A study of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words ear, eye, lip, nose and mouth with reference to their vietnamese equivalents

From the study‘s results, the thesis gives a remarkably detailed description of semantic and syntactic features in English idioms containing the words Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth and Nose with

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORDS “EAR”, “EYE”,

“LIP”, “NOSE” “MOUTH” WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR

Back hard cover

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORDS “EAR”, “EYE”,

“LIP”, “NOSE” “MOUTH” WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled ―A study of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words: ―Ear‖, ―Eye‖, ―Lip‖, ―Nose‖ , ―Mouth‖, with reference to their 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, 2016

Đặng Thùy Linh

Approved by SUPERVISOR Phan Văn Quế

Date……… …

my growth 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 advice I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends for idea sharing and 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

One of the most effective and colourful ways to transfer culture is the use

of idioms which, howerver, cause several troubles for English leaners because of their confusing meanings

To help learers have a better understanding of idioms, particularly idioms containing the words Ear, Eye, Lip, Nose and Mouth This thesis conducts a study of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words:

―Ear‖, ―Eye‖, ―Lip‖, ―Nose‖, ―Mouth‖, with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Both descriptive and contrastive methods are used combined with the qualitative and quantitative approach The findings of this study are presented based on a collection of 320 idioms in English and Vietnamese together with a numerous number of examples taken from various linguistics books, dictionaries, newspapers and from the Internet From the study‘s results, the thesis gives a remarkably detailed description of semantic and syntactic features in English idioms containing the words Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth and Nose with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents and points out some similarities and differences between them The findings also aim at offering some practical implications for teaching and learning English and Vietnamese as a foreign language Finally, some suggestions for further studies are put forward

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Preposition Noun Phrase Verb Phrase Adjective phrase Adverbial Phrase Prepositional Phrase Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth and Nose

TABLE CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

ABSTRACT 4

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4

LIST OF TABLES 5

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the research 1

1.2 Aims of the research 3

1.3 Objectives of the research 3

1.4 Scope of the research 4

1.4.1 Academic scope 4

1.4.2 Social scope 4

1.5 Significance of the research 4

1.6 Structural organization of the research 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Review of previous studies 7

2.2 Review of theoretical background 9

2.2.1 Theoretical framework 9

2.2.1.1 Theory of syntax 9

2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics 10

2.2.2 Theoretical background 11

2.2.2.1 Definition of idioms 11

2.2.2.2 Idioms containing Ear, Eye, Lip, Nose, and Mouth 13

2.2.2.3 Typical Features of idioms 14

2.2.2.4 Idioms and Other language Units 18

2.2.2.5 Overview of Phrase Structure 20

2.2.2.6 Language and Culture Relationship 21

2.2.3 Summary 22

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOLY 23

3.1 Research-governing orientations 23

3.1.1 Research questions 23

3.1.2 Research setting 23

3.1.3 Research approach 23

3.1.4 Criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 25

3.2 Research methods 25

3.2.1 Major methods vs supporting methods 25

3.2.2 Data collection techniques 26

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques 27

3.3 Summary 28

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29

4.1 Syntactic features of idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth, and Nose in English 29

4.1.1 Phrase Structures 29

4.1.1.1 Noun Phrases 29

4.1.1.2 Verb Phrases 30

4.1.1.3 Adjective Phrase 32

4.1.1.4 Prepositional Phrases 33

4.1.2 Similarities and differences of idioms containing the words EELM&N in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic features 36

4.1.2.1 Similarities 36

4.1.2.2 Differences 37

4.2 Semantic features of idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth, and Nose in English 39

4.2.1 Meanings of Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth, and Nose in idioms 40

4.2.1.1 Meanings of Ear in idioms 40

4.2.1.2 Meaning of Eye in idioms 41

4.2.1.3 Meanings of Lip in idioms 43

4.2.1.4 Meanings of Mouth in idioms 44

4.2.1.5 Meaning of Nose in idioms 45

4.2.2 Idioms containing the words EELM&N in English and their

Vietnamese equivalents in terms of semantics 47

4.2.2.1 Idioms containing the word ―ear‖ in English and Vietnamese equivalents 47

4.2.2.2 Idioms containing the word ―eye‖ in English and Vietnamese equivalents 48

4.2.2.3 Idioms containing the word ―lip‖ in English and Vietnamese equivalents 50

4.2.2.4 Idioms containing the word ―mouth‖ in English and Vietnamese equivalents 51

4.2.2.5 Idioms containing the word ―nose‖ in English and Vietnamese equivalents 52

4.2.3 Similarities and differences of idioms containing the words EELM&N in English and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of semantic features 55

4.2.3.1 Similarities 56

4.2.3.2 Differences 57

4.3 Possible implications for teaching and learning idioms contaning the words EELM&N 58

4.4 Summary 60

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 61

5.1 Recapitulation 61

5.2 Concluding remarks 62

5.3 Limitations of the research 63

5.4 Suggestion for future research 63

REFERENCES 64

APPENDIX 1 68

APPENDIX 2 79

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research

Language is considered as a system of communicating among people who use sounds, symbols and words in expressing a meaning, idea or thought This language can be used in many forms, primarily through oral and written communications as well as using expressions through body language

As we all know, language has changed through various periods of language development Each language also conveys a particular aspect of its culture which prevents people from communicating each other effectively and clearly In addition, nowadays in the stage of integration, the more society develops, the more people have great demands in communication Moreover, it is undeniable that acquiring good command in English is beneficial to one‘s career and self-development Therefore, English has become an essential means in many fields such as education, business, and medicine

