INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Time is an abstract concept that belongs to the natural world Human beings are born and develop depending completely on the nature so it is apparent that they must have a close relationship with nature in general and with time in particular
The relationship between human and time is clearly expressed through human beings‟ history It can be said that there is no human‟s historical event that is not involved in a concrete timeline Also, due to the involvement, people need to perceive the abstract concept and try to convey those perceptions through their own languages Therefore, language becomes one of the major devices to give expression to the time perception of human beings
Time perception can be investigated into many areas of a language such as in literature or in communication However, the focus of this thesis will be English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time because idioms and proverbs are considered special linguistic units with the very long existential time in which the traditional culture, national custom, praxis of thinking are contained (Huu Dat,
2011) The consideration of idioms and proverbs as the generalization of thinking through language of a nation may be the reason why people should study on its idioms and proverbs when they want to investigate into a nation and its language
On the ground of cognitive linguistics, there are many researches on time perception in English or in Vietnamese but few researches on it in both English and Vietnamese were conducted Therefore, this study is conducted to delve into the similarities and differences in how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived.
Research questions
The purpose of this study is to investigate how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived so the findings of the research are hoped to bring some insights into cognitive process on time that occurs in English and Vietnamese people‟s mind
To achieve the aim of this study, the following research questions have to be answered:
1 How is the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time perceived?
2 What are the similarities and differences in how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs is perceived?
Significance of the research
This study, to some extent, would like to shed light on the temporal cognitive mechanism happening on human mind by analyzing English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time on the basis of the conceptual metaphor theory (a subfield of cognitive semantics theory) Moreover, a contrastive analysis is conducted in this research with the aim of finding out the similarities and the differences in how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived in the two languages This thesis is also hoped to make a small contribution to the overall stock of cognitive semantic investigation into time from a cross-linguistic perspective The finding of this study will explore the way how people think of time and try to construe partially the reason why they perceive time as the way they do.
Scope of the research
This thesis is restricted to investigating the time perceptions expressed in Vietnamese and English temporal idioms and proverbs This investigation is based on my manual selection of 50 English and 50 Vietnamese idioms and proverbs related to the concept of time which are collected from three sources, viz Oxford dictionary of idioms (2004), Oxford dictionary of proverbs (2004) and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs dictionary by Nguyen Lan (2011)
The conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Johnson and Lakoff (1980) are used as research approach in analyzing the time perceptions in the selected idioms and proverbs.
Organization of the thesis
This thesis is divided into three main parts The first part is INTRODUCTION which states the rationale of the study, the research questions, significance of the research, scope of the research and the organization of the thesis
The next and also most important part is DEVELOPMENT that is subdivided into three chapters: CHAPTER 1 is the discussion on the general theoretical background of the study; CHAPTER 2, the mainstay of the research, is the presentation on the methodology in which the research questions, research method, data and analytical framework is discussed; CHAPTER 3 presents data analysis and discussions The last part is CONCLUSION that will summarize all the major points of the thesis and also gives some implications together with limitations and suggestions for further researches As a rule, the thesis will end with REFERENCE and APPENDIX.
DEVELOPMENT
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
This study is a contrastive analysis of the perception of time in English and Vietnamese temporal idioms and proverbs so this chapter reviews the literature in term of the following:
- The definitions of idioms and proverbs; the distinction between idioms and proverbs; idioms and proverbs about time;
- Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics, the guiding principles of Cognitive Semantics and its major theories;
- Contrastive analysis and its guiding principles;
- Previous researches related to the study
In this section, some definitions of idioms and proverbs are presented, from which the distinction between idioms and proverbs is clarified, followed by the discussions concerning idioms and proverbs about time
There is a variety of definitions of idioms defined in many dictionaries
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:643) defines an idiom as „a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of individual words‟ Collins
Co-build Learner’s Dictionary (1996: 547) states “an idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word individually” According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1988, p.711), an idiom is “a phrase which means something different from their meanings of the separate words from which it is formed” Besides, in Vietnamese idioms and proverbs dictionary by Nguyen Lan
(2011), he states that idioms are fixed phrases that convey certain concepts Or, in
