Contrasting english idioms containing comparative elements and vietnamese equivalence

HCMC University of Pedagogy Department of English CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS Contrasting English idioms containing comparative elements and Vietnamese equivalence Lecturer: Huỳnh Công Minh Hùng Student: Lê Phước Thịnh Student ID No K38.701.125 HCMC, 22/05/2015 Abstract English has long been a compulsory subject in Vietnamese education But taking advantage of many aspects of this language and apply it in learning and teaching is not as easy as it may seem This work is to explore idioms containing comparative elements so that teachers and students may have a nearer approach to this aspect of linguistics and make good use of idioms in future language learning and language teaching I’d like to say thank you very much to Mr Huynh Cong Minh Hung for having helped me a lot to complete this work I’ve learnt a whole lot from you Best wishes to you and your family Table of Contents Abstract Table of Contents Chapter Idioms 1.1 Definition 1.2 Idiom meanings 1.3 What is missing in research on idioms? 10 1.4 Idiom translation 11 Chapter Methodology 14 Chapter Idioms Contrastive Analysis 15 Chapter Conclusions & Discussion 57 Reference 58 Appendix 61 List of Tables Table 3.1 As black as coal 15 Table 3.2 As bright as a new penny 19 Table 3.3 As clean as a new pin 22 Table 3.4 As clear as crystal 26 Table 3.5 As cold as ice 28 Table 3.6 As cheerful as the birds 31 Table 3.7 As easy as ABC 33 Table 3.8 As dry as dust 35 Table 3.9 As dumb as a statue 37 Table 3.10 As plentiful as ants 39 Table 3.11 As fast as a deer 42 Table 3.12 As light as air 48 Table 3.13 As hard as iron 50 Table 3.14 Hungry as a bear 52 Table 3.15 As pretty as a picture 54 Chapter Idioms 1.1 Definition To define what is idiom is not easy And we need to define it as clearly and comprehensively as possible Various definitions are given in various materials, ranging from grammar books and dictionaries to dictionaries of idioms Several examples of all these were studied intensively and if one definition should be chosen for all, then it is convenient to state that “two central features identify an idiom The meaning of the idiomatic expression cannot be deduced by examining the meanings of the constituent lexemes And the expression is fixed, both grammatically […] and lexically” (Crystal, 1995, p 163) Although at least one of the features or, at best, both of them will be mentioned in any material discussing idioms, and these features should not be looked down on According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary, idiom is “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words.” Idioms are treated as figures of speech, which are defined in the Collins English Dictionary (2006) as: “an expression such as a simile, in which words not have their literal meaning,” but are categorized as multi-word expressions that act in the text as units Longman Idioms Dictionary (1998) defines an idiom as: “a sequence of words which has a different meaning as a group from the meaning it would have if you understand each word separately.” The Free Dictionary website also gives the meaning of idiom as “A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.” Irujo (1986) defines an idiom as a conventionalized expression whose meaning cannot be determined from the meaning of its parts One clear, specific, and systematic definition is Fernando‟s (1996, p 38) definition that “conventionalized multi-word expressions are often, but not always non-literal.” Lennon (1998) asserts that idioms are the colorful side of language used while we are communicating our thoughts and feelings They are used to make language much livelier and richer Accordingly, idioms should not be broken up into smaller parts because they are sometimes referred to as a fixed expression Meanwhile, Baker (1992) considers idioms and fixed expression as two different categories under the multi-word units; she refers to them as “frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form, and in the case of idioms, often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their individual components.” Also she adds some constraints on idiom usage, which include the inability to change word order or structure and the inability to delete, substitute or add words On the other hand, Carter (1998) classifies idioms as a type of fixed expression that include proverbs, stock phrases, catch phrases, allusions, idiomatic similes and discoursal expressions Webster‟s New World Dictionary of the American English (1988) defines idiom as: 1) the language proper or peculiar to a people or to a district, community or class; the syntactical, grammatical or structural form peculiar to a language; 2) an expression established in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in grammatical construction or in having a meaning that cannot be derived as a whole from the conjoined meanings of its elements; 3) style