However, in the process of teaching as well as learning English as a foreign language, native speakers of Vietnamese have faced many challenging problems of understanding and using idioms properly Idioms are considered as a special form of language that carries a large amount of cultural information, such as history, geography, religion, custom, thinking pattern and so on In our daily life, in order to express ourselves more obiviously, we frequently need to call upon idioms that are defined by

Palmer (1990,p.46) as expressions whole meanings cannot be inferred from

the meaning of its part Idioms, therefore, have a considerable role in a

foreign language as in the mother tongue A good understanding of idioms is the key for learners to know more about the target language as well as and to

avoid culture shocking during communication Take the following examples:

(1) ―The government shut its eyes to poverty‖ [47, p.879]

The idiom means that is to show your refuse of seeing or take noticing of something

(2) ―Do you know what he said?‖

―Go on—I'm all ears.” [26]

Idiom ―Be all ears‖ expresses that be listening attentively or eagerly

(3) ―Các cụ xưa bảo “miệng kẻ sang có gang có thép” Nhà quan không chỉ

là ―kẻ sang‖ mà còn đầy ắp quyền lực trong tay nên không chỉ miệng có gang có thép mà đến cung cách cũng phải rất ―quan‖, hay nói nôm na là rất oách‖ [51]

Idioms ― miệng kể sang có gang có gang có thép‖ means that money gives

one power and influence to help get things done or get one's own way

(4) ―Computex là một trong những sự kiện công nghệ lớn trong năm, là triển

lãm nơi giới thiệu nhiều thiết bị phần cứng và công nghệ máy tính đột

phá Thế nhưng chưa bao giờ Computex lại khiến người tham gia chán

đến tận cổ như năm nay.‖ [49]

―Chán đến tận cổ‖ means being very dull, very uninteresting

Obviously, the idiomatic meanings of these sentences cannot be predicted through an analysis of their individual word meanings But when they are used by native speakers, idioms sound natural and fit the situation A non-native speaker, on the other hand, may know the basic meaning of such expressions but still not be able to use them appropriately Thus, mastering idioms requires a great deal of interaction, practice, and usage

Here and there, many researchers have analyzed the semantic and syntactic features of idioms denoting some topics such as fruits, colors, animals, human feelings, weather, money, clothing etc However, the semantic and syntactic features of idioms containing words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Nose and Mouth have not been investigated so far There is a need to study some syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing these words in

English and Vietnamese in the hope that the result of this study can help Vietnamese learners of English improve their understanding of idioms and apply idioms in communication so that their speech is more adequate, natural, interesting and imaginative Moreover, the investigation hopes to provide learners with background knowledge about cultural aspects related

to the idioms they are approaching

For these reasons above, we would like to choose a study of syntactic

and semantic features of idioms containing the words: “Ear”, “Eye”,

“Lip”, “Nose”, “Mouth” with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents

for our thesis topic with my desire to help language learners achieve correct comprehension of idioms

1.2 Aims of the research

The study, as entitled, focuses on syntactic and semantic features of

English idioms containing the words: EELM&N with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Thus, the study is aimed at:

The first is to identify and point out the syntactic and semantic charateristics of English idioms containing the words: EELM&N with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents in a comparative analysis so as to find out similarities and differences between them

The second is to provide learners with a basic knowledge about idioms in general and idioms containing the word EELM&N in particular

The third is that through this research, I do hope to be able to give some possible suggestions for learners to improve the learners‘ understanding and using idioms containing the words EELM&N

1.3 Objectives of the research

With the aim mentioned above, the study tries to reach the following objectives:

- To identify and describe the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the words: EELM&N

- To find out the similarities and differences between English idioms containing EELM&N and their Vietnamese equivalents in term of syntactic and semantic features

- To suggest some implications for teaching and learning idioms the words: EELM&N

1.4 Scope of the research

1.4.1 Academic scope

The research is expected to contribute an in-depth description of idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English when analyzing their syntactic and semantic features in comparison with their Vietnamese equivalents

1.4.2 Social scope

We all know that idioms are extensively used by a large range of speakers in both languages - English and Vietnamese Idioms can be easily found almost everywhere from dictionary to daily speech and literature However, we have no ambition to cover all idioms as well as all kinds of idioms containing humans body organs This study concentrates on major syntactic and semantic features of and idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth and Nose with inllustration examples are selected from some reliable dictionaries , reference books and internet It is hoped that the outcome of this research thesis, to some extent, would be able to make a certain contribution to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English

1.5 Significance of the research

Idioms as a special form of language which makes people feel at a loss in understanding conversations when they cannot guess the true meaning of idioms in normal ways From a dynamic view, learning English through idioms is one of the effective ways to improve your English because idioms carry a large amount of cultural features Therefore, thanks to this research, language learners can get a lot of advantages

First of all, this research could help learners grasp plentiful idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth and Nose in both English and Vietnamese equivalents and use them better when learning English and Vietnamese as a foreign language Particularly, learners can make their dream come true - to communicate more naturally, effectively and successfully in conversations

What is more, giving a description of semantic and syntactic features of English idioms containing the words: EELM&N with Vietnamese equivalents will be beneficial to learners to know how to use these idioms properly get better results in translation Besides, learning idioms provides learners with a good opportunity to acquire information about a language‘s culture because idioms enable learners to immerse in the way of speakers expressing their inner thoughts, views, emotions and ideas