English Idioms in Use Advanced by Cambridge University Press, the definition of idiom is given that „Idioms are fixed combinations of words whose meaning is often difficult to guess from the meaning of each individual word.‟ All aforementioned definitions shows that idioms, at first, are fixed phrases whose structures cannot be substituted or rearranged otherwise their original meanings are lost Secondly, the meanings conveyed in idioms are figurative so it is absolutely difficult to understand their meanings from the meaning of each individual word
Proverbs are defined in many different ways According to Wikipedia, „a proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience.‟
(www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proverb) The English Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
(2000) defines a proverb as „a well-known phrase or sentence that gives advice or says something that is generally true‟ In Mieder (1993:5), „a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorable form and which is handed down from generation to generation‟ Nguyen Lan, in his Vietnamese idioms and proverbs dictionary (2011), states that proverbs are sentences or utterances that are comments, complaints, advice or sayings about natural or social experiences From the definitions mentioned above, it can be seen that a proverb is a sentence or an utterance which contains experiential lessons in them
1.1.3 Distinction between Idioms and Proverbs
Many linguistic researchers when studying idioms and proverbs tried to give a clear discussion about the definition of idioms and proverbs so that from which the distinction between idioms and proverbs can be given From the definitions of idiom and proverb discussed above, the distinction between idiom and proverb can be seen as follows
contain moral lessons or advice based on natural or social experiences
This distinction, however, is sometimes not completely a clear-cut Many linguists found it a challenging task to distinguish between the two Some proverbs, in fact, have similar features of idioms and vice versa For example, in the Idioms Organizer by Jon Wright (2002), „time is money‟ is classified as an idiom although syntactically it is a sentence and semantically it contains an experiential lesson Or, in Vietnamese, „trèo cao ngã đau‟ (climb high, fall painful) is considered an idiom by some linguists but some others regard it as a proverb because they argue the figurative meaning of this saying is that a person who is too ambitious will be desperate when being failed, this saying is also an experiential lesson (see Huu Dat
2011) Therefore, when analyzing the time perception of English and Vietnamese people through their idioms and proverbs, the study is not intended to make a clear distinction between idioms and proverbs
1.1.4 Idioms and proverbs about time
Idioms and proverbs about time are the idioms and proverbs that contain words denoting time or have the meaning of time According to Seild and Mordie
(1993), English idioms and proverbs are divided into a lot of special groups such as body parts, animals, colors, numbers, and time The authors state that idioms and proverbs about time is a special kind in which time terms with special meaning are considered key words They belong to one specific group of idioms that demonstrate the way each person use time terms in set expressions and how they associate these terms with other things in the world
In the study, the idioms and proverbs about time are selected based on the two criteria: containing words denoting time or containing the meaning of time
1.2 Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics
The study is conducted to find out how English and Vietnamese people perceive time in their idioms and proverbs so it belongs to cognitive semantic researches Thus, in this section, a brief overview on Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Semantics is given
During the 1960s and 1970s, the emergence and development of the cognitive sciences, particularly cognitive psychology, rooted the birth of a new approach to the study of language: Cognitive Linguistics
Cognitive linguistics […] is an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it.
(Ungerer & Schmid, 1997: x) Primarily, Cognitive Linguistics is concerned with investigating the relationship between human language, the mind and socio-physical experience (Croft & Cruse, 2004; Evans & Green, 2006; Langacker, 1987) Johnson (1987) considers linguistic knowledge as part of general cognition and thinking; linguistic behavior is not separated from other general cognitive abilities which allow mental processes of reasoning, memory, attention or learning, but understood as an integral part of it In the same vein, Fauconier (2000) also emphasizes that Cognitive Linguistics is the study of language use because language is an integral part of cognition which reflects the interaction of social, cultural, psychological, communicative and functional cognitive development and mental processing which can be understood in the context of a realistic view of acquisition
The emergence of Cognitive Linguistics in the 1970s (Fillmore, 1975; Lakoff
& Thompson, 1975; Rosch, 1975) is originally a reaction against formal approaches to language which were dominant at that time, viz generative grammar and truth- conditional (logical) semantics Therefore, it rejects the main claims made by Generative Linguistics and Truth-conditional Semantics: (1) language is an innate and autonomous cognitive faculty; (2) to know a language is to know its grammar, which consists of a finite number of combinatory rules; (3) syntax (form) is the main focus of linguistic analysis (and thus semantics (meaning) is largely overlooked) Consequently, it proposes three major hypotheses: the first is that language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty; the second is that grammar is conceptualization; and the third is that knowledge of language emerges from language use According to Lakoff (1990), Cognitive linguistics is also characterized by the two fundamental commitments, namely Generalization Commitment and Cognitive Commitment The Generalization Commitment represents a commitment to openly investigating how the various aspects of linguistic knowledge emerge from a common set of human cognitive abilities upon which they draw, rather than assuming that they are produced in encapsulated modules of the mind Together, the Cognitive Commitment represents the commitment to providing a characterization of these principles that reflects what is known about human cognition Thus, the combination of the two commitments leads to a universal commitment of cognitive linguistics which is committed to characterizing the general principles governing all aspects of human language while being faithful to empirical discoveries from parallel disciplines of cognitive science such as cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, psychophysical and neuro-physical research about the nature of our mind and/or brain, and artificial intelligence
