A study on structural and semantic features of english idioms denoting anger with reference to the vietnamese equivalents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on structural and semantic meaning of English Idioms denoting an

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ LAN PHƯƠNG

A STUDY ON STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DENOTING

“ANGER” WITH REFERENCE TO THE

Hanoi, 2015

Back hard paper cover N G

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled “A study on structural and semantic meaning of English Idioms

denoting anger with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents” submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2015

Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong

Date:………

as an academic researcher

My special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies - Ha Noi Open University for their interesting lectures and useful

encouragement It would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished without all of these valuable supports

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

Idioms play an important role in all natural languages including English and Vietnamese They enrich the language They help speakers and writers to emphasise their ideas and make our observations, judgments, and explanations more lively and interesting They are also very useful tools for communicating

a great deal of meaning in a few words Effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without idioms

Idioms are considered not only to be able to enrich the language, by helping speakers and writers to emphasise their ideas, make their judgments, and explanations more lively and interesting, but also to be very useful tools for communicating meaningful ideas in a condensed expressions Effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without idioms; therefore, they are worth studying

Idioms, a very important aspect of language, add colour to the language, helping us to emphasise meaning and to make our observations, judgments, and explanations lively and interesting They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in just a few words

The aim of this thesis is to contribute a comprehensive account of structural and semantic features of English Idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents Finally, some suggestions are put forward for English idiom denoting “anger” for teaching and learning

Adj.P : Adjective phrase

Adv.P : Adverbial Phrase

PP : Prepositional Phrase

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: English and Vietnamese idioms denoting “anger” in terms of

structural features

32

Table 2.Comparison of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting

“anger” in terms of semantic features

48

2.1 Review of previous studies 5 2.1.1 Previous studies overseas

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

2.2 Review of theoretical background

phrase verbs

11

2.2.2.3 Features of English Idioms 12

2.2.2.4 Classification of English idioms 15 2.2.2.5 Idioms of anger

3.3 Summary

26

26

4.1 Structures features of English idioms denoting “anger” with

reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

39

4.2.1.1 Lexical variability 39 4.2.1.2 Metaphors and metonymies 40

4.3.1 Structural features of idioms

4.3.2 Semantic features of idioms

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research

There was a time when effective communication was measured by the number of words one could express in a certain period of time But as we are living

in the 21st century, effective communication now means less words but more meanings In this sense, idioms are a perfect match They are very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in a few words Nowadays, effective communication cannot be achieved successfully without idioms

Idioms have long been considered rare exceptions to the literal norms

of language and difficult for foreign learners to understand and use However,

as they are often found to be the most natural and appropriate expressions to use in daily discourse, they become so basic to a language that a language learner must master them in order to be competent in the language The importance of idioms is well supported by the argument that the fundamental roots of human language and thought are figurative and idioms are the most pervasive actualization of the creative nature of human expression

Every language has its own collection of idioms, so does English In reality, English language is full of idiomatic expressions and once a native English speaker gets talking, he never stops to think about idioms; they have become a natural part of his conversation skills However, English idioms are relatively neglected in those education systems whose English is thought as the second language because it’s very challenging to learners while manysecond –language teachers are not completely immersed in the language so they do not know the true conversational idioms As a result, there is a lack of understanding and knowledge about English idioms by a majority of learners, herein Vietnamese learners

1.2 Aims of the research

The graduation thesis is conducted with a view to help Vietnamese learners to acquire a better understanding of structural and semantic features

of English Idioms denoting anger with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents, as well as to improve their ability of using them to avoidcommunication breakdown

1.3 Objectives of the research

This thesis is carried out to pursue these following specific objectives:

- Investigating the structural features of English idioms denoting ANGER with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

-Investigating the semantic features of English idioms denoting ANGER with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

-Suggesting some possible suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms denoting “anger” in an effective way