As a whole, it is hoped that along with the understanding of the semantic and syntactic features of these idioms in English and Vietnamese, this study can be a useful material for learning and teaching of language through idioms containing the words: EELM&N

1.6 Structural organization of the research

The study is organized into five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter includes the rationale, the aims, the objectives, the scope and

the significance and the organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter introduces previous studies related to the thesis Also, this is

an introduction to theoretical background which is designed to serve as the basic foundation of data analysis and discussion of findings in the following chapters

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter present the research questions and research approach with various methods and techniques to conduct the research thesis

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions

This chapter concentrates on describing, analyzing and comparing the semantic and syntactic features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English and Vietnamese equivalents Besides, this chapter gives some implications for teaching and learning English and Vietnamese idioms

Chapter 5: Conclusions

This final chapter gives the summary of the study Furthermore, this chapter also presents the limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will provide background knowledge of the terms concerned, including knowledge of semantic and syntactic features of idioms so as to lay the foundation in theory for analysis of the points mentioned in the first chapter Especially, this chapter also gives theories mentioning the relationship between idioms and culture However, before presenting the theories background related to the research, a brief review of previous studies related to the study will be introduced as a matter of first priority

2.1 Review of previous studies

The prosperity of language in form and content not only brings the beauty

of language but also deeply contributes to successful daily communications Every language in the world has large numbers of idioms Idioms make color for language Idioms carry a large amount of nationally or culturally specific information with them It can be said that idioms are an interesting and popular phenomenon of every language

Up to now, there have been several investigations of human body part and their roles in language In English, we have Andersen, the author of

―Lexical Universal of Body-Part Terminology‖ published in 1978 [1] In her

book, she also mentioned to the role of body parts in language acquisition and child development Basing on diary studies and children‘s early vocabulary lists, she found out that children learn terms showing parts of the head earlier than other parts of the body It means that their earliest terms apply to parts of the face Bc Martina Němcová (2013) [22] in

―Comparative analysis of English and French body idiom‖ deals with a

comparative study of the selected group of English and French body idioms

that contain the following body organs: hand, head and foot The theoretical

part focuses on specific features of idioms, their classification and structural patterns The practical part is devoted to the analysis and comparison of

English and French body idioms from the lexical, formal and semantic points

of view The idioms are analysed and divided into four categories according

to the level of their equivalence PuXingYue ( 2012) [28] in “A Contrastive

Study on Japanese and Korean Idioms of Human Body” This research paper

is to define purpose of the two countries with the body language in language

to express the feelings and the characteristics of the methods ―Czech and

English Idioms of Body Parts: A View from Cognitive Semantics‖ written by

Ilona Bílková ( 2000) [2] This thesis has analysed Czech and English idioms containing parts of the human body in order to support the hypothesis that these expressions are motivated by conceptual structures, such as general conventional knowledge and conceptual metaphors and metonymies

In Vietnamese, in ―A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese

idioms using the terms of human body parts‖, Nguy n Thị Hiệp (2001) [39]

investigated idioms in relation to their grammatical and semantic features From the cognitive point of view, Nguyen Huynh Ngoc Thanh (2003) [46]

compared and contrasted the use of body-part terms to locate in space in ―A

cognitive semantics study on the spatial terms derived from body-parts used

in English and Vietnamese‖ Vo Thanh Quyen (2006) [48] in ―A contrastive analysis of idioms denoting human feelings in English and Vietnamese‖

stated that there are more differences than similarities both in terms of structure and semantics The complexity and dissimilarities between the systems of English and Vietnamese human feeling idioms reflect not only the different languages but also the way people in different cultures conceive, think about and feel the practical world around Hoàng Thị Bảo

Kim (2006) [40] has focused on analyzing and discussing ―the syntactic and

semantic features of collocations of the words “skin” and “da” in advertising in English and Vietnamese‖

In short, all of these books and theses above could, to some extent, serve

as the basis for the theoretical background of this thesis However, a study

on idioms containing the words: EELM&N has not been taken into

consideration This is a reason why this thesis studies syntactic and semantic

features of English idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Nose and Mouth with their Vietnamese equivalents Thus, this study is thought to be

syntax ―is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of

languages; in this sense it's used in the same way as we use "stylistics" to mean the study of literary style‖ (1998) In fact, the former definition is

accepted more popularly than the second one

In English, as well as in other languages, the arrangement of words (syntax) is a vital factor on determining the meaning of a sentence However,

as Van Valin et al stated, not only syntax but also morphology take part in the process of determine the meaning of a sentence The roles of syntax or morphology are minor or major depend on which language is analyzed This means that the cross-linguistic study of syntax cannot be carried out without paying any attention to morphology and the functional overlap between two terms syntax and morphology which can be summarized in only one word

―morphosyntax‖ As stated, syntax has come through a long development with different notions which were based on different backgrounds