This study is well situated in cognitive linguistics because it seeks to explore the relationship between human brain and practice which is reflected in their language use More specifically, the investigation explores how English and Vietnamese people conceptualize time through their use of idioms and proverbs about time
Cognitive Semantics, together with Cognitive Grammar as the two main areas of Cognitive Linguistics, was born to reject the formal theories of meaning based on the objectivist world view, such as the theories of truth conditional semantics which argued that „meaning was seen as the link between the world and words, completely disengaged from human cognition‟ (Sweetser, 1990:4)
Cognitive Semantics, however, states that linguistic meaning is a manifestation of conceptual structure which emerges from bodily experience Accordingly, Cognitive Semantics is concerned with the relationship between experience, the conceptual system and the semantic structure encoded by language (Rosch, 1973;
Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 1987; Johnson, 1987; Langacker, 1987, 1990,
1999) In specific terms, scholars working in cognitive semantics investigate knowledge representation (conceptual structure), and meaning construction (conceptualization) Cognitive semanticists have employed language as the lens through which these cognitive phenomena can be investigated Consequently, researches in cognitive semantics tend to be interested in modeling the human mind as much as it is concerned with investigating linguistic semantics
In the light of cognitive semantics, this study is conducted to find out the relationship between the concept of time and the temporal bodily experience of English and Vietnamese people conceptualized in their idioms and proverbs about time
1.2.2.1 Guiding principles of Cognitive Semantics
METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the research approach, research method, the data, data collection procedure, data classification and the analytical framework for the study
This study is conducted to seek answers to the two following research questions:
1 How is the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time perceived?
2 What are the similarities and differences in how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs is perceived?
The present study investigates into how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms/proverbs about time is perceived in the light of conceptual metaphor theory
Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is an important sub-field of Cognitive semantics which focuses on the cognitive processes behind linguistic expressions and on the conceptual motivation behind figurative meaning Its fundamental tenet is that metaphor operates at the level of thinking Metaphor is the mapping between a source domain and a target domain The source domain consists of a set of literal entities, attributes, processes and relationships, linked semantically and apparently stored together in the mind The target domain tends to be abstract, and takes its structure from the source domain, through the metaphorical link which is conventionally expressed in semantic structure Thereby, according to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), metaphor is a way to create new meanings for abstract concepts
Consequently, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, maybe, becomes one of the most useful approaches to research the concept of time In this study, from all the English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time selected, the source domains are identified and mapped into the concept of time so as to find out how English and Vietnamese people perceive time
A total of 100 temporal idioms and proverbs which consist of 50 idioms and proverbs related to the concept of time in English from Oxford dictionary of idioms
(2004), Oxford dictionary of proverbs (2004) and 50 idioms and proverbs about time in Vietnamese from Vietnamese idioms and proverbs dictionary (Nguyen Lan
2011) were chosen manually for the present study The data collection procedure is conducted as follows The idioms and proverbs are selected if they contain one of the following: 1) the word „time‟ 2) words denoting time divisions 3) words whose meanings are related to the concept of time in some ways For example, English idioms and proverbs containing the word „time‟ (e.g ahead of time), words denoting time divisions such as „day, hour, tomorrow‟ (e.g day in, day out) are selected For Vietnamese, the idioms and proverbs containing words denoting time divisions such as „ngày (day), tháng (month), năm (year), sớm (early morning), tối, đêm (night)‟ (e.g ngày qua tháng lại - Days pass, months come), or words whose meanings are related to the concept of time in some ways (Bốn chín chưa qua năm ba đã tới – Age of forty-nine hasn‟t passed but age of fifty three is coming) are chosen
To find out the similarities and differences in how English and Vietnamese people perceive time through their idioms and proverbs, the thesis adopts the contrastive analysis as its research method According to James (1980), contrastive analysis plays an important role in understanding two different languages
The present study adopts the conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson,
