A study on idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in english with reference to their vietnamese equivalents

THESIS A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING THE WORD “EYE” IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA TỪ MẮT TRONG TIẾNG ANH VỚI

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING THE WORD “EYE” IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE

TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA TỪ MẮT

TRONG TIẾNG ANH VỚI NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ

TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

DƯƠNG THỊ HƯƠNG THÚY

Hanoi, 2016

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING THE WORD “EYE” IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE

TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ CÓ CHỨA TỪ MẮT

TRONG TIẾNG ANH VỚI NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ

TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT)

DƯƠNG THỊ HƯƠNG THÚY

Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dang Ngoc Huong, Ph.D

Hanoi, 2016

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

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

entitled “idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English with

reference to their Vietnamese equivalents” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2016

Dương Thi Hương Thuy

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and full name)

Dang Ngoc Huong, Ph.D

Date: 10/12/2016

My sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at Hanoi Open University for their useful lectures, assistance and enthusiasm during my course

Special acknowledgement is also given to my lecturers at National College for Education for their precious knowledge, useful lectures in linguistics, which lay the foundation for this study

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my husband and my family for their understanding, patience and support during the entire period of my study

There are many others I should mention here, people who helped me along the way and provided me support Listing all of them would fill a book itself, so I merely will have to limit myself to a few words: I thank you ALL!

ABSTRACT

This study focused on idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye”

in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents Through their

syntactic and semantic features, we find out the similarities and differences between idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” between two languages under the light of contrastive analysis and cross-cultural perspective Data used for analysis in this study were mainly collected through dictionaries and the internet Through analysis of forms of idiomatic expressions containing

the word “eye” in English and Vietnamese, it is deduced that idioms are really

important in communication Idioms are used to express ideas in figurative styles They bring the vividness and richness to the speakers' speeches This is the reason why the more skillfully a person uses idioms in his conversations, the more effectively he can establish his communicative relationship The findings

of the thesis illustrate some implications for teachers, learners of English and translators from the use of linguistic features of idiomatic expressions containing

the word “eye” in English and focus on the meanings of the English idioms

containing the word ‘eye’ and a comparative analysis with Vietnamese ones Hopefully, the study may help learners, teachers, and translators of English avoid difficulties in realizing and translating English idioms into Vietnamese and vice versa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of research and objectives 3

1.3 Scope of research 3

1.4 Significance of research 4

1.5 Organizational structure of Thesis 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of previous studies 5

2.1.1 Previous Studies of English Idioms in Foreign Countries 5

2.1.2 Previous Studies of English and Vietnamese Idioms in Vietnam 5

2.2 Review of theoretical background 7

2.2.1 Literal meanings and Idiomatic meanings 7

2.2.2 Definition of Idioms 8

2.2.3 Features of Idioms 9

2.2.4 Types of idioms 11

2.2.5 Functions of idioms 12

2.2.6 Specific characteristics of idiomatic meanings 14

2.2.7 The relationship between idioms and culture 14

2.2.8 The similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs 16

2.3 Summary of the chapter 18

CHAPTER III: PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Research-governing orientations 19

3.2 Research questions 19

3.3 Research methods 19

3.4 Summary of the chapter 20

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21

4.1 Syntactic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English (eye-word idioms) and their equivalents in Vietnamese 21

4.1.1 English eye-word idioms in the form of Noun Phrase Structure (26 E idioms + 6 V idioms) 22

4.1.2 English eye-word idioms in the form of Verb Phrase Structure (51 E idioms + 33 V idioms) 23

4.1.3 English eye-word idioms in the form of Adjective Phrase Structure ( 15 E idioms +15 V idioms) 25

4.1.4 English eye-word idioms in the form of Prepositional Phrase Structure (17 E Idioms+ 5 V idioms) 26

4.1.5 English eye-word idioms in the form of Adverb Phrase Structure 26

4.2 Semantic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese 28

4.2.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English 28

4.2.1.1 Expressing good points 28

4.2.1.1.1 Positive looks 28

4.2.1.1.2 Describing people and their abilities 29

4.2.1.1.3 Describing appearances 30

4.2.1.2 Expressing bad points 31

4.2.1.2.1 Negative looks 31

4.2.1.2.2 Describing people and their negative actions 32

4.2.1.3 Expressing neutral points 33

4.2.1.3.1 Neutral looks 33

4.2.1.3.2 Describing people 33

4 2.1.3.3 Describing views and appearance 34

4.2.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in Vietnamese 39

4.2.2.1 Positive look 39

4.2.2.1 1.Describing people and their abilities 39

4.2.2.1.2 Describing appearances 40

4.2.2.2 Negative looks 40

4.2.2.2.1 Describing people and their negative actions 41

4.2.2.2.2 Describing appearance 42

4.2.2.3 Expressing neutral points 42

4.2.3 English eye-word idioms with their equivalents in Vietnamese 43

4.2.4 Summary of the chapter 45

4.3 Implications for teachers, learners of English and translators from the use of linguistic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English 46