According to Van Valin et al., the current work in syntax - both theoretical and descriptive - now is carried out under a certain linguistic background whose goals are describing, explaining linguistic phenomena and understanding the cognitive basis of language These goals exist in an interaction that the former is the condition or the supporter for the latter The first linguistic background comes from Chomsky‘s theory of universal grammar (syntactocentric view of language) He considers syntax as the central aspect of language, the phonological and semantic aspects are derivative of and secondary to syntactic structures Thus, language appears

as an abstract object whose structures are to be studied independently mainly

in terms of psycholinguistics Therefore, issues raised in three goals of linguistic study has not been solved in Chomsky‘s theory This means that there needs to be a more appropriate approach to this situation - systemic functional linguistics, the theory that makes up the so-called communicative and-cognitive point of view In this theory, the status of syntax, as Van Valin

et al state, "…is an issue with respect to which theories within this

perspective differ.‖ In terms of structures, syntax focuses on two main sub

objects: clause structures and phrase structures (sentence structures are also taken into consideration, but not much) Each structure of clause/phrase is then splitted into different layers with specific constituent(s) and displayed in

a tree-diagram In both clause and phrase structures, there is always a part called the head (the nuclear) element which makes the structures different from each other

2.2.1.2 Theory of semantics

Whereas syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language statement, semantics is the meaning of these elements According

to Robert Dixon, (1991, p.40), “The word semantics derived from the Greek

semaino, meaning, to signify or mean Semantics is a part of a larger study

of signs, semiotics It is the part that deals with words as signs (symbol) and

language as a system of sign (words as symbols)” Knowing a language is

how to produce and understanding sentences with particular meanings The study of linguistic meaning, called semantics, is concerned with the meaning

of words, morphemes, phrases and sentences The term meaning is, of course, much more familiar to us all although there are numerous different

definitions of dictionaries Palmer (1990) suggested that semantics is a part

of linguistics, a scientific study of language Therefore, learners should

attempt to see what meaning is, or should be, within the framework of an academic or scientific discipline rather than take the simple looking at the common or even scholarly uses of the relevant terms Semantics is a branch

of language study dealing with word meaning Word meaning consists of grammatical meaning and lexical meaning Grammatical meaning unites all grammatical characteristics of a word and lexical meaning is a realization of

a concept or notion Lexical meaning includes denotative meaning and connotative meaning Semantics studies also other spheres of word meaning such as polysemy, homonymy, synonymy, antonym, as well as development

of meaning including some figures of speech, namely metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole and irony These units also relate to the formation of semantic structure of words in English

2.2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.2.1 Definition of idioms

As dealing with the term idioms, linguists have given out a variety of definitions Although they almost share the similar points of view, opposing viewpoints are inevitable and this is reflected in the following definitions:

According to Cowie (1994) [5], idiom is defined as ―groups of words with

set meanings that cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meaning of the parts” and as “… peculiarity of phraseology having meaning deducible from those of the separate words…‖

Laval (2003) [20, p.723], states: ―Idiomatic expressions are expressions

where there is a considerable difference between what said (literal interpretation) is and what is meant (idiomatic interpretation) In other words, the meaning of an idiomatic expressions depend largely on a convention that relates a given linguistic form to a given meaning‖

As for Richards et al in ―Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics.‖

[30] stated that ―An idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit

and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts‖

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of the English Language [4, p.718] defines

―an idiom is a group of words, which, when, they are used together in a

particular combination, have different meaning from the one they would have if you took the meaning of all individual words in the group‖

Idioms have attracted the interest of Vietnamese linguistic researchers as

well Mai Ngọc Chừ, Vũ Đức Nghiệu and Hoàng Trọng Phiến in Cơ Sở

Ngôn Ngữ Học Tiếng Việt [35, p.153-165] affirm that ―idioms are groups of words which are syntactically restricted and have a particular meaning Their meaning are often imaginative and figurative”(Thành ngữ là cụm từ

cố định, hoàn chỉnh về cấu trúc và ý nghĩa Nghĩa của chúng có tính hình tượng và gợi cảm)

Sharing the same idea with Mai Ngọc Chừ, Vũ Đức Nghiệu and Hoàng

Trọng Phiến, Hoàng Văn Hành [38] states that ―idioms are set expressions

which are stable in morpho-structure, complete and figurative in meaning, used widely in communication‖ (Thành ngữ là một loại tổ hợp từ cố định, bền vững về hình thái cấu trúc, hoàn chỉnh, bóng bẩy về ý nghĩa, được sử dụng rộng rãi trong giao tiếp thường ngày)

Hồ Lê [41] states that ―an idiom is a word combination which has a stable structure and a figurative meaning, and it is used to describe an image, a phenomenon, a characteristic or a state.‖

From the definitions mentioned above, it can be seen that the term

―idiom‖ should be understood as a whole, not word-by-word and idioms are very various in their structures and forms

With the aims of syntactic and semantic analysis of idioms in both English and Vietnamese, I intend to adopt the definition of idioms given out

by Fromkin, Collins and Blair [11, p.231], in which idioms are defined as

―fixed phrases, consisting of more than one word, with meanings that cannot

be inferred from the meanings of the individual words.‖

2.2.2.2 Idioms containing Ear, Eye, Lip, Nose, and Mouth

According to Cambridge Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary,

Ear is: 1- (Body Part) is either of the two organs, one on each side of the

head, by which people or animals hear sounds, or piece of skin and tissue outside the head connected to this organ; 2- (Plant Part) the flower part of a plant like a grass, such as wheat, which later contains the grains which are

used as food

Eye is: 1- (Body Part ) one of two organs in your face, which you use to see

with; 2-(Plant Part) a dark spot on a potato or similar plant part, from which

a new stem and leaves will grow; 3-( Hole) the hole in a needle through which you put the thread