1980) as its research approach to analyze and contrast how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived The analysis starts from finding linguistic units contained in the English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time that inherently belong to a certain source domain Then, source domains of English and of Vietnamese are determined After that, the source domains are mapped into the target domain TIME to explore how English and
Vietnamese people perceive time, from which the similarities and differences are explored The analytical framework of the study is illustrated as in the below diagram
The number of idioms and proverbs classified in each source-domain group are presented in the Appendix 3 Besides, Vietnamese idioms and proverbs selected are translated into English with literal meanings.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, data will be classified into groups based on source domains and analyzed to seek the answers of the two major issues, viz how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived, and the similarities and differences in how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time is perceived The first-mentioned issue is analyzed in the two separate parts: firstly, how English perceives time which is showed in their idioms and proverbs about time; secondly, the ways of perceiving time of Vietnamese is expressed through their idioms and proverbs about time as well The second issue is analyzed based on the findings of the first issue to find out the similarities and differences in how English and Vietnamese people perceive the concept of time through their idioms and proverbs
3.1 How the English people perceive through their idioms and proverbs about time
3.1.1 Time is perceived as space
In the movement of the physical world in general and of human being in particular, space and time are the two categories that have a close relationship, that is, the movement of space always inseparably accompanies with the movement of time However, the concept of time is more abstract than the one of space Space is all the things that exist around us and we can realize its change easily but time is not In the ancient world, when there was not any device such as watches, clocks, to measure time, people based on the change of space to determine it As their primitive perception of time, there were only day and night that involved in the sunlight, or more specifically, day started with the sunup and night began with the sundown Even when clock was invented later on, people still understood time via spatial orientation
The influence of spatial orientation on human thought and especially on our understanding of time has often been noted Lakoff (1993:218) assumes our metaphorical understanding of time in terms of space is biologically determined because in our visual systems, we have detectors for motion, objects and location but not for time That is why language denoting space is employed to describe time
The metaphor TIME AS SPACE means that time is understood in terms of space, that is to say, the source domain (SPACE) is mapped onto the target domain (TIME) In conceptualizing time as space, English people take advantage of the conceptual richness inherent in the spatial domain and map its structural elements onto time to impart new meanings onto temporal notions In English temporal idioms and proverbs selected, English people tend to perceive time as extension and location
By combining the adjectives that traditionally express space with the words denoting time, new meanings of the abstract concept as time are generated
English people employ the adjectives „high, long, short‟ to describe one of the properties of space which is called extension Also, extension always connects to a given substrate making up the domain „space” that is matter (Evans 2013)
Correspondingly, the substrate that makes up time is that of action (Talmy 2000) and the property of time exhibited by action is duration rather than extension It is the correspondence that helps to map the source domain SPACE onto target domain TIME The mapping is illustrated as follows:
SOURCE DOMAIN -> TARGET DOMAIN SPACE TIME
In short, all the examples in (1), (2), (3) are involved in a subjective experience of English people on the duration of time which is perceived through the quick or slow occurrence of an action More specifically, an action occurring and lasting long or shortly will form the duration of time in people‟s mind, from which English people can perceive time like an extension in space
Due to being understood through spatial metaphor, the abstract concept as time is conceptualized as location by English people Consider the following instances:
English people use the locative prepositions such as „ahead of’, ‘at’, behind’,
‘before’, ‘between’, ‘from…to’ with reference to time to depict time as location
More accurately, spatial location as the source domain is mapped onto TIME so time is conceptualized as a location In examples (4), (6), (7), (8), English people perceive time as a relative location compared with the position of the ego, but time is conceived as an exact position with „at‟ as in (5) or as the motion from a location to another as in (9)
3.1.2 Time is perceived as motion
First, English people perceive time through TIME PASSING IS A MOVING OBJECT metaphor Take a look at the following:
(11) Time flies like an arrow
In this metaphor, time is understood to move towards the static ego, the person who is the point of reference to the event Therefore, time can be seen to
“come” from the future (12) or “fly” towards the future (11) and “go” into the past
(10) TIME AS MOVING ENTITY is illustrated as below:
Secondly, English people think of time as TIME AND OBSERVER MOVING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, consider the below example:
(14) Move with the time Also being in motion but time is projected to the dynamic reference rather than static one like in the examples (10), (11), (12) so as in (13) and (14), it is can be seen that time and ego are moving together in the same direction, which is illustrated as follows:
3.1.3 Time is perceived as valuable things