or form of artistic expression (as in painting, writing, composing) that is characteristic especially of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument We may conclude from the definitions that an idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional, and does not follow from the meaning of the individual words which make up of it It is “an accepted phrase, construction, or expression contrary to the usual patterns of the language or having a meaning different from the language or having a meaning different from the literal.” (Webster‟s New World Dictionary of the American language, 2nd college edition, 1972) In my own way of understanding, idiom is a group of words, each word has a different meaning, but when being together they produce a new meaning which is maybe the same as or maybe totally different from the words themselves And it can produce a literal meaning or figurative meaning For example, the idiom bite off more than you can chew can be understood literally or figuratively depends on the context Literally, it means that don‟t eat much more than you can so that you won‟t have to vomit or feel uncomfortable Figuratively, it means not take on such a responsibility or a load of work that is out of your ability to complete Another example is He'd run a mile if she asked him to marry her Most people, especially those who are not native speakers will understand this sentence literally that the man will run away to hide or to escape from the woman if she asked him to marry her But run a mile here also means he‟s very frightened of marrying her or he‟ll avoid her or he‟ll avoid answering her question, figuratively If one day you come to a mobile shop with your friend, you notice that beautiful smartphone, you tell your friend that you want that smartphone then he or she says “It will cost you an arm and a leg”, if you haven‟t heard of this expression before, you won‟t understand it until your friend explain that he or she means that the smartphone will cost you a fortune or a lot of money So the meaning of an arm and a leg is totally different from its own meaning of each word and this is a figurative idiom According to Fromkin and Rodman, idioms are “fixed phrases, consisting of more than one word, with meanings that cannot be inferred from the meanings of the individual words” (1988, p 236) Weinreich (1969, p 42) defines an idiom as a phraseological unit with „at least two polysemous constituents‟, and refers to the „common understanding‟ that the „meaning cannot be derived from the meanings of its elements‟ An idiom is “a phrase which has a distinct meaning […] which cannot be explained from the separate meanings of the different words in the phrase” (Platt et al, 1984, p 107) As a whole, an idiom “is a group of words whose meaning cannot be explained in terms of the habitual meanings of the words that make up the piece of language (Todd, 1987, p 87) Todd goes further to put idioms into categories as follows: alternative comparisons (e.g.: dead as a dodo, good as gold), noun phrases (e.g.: a blind alley: route that leads nowhere, a red letter day: a day that will never be forgotten), prepositional phrases (e.g.: by hook or by crook: by whatever methods prove necessary), verb + noun (e.g.: kick the bucket: die), verb + prepositional phrase (e.g.: be in the doghouse: be in disgrace) and verb + adverb (e.g.: put down: kill) (Todd, 1987, pp 86-87) For the purposes of the study of this subject, „idiom‟ is used to refer to a figurative expression of at least three words, whose meaning is literal or non-literal and therefore may be strange to those who hear it for the first time, although some idioms may be easy to be understood to certain native speakers Some idioms originates from culture, some from things or events that happen in daily lives, others are from tales or stories Levorato (1993, p 126) adds that the reason why idioms are so intriguing is that they engage imagination, can transform abstract meanings into more concrete ones and enrich the meaning of simple concepts Idiomatic expressions are not a restricted part of the language of popular culture but they exist in every area of human communication All idioms naturally indicate idiomaticity but all word combinations that show idiomaticity are not idioms In some senses, idioms are the reflection of the environment, life, historical culture, etc of the native speakers and are closely associated with their innermost spirit and feelings They are commonly used in all types of language, informal and formal, spoken and written 1.2 Idiom meanings The relation between an idiom‟s form and its meaning may be more or less direct It may be a one-to-one relation in that each word contributes independently to the figurative interpretation These idioms are typically known as „normally decomposable‟ idioms (Gibbs & Nayak, 1989; Nunberg, 1978) It may be an all-toone relation with the (literal) meaning of the whole phrase being semantically related to the