4.3.1 Implications for English language teaching to Vietnamese learners 48

4.3.2 Implications for students and learners of English 51

4.2.3 Implications for English – Vietnamese translation and vice versa 51

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 54

5.1 Recapitulation of the study 54

5.2 Concluding remark of the study 55

5.3 Limitation of the study 57

REFERENCES 58

APPENDIXES 61

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the world today, there are 5,000 to 6,000 living languages, of which English is by far the most widely used Approximately 350 million people speak English as their first language About the same number use it as a second language It is the English language that is used as the language of aviation, international sport and pop music 75% of the world's mail is in English, 60% of the world's radio stations broadcast in English and more than half of the world's periodicals are printed in English It is also the English language that is used as

an official language in 44 countries, and as the language of business, commerce and technology in many others English is now an effective medium of international communication

In Vietnam, English has long been considered as a tool of international communication, and together with its rising importance, the need of learning English is becoming more and more urgent It can't be denied that all foreign learners in general and Vietnamese learners in particular desire to master English as the native speakers; however, they usually face a lot of difficulties that prevent them from gaining successful conversations One of the reasons for these problems lies in the way people perceive and use idioms

Each nation's language lies in itself similar and different concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, ways of thinking, behavior standards, religious beliefs, customs and traditions, social conventions, etc Words and expressions including idioms have formed the vocabulary system of a language Idioms are considered as special factors of a language's vocabulary system because they reflect cultural specific characteristics of each nation, including material and spiritual values

In fact, we can see a lot of idioms violating the principles of their fixed characteristics such as:

I could eat a horse

His eyes are bigger than his stomach It's not up to scratch

I got there in the nick of time

Idioms are considered an interesting area of English, which make English more attractive and colorful And nobody can deny that idioms are really important in communication

Firstly, idioms are important because they are very common It is impossible to speak, read, or listen to English without meeting idiomatic language This is not something you can leave until you reach an advanced level

Secondly, language is literal and metaphorical In communication, however, the metaphorical use of a word is more common today than its literal

use For example, we know that catch a ball is an example of the literal use of

bus ; you can catch my attention; you can also catch the sun; or you can catch

it in a variety of communicative situations

Finally, idioms are important because it is fun to learn and to use Because there is so much to learn, anything which helps you to remember things is important and if the language you are learning is more colorful and interesting, there is more chance that you will remember it You will also sound more natural if your English contains more idioms.( Wright 1999:9)

Understanding the meaning of idioms in general and idioms which contain words “eye” in particular is the first difficulty of learners and the second one is the way of using idioms in each specific context Moreover studying idioms which contain words “eye” is a part of language learning and it can help learners use language more naturally and effectively

I am interested in the way English and Vietnamese people use idioms to satisfy their own need in daily communication Here and there, there are several studies on idioms with certain linguistic units However, in range of Open University, there is no study of idioms containing words “eye” Thus, the topic

“A study on idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents”, is chosen for my thesis

Hopefully, the result of the study will be useful for learners of English and contribute a small part into the teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam and for people who are interested in idioms in both English and Vietnamese

1.2 Aims of research and objectives

The aims of the study:

The study aims to provide an insight into syntactic and semantic features

of the word “eye” in general and the idiomatic expressions of the word in English in particular, which is expected to help Vietnamese learners of English

to study and use the English word “eye” effectively

The objectives of the study:

1 To point out the syntactic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

2 To point out the semantic features of idiomatic expressions containing

the word “eye” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

3 Provide some suggestions for teachers, learners of English and translators from the use of linguistic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English

• The study focuses only English idioms with the word EYE are analyzed

with reference to their equivalents in Vietnamese

• The English and Vietnamese idioms in this study are collected from dictionaries and the Internet; therefore this research may not cover all idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye”

1.4 Significance of research

The study will be able to provide useful knowledge to enable better use of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English and Vietnamese The findings of the study can be the potential source for the teaching and learning English and Vietnamese in particular as foreign languages

1.5 Organizational structure of Thesis

This study consists of three parts, excluding the appendixes and the references

Chapter I: Introduction, consists of the rationale, the aims and

objectives, the scope, the methods, and the organizational structure of the study

Chapter II: Literature review, this chapter provides the theoretical

background including definition, features, types and functions of idioms, specific characteristics of Idiomatic meanings and the relationship between idioms and culture, the similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs

Chapter III: Findings containing 1) the syntactic features of idiomatic

expressions containing the word “eye” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, 2) the semantic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents, and 3) some pedagogical implications in terms of their usage in language learning and communication

Chapter IV: Conclusions of the study, the mention of some limitations

in the research as well as suggestions on further studies on the research topic

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of previous studies

2.1.1 Previous Studies of English Idioms in Foreign Countries

Idioms take up a large proportion of both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries such as: Oxford Dictionary of English Idiomsby Cowie, A P et al [11], NTC's American Idioms Dictionary by Spears, R A.[50], The Cassell Dictionary of English Idioms by Fergusson, R [21], From the Horse's Mouth: Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms by Ayto, J [2] In addition, there are some more collections of idioms such as “Idioms” by Copper, D [12], “American Idioms and Some Phrases Just for Fun” by Swick, E [52]

In fact, idiomaticity is not a new subject in linguistic study There has been plenty of work on it such as “Essential Idioms in English” by Dixon, R J [17], or “Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukai, M [6]…

