A study on english idioms and proverbs denoting colours with reference to vietnamese equivalents

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - BA THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS DENOTING COLOURS WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THÀNH NGỮ VÀ TỤC NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN MÀU SẮC CÓ THAM CHIẾU ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) Student: NGUYỄN THỊ THUỲ LINH Code: 621221 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ THU THUỶ, PhD Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - BA THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS DENOTING COLOURS WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ THÀNH NGỮ VÀ TỤC NGỮ TIẾNG ANH LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN MÀU SẮC CÓ THAM CHIẾU ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) Student: NGUYỄN THỊ THUỲ LINH Code: 621221 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ THU THUỶ, PhD Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled ―A study on English Idioms and Proverbs denoting colours with reference to Vietnamese equivalents‖ submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the period of graduation thesis, I received a plenty of enthusiastic help and support that guide and encourage me to overcome all difficulties and finish this tough but meaningful time Firstly, I would prefer to express my gratitude to the School Board of Vietnam National University of Agriculture and therefore the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages creating favorable conditions for me to require my thesis Secondly, I sincerely appreciate to Miss Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, my supervisor who gave me useful guidance and advice that help me to finish my research successfully Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends, who often shared my feelings and gave me timely advice during the course of thesis work ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.3 SUMMARY 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14 2.1 RESEARCH QUESTION REVISITED 14 2.2 RESEARCH METHODS 14 2.3 RESEARCH PROCEDURES 14 2.4 DATA COLLECTION 15 2.5 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 16 2.6 SUMMARY 18 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19 3.1 COMPARE THE SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS AND PROVERBS DENOTING COLOUR 19 3.2 COMPARE THE SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS AND PROVERBS DENOTING COLOUR 31 3.3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES BETWEEN IDIOMS AND PROVERBS DENOTING COLOUR IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 40 PART 3: CONCLUSION 44 iii RECAPITULATION 44 CONCLUDING REMARKS 44 IMPLICATIONS 46 LIMITATION OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH 46 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX 51 iv ABSTRACT This graduate thesis is a research work on idioms and proverbs denoting colour in English with equivalent meanings in Vietnamese There is a total of colours that may be mentioned within the article: black, white, red, blue, green and yellow This study mainly uses comparison - contrast method, combined with two other ones - statistical and analytical method Regarding the similarities, the idioms and proverbs denoting colour in both languages are almost fixed - phrases and appear quite a lot in the form of noun phrases Additionally, those sentences can also be divided into two varieties of meanings - literal and figurative, furthermore, what they represent can as well be understood into five distinct semantic fields as if the colour tone of something, life experiences, human alluding, behaviours and sensations, and ultimately a particular conception On the other hand, the colour idioms and proverbs of the two languages also have many differences Such as the non-existence of adverb phrases and their prepositional phrases in Vietnamese or the difference within the meaning of colours due to the influence of culture, lifestyle, natural conditions and the use of rhetorical measures Finally, from the above similarities and differences between the idioms and proverbs denoting colour of the two English - Vietnamese languages, the study is helped us to understand thoroughly and have an overview of the structures and meanings of each idiom, proverb in the two languages Consequently, we can improve our understanding of the culture and people of both languages, which is incredibly helpful for learning and teaching English, together