Understanding the value of time in the life, English people conceptualize it as precious things The target domains which are valuable things such as money, gold are mapped onto TIME as in TIME IS A VALUABLE THING conceptual metaphor Time, it has been claimed, is a commodity in the modern Western industrialized culture (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and its worth is reflected in English through three conceptual three metaphors as following:
1) TIME IS MONEY metaphor Consider the below examples:
(16) An inch of time is an inch of gold
(17) Time is capital: invest it wisely (18)Time is like money: once spent it, it can never be spent again
In example (15) and (16), English people use the image schema SOURCE DOMAIN IS TARGET DOMAIN to describe the metaphorical links between time and money/gold Examples (17) and (18) are metaphoric because the verb „invest‟ and „spent‟ which primarily apply to money are employed to talk about time
Therefore, English people can spend time or invest it exactly as they spend and invest money as habitual basis The illustration of mapping MONEY onto TIME is presented as follows:
MONEY -> TIME The user of money -> The user of time The purpose that requires money -> The purpose that requires time The value of money -> The value of time
2) The TIME IS A LIMITED SOURCE conceptual metaphor is derived from the idea that mankind has a limited quantity of time that ends is a projection of limited time of our own lives as in the statement of Lakoff and Tunner (1989, p.34): „each of us is allotted a certain fixed time on earth Our allotted time will eventually be used up and we will die‟ Thus, English people perceive time as a limited resource that they should „gain‟ or „save‟ and should not „waste‟ For instance:
(20) Wasting time/ A waste of time
3) TIME IS A VALUABLE COMMODITY metaphor is the entailment of TIME IS
A LIMITED SOURCE This entailment is based on English people‟s general experience that what is limited is valuable so it can be bought or sold as in:
(22) Buy time 3.1.4 Time is perceived as container
English people regard Time as bounded; therefore, they can perform actions within defined limits of time Time within which actions are performed can be seen as a temporal container for events Consequently, TIME AS CONTAINER conceptual metaphor can be found in the following instances:
(23) A stitch in time saves nine
To express TIME AS CONTAINER metaphor, English people use the prepositions „in‟ and ‘out of’ following to time as in (23), (24), (26), (27) to show the orientation of action that is in or out of the defined limits of time and the adverbs ‘over’, ‘part’ and „up‟ with reference to time as in (28), (29), (30) to manifest time‟s ability to fill the container
3.1.5 Time is perceived as a person
In English, time is conceptualized as a human being as follows:
(32) Time heals all wounds/ time is a great healer
(33) Time and tide wait for no men
(34) Turn back the hands of time
CONCLUSION
Recapitulation
The study adopts conceptual metaphor theory as its research approach and contrastive analysis as the research method in order to find out how the concept of time in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs is perceived and what are the similarities and differences in perceiving time between English and Vietnamese people The study is conducted by selecting 50 English temporal idioms and proverbs in the Oxford dictionary of idioms (2004), Oxford dictionary of proverbs
(2004) and 50 Vietnamese idioms and proverbs about time in the Vietnamese idioms and proverbs dictionary (Nguyen Lan 2011) which are classified into groups based on the same source domains By analyzing each of the groups, then, the mappings from source domains into target domains (time) are indicated in turn, from which the way of perceive time of English and Vietnamese people as well as the similarities and differences in their perceiving time are explored
In the light of conceptual metaphor theory, the two research questions of this thesis are addressed For the first question, the finding is that time perception of both English and Vietnamese is plentiful and metaphoric Specifically, in English idioms and proverbs about time, the concept of time are perceived as pace, motion, valuable things, a container, a person whereas Vietnamese people perceive time as space, motion, an object, the continuity of an action, farming season, forecasting weather tools, a limit of human existence or in relation with human Thanks to these results, the findings of the second research question are uncovered The similarities in perceiving time, at first, between English and Vietnamese temporal idioms and proverbs are that both of them imagine time as space, motion, a person or thing that can qualify Then, the differences are that English seems to conceptualize time as the tangibles such as valuable things, container, an object whereas Vietnamese tend to perceive time as the intangibles such as farming season, forecasting weather tools, in relation with human or a limit of human existence And, the differences in time perception between English and Vietnamese are explained to derive from their cultural distinctions Specifically, England is known as an industrial country dominated by capitalism so English people have pragmatic thinking Additionally, English people have an individualist culture in which the individual uniqueness and self-determination are valued Therefore, in perceiving the abstract concept as time, English people conceptualize it into concrete existence as an object, a person, money In contrast, Vietnam is an agricultural country where productive activities are totally depended on nature And, Vietnamese culture is collectivistic so they tend to be towards to the common That is the reason why Vietnamese people think about time based on the abstract general elements such as weather, farming season, the limit of existence
The findings make clear to us that culture influences on human perception of the world in general and of time in particular Language plays an important role in reflecting human cognitive capacity or human understanding of the world
In conclusion, the current study, to a certain extent, is a contribution to the stock of cognitive semantic investigation Therefore, it is hoped to be helpful for EFL teachers, learners and translators as well.