Lip is : 1- ( Body Part ) one of the two soft, red edges of the mouth, 2-

(Edge) a part of an edge of a container that is shaped to allow liquid to be poured easily from the container; 3- ( Speech ) when someone argues in a rude way or in a way that shows little respect

Mouth is : 1-( Body Part) the opening of the face of a person or animal,

consisting of the lips and the space between them, or the space behind containing the teeth and the tongue; 2- the opening of a narrow contaniner, the opening of a hole or cave, or the place where a river follows into the sea

Nose is: 1-(Body Part) the part of the face that sticks out above the mouth,

through which you breathe and smell; 2-(Vehicle) the front of a vehicle, especially an aircraft

In accordance with the above definitions, as is commonly understood, the eyes, ear, lip, nose and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste

This study will attempt to show that people in the Vietnam and English cultures share images of idiomatic expressions containing parts of the human

body (ear, eye, lip, mouth and nose) The contention here is that idioms

which make use of parts of the human body are more predictable than other idioms, simply because as human beings we are completely familiar with our perceptions of the shape, size, and functions of individual parts of our own bodies, because we experience them every day This is why it is easier for us

to interpret the meaning of idiomatic expressions containing parts of the human body than We can say that idioms containing the words: EELM&N are idioms which denote a certain aspect of human being aiming to criticize, dispraise or express emotion in an indirect way We can have a look at some illustrations as follows:

(5) You shouldn‘t say things like that about people all the time Everyone

will say you have a big mouth [53]

(6) Thật đúng với câu “cả vú lấp miệng em” Phát biểu trên báo chí mà ông

này liên tục đập bàn, bọt sùi ra hai bên mép trắng xóa [50]

2.2.2.3 Typical Features of idioms

The English language abounds in idioms like any other highly developed tongues They consist of set phrases and short sentences, which are peculiar

to the language in question and loaded with the native cultures and ideas Therefore, idioms are colourful, forcible and thought provoking Strictly speaking, idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from

their literal meanings of individual elements, for example, fly off the handle

(become excessively angry) and put up with (tolerate) In a broad sense,

idioms may include colloquialisms, catchphrases, slang expressions, proverbs, etc They form an important part of the English vocabulary This part will deal with idioms in terms of their characteristics

2.2.2.3.1 Syntactic Restriction and Stability

―Language is a source of misunderstandings‖ (Antoine de Saint

Exupery) People express and share their thought and emotions, their wish and intentions by using the language Syntax combines words in a sentence; however knowledge of grammar is not good enough to know a language as a whole because language contains lots of idiomatic constructions which require both theoretical and practical knowledge

In idioms studies of many linguists, the characteristic features of idioms

are ―syntactic restriction‖ and ―stability‖ It was discovered by Yong and Peng [34, p.178] ―idioms are characterized by semantic opaqueness,

syntactic restrictions and structural stability‖ What is more, it is interesting

to note that ―although idioms consist of more than one word, they display to

some extent the sort of internal cohesion that we expect of single words‖ [6,

p.38] That is to say, therefore, that the elements in idioms usually bound together Hardly can idioms be inserted any word to satisfy users‘ intention

According to Grains and Redman [12, p.36] consider ―all idioms

grammatically restricted‖ Idioms typically refuse interruption and

re-arrangement of components Unlike free phrases, the structure of an idiom is to a large extent unchangeable First, the constituents of idioms

cannot be replaced Take in a brown study for example Used as a free phrase, we can say in a brown (red, green, white, etc.) study or in a brown

study (room, den, hall, studio, cell, etc.) However, as an idiom means deep

in thought , the structure is fixed

In the same way, đầu gối quá tai is not to be changed into đầu gối quá tay

or đầu gối quá mắt We cannot modify, add, extract or replace components

without breaking or disturbing their real meaning Secondly, the word order

cannot be inverted or changed For example, by twos and threes and tit for

tat are not to be turned into by threes and twos and tat for tit Similarly, the lion's share is not to be replaced by the share of the lion though it is a

common practice in free phrases

Thirdly, the constituents of an idiom cannot be deleted or added to, not

even an article For instance, out of the question means impossible If the article the is deleted, the idiomaticity will be lost and it will signify no

question instead

Finally, many idioms are grammatically unanalysable For example,

diamond cut diamond (two parties are equally matched) is grammatically

incorrect, for normally the verb cut should take the third person singulars as the subject diamond is singular Meanwhile there exists a structurally similar idiom Like cures like, in which -s cannot be deleted (as) sure as eggs is

eggs (quite certainly) may serve as another example The verb is in the idiom

should be are to agree with grammar However, we use it as it is It is

grammatically wrong, but idiomatic and widely accepted

2.2.2.3.2 Semantic Unity

Being phrases or sentences, idioms each consist of more than one word, but each is a semantic unity Though the various words which make up the idiom have their respective literal meanings, in the idiom they have lost their individual identity Their meanings are not often recognizable in the meaning of the whole idiom Likewise, the part of speech of each element is

no longer important Quite often the idiom functions as one word For

instance, till the cows come home, which comprises a conjunction till, an article the, a noun cow, a verb come and an adverb home, means forever and functions as an adverb, thus replaceable by the word forever The same can

be said of keep in mind (remember), take off (imitate), like abreeze(easily)

and so on The semantic unity of idioms is also reflected in the illogical

relationship between the literal meaning of each word and the meaning of the

idiom Many idioms are semantically inexplicable For example, How do you

do is a common form of greeting used by people when they first meet

Literally it means in what way do you do things, which is far from its idiomatic usage Similarly, rain cats and dogs which is used in the sense of

