A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON MEANINGS OF WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH Nghiên cứu so sánh về nghĩa của các thành ngữ có liên quan đến nước trong tiếng Việt và tiếng AnhA COMPARATIVE STUDY ON MEANINGS OF WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH Nghiên cứu so sánh về nghĩa của các thành ngữ có liên quan đến nước trong tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HƢƠNG A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON MEANINGS OF WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH (Nghiên cứu so sánh về nghĩa của các thành ngữ có liên quan đến nƣớc trong Tiếng Việt và Tiếng Anh) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HƢƠNG A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON MEANINGS OF WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH (Nghiên cứu so sánh về nghĩa của các thành ngữ có liên quan đến nƣớc trong Tiếng Việt và Tiếng Anh) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Tự Lập Hanoi, 2014 i DECLARATION I, Trần Thị Hương, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research. It is recognized that, should this declaration be found to be false, disciplinary action could be taken and penalties imposed in accordance with the University policy and rules. Ha noi, 2014 Trần Thị Hương ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I offer my sincere gratitude to the faculty, staff and my fellow students at Hai Duong College, who have inspired me to continue my work in this field. I owe particular thanks to my Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Ngô Tự Lập and his colleagues of the faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi, all of whom have had an impact on my work in one way or another. The direction and support of a knowledgeable and diverse group, such as this, is what makes interdisciplinary endeavours possible. Finally, my special thanks go to my mother, my husband and my children for their love and support throughout this project. Without their encouragement I could not have completed this thesis. iii ABSTRACT Idioms, a special form of language use, are shaped in the daily lives of people. Idioms can also be considered as a reliable measure of the proficiency of foreign languages in general and English in particular. It is the semantic and grammatical problems that cause difficulties for learners to grasp meanings of idioms. With the aim of providing in - depth information about English and Vietnamese idioms, we have tried to work out some syntactic and semantic features of idioms relating to water in English and Vietnamese. Moreover, some cultural contexts hidden behind these idioms are mentioned and analyzed in this thesis. The study also puts forwards some implications for teaching and learning idioms. We believe that they are helpful to teachers and students as well as translators of English. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study 1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 1 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Theoretical and practical significance of the study 2 5. Methodology 2 6. Organization of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: IDIOMS - THEORETICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY 1.1.Idioms and meanings of idioms 4 1.1.1.Definition of idioms 4 1.1.2. Idioms and proverbs 4 1.1.3. Typology of idioms 6 1.1.4. Meaning of idioms 8 1.2.Culture and the relationship between language and culture 9 1.2.1.Culture and some characteristics of culture 9 1.2.2.Relationship between language and culture 10 1.2.3. Culture in idioms 11 1.2.4. The image of water in Vietnamese culture 12 1.2.5. The image of water in English culture 14 v 1.2.6. Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis 15 CHAPTER 2: “WATER” RELATING IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 2. 1. A quantitative survey of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese 17 2. 2. Syntactic study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese 17 2. 3. Semantic study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese .21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms in terms of syntactic features 29 3.2. Similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms in terms of semantic features 31 PART C: CONCLUSION 1.Recapitulation 34 2.Implications 34 3.Limitations and suggestions for further studies 35 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Water is essential for life and for human kind, and it is crucial for sustainable socio - economic development. As a matter of fact, 22 March of each year is declared as the World Water Day (WWD) by the United Nations in December 2003. Water is not only a physical resource but in every cultural context, it is closely linked to social, spiritual, political and environmental meanings. Both English and Vietnamese are rich in idiomatic expressions of which idioms denoting water are abundant. Idiomatic expressions are largely used in our daily communication conveying the common - sense wisdom and experience of a certain cultural group. Mass media, textbooks and everyday language embody rich sources of idiomatic expressions. It is believed that English idioms are even difficult for English native speakers and naturally more problematic for ESL/EFL learners because the figurative meanings of English idioms cannot be predicted through an analysis of their individual word meanings. Apparently, teaching EFL learners to use English idioms is considerably critical for EFL teachers. Learning idioms adds a lot to understand the British culture and people because language is the bearer of culture, and idioms consistently have their roots in a particular culture. The purpose of identifying how the image of water is reflected in idioms metaphorically and literally and what cultural context underlines it urges me to investigate into the theme: “A comparative study of water relating idioms in Vietnamese and English”. 2. Aims and objectives of the study 2.1. Aims of the study This thesis is conducted as an attempt to: - Explore the English and Vietnamese idioms relating to water with the main focus on the cultural viewpoint. - Point out the similarities and differences between the two languages in terms of idioms relating to water. 2 2.2. Objectives of the study The objectives of this study are to: - Investigate English and Vietnamese idioms relating to water. - Clarify the cultural differences and similarities. - Provide some suggestions for teaching, learning and translating English idioms denoting water. 2.3. Research questions The study tries to answer the following questions: - What are the general syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms? - What are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese water relating idioms from cultural viewpoint? 