Pedagogical implications
When studying English, it is very important for students to have a good knowledge on semantics so teachers play a very significant role in instructing their students to study it Having knowledge on semantics, students will make aware of the fact that metaphor, idioms, cultural diversity and the diverse usages of a single linguistic item are expressed vividly, from which they can give an explanation of what speakers mean when they produce utterances Thereby, they will be able to improve their English learning and translating capacity as well
One way to help students enhance the rhetorical effects and make the expressions of sentences more vivid and interesting is that they should be instructed in conceptual metaphor When introducing the conceptual metaphor, teachers should make clear to students about source domain, target domain and their connection as well as cultural and social elements affecting to each metaphor Also, they should competent to select and use metaphors suitable to students After understanding the conception of metaphor, students will grasp the usage of metaphor and learn that metaphors are not only rooted in literature, but also widely used in the daily life
As mentioned above, when introducing conceptual metaphor, teachers should pay attention to cultural teaching By providing the cultural background and meanings of a vocabulary, teachers will facilitate students the essential and basic knowledge from which students will focus in study of cultures and conventions next Then, their capacity of comparing cultural difference of metaphors should be enhanced.
Limitations and suggestions for further researches
The present paper is just a tiny contribution to the overall stock of cognitive semantic studies on the perception of time Although the thesis is a contrastive study on how English and Vietnamese perceive time through their idioms and proverbs indicating time, it cannot give a fully account of all the perceptive meanings of temporal notions because its data are limited within a total of 100 English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs Moreover, the study does not give a complete explanation on the distinct cultures of the two nations which leads to the similarities and differences in perceiving time between English and Vietnamese people In addition, the data of this thesis are English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs selected from dictionaries, many of which are death idioms or proverbs
This means the perception of time expressed through those death idioms or proverbs are no longer available Therefore, it is better for further research to
- investigate English‟s perception of time in some certain temporary literature works, for example in short stories, poems, etc,
- A contrastive study of time perception of English and Vietnamese through some certain English and Vietnamese novels
- A contrastive study of characteristics affecting the time perception of English and Vietnamese people
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27 The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (2004) Oxford: Oxford University Press
28 Pederson, E., Danzinger, E., Wilkins, D., Levinson, S., Kita, S & Senft, G
(1998) Semantic typology and spatial conceptualisation Language,74: 3, 557-589
29 Rosch, E (1975) Cognitive representations of semantic categories Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 192–233
30 Sweetser, E (1990) From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
31 Talmy, L (2000a) Toward a cognitive semantics: Vol I: Concept Structuring System Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
32 Talmy, L (2000b) Toward a cognitive semantics: Vol II: Typology and process in concept structuring Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
33 Trần Văn Cơ (2007) Ngôn ngữ học Tri nhận Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội –
34 Tyler, A., & Evans, V (2006) Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Teaching, IN D Dutra & H Mello (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics and second language teaching Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
35 Wolfgang Mieder (1993) The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3-40 Oxford University Press
APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: LIST OF ENGLISH IDIOMS/PROVERBS ABOUT TIME
No English IT Meaning Example
A day when something very unpleasant or sad happens
A bomb when went off early this morning This is a black day for the peace process
To do something that is difficult or to suffer hardship
He gave me a hard time about the money I owe him
3 Ahead of the time at an earlier time than was planned or arranged
The train had left five minutes ahead of time
An inch of time is an inch of gold the value of time An inch of time is an inch of gold
5 A race against time have to do something fast within a deadline
There’s a race against time to save the rainforests
6 As time goes by time passes or moves
As time has gone by, I have become less interested in going to nightclubs on the weekends
7 A stitch in time saves nine if you sort out a problem immediately, it may save a lot of extra work later
A stitch in time saves nine
8 At the eleventh hour at the last possible moment (Just before the last clock hour, 12), almost too late
She always turned her term papers in at the eleventh hour
9 Back in the day in the past
Back in the day, I used to spend my summers exploring or playing with friends Now I'm in the office every day
10 Before time during a period when you were not active or alive
I don't know how old the bridge is, but I know it was built well before my time
11 Behind the time Used to describe She is behind the times She someone who is old- fashioned and has ideas that are regarded as out- dated even doesn’t know how to use computer
During the periods between the separate events mentioned
If you only go to the supermarket once a month, what do you do between times?