2.1.2 Previous Studies of English and Vietnamese Idioms in Vietnam

There have been a lot of authors whose studies generally relate to idioms Hoang Van Hanh (1973), Nguyen Thien Giap, Le Nhu Tien (1988), Nguyen Khac Hung (1988), Hoang Van Thang (1992), Trinh Duc Hien (1995), Phan Van Que (1995), Dang Anh Dao (1997) showed their concerns for the ways how

to use idioms in literature and in different kinds of act Studies on the roles of idioms in traditional culture were carried by some authors such as Duong Quang Ham (1956), Pham The Ngu (1969), Dinh Gia Khanh, Chu Xuan Dien (1972, 1973), Cao Huy Dinh (1974), Le Chi Que, Vo Quang Nhon (1990) etc Nguyen Xuan Hoa (1995), Phan Van Que (1996), Ngo Minh Thuy (2005) gave their own studies on idioms in Vietnamese in comparison to Russian, English and Japanese

Here are some studies directly relating to the field of the study:

A Study on Vietnamese Idioms (Hoang Van Hanh, 2004)

Hoang Van Hanh is a well-known Vietnamese linguist who had spent a lot of time and energy on this research This study specialized in the objectives,

the aims, the tasks, the problems, etc of Vietnamese idioms The author analyzed idioms based on different aspects, synchronically and diachronically,

on the view of functional and structural system as well as from cultural, social and psychological perspectives The research also introduced a systematic collection of Vietnamese idioms in forms of three main types

A contrastive analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese (Nguyen Thi Nga, 2003, VNU-CFL)

In the study, the author focused on the features of English idioms and made a contrastive analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese counterparts The author found that, though the animal-based comparison idioms in both cultures use different animal images to express ideas, they semantically reflect the personal characteristics and status of people in the society during the course of historic development of the two nations According

to her, many animals are positive in English but negative or neutral in Vietnamese and vice versa, which creates a lot of interests for learners in accessing and analyzing them

A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison (Do Quynh Anh, 2004, VNU-CFL)

The author gave out some theoretical background about idioms and made some comparison with other concepts such as proverbs, slang and quotations In the development, the author made a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms, and then pointed out some similarities and differences between these two languages Due to the findings, the author stated out some difficulties of learning English in terms of idioms and raised the awareness of cultural related factors that should be put into consideration in the teaching process

A study on comparative idioms from cultural perspective (Do Thi Thu

Trang, 2006, VNU-CFL)

In this study, the author analyzed and discussed English and Vietnamese comparative idioms in the light of culture and she found out some similarities and differences in the way and the reason why people from the two cultures convey their comparative idioms

A study on English idioms relating to people description (Dao Thi Kim

Phuong, 2010, HPU)

The author compared and contrasted the meaning and the usage of some certain English idioms about people description with Vietnamese one to find out the similarities and differences, so that readers can understand more about the culture, society, as well as people of these two countries

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Literal meanings and Idiomatic meanings

According to Dr Duong Ky Duc (2003), the meanings of a word are not only the literal meaning, but also the figurative meaning These meanings of the word do not exist separately but together as a perfect whole In this whole, the literal meaning is the center and the figurative meaning is the extension, which shows the cultural distinction of using the word between this commodity and others However, we focus much on idiomatic expressions containing the word

‘dog’, therefore, besides the literal meanings of the word ‘dog’, we mainly study the figurative meanings of these idioms which are, in the study, called the idiomatic meanings

The literal meaning of a word is the strict dictionary meaning of a word, the ‘dictionary definition’ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its literal meanings is ‘any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions.’

Obviously, idiom has its idiomatic meaning Many idioms, however, can also have both the literal and idiomatic meanings In the study, we do not focus

on the literal meanings of all the idiomatic expressions containing the word

‘eye’ but ones of the word ‘eye’ which are, somehow, related to the idiomatic meanings of the idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘eye’

2.2.2 Definition of Idioms

Words have their own meanings They, however, do not just come individually; they also come in expressions or in groups Idioms are among the most common of these expressions And it is impossible to master a language without learning idioms – a very important part of the language What is an idiom? The question may have many answers

Many linguists such as Robins (1989), Palmer (1981), Jackson and Amvela (1998) and others consider idioms as a special kind of collocation The meaning of an idiom, however, can not be deduced from the meaning of its constituents An idiom is distinguished from a collocation, for a collocation is a sequence of lexical items which habitually co-occur and each lexical constituent

of a collocation is a semantic component Hornby (1995) argued in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, an idiom is “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must

be learnt as a whole unit” Sharing the same point of view, Seidl and Mordie (1988) defined “an idiom is a number of words which, taken together, mean something different from the individual words of the idiom when they stand

alone” For instance, the collocation of kick and the bucket forms an idiom meaning die, which is not systematically determinable from the meanings of

kick and the bucket This idiom or phrasal lexeme is formally identical with the phrase kick the bucket whose meaning is systematically determinable on the basis of the meaning of the lexemes of which it is composed – hit a certain type

Here are some more definitions of idioms:

- “An expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot

be worked out from its separate parts”

(Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1992)

- “An idiom is a fixed group of words which is firm in terms of structure, complete and figurative in terms of meaning, and is widely used in daily speaking”

(Hoang Van Hanh, 1994: 21)

- “An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meaning of several words”

(Dictionary of English Idioms, 1979)

As can be seen from the above definitions, there are different ways of defining an idiom In general, most of the linguists share the same point that an idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual words

Idioms don't usually cross language boundaries In some cases, when an idiom is translated into another language, the meaning of the idiom is changed

or does not make any sense as it once did in another language Idioms are probably the hardest thing for a person to learn in the process of learning a new language This is because most people grow up using idioms as if their true meanings actually make sense