with developing translation and interpreting jobs v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Adj : Adjective Adv : Adverb Art : Article CW : Comparative Word C : Conjunction N : Noun NP : Noun Phrase Pre : Preposition ProN : Pronoun S : Subject V : Verb vi LIST OF TABLES: Table 1.1: Classification of Idioms and Proverbs Table 2.1: Syntactic analytical framework Table 2.2: Rhetorical measures analytical framework Table 2.3: Semantic fields analytical framework Table 3.1: Noun Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.2: Verb Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.3: Adjective Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.4: Adverb Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.5: Prepositional Phrase Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms denoting colour Table 3.6: Simple Sentence Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.7: Complex Sentence Structures of English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.8: Comparative Sentence Structures of English Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.9: Comparative Sentence Structures of Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.10: A summary of English and Vietnamese Idioms denoting colour in Syntactic Features Table 3.11: Summarizes the occurrence of structures used in English and Vietnamese Idioms and Proverbs denoting colour Table 3.12: Rhetorical measures of Idioms and Proverb denoting colour in English and Vietnamese vii Table 3.13: Idioms and Proverbs of English and Vietnamese in the Semantic field of Colour Table 3.14: Idioms and Proverbs of English and Vietnamese in the Semantic field of Life Experience Table 3.15: Idioms and Proverbs of English and Vietnamese in the Semantic field of Human Alluding Table 3.16: Idioms and Proverbs of English and Vietnamese in the Semantic field of Behaviours and Sensations Table 3.17: Idioms and Proverbs of English and Vietnamese in the Semantic field of a Particular Conception Table 3.18: Frequency of semantic fields of English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs denoting colour viii cold just like the West However, we have some proverbs that also refer to erratic weather phenomena such as "Đầu năm sương muối, cuối năm gió nồm" Another special thing is that while English idioms and proverbs are mostly social in nature, Vietnam is sort of rustic when there are many idioms and proverbs denoting colour pertaining to the agriculture like "Xanh nhà già đồng", "Mạ úa cấy lúa chóng xanh" Finally, the difference that must be mentioned when comparing and contrasting the idioms and proverbs of these two cultures is that the use of rhetorical devices such as metaphor, metonymy, simile, and personification, etc For example, in the idiom "Xanh vỏ đỏ lòng", metaphor is used to compare the image of a watermelon which has the green outer skin and the red flesh inside, with the case that the external manifestations are completely contrary to the essence In English, there is not a single sentence that carries the complete meaning of the above idiom However, we can use these two expressions "You can't judge a book by its cover" and therefore "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" to precise it 3.4 Summary With the two completely different East - West cultures, the comparison idioms and proverbs in colour between two languages English and Vietnamese are be faced with many difficulties Therefore, the very fact that the criteria for comparison are divided into two main factors, namely syntax and semantics, will help us have a more complete view of both the outer form and therefore the inner meaning of those phrases 43 Part 3: CONCLUSION Recapitulation After a process of understanding, then comparing and contrasting the syntactic and semantic features of idioms and proverbs associated with six colours in English and Vietnamese, we can finally draw the following point of views In terms of syntax, the idioms and proverbs within the two languages have been divided into basic sorts of structure and the most common one is the noun phrase structure However, in Vietnamese, there are not any colour idioms and proverbs with the structure of adverb phrases and prepositional phrases because of the syntax rules of Vietnam In addition, these expressions are mostly in the form of fixed - phrases, which cannot be changed if you not want to lose their main meaning Although there are still some exceptions in English, the changes are quite small, not having an enormous impact on the sentence As for semantic