rain heavily but literally makes non sense

2.2.2.3.3 Semantic Ambiguity

As for Jackson and Zé Amvela [18], idioms may be characterized by several features, but one of the main features of idioms is semantic

ambiguity ―Since most idioms are constructed from morphemes that are

also used non idiomatically, they may have either a literal or an idiomatic meaning‖[18, p.67] which resulted in their ambiguity in meaning The

meaning of an idiom cannot be inferred from the meaning of its components Based on the degree of semantic opacity, the idioms fall into three groups: idiomatic fusion, idiomatic unities and idiomatic combinations It is clear that most idioms are constructed from components that can be also used non-idiomatically Ambiguity refers to whether an idiom has both literal and

figurative meanings, or only a figurative meaning The idiom kick the bucket

is ambiguous because it has both a literal meaning (striking a pail with a

foot) and a figurative meaning (dying), but the idiom under the weather is

unambiguous because it only has a figurative meaning

In fact, once a reader or hearer realizes that the literal meaning is unsuitable in the context, he will seek out the figurative meaning When the ambiguity still exists, it is difficult to reach final decision in respect of the

notion idioms and its content Clearly ―the context in which the idiom occurs

also plays an important role in the reduction of this potential ambiguity‖

[18, p.67] Furthermore, both ―literal meaning” and “transferred meaning‖

are in an idiom [35, p.103] Transferred meaning is one of reason causing

semantic ambiguity According to Nguyen Hoa [24], ―transference of

meaning includes mainly metaphor and metonymy, comparison and so on‖

Hence, the more ambiguous an idiom is, the more difficulties a language learner will face with its interpretation In the book ―Semantics‖, Palmer [27,

p.103] said that ―one of the most familiar kinds of relationships between

meanings is that of metaphor where a word appears to have both a literal meaning and one or more transferred meanings‖ Great attention will be

spent on the characteristic of semantic ambiguity of idiom, in this thesis I analyze idioms in certain situation and context combined with the means of transferring which are manifested in meaning ways

However, idioms become interesting and colorful thanks to their semantic ambiguity of idioms Additionally, idioms add humor, imagery, spice to language and dress up messages in a colorful way In this thesis, idioms are analyzed in both aspects of semantic and syntactic features through their phrases

2.2.2.4 Idioms and Other language Units

It‘s necessary to distinguish idioms from other language units in order to have a deeper understanding about idioms in general and use them in particular

2.2.2.4.1 Idioms and Phrases

―A phrase is a group of words which form a grammatical unit A phrase

does not contain a finite verb and does not have a subject- predicate structure‖ as in Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied

Linguistics (1993) The meaning of phrase (free-combination of words) is the free addition of the meanings of the words existing in the phrase Whereas, idioms are considered as ―ready-made utterances‖ or single items We cannot add, remove any word from idioms or change their orders In addition, meaning

of an idiom cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts

2.2.2.4.2 Idioms and Collocations

Collocations provide the mutual expectancy of words, or the ability of a word to predict the likelihood of another word occurring According to Cruse

[4,p.40] ―Collocation will be used to refer to sequences of lexical items

which habitually co-occur, but which are not nonetheless fully transparent in the sense that each lexical constituent is also a semantic constituent‖

Collocations share several common features with idioms such as fixed groups of words, highly contextual restricted and having arbitrary limitation

in use For instant, the verb flex in English allows only a limited number

meaning relations of possible words as object in the sentence, primarily

muscles or parts of the body such as legs or arms The adjective maiden

predicts a limited number of nouns, primarily voyage or flight and speech, whereas one component of idioms, being semantically opaque, that helps readers/listeners to see the boundary between them, thus rain heavily is a collocation, but rain cats and dogs is an idiom

2.2.2.4.3 Idioms and Proverbs

In everyday speech, many idioms are mistakenly regarded as proverbs and vice versa So, ―what is proverb?‖

―Proverb is a sentence that is complete in meaning by itself and expresses an

idea, a comment, an experience, an ethics, a truth or a criticism‖ [44]

Therefore, we can say that proverbs and idioms share some common features

as in stable structure and ready units for reproduction National character of each country can be clearly reflected in them In grammatical and semantics aspects, idioms and proverbs are quite different from each other Idioms have a form of phrases or group of words treated as single words while proverbs are complete sentences regardless of how short it is Proverbs are always independent units, whereas idioms dependent The meanings of idioms are equivalent to those of phrases whereas semantic features of proverbs are judgment, estimates or confirmations about certain truths For examples:

(7) Those who live in glass houses shouldn‘t throw stones [26] (8) By the skin of your teeth [26]

(9) Hoài con mà gả chồng xa

Một là mất giỗ, hai là mất con [43, p.214]

(10) Dĩ hòa vi quý [43, p.143]

The first three sentences (7) and (9) are considered as proverbs and the left

ones are idioms According to Hoang Tat Truong ―a proverb shows popular

wisdom, a truth or a moral lesson in a concise and imaginary way, whereas

an idiom doesn’t.‖ [15, p.97]

2.2.2.5 Overview of Phrase Structure

The term phrase is widely used in linguistic community but rarely a concrete definition about it can be found in a grammar book In most dictionaries and researches, phrases are defined in a rather similar way The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, for example, defines

phrases as ―syntactic construction which typically contains more than one

word, but which lacks the subject-predicate structure usually found in a clause‖ (p.222) while the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and