2.2.3 Features of Idioms

Idioms, grammatically as well as semantically, have special features They must be entered into the lexicon or mental dictionary as single items with their meanings specified, and speakers must learn the special restrictions on their use in sentences Many idioms may have originated as metaphorical expressions that established themselves in the language and became frozen in their form and meaning

Femado, C (1996: 3) gives three most frequently mentioned features of idioms:

1 Compositeness: idioms are commonly accepted as a type of multiword

expression (red herring, make up, smell a rat, the coast is clear, etc.) accept even single words as idioms

2 Institutionalization: idioms are conventionalized expressions,

conventionalization being the end result of initially ad hoc, and in this sense

novel, expressions

3 Semantic opacity: the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of its

constituents In other words, an idiom is often non-literal

The widespread occurrence of these three features in common word combinations has resulted in many types of multiword expressions identified by some other term such as slang, proverbs, allusions, similes, dead metaphors, social formulae, and collocations also being identified as idioms

According to Wright, J (1999), an idiom has the following features:

1 It is fixed and is recognized by native speakers You cannot make up your own!

2 It uses language in a non-literal - metaphorical way

Idioms are similar in structure to ordinary phrases except that they tend to

be frozen in form and do not readily enter into other combinations or allow the word order to change Thus

(a) She put her foot in her mouth

has the same structure as

(b) She put her bracelet in her drawer

but

The drawer in which she put her bracelet was hers

Her bracelet was put in her drawer

are sentences related to sentence (b)

The mouth in which she put her foot was hers

Her foot was put in her mouth

do not have the idiomatic sense of sentence (a)

On the other hand, the words of some idioms can be moved without affecting the idiomatic sense:

The FBI kept tabs on radicals

Tabs were kept on radicals by the FBI

Radicals were kept tabs on by the FBI

Idioms can break the rules on combining semantic properties The object

of eat must usually be something with the semantic property "edible," but in

He ate his hat

Eat your heart out

this restriction is violated

Idioms often lead to humor:

What did the doctor tell the vegetarian about his surgically implanted heart valve from a pig?

That it was okay as long as he didn't "eat his heart out." (Fromkin, V &

produce two useful results

by just doing one action prepositional phrase in the blink of an

eye

in an extremely short time

compound a bone of contention something which people

argue and disagree over simile /'simili/ (as + adjective

+ as, or like + noun)

as dry as a bone very dry indeed

binomial (word + and +

word)

rough and ready crude and lacking

sophistication trinomial (word + word +

In terms of semantics, Fernando, C (1996: 36) divides idioms into three types: pure idioms, semi-idioms, and literal idioms

A pure idiom is known as 'a type of conventionalized, non-literal multiword

expression' Spill the beans, for example, has nothing to do with beans In contrast to its literal counterpart meaning 'letting fall leguminous seeds', a non- literal meaning is imposed on the idiom as a whole: 'commit an indiscretion'

A semi-idiom has one or more literal constituents and at least one with a non-literal subsense, usually special to that co-occurrence relation and no other:

drop has the meaning 'overuse' only when it co-occurs with names Other examples are catch one's breath 'check', foot the bill 'pay', etc Some of these

semi-idioms, like their kin, restricted collocations with specialized

subsenses, permit lexical variation, for example, blue 'obscene'

Literal idioms (on foot, tall, dark and handsome, waste not, want not, on

variation They are, however, less semantically complex then pure and

semi-idioms

2.2.5 Functions of idioms

Idioms may play different roles They are used to name objects, actions or

evaluation, emphasize…

Traditionally, from the point of view of the function of idioms, we can refer to the following basis groups:

- idioms with a nominative function - express concepts and name

body and soul

- idioms with a communicative function - describe situations and express

glitters is not gold, the coast is clear

- idioms with both nominative and communicative functions (including

idioms with a mixed, limited variable structure), e.g break the ice - the ice is

broken, close the door on - the door is closed, lead somebody by the nose - somebody is led by nose

- idioms without any distinctive nominative and communicative function

- linguists usually include here modal and interjectional idioms, or idioms which

have a cohesive function, e.g like hell; what on earth; on the other hand; as

well as; by the way

In relation to words, within the group of idioms with a nominative tion (lexemic idioms), we can refer to idioms equivalent to single words, i.e

func-they may be replaced by a single word (of course = certainly, kick the bucket =

phrases (collocations: a big fish = an important person, as red as a turkey cock

e.g have green fingers = have natural ability in growing plants

Nominative idioms correlate with word classes (parts of speech) They may be divided into: noun, verbal, adjectival and adverbial idioms, etc., for

example: a dark horse (noun), make give up (verbal), as white as a sheet

completely identical with that of single words, since their meaning usually includes a higher degree of both expressiveness and evaluation

From the pragmatic point of view and discourse, some linguists, ing Fernando (l996) speak about:

includ "ideational" idioms ("the state and way of the world" idioms, expressing namely: actions, events, situation, people, things, attitudes, emo-

tions, etc.): red herring, bury the hatchet, as white as a sheet

- "interpersonal" idioms (expressing greetings, agreement, rejections,

etc.): so long, never mind

- "relational” idioms (ensuring cohesion, etc).: by the way, in addition to,

last but not least

Other linguists give more detailed categorization of idioms Some idioms

may have more than one function Moon (1998), for example, distinguishes the following groups of idioms:

- informational (conveying information of different kind: in the red, rub

shoulders with, one’s kith and kin)

- evaluative (giving the speaker’s attitude to the situation: works

wonders, wash one’s hands of sth, a different kettle of fish)

- situational (expressing conventions, clauses, exclamation, relating to

extralingual context: walls have ears, so long, talk of the devil, long time no see)

- modalizing (expressing modality, truth values, advice, request: mark my

words, more or less, at all, in effect)

- organizational (organizing the text, signaling discourse structure: by the

way, all in all, let alone, in the light, on the other hand, in other words)

2.2.6 Specific characteristics of idiomatic meanings

As we mentioned above, an idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves

It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning

in another situation It is a phrase which does not always follow the normal rules

of meaning and grammar To sit on the fence can literally mean that one is sitting on a fence I sat on the fence and watched the game However, the idiomatic meaning of to sit on the fence is that one is not making a clear choice regarding some issue, for example: The politician sat on the fence and would not

give his opinion about the tax issue

Therefore, we can see that the idiom not only gives or transfers the information but also implies the nuance, attitude and feelings of the speaker The literal meaning of the idiom is the meaning that we can see basing on the each unit’s meaning and the idiomatic meaning, is the extension which shows the cultural distinction of using the word between this commodity and others The idiomatic meaning of the idioms is the meaning beyond or other than the

sum of the meaning of the individual words

2.2.7 The relationship between idioms and culture

As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other

Language is the carrier of culture, which in turn is the content of language We can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and so on, and therefore are closely related to culture They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement Consequently, we can know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them

Getting to the roots of idioms, we can find that they originated from historic events, customs, agriculture, daily life, animal habitual behaviors, etc, which involved every aspect of life That is why idioms are hard to understand The essential point of studying idioms well is to realize them through the background

of the traditional culture, thought pattern, geography, religion, and custom

One nation's custom is formed through a long history and firmly rooted in people's mind It is closely related to national psychology and acts as one important source of idioms In different countries and nations customs drastically differ in various aspects Due to that, a lot of idioms turn out with varied dress

Take food habit for example, cake has been a common food in English for

a long history, so it is understandable that they use "a piece of cake" denoting an easy-done task However, in China, cake cannot be seen until the last one hundred years So it is impossible for the same idiom to appear in Chinese On the other hand, dishes are common in China Therefore a similar idiom "a piece

of cake” turned out in Chinese to express the same meaning

Another example is related to the habitual way of working in the field Vietnamese people were habituated to use the bull to plough the field before modernized agriculture was developed, while English did it with a horse

Consequently, English say "eat like a horse" to describe someone who eats a lot while Vietnamese do "eat like a buffalo" in alternation

Idiom is a part of culture You may not understand the idioms because you don’t understand the culture behind it Thus, the study of the relationship between the idiom and culture is significant and promising

2.2.8 The similarities and differences between idioms and proverbs

According to Hornby (1995), in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a proverb is defined as “a short well-known sentence or phrase that

states a general truth about life or gives advice, e.g Better safe than sorry or

39) considered a proverb as “a complete saying expressing one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

It is easy to find that idioms and proverbs have many in common and it comes as no surprise that they are traditionally studied together The first one is that both idioms and proverbs are ready-made They are products of human’s thought, cultures and processes of hard working and learning They are mainly orally handed down from generation to generation and naturally accepted in daily life Secondly, both idioms and proverbs are set-expressions with stable and in substituted components Therefore, their meanings cannot be deduced from individual words but must be understood as a whole It means that any substitutions in any components of an idiom or a proverb may result in unacceptable changes in the meaning of the whole group, which make them nonsensical in metaphorical meaning Apart from this, most idioms and proverbs use language in a metaphorical way We can not usually discover their meanings

by looking up the individual words in a dictionary; their meaning must be understood metaphorically

Beside those similarities, both of them still own typical features that

distinguish one from the other

The first and most obvious difference lies in their grammatical structures Idioms are phrases which are parts of sentences; thus, they are equivalent to words only Proverbs are complete sentences or phrases expressing the whole

idea Moreover, idioms and proverbs are also different in terms of their functions Proverbs are short well-known sentences or phrases that express a judgment, state a general truth about life or advice; they are told to contain three main literature functions which are perceptive function, aesthetic function and

educational function For example, the proverb Money makes the mare go

demonstrates a remark as well as a criticism about the negative side of money Its perceptive function is to make people aware of the bad effect of money which can become the power dominating the society, even the most inanimate things The educational function is to criticize the negative side of money and urges people to be aware of that ill effect And its aesthetic function is to exaggerate in a picturesque way to help readers understand the proverb easily

In contrast, idioms do not express judgments, give advice or state general truth about life, which means they do not have functions of perception and education

but only aesthetic function For example, the idiom to eat like a horse merely

describe the strong ability of eating because of great hunger in figurative and imaginary way and does not point out any educational lesson or knowledge of life

Despite of the very clear definitions, it is still confusing Consequently,

basing on the opinion of Nguyễn Đình Hùng (1999), Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ Tục

• A proverb is a complete sentence with a whole meaning making

comments on social relationships, imparting experience of life, giving lessons in morality or criticizing

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

An idiom is a fixed phrase but not a complete sentence, so it is considered

as a word and that‟s why you can put it in a sentence

It all happened in the blink of an eye

• Both proverbs and idioms reflect people‟s knowledge about things

and natural phenomena from the world But from these knowledge people

generalize concepts in idioms, meanwhile they interpret it into judgements in term of proverbs