features, idioms and proverbs associated with colour in English and Vietnamese have their own conceptions of that colour, so that they also have their certain similarities For example, they both describe the identical tone or meaning of a particular colour On the other hand, because of the differences in culture, lifestyle and even climatic features, it is obvious that both languages have quite lots of disagreements within the use of colours in idioms and proverbs For instance, when talking about blue, in English, it represents the ferment in the phrase "Scream blue murder", but in Vietnamese, it only represents peace, not the nuance of above meaning And the last one is that the difference of idioms and proverbs denoting colour in the use of rhetoric Concluding remarks a Concluding remarks on objective - Describing the syntactic and semantic features of idioms and proverbs denoting colours in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents Although there are sometimes differences in sentence structure, idioms and proverbs almost always have the structure of a fixed phrase However, there 44 are some cases in English and Vietnamese where it is possible to change some words in a fixed phrase, they are insignificant and difficult to change the meaning of such idioms and proverbs There are practically differences in syntactic of each idiom and proverb The semantic features of idioms and proverbs are understood in two ways: literally and figuratively Idioms and proverbs have literal meanings that can be understood immediately through the words that make up it In contrast, figurative meaning idioms and proverbs are often expressed in rhetorical devices such as metaphor, metonymy, simile, personification, etc In addition, idioms and proverbs can be understood through some individual semantic fields like human, objects, etc b Concluding remarks on objective - Comparing and contrasting syntactic and semantic features of idioms and proverbs denoting colours in English with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents As for the similarities in syntactic features, nearly all the structures of idioms and proverbs are within the form of fixed - phrases, which cannot be changed Secondly, in both languages, the most common structure of idioms and proverbs is the form of noun phrases In addition, some structures of the two languages are quite similar Regarding the differences, in Vietnamese, there are not any idioms and proverbs with the structure of adverb phrases and prepositional phrases Additionally, in English, there are able to have minor structural changes to idioms and proverbs About the semantic features, both English and Vietnamese have idioms and proverbs with literal meaning and also figurative idioms and proverbs which attached to rhetorical devices Moreover, in the semantic fields, there are the sameness of idioms and proverbs in the colour tone concept, along with phrases which carry a symbolic meaning of a specific colour However, there are no less differences in semantic features First, some idioms and proverbs in both languages that not have the identical colour words but have similar meanings 45 and concepts Furthermore, the colour idioms and proverbs in both languages have some differences that are mainly due to the influence of culture, lifestyle, or natural conditions Finally, the difference that must be mentioned when comparing and contrasting the idioms and proverbs of these two cultures is that the use of rhetorical devices Implications a In teaching and learning Through this research, teachers and learners will gain new understanding of idioms and proverbs denoting colour in English and Vietnamese, thereby applying that knowledge in education Lessons have to be studied and taught in context in order that syntactic and semantic features can be expressed most accurately Additionally, learners can also use idioms and proverbs about colour to raise understand the culture, life and people of both countries b In interpretation and translation From the results of the study, we can draw some necessary notes for translation and interpretation as follows:  It takes a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the culture together with the concept of colour in both languages correctly  Translate idioms and proverbs by context, not word by word  It takes practice to translate many and a variety of documents to gain a good understanding of the two cultures and to overcome common mistakes in translation work Limitation of the current research Although the research has been