figurative interpretation (e.g bury the hatchet, push the panic button) These idioms are typically known as „abnormally decomposable‟ idioms Finally, the relation may be none-to-one in that the constituent words neither individually nor as a whole appear to be in any semantic relation to the idiomatic meaning (e.g chew the fat, break a leg) These idioms are referred to as „non-decomposable‟ The relation may also be more or less transparent with the constituent words contributing to idiom meaning rather literally (e.g „miss‟ in miss the boat), metaphorically (e.g „blow‟ in blow one‟s stack), hyperbolically (e.g eat one‟s heart out) or not contributing at all to deriving idiom meaning (e.g kick the bucket, chew the fat, shoot the breeze) Idioms whose constituent parts contribute (normally or abnormally, literally or figuratively) to the overall idiomatic interpretation have been characterised as decomposable/compositional or analysable Idioms whose constituent parts not contribute to the overall idiomatic interpretation have been typically characterised as non-decomposable/non-compositional or un-analysable Different typologies have been proposed in an attempt to classify idiomatic expressions (Cacciari & Glucksberg, 1991; Nunberg et al, 1994) I take the following notions to be important in our understanding of idioms although my definitions of them vary (slightly) from those found in the literature Conventionality: The relation between a certain string of words and a certain semantic representation There is always an element of arbitrariness as to why a certain linguistic label is used to express a certain conceptual representation There is some arbitrariness for instance as to why something costs “an arm and a leg” in English and not “an eye of your face” or “an eye of your head” as it does in Spanish and Italian (respectively) Analysability: The degree to which the constituent concepts encoded by the idiom string can be used to access assumptions in memory which will contribute to the derivation of the intended interpretation Transparency: The relative ease with which these assumptions are accessed and implications derived The idea that idioms vary in their degree of compositionality (analysability) has led to a wave of experimental research, with the following sort of results People seem to have strong intuitions enabling them to judge an idiom as being decomposable or non-decomposable (Gibbs & Nayak, 1989) Also, since for decomposable idioms (e.g pull strings, spill the beans, pop the question, miss the boat), but not for non-decomposable idioms (e.g kick the bucket, chew the fat, shoot the breeze), people can easily identify how each part of the idiom combines in the derivation of the figurative interpretation, decomposable idioms are more flexible (syntactically, semantically and lexically) than non-decomposable ones (Gibbs & Nayak, 1989; Gibbs et al, 1989a,b) Analysable idioms are also easier for children to acquire (Cacciari & Levorato, 1989, 1999; Gibbs, 1991) and faster for adults to process (Gibbs et al, 1989a) These findings are similar to the idea that the relation between an idiom‟s form and meaning is not completely arbitrary, and different with the standard belief that idioms are long words with the internal semantics of their constituents playing no role during processing 1.3 What is missing in research on idioms? Compositionality Early work in generative linguistics generally assumed that idioms were non compositional (Chomsky, 1965; Fraser, 1970) In this view, which relied heavily on syntactic arguments, meaning was assigned to the entire idiom (e.g., spill the beans) but not to its individual words (e.g., spill) In recent years, this view has been challenged by studies that have shown that idioms are in fact decompositional, that is, that the individual words of idioms contribute to the overall meaning (Cacciari & Glucksberg, 1991; Gibbs, 1992; Gibbs & Nayak, 1991; Gibbs, Nayak, & Cutting, 1989; Wasow, Sag, & Nunberg, 1983) The semantic content of an idiom includes its overall meaning as well as the meanings contributed by each word When an idiom is processed, both its figurative meaning (of the entire idiom) and its literal meaning (of each individual word) are activated Thus, when a person hears an idiom such as spill the beans, not only is the figurative meaning of the entire idiom accessed, but the literal meanings of its subparts, such as spill and beans, are activated Gibbs (1989) argues for compositionality He points out that some idioms, such as kick the bucket, not semantically decompose as well as others, such as spill the beans Gibbs also challenges the view that figurative and literal meaning are distinct or that the former is derived from the latter Moreover, he does not agree with the idea that the literal and figurative meanings of each word in an idiom must be activated every time an idiom is encountered Gibbs allows for the possibility that people may access only figurative meanings of