Idiom Dã tràng xe cát (build st on sand)

Proverb Dã tràng xe cát Biển Đông

This chapter has been concerned with the theoretical framework for the analysis of the relationship between language and culture, the literal meanings and the idiomatic meanings, idioms in relationship with proverbs and a brief view of previous studies on idioms about animals in general and the dog in particular

For the first part, we have presented the general view of the previous studies on idioms about animals in general and the dog in particular

Language and culture always exist together and reinforce each other and the relationship between them is so close that we could not understand or appreciate the one without the knowledge of the other

In the part idiomatic meanings, an overview of the definition, the classification, the sources of idioms and the specific characteristics of idiomatic meanings firstly mentioned The next is some criteria to distinguish idioms and proverbs

Chapter 3 is designed to present the research- governing, research questions and methods This is the basis to explain the way English and Vietnamese people cognize the image of eye through the idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘eye’ designed in Chapter 4

CHAPTER III: PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research-governing orientations

To carry out this study, the qualitative and quantitative research method will be employed The contrastive analysis will be used to find out the similarities and differences between the two languages concerning idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English and Vietnamese

The samples are taken from authentic newspaper, websites on internet as criteria: The length of speech, sources, dates, types, speakers etc… The samples are analyzed, discussed in terms of idiomatic expressions containing the word

“eye”

The data collection of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” will be downloaded and collected from magazines, websites on internet in both languages, English and Vietnamese

3.3 Research methods

In order to achieve the aims given, the major method to be employed in the study is a descriptive one The descriptive method is used to describe in details the syntactic and semantic features through the examples of idioms expressing eye collected from reference books, stories, novels, dictionaries and

Internet websites Moreover, analysis method is used to point out the similarities

or differences between English idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘eye’ and Vietnamese ones Also, the survey method is done to recognize most difficulties of students when they learn idioms This can surely help teachers anticipate problems in the lessons and seek the possible solutions to solve these problems.

Therefore, the considerations, remarks, consumptions, comments and conclusions in the thesis are mainly based on data analysis A number of data relating to idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in both English and Vietnamese publications are collected from textbooks, short stories, books on English and Vietnamese languages They are then analyzed in the light of cross-cultural perspective and analysis Data collected will then be analyzed in order

to find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye”

The steps of the study are order as follows:

• Collecting English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” from several dictionaries and from the Internet and then sort them out

• Analyzing the cultural features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in both English and Vietnamese

• Comparing and finding the differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye”

• Suggesting the ways to apply the findings of the study to the language teaching/learning and translation

3.4 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, we have presented research- governing, research questions and methods In the first part, we have discussed the sample and data collection

of the idioms containing the word “eye” in the English and Vietnam and after that is the research questions and methods to achieve the aims of the study

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

To master the meanings of words, it is necessary to study many linguistic aspects, in which two typical ones are syntactic and semantic features of the idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English This is the basis to explain the way English and Vietnamese people cognize the image of eye similarly and differently through their own the idiomatic expressions containing

the word ‘eye’ designed in part 4.2

4.1 Syntactic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English (eye-word idioms) and their equivalents in Vietnamese

EYES: According to Wikipedia, the Free

Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye),

Eyes are organs that detect light, and send

electrical impulses along the topic nerve to the

visual and other areas of the brain

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995:428) shows three meanings

of “eye” The first meaning shows that “eye” is an organ of sight

She closed her eyes

He lost an eye in the war

From the second meaning, “eye” is used to denote the power of seeing; observation

She has sharp eyes.(ie very good eyesight)

“Eye” in the third meaning is also described a thing like an eye

The eye of a needle(ie the hole for the thread)

According to Cowie, Mackin and McCaig (1993) in Oxford Dictionary of English idioms, Oxford University Express, English idioms have the enormous structural variety The majority of entries can be classified under two general headings: phrase idioms and clause idioms

Moreover, basing on the idioms that I have collected we can see

4.1.1 English eye-word idioms in the form of Noun Phrase Structure (26 E idioms + 6 V idioms)

The general patterns of English include: (Article) + adj + N/NP, Noun/

Noun Phrase (NP)+Prep P, Noun+ Noun, (Article) + N/NP + Pre Meanwhile

the Vietnamese patterns containing Noun Phrase are (Article) + adj + N/NP,

Noun / Noun Phrase (NP) + Prep P

(Article) + Adjective (Adj) + Noun (NP)

Weather eye, private eye, on the

blink eye, the naked eye…

Tai mắt, mắt bão, trăm tay nghìn mắt…

The appendix 1(page 76) shows that there are 8 noun phrase idioms (7%), which make up quite a small part of the idioms, from eye stocks The words denoting eyes are the head nouns in most of noun phrase idioms under this kind

of structures The adjectives in these idioms functions as pre-modifiers And there are 5 Vietnamese idioms (7%) equivalent of this pattern

Noun / Noun Phrase (NP) + Prep P

All eyes on sb, Eyes in the back of

one's head, The eye of the storm, The

eye of the wind/the wind’s eye, Eye

for an eye…

Mắt để sau gáy…

The number of English idioms containing the word “eye” of this pattern is

2, accounting for 2% The prepositional phrase in this structure is composed of a noun as the head and is preceded by a prepositional phrase The prepositional phrase functions as a post modifier of a noun before it And there is only one Vietnamese idiom in this form, accounting for 1%