1.4 Scope of the research

Idioms are a conspicuous type of conventional expressions They frequently suggest the particular emotion or attitude of the person using them It is well-known that there are many kinds of idioms, idioms of emotions, animals, and colours, etc A study shows that there are 433 idioms

of emotions in Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, out of which

as many as 105 are used to express anger Dictionary of idioms (1996) lists

111 idioms of anger They form the largest group of figurative idioms of emotions in the English language In this paper, I only focus on the idioms expressing anger as they reflect most of the characteristics of English idioms., Their similarities and differences in comparison with Vietnamese

equivalents are also highlighted

1.5 Significance of the research

This study is conducted by carefully collecting materials from various sources to have full-blown information of idioms, their characteristics in general and idioms of anger in particular Systematically statistic and contrastive analysis are also used to find out similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese idioms of anger Frequent talks with my supervisor and lecturers have proved to be very useful Some of my personal knowledge and experience in teaching and learning also contribute to the completion of the thesis

1.6 Structural organization of the thesis

This thesis consists of five chapters: Introduction, Literature,

Methodology, Findings and Discussion, and Conclusion

Chapter 1 - “Introduction” - presents a brief account of relevant information for carrying out the study such as the rationale for selecting the topic, the aims, the objectives, the scope, the significance and the structure of the thesis

Chapter 2 - “Literature Review” - presents the overview of the previous researches related to the thesis topic and covers a series of idiom-related concepts such as: definitions of idioms, features of English idioms, types of English idioms, idioms in comparison with proverbs, the relationship between idioms and culture, classification of idioms

Chapter 3 - “Methodology” - provides a full description of the specific methods and techniques which are applied to conduct the thesis research

Chapter 4 - “Findings and discussion” - describes and analyses the structural and semantic features of English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

Chapter 5 - “Conclusions and implications” - summaries the major findings resulted from the investigation and data analysis, presents the limitations of the study, proposes possible implications for teaching and learning English idioms denoting “anger” effectively, and provides some recommendations for further research on this important subject

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review serves two main purposes Firstly it gives a review of previous studies related to English idioms in general and English idioms denoting “anger” in particular Secondly it presents and discusses the theoretical background which guides and plays as the foundation for this research thesis to base on in the process of conducting the whole research

2.1 Review of previous studies

2.1.1 Previous studies overseas

Idioms are a broad and crucial field of any languages Thus, they have attracted linguistics all over the world and there is no doubt that a considerable number of books and dictionaries on idioms have brought learners with great benefits

In the book “Idiom Structure in English” (Makkai, 1972), the concept

of idiomaticity areas is introduced and the membership of each is illustrated with a small number of typical examples Each type of idiom in the first idiomaticity area (lexemic system) and the second idiomaticity area (sematic system) is described in terms of its internal structure and assigned a label This discussion of the idiomaticity areas and their membership is integrated with a general definition of the idiom in both the lexicology and the semiology By describing these two idiomaticity areas, the author suggests a framework by which all types of English idioms have been mentioned

The central argument of Rosamund Moon in “Fixed Expressions and Idioms in English: A Corpus-based Approach” (1998) is that fixed expressions can only be fully understood if they are considered together with the texts in which they occur She provides an overview of this area of lexis

in current English Writing from a lexicological rather than a computational point of view, she gives a detailed, descriptivist account of the findings of research into several thousand fixed expressions and idioms, as evidenced in the corpus text, including information about frequencies, syntax, lexical forms and variations and metaphoricality She also argues that examination

of corpus text raises questions about many received ideas on fixed expressions and idioms, and suggests that new or revised use-centered models are required Later chapters of the book demonstrate the ideological and discoursal significance of idioms, paying particular attention to the ways

in which they convey evaluations and have roles with respect to the information structure and cohesion of texts

“Idioms and Idiomaticity” by Chitra Fernando (1996) provides a comprehensive treatment of idioms and idiomaticity from a functional perspective It examines the use of idioms in discourse to combine the novel and the conventional, to convey representations of the world, evaluate people and situations, signal conviviality or conflict, and create coherent, cohesive texts This book goes on to consider implications for language learning and development

“Idioms: Description, Comprehension, Acquisition, and Pedagogy” by Dilin Liu (2008) supplies comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible text on idiom use and suggests learning and teaching approaches

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

In Vietnam, Nguyễn Lực, Lương Văn Đang [53] are two authors who made a significant contribution in the field of Vietnamese idioms They

wrote “Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” which is a collection of Vietnamese idioms

arranged in alphabetical order with clear explanations and examples extracted from Vietnamese novels, newspapers and magazines Moreover,

Nguyễn Trần Trụ who wrote “Thành ngữ tục ngữ lược giải” [59] explains

meanings of the most common idioms and proverbs in such simple, clear ways that learners can use this book for consulting and reference purposes