13 Bide your time wait quietly for a good opportunity
I will bide my time here and wait for him
To postpone an event hoping that the situation will improve
The policeman tried to reason with him in order to buy time until backup arrived
15 Carry the day if you carry the day, you persuade people to support your ideas or opinions, or if a particular idea carries the day, it is accepted by a group of people
The Republicans carried the day in the dispute over the new jet fighter
16 Day in, day out continuously or repeatedly over a long period of time
I am so bored! I do the same thing day in, day out
To do something occasionally, not very often
I do think about joining a gym, or going for a run from time to time, but I’m always too busy
To delay or prolong something until a desired event occurs the government was using the negotiations to gain time
19 Have time on one‟s hand Too much time Don’t be hurry! We have time on our hand
You can say this when you think something should‟ve been done already, and is overdue
It’s high time you asked your boss for a promotion, you work so hard and deserve to be paid more!
21 Hit the big time To become successful Though she'd been acting for years, it was after her role in last summer's blockbuster that she finally hit the big time
22 In good time with no risk of being late
Max didn't worry about getting an answer today or tomorrow, because he knew it would come in good time
Doing something that is not very interesting to pass time
Sarah’s not going to be here for another 20 minutes Shall we walk to the park to kill time?
24 Keep good time to be accurate
I have to return my watch to the store because it doesn't keep good time Mine keeps good time
25 Make someone‟s day make an otherwise ordinary or dull day pleasingly memorable for someone
Britney makes my day when she posts letters, she really does
26 Make up for lost time do something faster or more often in order to compensate for not having done it quickly or often enough before
We drove as fast as we could, trying to make up for lost time
Hurry We have to make up for lost time
27 Move with the times keep abreast of current thinking or developments resorts need to move with the times by providing clean beaches and modernized hotels
Continuing to survive against expectation
I've got cancer - I'm living on borrowed time
29 Long time A lengthy amount of time
Oh, I've known Holly for a long time—since grade school, in fact!
30 Make time find the time to do something We have to clear some time in our schedules to do something
I know that you are busy, but you will have to make time to attend the meeting
We cannot find out the truth or the answer yet
We will have to wait and then we will find out in the future
Will we ever have peace in the world? Only time will tell
There is no more time left to do something The time limit or deadline has been reached
Please stop writing You are out of time The exam has finished
33 Overtime time in excess of a prescribed period
The newspaper staff worked overtime
34 Part time a period of time that is less than the usual or full time
He has had a part time job
35 Save time to spend a certain amount of time in jail
We will save time if we drive instead of taking the bus
36 Short time a period or schedule during which the number of working hours is reduced
The recession has put most of the manufacturing plants on short time
37 Take one‟s time Not be in any hurry Take your time answering the question
38 Take time by the forelock seize an opportunity
If in government service, take time by the forelock and secure posts you are well qualified to hold
39 The big time the time when someone is famous or successful
The band is hoping to return to the big time
When the time is ripe, it‟s advantageous to undertake plans that have been waiting for awhile
Time is ripe, we should start our plan
41 Time flies like an arrow Time passes very quickly
Time flies like an arrow and it’s time we had to say goodbye
42 Time heals all This means that feelings I was angry with him for a long wounds / time is a great healer of hurt will leave as time passes by This expression usually refers to emotional hurts, not physical ones time, but time heals all wounds I am completely indifferent now
43 Time is money If time is going to waste, money isn‟t being made
44 Time is capital: invest it wisely
Time is as valuable as money Time is capital: invest it wisely
Time is like money: once spent it, it can never be spent again
Time is as valuable as money
Time is like money: once spent it, it can never be spent again
46 Time‟s up no more minutes are available
Time's up! Turn in your tests whether you're finished or not
47 Time and tide wait for no men
Things will not wait for you when you are late
Hurry up or we'll miss the bus!
Time and tide wait for no man
When the day arrives that you are now calling
"tomorrow," you will call that day "today" and a different day will be called "tomorrow."
Jill: When are you going to go to lunch with me?