Noun + Noun

In this pattern, while only 12% idioms containing TsFPs (N = 24) are used by native English speakers In English Idioms, sometimes the coordinating conjunction “and” links two nouns to show the relationship between two words And there is no Vietnamese idiom in this form

(Article) + N/NP + Prep

In this structure, 1 English idiom (1%) can be found The prepositional phrase in this structure is composed of a noun as the head and is preceded by a prepositional phrase The prepositional phrase functions as a post modifier of a noun before it For this kind, there is no Vietnamese idiom

4.1.2 English eye-word idioms in the form of Verb Phrase Structure (51 E idioms + 33 V idioms)

There is a surprisingly big amount of patterns in Verb structure, both in

English and Vietnamese idioms English idioms mainly appear in the patterns: V

+ (Article) + N/NP (+N), V + N/NP + Prep, V + Prep + NP Vietnamese ones

occupy a large number in this form and they are in the patterns: V + (Article) +

N/NP (+N), V + Prep, V + N/NP + Prep, V + Prep + N/NP, Prep + V, Prep +

V, (Prep + V)

V + (Article) + N/NP (+N)

Believe one’s eyes, Catch one’s eyes,

Clear- eyed, Feast one's eyes on

something, Get the eye, Give sb the eye,

Half an eye, Have a roving eye, Look

someone in the eyes, Lift one’s eyes,

Meet one’s eye, Meet the eye, Raise a

few eyebrows, Wipe one’s eyes…

Liếc mắt đưa tình, búng tai bịt mắt, khóc hết nước mắt, ăn miếng trả miếng, sáng mắt ra, lấy vải thưa che mắt thánh, chờ mong mỏi cả mắt…

This type of structure is more popular in English idioms containing the word “eye” It is interesting that 14 English idioms in this pattern are found in the total number of the idioms collected (13%) Meanwhile there is 25 Vietnamese idioms of this form, accounting 37 %

V + N/NP + Prep

Give the glad eye to sb, Make

eyes at, Cast sheep’s eyes at,

Close/Shut one’s eyes to, Turn a

blind eye to something, Cry one’s

eyes out

Tin vào mắt, nhắm mắt làm ngơ,

It is not surprising from appendix 1 (page 76) that the number of English idioms

in this form occupies 31% (N = 34) And there is 7 Vietnamese idioms for this kind occupies 10 %

V + Prep + N/NP

See with half an eye, Hit between

the eyes

Nhìn bằng nửa con mắt

In this pattern, the verb operates as the central component It is modified

by the prepositional phrase There are only 2 English idioms of this type containing the word “eye” (2%) And there is one Vietnamese idiom of this kind (1%)

Verb + Noun / NP + Verb

From the appendix 1 (page 76), rarely are the idioms containing the word

“eye” of this pattern found in English In this case, Table 4.2 shows that only 1

idiom (1%) can be collected in English And there is no Vietnamese idiom of this form

The basic patterns in the Adjective phrase structure: (Be) + comparative

form + N/NP, Adj + Prep + N. are found in English idioms Meanwhile, the

Adjective phrase structure: (Be) + comparative form + N/NP, N + Adj, Adj +

Prepare found in the verb phrase structure of Vietnamese idioms

(Be) + comparative form + N/NP Eyes are bigger than one's

stomach/ belly, More than meet

the eye, Better than a stick in the

eye

Mắt tròn mắt dẹt, da ngà mắt phượng, mắt lòa chân chậm, mắt sắc như dao…

There are four idioms containing the word “eye” (4%) of this pattern in English And also there are 10 Vietnamese idioms(15%)

Adj +N/ NP

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,

Blue-eyed boy, Eye – filling, If

you had half an eye, Misty – eyed,

Rounded – eyed, Stary-eyed

Bụng đói mắt mờ, bận chúi mắt, bận không kịp mắt, đói vàng cả mắt, thấy của tối mắt lại…

The appendix 1(page 76) reveals that English idioms containing the word

“eye” of adjective phrase (AP) patterns seem to be popular (10%) and one of the most typical structures is under the comparative pattern And there are 14 Vietnamese idioms (22%)

4.1.4 English eye-word idioms in the form of Prepositional Phrase Structure (17 E Idioms+ 5 V idioms).

Prep + N/NP + (N/NP), Prep + Adj + N are the common structures of English idioms adjective phrase Vietnamese ones only appear in one pattern in

this form and it is: Prep + N/NP + (N/NP)

Prep + N/NP + (N/NP), Prep + Adj + N

For someone’s eyes only, In the

public eye, In the eyes of sb/ in

sb’s eyes, In the eyes of the law,

In one's mind's eye, In a pig’s eye,

Out of the corner of one’s eye, On

the blink eye, Under the eye of sb,

Up to your eyes…

Mắt trước mắt sau, mắt để trên trán, đầu mày cuối mắt, xa ngút tầm mắt…

Syntactically, prepositional phrase pattern of English idioms is common to find terms involved in “eye” in English idioms under the form of prepositional phrases (15%) And there are 5 Vietnamese idioms, accounting 7%