Despite the fact that idioms human beings are an extremely common part of the normal everyday language use, it is still a largely neglected area

in scholarly studies So far, no studies dealing with the structural and

semantic features of English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the

Vietnamese equivalents have been found Therefore, this research is being implemented to find the above-mentioned features, hence proposing some possible applications for teaching and learning English anger-related idioms

2.2 Review of theoretical background

Vinogradov (1977) compares the meaning of an idiom with “the special chemical mixture” which is partially or completely new compared with the meaning of all the components This means that the meaning of an idiom can rarely be drawn from its components and it is very important to understand idioms metaphorically Learners of English cannot usually discover the meanings by looking up the individual words in a dictionary when studying idioms; most of the idioms are metaphorical rather than

literal For example, in order to understand the idiom “(to feel) like fish out

of water”, we have to consider its meaning metaphorically as “to feel

uncomfortable because of unfamiliar surroundings” Consequently, the

first notice of English idioms is their semantic opacity or their figurative

sense and non-literalness by another term Semantic opacity means that

idioms are often non-literal Hence, the individual words which make up the idiom do not carry any meaning of their own There is usually very little, if any, connection between the literal meanings of the individual words and the idiomatic meaning of the whole phrase (Fernando 1996: 61) Makkai (1972: 118) states that the meaning of an idiom is not predictable from its component parts, because they are used in a figurative, non-literal sense Non-literalness is also in central place in Strässler’s (1982: 79) idea of an idiom According to Strässler, the meaning of an idiom cannot be concluded by adding up the meanings of its constituents The meaning of an idiom is therefore hardly ever the sum

of its individual parts Semantic opacity seems rather crucial for idioms, seeing as the scholars quoted here are only some of the many who recognize semantic opacity or non-literalness as an essential feature of idioms However, some idioms whose literal meaning and figurative one is almost identical so that readers or listeners can guess the meaning For

example, the idiom ‘as bald as an egg’ seems to make no difficulty for

readers or listeners to deduce its meaning

Semantic unity can perhaps be considered as the second most

frequently mentioned feature of idioms Although idioms are nearly always multiword expressions, they sometimes function as single semantic units Cowie and Mackin (1994) therefore stress that idioms are

“units of meaning” – a fact that distinguishes them from non-idiomatic expressions, which consist of distinct meaningful components

A large number of idioms in English, and probably all languages, have both a literal and an idiomatic meaning In consequence, another

feature of idioms which is mentioned rather often in theoretical literature

is ambiguity or disinformation potential According to Weinreich (1969:

44), ambiguity is one of the most fundamental features of idioms: this ambiguity arises from the fact that the constituents of an idiom have literal equivalents in other contexts In addition, in Makkai’s (1972) definition of an idiom this ambiguity is in extremely central place Makkai claims that true idioms must carry disinformation potential (i.e be ambiguous), and this is one of his salient criteria for identifying idioms Makkai argues that idioms are often subject to “a possible lack of understanding despite familiarity with the meaning of the components”

In Makkai’s view this “disinformation” occurs when the composition of the idiom leads the individual to understand the expression in a logical but

erroneous way “Go Dutch” (go to Holland) and “For a song” (about

singing) illustrate this point clearly because they often mislead readers and listeners with their literal meaning

Collocability is also mentioned in some idiom characterizations,

though not as frequently as the above-mentioned characteristics Collocability refers to the tendency of words to co-occur In fact, idioms have come to existence precisely because of this tendency Fernando (1996: 31) points out that collocability very often gives rise to idiomatic expressions, but obviously not all of these expressions become idioms According to Weinreich (1969, as cited by Fernando 1996: 7), the co-occurrence of words is a feature which is present in both collocations and idioms, but in an idiom this co-occurrence of words results in “a special semantic relationship”, which separates them from collocations

2.2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.2.1 Definitions of idioms

Fernando (1996:3) defines idioms as being a type of

“conventionalized multiword expressions”, and “individual units whose components cannot be varied or varied only within definable limits” and

“not usually recombinable” (1996:30), as well as referring only to “those expressions which become conventionally fixed in a specific order and lexical form, or have a restricted set of variants, acquire the status of idioms and are recorded in idiom dictionaries” Jennifer Seidl and W McMordie (1978:4) share the same point of view with Hornby (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 1995) and Longman Idioms Dictionary (1998) and give the definition: “An idiom is a number of word which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand alone”