Applied Linguistics gives another definition that ―Phrase is a group of

words which form a grammatical unit A phrase does not contain a finite verb and does not have a subject-predicate structure.‖ For example:

a) I like her expensive new car

b) Geogre hates working in the garden

From these two definitions above, it can be drawn out that a phrase may not always consist of only one word, it may be one-word-phrase in cases of basic phrase; and there is no subject-predicate structure exists in a phrase, which includes the excluding of a finite verb, because this will make a phrase become a clause or a sentence Phrases are usually classified according to their head or central element and named after that element In fact, though each school of grammar gives different names to each type of

phrases, the thesis is based on the viewpoint of Sydney Greenbaum in The

Oxford English Grammar and in A University Grammar of English by

Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum on grammar for features of English structure According to Quirk [29,p.17],there are four element realization types: a verb phrase, a noun phrase, an adjective phrase, and a prepositional phrase

2.2.2.6 Language and Culture Relationship

2.2.2.6.1 Concept of Culture

Culture is the aspect of our existence that makes us similar to some people, yet different from most of the people in the world It is culture that binds us together into a group sharing a certain degree of similarity that overcomes individual differences while setting us apart from other groups

Thus when we speak of culture we mean ―a way of life that is common to a

group of people, a collection of beliefs and attitudes, shared understandings, and patterns of behaviour that allow those people to live together in relative harmony, but set them apart from other peoples”, [16, p.73-105] In the

chapter Language, Culture and Thought of this book, culture is also defined

as that complex whole (an integrated/ related unit) which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired (not inherited or instinctive) by man as a member of society Culture is understood to refer to the total pattern of human learned behavior transmitted from generation to generation

2.2.2.6.2 The Relationship of Culture and Language

The relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted Language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties Different ideas stem from differing language use within one‘s culture and the whole

intertwining of these relationships start at one‘s birth

Culture and language are closely related to each other ―Many of the

properties of language are also the properties of culture in general‖ as

shown by Hudson [16, p.73] Supporting this view, Saville- Troike‘s affirms

that ―there is correlation between the form and the content of a language

and the beliefs values and needs present in the culture of its speakers‖

Sharing the same point of view, Nguyen Quang defines culture as ―a

shared background (e.g national, ethic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values‖

[25, p.36] it is possible to say that the culture of a people finds reflection in the language they employ: because they value certain things and do them in

a certain way, they come to use their language in ways that reflect what they value and what they do

Briefly, culture is a product of the human mind and it is defined, propagated and sustained through language The relation between language and culture is indisputably symbiotic

2.2.3 Summary

Chapter II of this paper has presented a review of related previous studies

on grammatical structures and semantics feature relating idioms

A variety of definitions on semantic and syntactic features of idiom in English and Vietnamese offer a descriptive framework for the investigation into idioms containing the words EELM&N in later chapters

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology used for the whole study It comprises of two main parts:

(1) Research-governing orientations

(2) Research methods

Firstly, the research-governing orientations is mention to use in the thesis

in section 3.1 Then, the research method is mentioned in section 3.2

3.1 Research-governing orientations

This part consists of research questions, research setting, research

approach and criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

3.1.1 Research questions

This study aims at identifying syntactic and semantic features of idioms

containing the words: EELM&N in English and their Vietnamese equivalents In order to achieve this aim, the research questions are:

1 What are the syntactic and semantic features of English idioms containing the words: EELM&N?

2 What are the similarities and differences between English idioms containing the words: EELM&N and their Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic features?

3 What are possible implications for teaching and learning idioms containing the words:EELM&N?

3.1.2 Research setting

With the experience of having taught English for three years, I realize that my students often make mistakes when they learn and use idioms Therefore, I intend to carry out my research through dictionaries, reference books at library, some websites to help my students college identify more clearly about differences in structure as well as in semantic between idioms

3.1.3 Research approach

This research is conducted to describe and analyze the syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English and their Vietnamese equivalents In order to achieve these objectives and answer research questions, the combination of quantitative and qualitative

approaches is used

In reference with quantitative approach, this thesis is carried out on the

basis of data collected from different sources in order to achieve an objective conclusion in the research Most of the English and Vietnamese samples mainly come from dictionaries and some others are selected from referent books and internet

The qualitative approach is employed to describe and analysis the data of the study The steps of the study are conducted in the order as follow:

- Analysing English idioms containing the words: EELM&N with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents in terms of syntactic and semantic features

- Finding the similarities and differences between syntactic and semantic

of features of English idioms containing the words: EELM&N and Vietnamese equivalents

- Suggesting some implications for teaching and learning idioms containing the words: EELM&N

After the idioms are collected, the data will be analyzed on the basis of semantic and syntactic perspectives The collected data would be qualitatively and quantitatively processed to investigate syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English and their Vietnamese equivalents Firstly, the data will be grouped into categories depending on their nature in the syntactic and semantic categories Then, all of them will be grouped again in the category of functions revealed

in different context in order to find out their syntactic and semantic features After that, an analysis will be presented and some meaningful conclusions

will be withdrawn Lastly, from these conclusions, some similarities and differences of idioms containing the words: EELM&N between English and Vietnamese will be provided