4.1.5. English eye-word idioms in the form of Adverb Phrase Structure

The English idioms only appear one pattern: Adv + N There is only one

Based on the appendix 1 (page 76) could be summarized the syntactic

features of English idioms containing the word “eye” namely noun phrases, verb

phrases, adjective phrases and adverb phrases

Table 1: Statistical analyze of syntactic features of English Idioms containing

the word “eye”

STRUCTURE

NUMBER

OF ENGLISH IDIOMS

Percent

NUMBER

OF VIETNAME

1 % 13%

5

1

7% 1%

As can be seen in the above chart, the verb phrase plays the most important role in both English and Vietnamese idioms (47% in English Eye and 48% in Vietnamese ones) so the verb phrase has strong effect on both English and Vietnamese idioms with the word Eye In both languages, complements following a verb can be realized by an adjective, an adjective phrase, a noun, a noun phrase; objects can be a noun or noun phrase, etc In conclusion, idioms in both languages seems to share the same number of the verb phrase

However, there appear to be some differences Based on the data in the above table the differences are clearly shown in same aspects of syntactic features between English and Vietnamese Eye idioms With regard to noun phrase structures, English idioms possess a big number of 23% At the same time, the number of Vietnamese ones is just 8% This particular difference may

be caused by the difference in using words of two cultures The English people seem to have a preference in utilizing nouns to refer to objects while Vietnamese people do not seem to have the same habit What is more, among the samples investigated, we see that there are 14% of English idioms with the adjective phrase Meanwhile there are 37% of Vietnamese Eye idioms appear in this form One more difference is preposition phrase; there are 15% English idioms containing the word Eye; meanwhile, there is only 7% of Vietnamese Eye idioms

4.2 Semantic features of idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in

English and their equivalents in Vietnamese

4.2.1 Idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English

4.2.1.1 Expressing good points

There are many idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” in English expressing good points

4.2.1.1.1 Positive looks

The English often use the verb phrase “keep an eye ” to describe a careful

look:

• Keep an eye on

• Idiomatic meaning: Make sure that somebody or something is safe, look after somebody or something

• E.g: Keep an eye on the stove in case the coffee boils

With the same phrase they sometimes use a kind of eye (jealous eye, sharp eye,…) to express the degree of that kind of look

E.g Billy keeps a jealous eye on his toys

The lion tamer keeps a sharp eye on the lions when he is in cage

- Also, to say someone who watches something or someone carefully, because they may cause trouble or they may need help, the following English idiom is often used:

• Keep a weather eye on

• Idiomatic meaning: Be watchful and alert in order to avoid trouble

• E.g Mrs Brown kept a weather eye on the children so they wouldn’t hurt

each other

4.2.1.1.2 Describing people and their abilities

- To describe people the English often use the word “eye” as an adjective A person who has bright eyes is considered healthy, so the following adjective containing the word “eye” is often used to talk about people with a lot of energy

• Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

• Idiomatic meaning: Full of energy and enthusiasm

• E.g Mr Jones is seventy now but he is still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

- There is also another phrase to say someone who is pleasant to look at:

• Easy on the eye

• Idiomatic meaning: good looking

• E.g This actress is very easy on the eyes, in my opinion

- To describe people’s mood, the English also use the word “eye” in their idioms When you are happy and hopeful about something, in a way which

prevents you from thinking about the bad things, there is an adjective containing the word “eye” as an idiom to talk about that

• Starry-eyed

• Idiomatic meaning: Be happy and hopeful

E.g The young people are often starry-eyed and eager to improve the world,

they do not know how hard it is

- To mention someone’s ability, people often use the word “eye” in verb

phrases The verb phrase have an eye for implies someone who has ability to

appreciate distinctions in; is discerning or perceptive about

• have an eye for

• Idiomatic meaning: Be sharp-eyed, perceptive about

• E.g She has an eye for color and style in clothes

Or He has an eye for good English usage

- When someone is very observant and notice everything happening around him, people often use the idiom:

• Have eyes in the back of one’s head

• Idiomatic meaning: observe everything (without seeming to do so)

• E.g How did you know I was behind you? You must have eyes in the back

of your head

- You are difficult to do something with your eyes shut So to say someone who can do something easily, there is an English idiom:

• With one’s eyes shut

• Idiomatic meaning: with great ease, as a result of thorough familiarity

• E.g He’s cooked that meal so often he can do it with his eyes shut

Or I could drive home with my eyes shut

4.2.1.1.3 Describing appearances

- From the point that views or sights are seen or watched by eyes, the English like to use the word “eye” in idioms to describe good views

• Eye – filling

• Idiomatic meaning: attractive to the eye; providing an eyeful

• The mountain in the distance was an eye-filling sight

- When people want to talk about something that you are glad to see, they often use:

• Sight for sore eyes

• Idiomatic meaning: a welcome sight, a pleasant surprise

• E.g After our many days in the desert, the wretched village was a sight

for sore eyes

This idiom is also used to refer to a person’s appearance that you are happy to see

• E.g You’re a sight for sore eyes! Haven’t seen you in a long time

Or Oh, am I glad to see you here! You're a sight for sore eyes

The word “eye” used in many idiomatic expressions with positive meanings refers to many good things: good look, good appearance, good views… However, there are also other idiomatic expressions containing the word “eye” holding negative meanings

4.2.1.2 Expressing bad points

• Shut/ close one’s eyes to

• Idiomatic meaning: Refuse to see or take notice of something; disregard

• E.g The government shut its eyes to poverty

Or She closed her eyes to her husband’s infidelities