Collins Cobuild (1995) defines: ‘An idiom is a special kind of phrase

It is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually…Idioms are typical metaphorical: they are effectively metaphors which have become ‘fixed’ or ‘fossilised’

To put it simply, an idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be taken as a combination of the meanings of its component parts

Thus, the common phrase “kick the bucket” has nothing to do with either

“kicking” or “buckets”, but means simply, “to die.” In other words, idioms

are not literal expressions They are also fixed expressions, to the extent that the elements which make up the idioms are limited in the kinds of variability they are able to demonstrate

It is difficult if not impossible to reach an agreement on the definition

of an idiom as many scholars attempt to define and develop their own criteria and classification of idioms

2.2.2.2 Idioms versus proverbs, sayings, conventional phrases and phrasal verbs

An idiom is an expression that contains more than one word, and whose meaning is different from the sum of the literal meanings of its components Excluded, however, are proverbs, sayings and conventional phrases Although they are all multi-word expressions that often mean something different from the words in them, they each form a category of their own depending on the function they have Proverbs are short well-known statements that give advice or express something that is generally true (Longman Exams Dictionary) They often carry some additional meanings, or their purpose is to teach a lesson, and they are somehow more

tightly connected with cultural discourse For example ‘The early bird

catches the worm’ means arriving early gives one an advantage or ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ - money is not easy to get and you must work hard A

saying, which is a well-known short statement that expresses an idea most people believe is true and wise, can be considered to be closed to idioms,

but it is usually not figurative, e.g You can’t judge a book by its cover, as

the old saying goes Thirdly, conversational phrases have a special

interactional function, and they are often literal rather than metaphorical, for

example ‘God be with you’ Finally, a phrasal verb is a verb which is a combination of a verb and a particle (hand in), a verb and a preposition (congratulate on, refer to), and a verb with a particle and a preposition (run

away with, send out to) It can have a literal meaning that is easy to

understand because the meaning is clear from the words that are used in the phrasal verb itself It can also have an idiomatic meaning which cannot

easily be understood by looking at the words themselves The figure below illustrates the fuzziness of the boundaries between various multi-word expressions (Moon, 1998)

2.2.2.3 Features of English Idioms

of a noun and an adjective, e.g cold war, a dark horse, French leave, forty

winks, a snake in the grass Some idioms are much longer: to fish in troubled waters, to take the bull by the horns, to cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth

 An idiom can have a regular, an irregular or even a grammatically

incorrect structure The idiom “I am good friends with him” is irregular or

logical in its grammatical structure A native speaker is not consciously aware of this insistency because the form is irregular but the meaning is clear A second kind has a regular form but a meaning is not clear, for

example “to have a bee in one’s bonnet” There is a third group, in which both form and meaning are irregular, such as “to be at large”, “to go

metaphorical usage of single words idioms

proverbs sayings phrases

through thick and thin” The form Verb + Preposition + Adjective without

noun is strange in English Here are some examples: “to be at daggers

drawn”, “to be in the swim”…

 Some idioms are unique and fixed in their grammatical structure, which

cannot change any part at all The expression to sit on the fence cannot become to sit on a fence or to sit on the fences They are fixed idioms Some

are fixed in some of their parts but not in others Some idioms allow only limited changes in the parts which are not fixed Such as nouns, pronouns or

the verb tenses as in: ‘I sat on the fence and did not give my opinion’ and

Many people are sitting on the fence and do not want to give their opinion.’

It is for these reasons that it is sometimes difficult to isolate the actual idiomatic expression and find it in a dictionary of idioms

According to A.P Cowie, R Martin and I.R McCaig, the authors of Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, there are enormous structural varieties

of English idioms, which can be classified under two general headings: phrase idioms and clause idioms Within these major groupings are several dominant sub-categories Besides these two main types, there is also another type of idioms even though it does not account for a large percentage That

is sentence idioms The most common patterns are the following:

 Clause idioms

 Verb + Complement: go banana, go berserk…

 Verb + Direct Object: ease one’s conscience/mind…

 Verb + Direct Object + Complement: paint the town red…

 Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object: do somebody credit

 Verb + Direct Object + Adjunct: take something amiss…

An important grouping of clause idioms is identified by the

grammatical code ‘possessive’ These idioms make full use of the verbs get,

give and have as ordinary non-idiomatic sentences concerned with

ownership or change of ownership There are two most common patterns

 Verb + Direct Object: get a fair share of the cake, get a bad name…

 Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object: give someone a taste of their own

medicine; give someone a quick shot in the arm…

 Phrase idioms

 Noun phrase: a crashing bore…

 Adjective phrase: free with one’s money…

 Prepositional phrase: in the nick of time…

 Adverbial phrase: as often as not…

 Sentence idioms

Sentence idioms may be simple or complex sentences such as one

swallow does not make a summer, give somebody an inch and he’ll take a mile, one’s blood is up, the knives are out…

b) Semantic features of idioms

To tell whether a multi word unit is an idiom or not, only the knowledge of the range that idioms cover is not enough Many scholars in the past turned to the semantic features that idioms characterize in order to distinguish idioms from habitual restricted multiword expressions Semantic unity or non-compositionality is considered as the most salient feature of idioms (Fernando, 2000) Other frequently mentioned semantic features of idioms are institutionalization or conventionality and figuration

Non-compositionality: Compositionality relates to meaning The

meaning of a construction is compositional if it is derived transparently from the meaning of its elements Non-compositionality thus means the meaning

of the construction is not the sum of the meanings of its parts For example,

‘spill the beans’ has nothing to do with beans but means ‘commit an

indiscretion' Idioms are widely defined as being non-compositional (Katz

& Postal, 1963; Weinreich, 1969; Makkai, 1975; Fernando & Flavell, 1981),

partly compositional (Ruhl, 1975), for example ‘catch one’s breath’

(check), ‘foot the bill (pay).The last one is compositional after the meaning

is known (Nunberg et al., 1994), for example ‘on foot’, ‘on the contrary’

 Institutionalization: It refers to the degree of recognition a particular

phrase meets in a speech community The conventionality of this expression has resulted in its currency and acceptance among the wider discourse community rather than by a small sub- community Some institutionalized utterances are lexicalized and serve as conversational routines or social formulae such as greetings, ending a telephone conversation, saying

goodbye, etc., e.g nice to meet you, so long, have a nice weekend, take care

now, come off it Idioms are thus widely recognized and familiar to speakers

of a particular culture (Fernando & Flavell, 1981; Moon, 1998a)

 Figuration: some idioms typically involve metaphors (a drop in the

bucket), metonymies (lend a hand), hyperboles (eat one’s head off), or other

kinds of figuration Native speakers usually take no effort to figure out their figurative meanings from their literal senses

It is believed that non-compositionality, institutionalization and figuration are related It is also argued that something which is non-compositional cannot be produced simply as a sequence of words but must

be held in memory In other words, it becomes institutionalized and is held

in memory to survive Non-compositionality depends on prior institutionalization In addition, not all idioms are involved in figuration Thus, non-compositionality is the key criterion to define idioms (Grant & Bauer, 2004)

2.2.2.4 Classifications of English idioms

Researchers often classify idioms according to their level of literalness and fixity, while dictionaries and reference books classify them either alphabetically, according to their meaning, by themes (e.g animals, body parts, emotions, colours, etc.) or under a common word (e.g cat, hand, blue, cake, etc.) Some scholars choose to take it one step further and classify them more specifically: semantic, syntactic and functional classification of idioms

a) Semantic classification of idioms

Many linguists prefer to classify idioms based on semantic consideration For instance, Moon (1998a) divides idioms into: transparent

metaphor (behind someone’s back), semi-transparent metaphor (grasp the

nettle), semi-opaque (burn one’s boats) and opaque metaphor or pure idiom

(kick the bucket)

Based on Halliday’s functions of language, Fernando (1996:36) shares the same idea and divides idioms into three classes Pure idioms ‘a type of

conventionalized, non-literal multi-word expression’ (to spill the beans);

semi-idioms are idioms which have ‘one or more literal constituents and at least one with a non-literal subsense, usually special to that co-occurrence

relation and no other’ (to drop names); and literal idioms are invariant, or

display restricted variation, and are less semantically complex than pure

idioms and semi-idioms (on foot)

b) Syntactic classification of idioms

Various syntactic classifications have been given (Fernando, 2000;