3. Scope of the study In this research, both English and Vietnamese idioms relating to water are discussed in terms of syntactic, semantic and cultural features. All English and Vietnamese idioms are collected from two dictionaries: “Vietnamese Dictionary of Idioms and Proverbs” (2010) by Nguyễn Lân and “The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms” (2004) by Oxford University Press. 4. Theoretical and practical significance of the study The study is an attempt to look into idioms for the Vietnamese postgraduates of English. Thus, once completed, its outcome may offer significant benefits to Vietnamese learners and teachers of English. In addition, the findings of this study will familiarize Vietnamese teachers of English with meanings of idioms that their students may use in class and that they might consider as errors or mistakes. Furthermore, in regard to Vietnamese learners, the research may provide them with deep and comprehensive insight into water relating idioms. Last but not least, researchers of the related fields can use this study for reference and carry out further and deeper investigation. 5. Methodology In this study, the major methods applied are descriptive, comparative and contrastive analysis. It is carried out on carefully collected materials from two 3 dictionaries. The first dictionary is “Vietnamese Dictionary of Idioms and Proverbs” by Nguyễn Lân (Literature Publishing House in 2010). The second one is “The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms” (Second Edition) by Oxford University Press in 2004. The data are analyzed and synthesized to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese water relating idioms. 6. Organization of the study The thesis is divided into three main parts: - Part One is an Introduction to the study and includes rationale, aims, the research questions, objectives, scope, significance and the design of the whole paper. - Part Two is the Development which is composed of three chapters. Chapter One, as implied in the title “Idioms: theoretical background for the study”, presents the theoretical background related to the issue. Chapter Two is concerned with “Water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese” covers the syntactic and semantic study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese. Chapter Three deals with “Findings and Discussions” (i.e. analysis of data, results) - Part Three is the Conclusion which summarizes significant findings of the investigation, elaborates contributions of the research, puts forward practical suggestions for future research as well as addresses notable limitations. [...]... proverbs about marriage Among the MA theses on idioms in Vietnam, there seems to have been no study related to water My study on idioms relating to water is an effort to better our understanding about syntactic, semantic and cultural features behind those idioms 16 CHAPTER 2: WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 2 1 A quantitative survey of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese As... advantages, circumstances, behaviour, psychological states, physical states, human actions, state of life, danger and challenges, bad fortunes and disadvantages, human character There are not any idioms in the semantic field of speed and that of virginity and immorality in English idioms denoting water The next chapter will concern about some cultural viewpoint on the use of water relating idioms in. .. use in everyday life 2 3 Semantic study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese According to the theory of semantic fields, words are grouped together into fields on the basis of an element of shared meaning The words in a field share a common “semantic component” A semantic field contains words that belong to a defined area of meaning (Jackson and Amvela, 2000: 92, 111) Below, we will clarify... as an index of culture Language as symbols of culture In his first point of view, language is “an inevitable part”, a major part” of culture He emphasizes that language is a part of its “associated” culture, but culture is also a part of its “associated” language To explain for the second point “language as an index of culture”, he describes “languages reveal the way of thinking or of organizing... idioms As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture From a dynamic view, language and culture intermingle with each other and shape each other Language is the bearer of culture which in turn is the content of language Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, and. .. in English and Vietnamese 28 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms in terms of syntactic features 3.1.1 Similarities One of the most similar characteristics between English and Vietnamese idioms denoting water is that both of them can be syntactically divided into clause and sentence structures, which are so highly fixed and. .. phrase: like water off a duck’s back (a remark or incident which has no apparent effect on a person): I didn't care what they talked to me - it was like water off a duck's back Idioms as prepositional phrase: in hot water (in a situation of difficulty, trouble or disgrace): I found myself in hot water over their comments on my appearance Idioms as adverbial phrase: as never before (in a way that has... than water (Family royalties are stronger than other relationships) 6 Typical conversational phrases: The meanings in those conversational phrases are not literal and difficult to understand, e.g how do you do, so to speak, etc Similes: These idioms compare a quality, condition, action, etc., with a noun such as (as) dead as a doornail (= truly dead), (as) easy as pie (= very easy) Oxford Dictionary... famous victories were on 12 Bach Dang river in 938 and 1288 when the Vietnamese fought against Nam Han and Song (Chinese), won independence and freedom after 1000 year domination Agriculture is an important part in Vietnam’s economic structure even today It makes a considerable contribution to export turnover, GDP and creates the largest amount of jobs, and is the main source of the poor’s income Main... background An idiom is a combination of words that have a figurative meaning owing to its common usage An idiom's figurative meaning is separated from the literal meaning For example, the idiom “An arm and leg” in the sentence “That jacket costs an arm and a leg” means something is very expensive, costly The meaning of an idiom is not the regular sum of the meanings of its component parts, so idioms are difficult . study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese 17 2. 3. Semantic study of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese .21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Similarities and. of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms in terms of syntactic features 29 3.2. Similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese water relating idioms in terms of semantic features. theme of this thesis 15 CHAPTER 2: WATER RELATING IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 2. 1. A quantitative survey of water relating idioms in English and Vietnamese 17 2. 2. Syntactic study of