completed, there are still some obstacles within the implementation process, such as:  The data source is not really complete because the documents on colour idioms and proverbs are so large and diverse that it is difficult to control  The analysis of the data is confusing and some examples that are quite difficult to  The concept of each colour type varies greatly in each language 46  Failing to achieve a deep understanding of cultural issues that exist in idioms and proverbs of English and Vietnamese Recommendations for further research In this study, the results and compared and contrasted data was still quite extensive and have not really gone too deeply into the analysis of idioms and proverbs about a particular colour Therefore, the structures and meaningful nuances of each colour have not been thoroughly explored Hopefully, there will be more and more researches on idioms and proverbs generally and relate to colour in particular to be able to exploit many other aspects within the future 47 REFERENCES Albert Sidney Hornby; Anthony P Cowie (1995) Oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current English Oxford ; New York: Oxford Univ Press Adelnia, Dastjerdi (2011) Translation of Idioms: A Hard Task for the Translator Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol 1, No 7, pp 879-883 Amouzadeh, Tavangara & Sorahia (2012) A cognitive study of colour terms in Persian and English Procedia - 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Social and Behavioral Sciences Thao, L P (2018) Colour terms in English and Vietnamese: a contrastive study Hanoi Tien, N D (2020) Prototypes of basic colors in English and Vietnamese from a cognitive linguistics perspective Hanoi Viện Ngôn ngữ học (2003) Từ điển tiếng Việt Danang: Nhà xuất Đà Nẵng Vy, T V (2013) Cognitive linguistics features of idioms related to the concept of “black”, “white” in English versus Vietnamese Danang W McMordie, Jennifer Seidl (1988) English Idioms and How to Use Them Oxford Univ Pr Yusifova, G I (2013) Syntactic Features of English Idioms Canadian Center of Science and Education, 133-138 Zoltán Kovecses; Péter Szabó (1996) Idioms: A View from Cognitive Semantic Applied Linguistics, 326-355 50 APPENDIX English idioms and proverbs denoting colour with Vietnamese equivalents Black colour: No English Vietnamese The devil is not so black as he is Thần hồn nát thần tính painted It doesn't matter a cat is black or Mèo đen hay mèo trắng không quan white as long as it catches mice trọng, quan trọng bắt chuột Hai đen không thành trắng Two blacks don't make a white February fill dyke, be it black or Tháng tràn đê, đầy bùn đen hay be it white tuyết trắng Beat someone black and blue Đánh bầm tím Be in someone's black books Ghét Beyond the black stump Vùng xa xôi hẻo lánh, biệt lập, thiếu văn minh Black box Hộp đen A black mark against someone Một vết nhơ chống lại 10 The black sheep Người cá biệt, gây thất vọng 11 A black look Nhìn giận dữ, lườm 12 The black market Chợ đen 13 In the black Ăn nên làm ra, dư giả 14 Black hat Kẻ xấu, nhân vật phản diện White colour: No English Vienamese Big white chief Người (da trắng) quan trọng, người thành công In black and white Giấy trắng mực đen A white lie Lời nói dối vơ hại A white hope Niềm hy vọng 51 (As) white as a sheet / ghost Trắng bệch ma, trắng tờ giấy The white flag Cờ trắng (xin đầu hàng) White wash Tẩy trắng, che đậy thật The white man's burden Gánh nặng người da trắng A white elephant Vô dụng, tốn 10 Show the white feather Cư xử hèn nhát, yếu đuối 11 A white knight Hiệp sĩ trắng 12 Men in white coats Chuyên gia y tế viện tâm thần 13 Mark something with a white stone Điều thuận lợi, may mắn 14 Bleed someone white Uống nước cặn 15 One white foot, buy him; two white feet, try him; three white feet, look well about him; four white feet, go without him Ngựa chân trắng, mua luôn; hai bàn chân trắng, cưỡi thử trước; ba bàn chân trắng, xem xét kĩ lưỡng; bốn bàn chân trắng, không mua 16 White hat Người tốt Red colour: No English Vienamese Better dead than red Khẩu hiệu phản đối đảng cộng sản thời chiến tranh lạnh In the red Nợ nần chồng chất Red alert Báo động đỏ Red tape Thói quan liêu Paint the town red Ăn mừng tưng bừng Red as a beetroot Đỏ gấc A red herring Đánh trống lảng Red in tooth and claw Đánh dội, cấu xé A red - letter day Ngày đáng nhớ 52 10 Like a red rag to a bull Làm giận 11 Reds under the bed Đảng cộng sản núp gầm giường 12 See red Trở nên tức giận 13 Red-light district Phố đèn đỏ Red sky at night, shepherd’s 14 delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning Blue colour: Ráng vàng nắng ráng trắng mưa, Vàng mây gió, đỏ mây mưa No English Vienamese Between the devil and the deep blue sea Tiến thoái lưỡng nan A bolt from the blue Sét đánh ngang tai Do something until you are blue Mặt xanh xám; giận tím mặt in the face Once in a blue moon Năm mười họa Out of the blue Bất ngờ Scream blue murder Cực lực phản đối Talk a blue streak Nói liến thoắng liên hồi True blue Hoàn toàn đáng tin cậy trung thành Like a blue-arsed fly Tay năm tay mười 10 The wide (wild) blue yonder Một nơi xa xơi, hẻo lánh, bí ẩn 11 A blue-eyed boy (girl) Con cưng 12 Blue-blood Người có máu mặt/ lực 13 Blue-sky research Thứ viển vông, trời 14 Blue are the hills that are far away Đứng núi trông núi Green colour: 53 No English Vienamese The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence Green about (or around or at) the gills Đứng núi trông núi Green light Đèn xanh, cho phép Green with envy Ghen ăn tức The green-eyed monster Sự ghen tị, ghen tuông Wigs on the green Đánh nhau, chiến đấu, ẩu đả Wear the green willow Buồn chuyện tình cảm Xanh tàu chuối Đầu năm sương muối, cuối năm gió nồm A green Yule makes a fat churchyard Yellow colour: No English Vienamese A yellow streak Tính nhát gan Vietnamese idioms and proverbs denoting colour with English equivalents Black colour: No Vienamese English Gần mực đen, gần đèn rạng Mưa tránh chỗ trắng, nắng tránh chỗ đen Tell me the company you keep, and i will tell you what you see Rain avoids the white, the sun avoids the black Đổi trắng thay đen Call white black Đen cột nhà cháy As black as pitch Mặt sắt đen Black iron face Kiến đen tha trứng lên cao, có mưa rào to Black ants carry eggs up high, there will be heavy showers Giấy trắng mực đen In black and white Chó đen giữ mực Black dogs don't turn white 54 Đen đầu bỏ, đỏ đầu ni New one in, old one out White colour: No Vienamese English Mây xanh nắng, mây trắng mưa Trời nắng, cỏ gà trắng mưa Blue clouds are sunny, white clouds are rainy On sunny summer days, if the roots of the couch-grass turn white, it will rain Hai bàn tay trắng From scratch Ăn trắng mặc trơn To live in clove Mắt trắng dã, mơi thâm White pale eyes and blue, black lips Nhân hiền mạo, trắng gạo ngon cơm A good face is a letter of recommendation Lo bò trắng Shape the coat for the moon Trắng mắt Got a shock coming Trong ngọc trắng ngà Clear as ice and clean as jade Red colour: No Vienamese English - You can't judge a book by its cover - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Giàu ăn ba bữa, khó đỏ lửa The rich eat three meals, the poor also ba lần eat three times Xanh vỏ đỏ lòng Lửa đỏ lại bỏ thêm rơm Add fuel to the fire Ai ăn trầu đỏ môi The culprit must pay for the damage Chưa nóng nước đỏ gọng Put the cart before the horse Đỏ son As red as a beet Mặt đỏ gấc Red as a beetroot Thần nanh đỏ mỏ Pain in the neck Vàng đỏ nhọ lòng son An open door may tempt a saint Blue colour: 55 No Vienamese English Danh lam thắng cảnh Beauty spot, famous landscape Green colour: No Vienamese English Xanh nhà già đồng Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow Đầu xanh tuổi trẻ Salad-days Xanh đít nhái As green as a fresh pickled toad Mạ úa cấy lúa chóng xanh Seedlings wilted; rice transplanted quickly green Mặt xanh nanh vàng Ferocious-looking Non xanh nước biếc Natural beauty Quả xanh gặp nanh sắc Diamond cuts diamond Lọng vàng che nải chuối xanh, tiếc chim loan phượng đậu nhành tre khô A big fish in a little pond Xanh cọng, nóng nác Haste make waste Yellow colour: No Vienamese English Arid and poor places contain precious treasures and good people Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning Đất sỏi có chạch vàng Vàng mây gió, đỏ mây mưa Sống miếng dồi chó Chết bó vàng tâm The best is enemy of the good Cành vàng ngọc Blue-blooded Cá vàng bụng bọ A fair face may hide a foul heart Nhất vện, nhì vàng, tam khoang, tứ đốm First place dogs with brindle fur, second place dogs with yellow fur, thrird place dogs with tricolor fur, 56 fourth place dogs with spots fur Mặt vàng nghệ White knuckle The constellation is clearly visible, indicating that the following day are going to be very sunny The constellation is obscured by dark clouds, signalling the coming of heavy rain To graduate, rise to fame and make a great career Tua rua mọc, vàng héo lá, Tua rua lặn, chết cá chết tôm Bảng vàng bia đá 10 Gan vàng sắt As constant as the northern star 11 Đói vàng mắt As hungry as a hungter 12 Khuôn vàng thước ngọc The Golden Rule 13 Thà sẻ tay hứa mây hạc vàng A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush 57