Moon, 1998a) They provide descriptions such as verbs + noun: blow the

gaff; preposition + noun: under the weather rather than definitions

Providing information on syntax can help learners see the various grammatical patterns of an idiom, especially when learners know the fact

that the most favored type of construction evident in English idioms, in terms of both size and form, appear to be the verb + particle(s) constructions

(e.g put up with, break up) and the semi-clause (e.g spill the beans, smell a

rat) constructions (Fernando, 2000)

c) Functional classification of idioms

Some authors (Strassler, 1982; Cowie et al., 1993; Moon, 1998a; Fernando, 2000) have attempted to classify idioms in terms of their functions Fernando (1996:72) applies three language functions identified by Halliday to divide idioms into:

(1) Ideational or ‘state and way of the world’ idioms either focus

on the message content and include actions (to twist somebody’s arm), events (to have blood on one’s hands), situations (to be up a gum tree), people and things (a fat cat), attributes (from A to Z), evaluations (beauty

is/lies in the eye of the beholder) and emotions (to lose one’s heart), or they

characterize the message as being specific (the question is) or non-specific (blah blah blah)

(2) Interpersonal idioms are either interactional and include

greetings and farewells (how are you?), directives (let’s face it), agreement (that’s true), ‘feelers’ (what do you think?) and rejections (come off it), or characterize the message in terms of its newsworthiness (guess what), sincerity (as a matter of fact), uncertainty (mind you) or they display calls for brevity (get to the point)

(3) Relational idioms secure the cohesion of discourse Fernando

categorizes them as integrative (on the contrary, on the other hand, at the

same time) or as ones which sequence information in space and time (in the first place, one day)

2.2.2.5 Concepts of anger

a) Definition of idioms of anger

According to Oxford English Dictionary (1989), anger is ‘the active feeling provoked against the agent, passion, rage, wrath, ire, hot displeasure’ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language (2000) defines anger as “a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility” Thus

by “idioms of anger” here is meant idioms that may be used to express a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility All the idioms of anger cited in this paper are those with one of the following words or phrases in their

definitions angry, angrily, anger (including its near synonyms such as

rage, indignation, annoyance and upsetting) and strong criticism (that

presupposes an angry criticizer)

b) Classifications of idioms of anger

There are different ways to classify idioms of anger and three of which, classification based on degree of anger, meanings and Lakoff’s approach will be presented as follows

c) Classification based on degree of anger

Fernando (1996:132) says that anger and its single-word synonym range

from the intense, such as explode, erupt, enrage, infuriate,…through the moderate (irascible, annoyance, irritable, etc.) to the mild (cross, peevish,

sulky, grumpy, ill-humour, etc.) She cited some idioms which signify intense

anger such as for one’s blood to boil, burn with rage/anger, feel as though

somebody would burst, blow one’s top… However, this classification is quite

difficult for learners as it is not easy to determine which degree an idiom belongs to

d) Classification based on meanings

Dictionary of Idioms (1996) classifies idioms into three groups: idioms expressing anger, annoyance and things people say when they are angry or annoyed In Longman Idioms Dictionary (1998), ‘anger’ is a

‘concept word’ which is divided into groups of idioms that have similar meanings (cited from Longman Idioms Dictionary - 1998)

Idioms make perfect examples of figurative language, in that the overall meaning of an idiom can not be predicted from the composition of the literal meanings of the constituent parts For example, we can not predict

that these idioms up in arms or down in the mouth mean very angry

Idioms in both English and Vietnamese are structurally and lexically closely-combined phrases whose meanings are completely different from their component parts

These classifications are very useful and convenient for learners, for they can find the idiom to express their ideas easily based on the meaning

e) Classification based on Lafoff’s approach

The Lakovian approach offers a new perspective on human cognition through extrapolation of conceptual patterns from systematic clusters of linguistic expressions In this approach, metaphor and metonymy are seen as primary conceptual, constituting fundamental mechanism of the mind that structure mental representations of many abstract concepts On the basis of a group of metaphorical and metonymical expression of anger in English, Lakoff and his colleagues (Lakoff 1987, Lakoff and Kovecses 1987, ect.) identify the following conceptual metaphors and metonymies:

Anger is hot fluid in a container

E.g He flipped his lid

Anger is heat

E.g They were having a heated argument

Anger is fire

E.g Those are inflammatory remarks

The physiological effects of an emotion stand for the emotion

E.g He was quivering with rage

Anger is a storm

E.g It was a storming meeting

Insane behaviour stands for anger

E.g When my mother finds out, she’ll have a fit

Anger is a dangerous animal

E.g He has a fierce temper

Angry behaviour is aggressive animal behaviour

E.g Don’t bite my head off

Aggressive verbal behaviour stands for anger

E.g I really chewed him out good

Aggressive visual behaviour stands for anger

E.g He gave me a dirty look

The cause of anger is a physical annoyance

E.g He is pain in his neck

Anger is insanity

E.g I just touched him, and he went crazy

Violent frustrated behaviour stands for anger

E.g He’s tearing his hair out

Anger is an opponent

E.g I was seized by anger

Causing anger is trespassing

E.g Get out of my sight!

Anger is burden

E.g He carries his anger around with him Shie Jian-shiung (2005) adds

some metaphors such as ‘angry criticism is discharge of firearms or

artillery’, ‘great anger is an explosion’, ‘angry

2.2.2.6 Summary

In brief, this chapter has reviewed previous studies relating to the research area and theoretical background that is employed for conducting the whole graduation thesis Regarding the theoretical framework, the theory relating to semantic unity has been used as a foundation for analyzing structural and semantic features of English idioms denoting “anger” with

reference to the Vietnamese equivalents In terms of theoretical background,

all aspects relating to idiom such as definition, features, classification and comparison with proverb have been indicated After the data collection had been done, all idioms were classified according to the categories of meanings created exclusively for the thesis The following chapters will provide a more

detailed description of the methodology used for the idiom analysis so as to point out about structural and semantic meaning of English Idioms denoting anger with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents.

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter is done to show the orientations and methods that are employed to conduct the whole research It comprises of two main parts: (i) research-governing orientations and (ii) research methods

3.1 Research-governing orientations

3.1.1 Research questions

This research seeks to address the following questions:

(i) What are the typical structural and semantic features English idioms denoting ‘anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents?

(ii) What are the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English idioms denoting “anger” in term of structural and semantics features?

(iii) What are some possible implications for teaching and learning English idioms denoting “anger” effectively?

3.1.2 Research setting

The data of the research includes a variety of idioms denoting anger to the reference to Vietnamese equivalent in which are mainly collected from both English and Vietnamese dictionaries, books and literature works Some

of the results have shown that the learners are faced with untold difficulties

in understanding English idioms thus exerting a negative influence on translation and communication capability This research is carried out with small purpose of helping learners here to master English idioms denoting anger with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents as well as to improve their ability of using them in real-life communication

3.1.3 Research approach

Qualitative and quantitative research approaches are combined Qualitative approach is to investigate the structural and semantic features of English idiomatic denoting ANGER Quantitative approach is to describe these features in form of statistics, thus helping to interpret the results

3.1.4 Criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

The selective material related to English idioms denoting anger plays a crucial role in terms of supplement data for the research The English idioms for the research have been collected from the most trusted dictionaries in which idioms are carefully collected and categorized into alphabetical arrangement The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1995), Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms (2000), Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms (2003), Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2006) have been chosen since not only the interpretation of meanings but also a number of examples to illustrate could be provided to help readers to understand the origin of English idioms The Vietnamese idioms are selected from “Hoàng Văn Hoành, 1998, Kể chuyện thành ngữ, tục ngữ, Viện Ngôn ngữ học-Ủy ban

KHXH, Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội., “Nguyễn Như Ý (chủ biên), 1995,

Từ điển giải thích thành ngữ tiếng việt, Viện ngôn ngữ học – TT KH xã hội

và nhân văn quốc gia, Nhà xuất bản giáo dục.and “Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt” gathered by Nguyễn Lực and Lương Văn Đang (2009) and from internet sources such as http://vi.wikiquote.org and http://tudienthanhngu.com

3.2 Research methods

The study describes and compares the structural and semantic features

of English idioms denoting angers with references to the Vietnamese

equivalents and then withdraws some implications for teaching and learning

of English and Vietnamese as a foreign language

3.2.1 Major methods vs.supporting methods

The study method is used to describe in details the structural and semantic features through the examples of idioms denoting angers collected from reference books, stories, novels, dictionaries and websites

In addition, the comparative method could be used to identify the similarities and differences in structural and semantic features of idioms denoting anger in English and Vietnamese

