.

+here are some similarities such as multiform meaning colours, sentence forming

abilities and distinction criteria( however, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both

languages have some differences

8 In English, the order of the components of an idiom is 7uite fied. owever, in

'ietnamese we can see that the order of the components of some idioms can change easily,

but their meanings are the same such as n\m m


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8 Idioms are considered as variants of each other when they have the same meanings


meaning.

8 Idioms are said to be synonymous when they have the same meanings but different


meaning.

Idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms are available in both English and

'ietnamese( however, their forms and appearances in each language are different.

ynonymous idioms in English are much more common than those in 'ietnamese. In

contrary, 'ietnamese idiomatic variants are more common than English ones.

In general, base idioms are more used and common than their variants and synonyms.

ow often they are used depends on specific contets and spea"ersK habits. It can be said that

idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms in both English and 'ietnamese have the same

meaning colours but different figurative style colours. Idiomatic variants and synonymous

idioms in 'ietnamese are more comple and multiform than those in English.

2. Im$lications fo( teachin* and lea(nin* -n*lish idioms in *ene(al and thei( va(iants

and s!non!ms in $a(ticla(

+eaching and learning English as well as 'ietnamese, to some people, is an easy tas",

but to some others, it is really a hard8solving problem. +he reason for any difficulties facing

these people can be various maybe they lac" a Lnatural abilityM or they do not have suitable

methods of teaching and learning. owever, apart from linguistic competence, the most

important factor that affects the effectiveness of teaching and learning English and 'ietnamese

in general and idioms in particular, as far as the author is concerned, is their cultural awareness


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6#

and 7uic"8minded and active abilities in applying language "nowledge to conversational

contets.

+eachers and learners must ma"e themselves master their mother tongue and their

countryKs culture. -any students even do not have sufficient "nowledge of 'ietnamese culture

and language but still re7uire a good result in their language learning. )bviously, they could

never achieve their aims successfully. +he teacher must be well aware of this fact and have

suitable methods to help students enrich their mother tongue as well as their foreign language

linguistically and culturally.

pea"ing a foreign language is not very difficult, but understanding and using it

effectively is not easy. /or any languages, one idea can be epressed and understood in many

different ways. Idioms are considered as very special language units because they are different

from words and epressions. +hey are phrases where the words together have a meaning that

is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. +his can ma"e idioms hard

for E? students and learners to understand. In order to "now how to use idioms effectively in

the right situations, teachers have to help learners discover the forms, contents, origins,

functions and figurative style colours of idioms.

In this study, idiomatic variants and synonymous idioms were grammatically and

semantically analy=ed 7uite deeply in both English and 'ietnamese. +his helps teachers and

learners have a further understanding of idioms and suitable methods of teaching and learning.

". #**estions fo( f(the( stdies

8 Idioms are language units functioning as words. +hey can form sentences and have

their own meaning colours. +he roles of idioms in forming sentences in English and

'ietnamese have not been investigated in a systematic way. *e hope that this can be studied

in the coming time.


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8 Idioms are considered as very special language units because they are different from

words and epressions. +hey are phrases where the words together have a meaning that is

different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. >esides special meaning

colours, idioms also have their own figurative style colours. LA study on figurative style

colours of idio

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