3.1.4 Criteria for intended data collection and data analysis

The data used for analysis of the thesis, as mentioned above, are collected from dictionaries, books and websites The dictionaries and books are chosen with names of authors, names of publishers, time and place of publication The data from internet are chosen from the reliable websites with the addresses and the search dates In addition, the results of the research are withdrawn from the analysis of evidence, statistics with a fully consideration Therefore, the thesis is totally reliable and valid

After collecting the data from reliable sources, we classify and analyze them into syntactic and semantic fields in order to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms containing the words: EELM&N

3.2 Research methods

3.2.1 Major methods vs supporting methods

This study is designed to investigate the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents, so the descriptive and comparative methods have been chosen as major ones

Firstly, the descriptive method is utilized in order to give a full account of syntactic and semantic features of the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English

Secondly, the comparative method is applied to identify the similarities and differences in term of syntactic and semantic features of the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents

Some other methods such as analytical, synthetic have also been used as supporting ones Furthermore, to investigate in details the syntactic features

of the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English with their different components and semantic features with various nuances of meanings, analytical method is also employed, and then the synthetically method is used for grouping them on the basis of certain criteria according to syntactic and semantic features Moreover, quite a few of research techniques have been combined, such as statistics, componential analysis and contrastive analysis

In conducting the investigation, last but not least, setting up a regular consultancy with supervisor for a guidance and academic exchange is a critical technique to find out a right direction for doing the research successfully

3.2.2 Data collection techniques

The selective material related to the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English and Vietnamese equivalents plays a crucial role in terms of supplement data for the study

Firstly, a large number of idioms contaning the words : EELM&N in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents are collected as many

as possible from dictionaries, printed books, newspapers and Internet to

make the corpus of for the study such as Từ điển Thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt

Nam (2015) by Nguy n Lân, Từ điển Anh Việt (1993) by Viện Ngôn Ngữ

Học, Cambrigde Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2008) by Cambridge Universiry and Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 8th Edition CD- Rom

In short, the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries of idioms in two languages are useful instruments for collecting data Google search should

be accounted because a large number of relevant journals, newspapers, reference materials have been taken thanks to this tool Tables are also helpful for stating the results of analysis and percentage as well Moreover, frequent talks with the supervisor, lecturers on the field have proved to be a very useful way for completing the study Also, the study is carried out on the basis of the author‘s personal experience

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques

After being collected, idioms in the two languages are selected and grouped to be independently observed All idioms are analyzed, classified in order to meet the need of analysis Data analysis is done in terms of syntax and semantics

Syntactically, the analysis and classification are mainly based on the different structural categories of idioms such as: noun phrases, verbs phrases, adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases The results of this steps are summarized in statistical tables By examining the distribution rates of each type in English and Vietnamese, the researcher would look for the special characteristics for each of them, generalize the results so as to have a complete overview about the structure of idioms in English and Vietnamese Next, the obtained data in the two languages are synthesized and compared in detail to sort out the similar and different features between them Then the research results are comprehensively analyzed in order to find out possible explanations for these similarities and differences

Semantically, the classification is carried out on the basis typical features

of idioms in English languages Furthermore, the thesis also finds out the transfer of meaning employed in English idioms containing the words: EELM&N with Vietnamese equivalents and discover cultural characteristics reflected in these idioms in both languages

From the results of the analysis, the researcher also suggests the ways to handle the idioms in general and some effective ways for language users in teaching and learning idioms

3.3 Summary

With the purpose of making an investigation into the syntactic and semantics features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English and Vietnamese equivalents, this study is carried out through a descriptive, comparative analysis The method of the study is as follows:

Firstly, we present some basic theoretical concepts relating to semantic, syntactic aspects of the idioms containing the words: EELM&N in English For this method, many reference books and materials are used for analysis Secondly, we use the comparative analysis in qualitative and quantitative approach to analyze and describe the collected data for finding out the linguistic features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N The collected data for this study will be taken from various sources The sample will include a number of examples The samples are taken from dictionaries, reference books, internet in English and Vietnamese To illustrate for this study, we also take some extract from internet source, daily conversation The comparative analysis will be used to create reliable and convincing findings

In the next section, the findings emanating from the date collected will be discussed

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The findings of the analysis of syntactic and semantic features of idioms containing the words: EELM&N will be presented in this chapter We will conduct a combined analysis of these idioms in both syntactic and semantic features in English and Vietnamese equivalents Also, to clarify the findings,

a detailed discussion and examples from our data collection together will be presented

4.1 Syntactic features of idioms containing the words: Ear, Eye, Lip, Mouth, and Nose in English

As focused on the previous chapter, idioms should be understood in a broaden sense to phrases From this point of view, I began to analyze the examples extracted from a large number of official sources and discovered that idioms can be divided into 4 groups: work idioms in a structure of a noun phrase, work idioms in a structure of a verb phrase, work idioms in a structure of an adjective phrase, and work idioms in a structure of a prepositional phrase

4.1.1 Phrase Structures

4.1.1.1 Noun Phrases

A noun phrase may be an indeterminately long and complex structure having a noun as head, preceded by other words such as an article, an adjective, or another noun, and followed by a prepositional phrase or by a relative clause; it is by no means uncommon to find all such items present in

a noun phrase The idiomatic noun phrase are classified into three basic patterns as follows:

a (Article) + Adjective + Noun

Idioms are under this pattern such as: The naked eye, a stiff upper lip, a

red eye, a big mouth, brown nose, a smart mouth, the evil eye

Here are two examples: