A STUDY OF IMAGE BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY ********* M.A THESIS A STUDY ON IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CÓ TỪ MIÊU TẢ HÌNH ẢNH BIỂU TRƯNG VỀ CÁC MỐI QUAN HỆ GIA ĐÌNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT) PHAM THI THUY Field : English Language Code: 60220201 HANOI, 2017 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ CÓ TỪ MIÊU TẢ HÌNH ẢNH BIỂU TRƯNG VỀ CÁC MỐI QUAN HỆ GIA ĐÌNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT) PHAM THI THUY Field : English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong PhD HANOI, 2017 ii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on image-bearing idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese” 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, 2017 Pham Thi Thuy Approved by SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong PhD i `hh`ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have been able to complete my thesis without the encouragement and help of my teachers, my parents and my friends First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to supervisor, Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong PhD, who gave me valuable advice, guidance and suggestion in the process of my writing My sincere acknowledgement also go to all my lectures and officers of faculty of Graduate Studies, Ha Noi Open University, who have facilitated me with the best possible codition during my whole course of studying Finally, I am very grateful to my parents and my friends who are always by my side in order to help and encourage me ii ABSTRACT This study focuses on semantic and syntactic features of image-bearing idioms for family relationships in English and Vietnamese Both qualitative and quantitative analysis is made us of investigation 349 idioms in English and Vietnamese together with numerous number of samples collected from referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries and Internet websites The study describes and compare the syntactic, semantic features of image-bearing idioms expressing family relationships in English versus Vietnamese and then withdraw some implications for the teaching and learning of English and Vietnamese as a foreign language In order to achieve these aims and objectives, the descriptive and comparative methods are utilized The descriptive method is used to describe in details the syntactic and semantic features through the examples of imagebearing idioms expressing family relationships In addition, the comparative method could be used to identify the similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic features of idioms expressing anger in English versus Vietnamese In short, with the combination of the descriptive and contrastive methods, syntactic and semantic similarities as well as differences of image-bearing idioms expressing family relationships English and Vietnamese could be discovered The findings show that image-bearing idioms of family relationships have remarkable syntactic and semantic features and that there are some similarities and differences in some features Causes are also dealt with the implications for the teaching and learning of idioms as well as for further study are put forward iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Table 2.2.1: The characteristics of image and relationships 12 Table 3.1.2.1: Verb phrase structures of IBIFRs English and Vietnamese 26 Table 3.1.3.1: Adjective phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese 28 3.1.3.2 Prepositional phras structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese 28 Table 3.1.3.3: Prepositional phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese 29 Table 3.1.1 A summary of English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms denoting family relationships in grammatical 31 Table 3.1.2 A statistical summary of syntactic features ofimage bearing in English and Vietnamese denoting family 32 Table 3.2.1: Kinds of Images expressing husband–wive relationship in English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms 33 Table 3.2.2: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms for relationship between husband and wife 37 Table 3.2.3: Kinds of Images expressing for relationship between parents and children in English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms 41 Table 3.2.4: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms for relationship between parents and children 44 Table 3.2.5: Kinds of Images expressing the relationship for siblings and others in English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms 47 Table 3.2.6: The statistical table of image-bearing in English and Vietnamese idioms of siblings and other relationships 49 Table 3.2.7: Kinds of Images expressing family relationships English and Vietnamese image-bearing idioms 52 iv Diagram 1: Images of husband-wife relationship in English and Vietnamese imagebearing idioms 38 Diagram 2: Images of parent-child relationship in English and Vietnamese idioms 44 Diagram 3: Images of siblings and other relationship in English and Vietnamese idioms 50 Diagram 4: Kinds of family-related relationships in English and Vietnamese Imagebearing idioms 52 v CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study 1.1 Aims and objects of the study ………………………………………………………… 1.2 Research questions………………………………………………………………………2 1.3 Method of the study…………………………………………………………………… 1.4 Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………….…2 1.5 1.6 Significance of the study…………………………………………………………….… Design of the study………………………………………………………………….… Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous study 2.2 Overview of phrase structures 2.2.1 Verb Phrases 2.2.2 Noun Phrases 2.2 Prepositional Phrases 2.2.4 Adjective Phrases 2.3 Features of idioms 2.4 Images-bearing idioms 2.4.1 The importance of images in idioms 2.4.2 Definition of image-bearing idioms 11 2.4.3 The relation between images and family relationships 11 2.5 National characteristics of idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese 12 2.5.1 Cultural symbols 12 2.5.2 Symbolic Animals 13 2.5.3 Human body parts 13 2.6 Teaching and learning image-bearing idioms in English 14 2.7 Summary 15 Chapter 3: 16 FEATURES OF IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 16 3.1 Syntactic features of image-bearing idioms of family relationships in english and vietnamese 16 vi 3.1.1 Syntactic glimpse at image-bearing idioms for family relationships English and Vietnamese idioms 16 3.1.2 Image-bearing idioms in a structure of a verb phrase 24 3.1.3 Adjective phrase structures of IBIFRs in English and Vietnamese 27 3.2.The structures of English and Vietnamese idioms denoting Family 29 3.2.1 Parallel structures 29 3.2.2.Comparative structures 30 3.3.3.Borrowed idioms 30 3.2 Semantic features of image-bearing idioms for family relationships 33 3.2.1 Semantic fields of Image-bearing idioms of family relationship in English and Vietnamese 33 Chapter 4: DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LEARNERS OF ENGLISH WHEN LEARNING AND USING IMAGE-BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 53 4.1 Survey questionnaires 53 4.1.1 Content 53 4.1.2 Questionnaires 53 4.1.3 Procedure 53 4.2 Common difficulties faced by learners of English when learning and using English idioms 54 4.2.1 Students’ perception of learning speaking English idioms 54 Let’s have a look in the survey 54 4.2.2 Learner’s that forced the students’ ability in speaking English idioms 55 4.3 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms of education 56 4.3.1 Suggestions for teaching and learning English idioms of education 56 4.4 Summary of the chapter 57 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………… 58 5.1 Concluding remarks 58 5.2 Similarities and differences in semantic features of image-bearing idioms in English and Vietnamese 58 5.3 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 59 It runs in the family 74 vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Being aware of the importance of idioms in daily interaction as well as in learning language, a lot of researchers have made efforts to study issues and aspects in this field Sometimes some idioms cannot be understood literally Even if the meanings of all the words in an idiomatic phrase as well as its grammar are simple, the meanings of the whole phrase may still be confusing due to cultural barriers Therefore, a profound insight in idioms specifically image-bearing idioms for cultural similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English offers language learners not only fun in learning but also success in communication