3.2.2 Data collection techniques

In order to select an appropriate collection of English idioms denoting

“anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents with illustrating examples, following techniques have been applied: Dictionary checking, Google searching, data categorizing with determined criteria, data tabulating, etc The monolingual and bilingual dictionaries of idioms in two languages are useful instruments to collect data Google search should be accounted because a large number of relevant journals, newspapers, reference materials have been taken thanks to this tool Regarding to dictionary checking

techniques, such key words as ‘anger and other relating to anger affairs are

used to check the relevant meanings of English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents To categorize the data with determined criteria, some data mining techniques like clustering technique and classification technique are used for defining the various semantic features in accordance with certain meaning categories In addition, others minor techniques are also employed as reading comprehension, meaning comparison

and note-taking for selecting desired material of various English idioms

denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in combination with word processing technique for the archive of data categorizations

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques

After the stage of the data collection, all English idioms denoting

“anger” with reference to Vietnamese equivalents are qualitatively described, analyzed in terms of the structural and semantic features to create a rather diversified description of this groups of English idioms Thus, the data profiling technique is used in this process to track the frequency, distribution and characteristics of the values that populate the columns of a data set; this technique is also used to present the statistical results for review and drill-down analysis

Regarding to the selective English and Vietnamese idioms denoting

“anger” which are carefully sorted out together with illustrated examples of the above-mentioned features, tabulation technique is employed to point out the similarities and dissimilarities between English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

3.3 Summary

To sum up, the methodology employed to implement the investigation

on English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents have been presented in this chapter with two parts In the first section, research-governing orientations indicate that two main research approaches namely the qualitative and the quantitative are combined as a fundamental guidance for completing the graduation thesis With regard to the research method section, the major and supporting methods together with essential techniques applied for data collection and analysis, description and comparison of structural and semantic features have been mentioned with

intentional purposes Such practical and useful methods under the instruction and consultancy of the supervisor and other lecturers at the Faculty of Graduate Studies of Hanoi Open University are the inseparable factors that support the thorough investigation on English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

Chapter 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Many idioms of anger have been found for the investigation, a list of which can be found in the appendix, but due to the scope of the study, one hundred idioms in English and Vietnamese language which are thought to be widely used are selected for the investigation For English idioms, a number

of reference books were consulted, but the three main ones are Dictionary of

Idioms (1996), Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms (1998) and

Longman Dictionary of Idioms (1998) These books were selected because

they contain a large number of idioms of anger Vietnamese ones are

selected from Từ Điển Giải Thích Thành ngữ (1997), Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam (1998) These are also very common and widely used in linguistic study in Vietnam Besides, ‘Giải thưởng Hồ Chí Minh - Nhà Văn Tác Phẩm’ (2000) is also consulted as it is a collection of many stories by famous realistic writers, who had a profound style of writing, which revealed the reality of the society during 1930 – 1945 period Their characters in these works use a lot of idioms of anger to express their hatred

to the corrupt and depraved society

4.1 Structural features of English idioms denoting “anger” with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents

4.1.1 Similarities

4.1.1.1 Idiom patterns

It can be seen that idioms in both languages are lexically fixed Different types of idioms of anger are found in both English and Vietnamese They vary in size, form and structure from verb phrases or clause idioms as classified by Oxford Dictionary of English idioms; noun

phrases to adjective phrases or phrase idioms In the two languages there appear to be correspondent to each other in kind of phrases

Examples of verb phrases:

Idioms of anger can be in the form of verb phrase

E.g

English Vietnamese Reference

 Make one’s blood boil  Làm ai tức sôi máu Blood - máu

 Add fuel to the fire Đổ thêm dầu vào lửa

 Stick in one’s throat Chặn họng

 Wring one’s neck Vặn cổ

 Foam at the mouth Tức sùi bọt mép

 Spit in one’s face Nhổ vào mặt

 Give somebody a dirty

look

Nhìn đểu

Examples of noun phrases:

Son of bitch! Đồ chó đẻ!

A storm in a teacup Việc bé xé ra to

Examples of adjective phrases:

Hot under the collar Đằng đằng sát khí

Tight-lipped Bầm gan tím ruột

Apart from the above similarities, Idioms of anger can be in the form

of clause can be found in both languages There are 100 idioms of this kind

Like a bear with a sore head

Like a red rag to a bull