49 Turn back the hands of time To go back to the past
If I could turn back the hands of time, I wouldn't have done what I did
50 Wasting time/ a waste of time
Refers to anything that is not a useful way to spend your time Doing something pointless or useless
It's a waste of time calling that company They never answer the telephones
APPENDIX 2: LIST OF VIETNAMESE IDIOMS/PROVERBS ABOUT
No Vietnamese IT Meaning/ Equivalent expression in
1 Bốn chín chưa qua, năm ba đã tới
Age of forty-nine hasn't passed but age of fifty three is coming
2 Có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim Nothing is impossible to willing a heart
3 Đầu năm sương muối, cuối năm gió nồm
Hoarfrost at the beginning of year and monsoon at the end of year
4 Đêm ngắn, tình dài Night seems to be short when the lovers are together
5 Đêm tháng năm chưa nằm đã sáng Night in May is shorter than day
6 Đời người có một gang tay Life is but a span
7 Hai sương một nắng Working hard
8 Hai tay buông xuôi to drop off
9 Lần lần lữa lữa delay from time to time
10 Mãn chiều xế bóng people get older and older
11 Năm chờ tháng đợi Wait in a long time
12 Năm cũ chưa qua, năm mới đã đến
The old year hasn‟t passed while the new year is coming
13 Năm cùng tháng tận End of the year
14 Năm trước được cau, năm sau được lúa
If the areca season is good this year, the rice season will be good next year
15 Năm xung tháng hạn Bad time for everything
16 Ngày lành tháng tốt Good day
17 Ngày qua tháng lại Time passes quickly
18 Ngày rộng tháng dài Have all the time in the world
19 Ngày tháng mười chưa cười đã tối Day in October is shorter than night
20 Ngày vui ngắn chẳng tày gang Happy day doesn‟t last long
21 Nước chảy đá mòn Drop by drop wears away the stone
22 Quan nhất thời, dân vạn đại Madarins are temporary, civilians is forever
23 Rắn già rắn lột, người già người chột snakes getting old will molt, people getting old will die
24 Sớm qua tối đến time passes quickly
25 Tháng ba mưa đám, tháng tám mưa cơn light rain in lunar March, heavy rain in lunar August
26 Tháng bảy nước chảy qua bờ Heavy rains in lunar July so ther is a lot of water
27 Tháng chạp mà cấy mạ non, thả rằng công ấy ẵm con ở nhà
It is no good transplanting young rice seedling in lunar December
28 Tháng chín ăn rươi, tháng mười ăn nhộng season of Nereid in lunar September, season of chrysalis in lunar October
29 Tháng chín đôi mươi, tháng mười mồng năm
Experience on doing farm of Vietnamese people
30 Tháng chín thì quýt đỏ chôn tangerines are ripe in lunar September
31 Tháng có tháng tiểu tháng đại there are small and big months in a year
32 Tháng giêng thiếu mất khoai, tháng hai thiếu mất đỗ
If the first lunar month lacks a day, there will potato crop failure If the second lunar month is short of a day, there will be bean crop failure
33 tháng giêng trồng trúc, tháng lục trồng tiêu
Bamboo should be grown in lunar January, pepper should be grown in lunar June
34 Tháng riêng rét đài, tháng hai rét lộc, tháng ba rét nàng bân freezing cold in the first lunar month and wet cold in the second lunar month and cold in a short time in the third lunar month
35 Tháng hai trồng cà, tháng ba trồng đỗ planting the eggplant in lunar February and bean in lunar March
36 Tháng mười sấm rạp, tháng chạp sấm động
Thundering in lunar October is not as loud as it in lunar December
37 tháng, năm đi trước; tháng năm chẳng ngược về sau time passes and never return
38 Tháng ngày đắp đổi day by day
Tháng sáu gọi cấy rào rào, tháng mười lúa chín mõ rao khắp đồng
Planting rice in lunar June, harvesting rice in lunar October
40 Tháng tám chưa qua, tháng ba March has not passed, August is coming đã tới
41 Tháng tám đói qua, tháng ba đói chết
Vietnamese Farmers in the past were always worried about the hunger in lunar
42 Tháng tám mưa trai, tháng hai mưa thóc
In lunar August, there will be lots of sinanodonta in pond In lunar February, there is a lot of rice in the field
43 Tháng tám nắng rám trái bưởi strong sunshine in August
44 Tháng trọn, ngày qua time passes quickly
45 Thời bất tại lai One‟s spring time never returns
46 Thời gian thấm thoắt thoi đưa, nó đi đi mãi có chờ đợi ai Time move quickly as a shuttle
47 Thời gian eo hẹp Be hard pressed for time
48 thời gian hàn gắn mọi vết thương lòng Time cures all things
49 Thức đêm mới biết đêm dài
Judge not of man and things at first sight/ you never know anyone till you‟ve eaten a peck of salt with him
50 Trăng tròn lại khuyết The moon is full then again is half