as language is learnt through culture and culture is learnt through language Idioms are highly regarded as cultural-linguistic units because they basically reflect the sphere of human life such as mind, emotions, world perception and evaluation, age, morality, behaviour or human relation An idiom is unusual either grammatically, as in “tie the knot” or there is a meaning that cannot bederived from the conjoined meanings of its elements, as in “They are like two peas in a pod” Every language has idioms, and they are challenging for foreign students to learn However, the learners will save much time and strength when using idioms in writing or speaking Moreover, using idioms will bring about the ornate sentences they can make the pleasant for other people Therefore, in order to understand as well as translate idioms from a language to another language, the knowledge of linguistic has to be completely involved “Family relationships ” is the interesting and familiar topics to many languages Especially, it is popular in both Vietnamese and English languages The image-bearing idioms of family relationships are about fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, their relatives; or the relationships between parents and children, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters in- law and as well as their lifestyle between people in the family, kinship For the reasons mentioned above, the theme “A study on image-bearing idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese ” was chosen as a theme for this study In addition, the research will contribute a small field idioms about family relationships 42 alienated from someone Chồng chung vợ chạ 43 a bachelor’s wife Chồng sang vợ a chip off the old block Giống lột, 44 45 a confirmed bachelor Vĩnh viễn thân cò 46 a dead ringer for somebody Bản 47 48 49 50 Khơng thấy bóng a golf widow dáng a good husband makes a Thuận vợ thuận chồng good wife a good wife is a good prize Thuận vợ thuận chồng Rơi xa mái nhà a home away from home thân yêu 51 a home bird Khơng đâu nhà 52 a home from home Khơng đâu nhà 53 a large family Gia đình hồn hảo a man/woman after your Thuận tính, thuận own heart nết 54 55 56 a merry widow a miserly father makes a Cha làm thầy đốt sách prodigal son 57 a mother’s darling Cha yêu 58 a mother-complex Mẹ kính 59 a natural son/daughter Bản 60 a short-gun marriage 61 a sugar daddy Cha yêu 62 a white wedding Đám cưới trắng Đám cưới chạy 65 Đám cưới chạy 63 a woman must have her Tự tìm lối own way 64 a/the happy event Kết thúc có hậu 65 all in the family Tất gia đình an Englishman's home is his Nhà lâu đài castle bạn 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 as the husband is, the wife Vợ nào, chồng is ask for/win somebody's Nhận đồng ý hand babe in arms Trong vòng tay mẹ baby of the family Trong vòng nơi gia đình be born with a silver in your Cành vàng ngọc mouth Cành vàng ngọc be in the club be/make strange bed Đối đầu fellows Một better haft nửa (vợ, nửa (vợ, chồng) Một other half chồng) 77 big daddy Cha yêu 78 big family Gia đình yêu quý birds of their little nests Không cãi cha agree mẹ bit on the side Ngoại tình 79 80 66 81 82 black sheep Phá gia chi tử blood is thicker than water Một giọt máu đào ao nước lã 83 blood will tell Lời nói, đọi máu 84 blue beard Yêu dâu xanh 85 86 Dòng giống trâm blueblood anh phiệt Dòng giống trâm born to the purple anh phiệt 87 88 mang broken home Tan nát cửa nhà charity begins at home Tình thương , từ thiện tâm ; từ 89 thiện từ gia đình 90 children are poor men's Có trí làm quan riches 91 close to home 92 close-knit 93 94 95 96 97 Quan tâm sâu sắc Đeo gơng vào cổ descendant of an influential Gia đình ruột thịt family different as night and day Khác trời vực distant relative Họ hàng xa each day brings its own Mang bánh mỳ bread nhà East or West, home is best Nhà nơi an toàn 67 98 99 100 Không ấm , empty nesters khơng tình cảm family crest Dấu ấn gia đình family man Người đàn ơng gia đình 101 father figure Người cha vĩ đại 102 favorite son Con yêu 103 feel at home Như nhà fight like cat and dog Đánh chó 104 105 106 107 với mèo Người vợ hứng chịu first thrive and then wives gian nan khổ ải Thoát khỏi khổ đau fly the coop follow in his father's Nối dõi tông đường footsteps 108 forbidden fruit Trái cấm 109 from father to son Cha giống 110 get hitched Kết hôn 