words or of particular word combinations that make up an idiom In addition, Gibbs cites evidence to support the idea that metaphorical thought motivates the understanding of idioms In this view, metaphors such as anger is heat are believed to underlie how people experience and think about anger A number of idiomatic expressions reflect this metaphor, such as to blow one's stack or to explode with rage The fact that idioms have evolved with these particular words (blow, explode, burn) and that they are used to express anger is not seen by Gibbs or most cognitive linguists to be arbitrary; it is believed to be motivated by conceptual experience (Lakoff, 1987) Although his discussion is compelling and consonant with cognitive linguistic theory, Gibbs could have been more explicit about how metaphorical mapping works and about how it might be empirically tested B/ Comparison: No Feature English Vietnamese Semantic feature The meaning of the whole Same as English phrase can be perceived through the meaning of its components, and it can be replaced by a word or phrase that makes the same sense of comparison Air = a feather Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + N Adj: light Adj: nhẹ As…as: simile như: simile a: article N: bấc/ không/ lông [hồng] N: a new penny/ day/ light/ silver Figurative Simile: Same - IMAGE=> bấc/ không/ lông - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> [hồng] (air/ feather) very light - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> very light (rất nhẹ) - IMAGE=> Air/ a feather Structure Culture As + Adjective + as + (a/the) Adj + + Noun + Noun “Bấc” here can be understood in two ways First, it is a kind of wind that flows from the North Second, it is a kind of plant that is extremely light, and when its thin body moves along with the wind, we have a peaceful and beautiful sight Trên báo Kinh Tế Sài Gòn online ngày 2/4/2015 tác giả Danh Đức, có báo tựa đề là: “Trách nhiệm nhẹ tựa lơng hồng?” để nêu lên tính thiếu trách nhiệm ăn sâu vào tiềm thức người Việt Nam nhiều lĩnh vực đời sống Table 3.13 As hard as iron A/ Description: No Feature English Vietnamese Idiom as hard as iron Cứng đá as hard as a stone Cứng thép Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + N Adj: hard Adj: cứng As…as: simile như: simile a: article N: đá/ thép Syntactic feature N: iron/ stone Meanings Based on vocabul ary - iron: a chemical element Iron is a hard strong metal that is used to make steel and is also found in small quantities in blood and food - stone: a hard solid mineral substance that is found in the ground, often used for building; a small piece of rock of any - đá: stone; rock - thép: steel: a strong hard metal that is made of a mixture of iron and carbon shape Based As hard as a stone/ on iron: very hard meaning of whole idiom Cứng đá/ thép: cứng (As hard as stone/ steel) B/ Comparison: No Feature English Vietnamese Semantic feature The meaning of the whole Same as English phrase can be perceived through the meaning of its components, and it can be Stone = steel replaced by a word or phrase that makes the same sense of comparison Iron = stone Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + N Adj: hard Adj: cứng As…as: simile như: simile a: article N: đá/ thép N: iron/ stone Figurative Simile: Same - IMAGE=> đá/ thép (stone/ - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> steel) hard - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> hard (cứng) - IMAGE=> iron/ stone Structure Culture As + Adjective + as + (a/the) + Noun Adj + + Noun Table 3.14 Hungry as a bear A/ Description: No Feature English Vietnamese Idiom Hungry as a bear Đói cào Hungry as a hunter Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + Adj Adj: hungry Adj: đói As…as: simile như: simile a: article Adj: cào N: bear/ hunter Meanings Based on vocabul ary - bear: a heavy wild - cào: this word in Vietnamese animal with thick fur is usually used to describe how hungry somebody is, it is and sharp claws the sound created when someone is hungry and their - hunter: a person empty kidney “express” its who hunts wild hunger; đói đến mức ruột animals for food or gan cào xé, cảm giác sport; an animal that bị cào thành liên hunts its food tiếp Based Hungry as a bear/ on hunter: very hungry meaning of whole idiom Đói cào: đói, bụng cồn cào (very hungry) Vietnamese B/ Comparison: No Feature English Semantic feature The meaning of the whole Same as English phrase can be perceived through the meaning of its components, and it can be replaced by a word or phrase that makes the same sense of comparison new penny = day = light = silver Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + Adj Adj: hungry Adj: đói As…as: simile như: simile a: article Adj: cào N: bear/ hunter Figurative Simile: Same - IMAGE=> bear/ hunter - IMAGE=> cào - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> hungry - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> so hungry (rất đói) Structure As + Adjective + as + (a/the) + Adj + + Noun Noun Culture I could eat a horse is also a commonly used phrase to show how hungry someone is Or in Italian, Turkish and Cornish "Hungry as a wolf" credited as phrases to mean "very hungry" Trong dịch Thần Điêu Đại Hiệp, tác giả có dịch đoạn vầy: … Nó cảm thấy bụng đói cào, lần bước ngồi khe đá Gió lạnh lùa vào mặt, ánh vàng nhấp nhánh đầy nỗi đơn Nhìn xuống chân núi phía … Hay dịch Lộc Đỉnh Ký Kim Dung, người dịch dùng: …Vi Tiểu Bảo thấy bàn đặt mười đĩa bánh điểm tâm Có đĩa cịn bốc nghi ngút Gã bụng đói cào liền nghĩ đến cách ăn vụng… Trong thơ Gái quê (1965) Hàn Mặc Tử đoạn thơ sau: … Ở chốn xa xơi em có hay Nắng mưa trải ngày Nụ cười ý vị mai mỉa Mỉa nhân tình lúc đổi thay Trên đời gió bụi, anh lang thang Bụng đói cào lạnh khớp Khơng có nhà cho nghỉ bước Vì anh kẻ chẳng giàu sang … Table 3.15 As pretty as a picture A/ Description: No Feature English Vietnamese Idiom As pretty as a picture Đẹp tranh Đẹp tiên [giáng trần] Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + N Adj: pretty Adj: đẹp As…as: simile như: simile a: article N: tranh/ tiên N: picture Meanings Based on vocabul ary - picture: a painting - tranh: picture or drawing, etc that shows a scene, a - tiên: fairy: a creature like a person or thing small person, who has magic powers, usually appears in stories, or fairy tales Based As pretty as a Đẹp tiên/ tranh: very on picture: very pretty, pretty, beautiful (As pretty as meaning beautiful fairy/ picture) of whole idiom B/ Comparison: No Feature English Vietnamese Semantic feature The meaning of the whole Same as English phrase can be perceived through the meaning of its components Syntactic feature Types of Idiom: Adj Types of Idiom: Adj Structure: Adj + as + N Structure: Adj + + N Adj: pretty Adj: đẹp As…as: simile như: simile a: article N: tranh/ tiên N: picture Figurative Simile: Same - IMAGE=> tranh/ tiên - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> (picture/ fairy) beautiful, very pretty - POINT OF SIMILARITY=> beautiful (rất đẹp, xinh) - IMAGE=> picture Adj + + Noun Structure As + Adjective + as + (a/the) + Noun Culture The noun picture alone was In Vietnamese culture, the used to describe beautiful image of fairy is usually very objects from the early 1800s beautiful and meek, who can on; this locution, however, make wishes come true and dates from about 1900 usually help the poor, the unlucky Fairies are beautiful not only because of their appearance but also because of what they to help people overcome difficulties Most idioms which are presented above have its origin from culture values such as “đen cột nhà cháy”, some are from daily phenomenon or animals such as “as fast as light”, “as fast as a hare”, “as black as a crow”, some from stories and fairy tales such as “đẹp tiên [giáng trần]” And the comparison above deepens our knowledge of idioms containing comparative elements Chapter Conclusions & Discussion The use of idioms, especially idioms that contains comparative elements is good not only for language learning and language teaching but also good for those who want to have a further insight into cross-cultural communication and customs of nations This part of language is interesting, teachers and students should exploit this aspect, use it in learning and teaching because it‟s very useful The idioms discussed in this work are only some typical idioms usually used in conversations and many types of text But it gives a profound knowledge which can be exploited and applied in language learning and teaching effectively Overall, the purpose of this work is to devote and give new ideas for the development of English language learning and teaching Anyway, there‟s room for improvements Reference Baker, M (1992) In other words: A coursebook on translation London and New York: Routledge Cacciari, C., & Glucksberg, S (1991) Understanding idiomatic expressions: The contribution of word meanings In G B Simpson (Ed.), Understanding word and sentence Amsterdam: Elsevier Cacciari, Cristina, Levorato, Maria Chiara, (1989) How children understand idioms in discourse Journal of Child Language, 16, 387-405 Cacciari, Cristina, Levorato, Maria Chiara, (1999) Idiom comprehension in children: Are the effects of semantic analysability and context separable? 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Substance and Structure of Language Berkeley: University of California Press Appendix ... explore idioms containing comparative elements so that teachers and students may have a nearer approach to this aspect of linguistics and make good use of idioms in future language learning and language... of idioms which are used to compare and contrast things, events and phenomenon In this research into idioms, I will give you detail analysis of some pairs of comparative idioms in English and. .. of idioms in English and its equivalence in Vietnamese that I have gather, I choose only about 15 pairs to further discuss in detail Processing: In this work, I present pairs of idioms in English