111 grass widow Thân gái yếu mềm 112 113 114 half the world knows not Ý ta ý người how the other half lives hand in glove Vừa so găng happy is he that is happy in Hạnh phúc his children với đứa trẻ 115 he is his father’s son Giống cha 116 hen-pecked Xỏ mũi 117 his hat covers his family Cha tất 68 118 hit close to home Gần gũi nhà 119 hit one where one lives Gần gũi nhà 120 home is home be it ever so Gần gũi nhà homely 121 home is where the heart is Gần gũi nhà 122 in a family way Gần gũi nhà 123 in one's blood 124 125 126 127 128 Anh em ruột thịt Cảm giác in the bosom of your family nhà in the/somebody's Anh em ruột thịt blood/genes It takes two to tango Thuận vợ thuận chồng/ Đồng tâm hiệp lực keep a tight rein on Tình nghĩa trầu cau keep body and soul together Nương tựa vào 129 Keep in house Sống chết nhà 130 keep one's head about water Lá lành đùm rách 131 keep open house Rộng lòng tha thứ kissing cousin Giống hai 132 133 134 135 136 giọt nước lead a dog's life Cơm niêu nước lọ Sống nhung lead a double life lụa Xa rời vòng tay cha leave/fly the nest mẹ like chalk and cheese Khác trời vực 69 137 like children like hen Tính nết trẻ 138 like mother like daughter Mẹ 139 like mother like son Mẹ 140 Bố mẹ đẻ like parents like children Sống bữa lo bữa mai 141 live from hand – to – mouth 142 live happily ever after Thỏa ước nguyện live in sin Ăn vợ chồng 143 144 145 146 (không giá thú) live together Sống long-lost relative Sống không quan hệ họ hàng look up to someone Kính trọng Lord and master Quyền cao trọng/ Sống 147 chức gia trưởng 148 make an honest woman of Cưới xin người somebody đàn bà chung chạ với Cân đối 149 make ends meet 150 make oneself at home 151 many a good cow has a bad Cha mẹ sinh trời sinh tính calf 152 marriage lines 153 154 Tự nhiên nhà Đường tình marry in haste(repent at Làm vội vàng leisure) hối tiếc marry money Kết hôn với người quyền 70 cao chức trọng 155 men make houses, women Đàn ông xây nhà, đàn bà make home xây tổ ấm 156 mind the stone Tinh thần thép 157 mother nature Tình mẫu tử 158 mother's boy / a mummy's Con cưng boy 159 mother's darlings are but Con hư mẹ, cháu hư bà milksop heroes 160 nearest and dearest 161 162 163 164 Máu mủ ruột già Một nửa (vợ new man chồng) next of kin Họ hàng gần gũi nothing is dangerous in this Không life, except women hiểm đàn bà old enough to be someone's nguy Đáng mặt cha mẹ father (mother) 165 old man Người đáng kính 166 old woman Người đáng kính 167 on the father’s side Bên nội 168 on the mother’s side Bên ngoại on the streets Không 169 họ hàng thân thuộc 170 one and the same Giống 171 one big happy family Một gia đình lớn 172 out of wedlock Ngoài giá thú 173 own fresh and blood Ruột thịt 71 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 Mối quan hệ nghèo poor relation nàn Nhận đồng ý pop the question Prince charming Ý trung nhân propose to a girl Tán tỉnh đó/ Đề nghị việc Khuyến pull up roots khích, động viên put down root (in places) Vùi dập put a child to school Trẻ cần dạy dỗ rich man is by his friends, Giàu bạn sang vợ gentleman is by his wife rich upstairs ignore their Giàu sang họ hàng belongings rite of passage Đạt tới đỉnh điểm roof over your head Trên đầu bạn mái nhà/ 184 Đừng coi thường người khác 185 186 187 188 Làm vương làm tướng rules the roost Làm xấu hình ảnh run in the blood gia đình Làm xấu hình ảnh run in the family gia đình saddled with Chịu trách nhiệm, the responsibility bổn phận 189 set up house keeping Đảm việc nhà 190 set up house Đảm việc nhà (with 72 sb/together) 191 settle down 192 sow wild oats 193 194 195 Sống buông thả spitting image of one of the Giống parents start a family Sinh đẻ Đừng để tuột strike while the iron is hot hội 196 such father such son 197 take after someone 198 An cư lạc nghiệp Cha Chăm sóc teach your grandmother to Trứng đòi khôn vịt suck eggs the bird love her nest Chim tổ 199 200 201 202 203 the child is the father of the Cha man the devil's child is the Ngây thơ trẻ devil's luck the facts of life Thăng trầm sống Người lãnh đạo gia the head of the family đình 204 the patter of tiny feet Tiếng cười trẻ thơ 205 the prodigal son Con hoang the seven-year itch Ngoại tình/ Thèm 206 khát lạ 207 the wicked step-mother 208 the world and his wife Mẹ kế Nhất vợ nhì giời 73 209 210 211 there's a black sheep in Đứa hư hỏng every flock Kết hôn tie the knot tied to your mother's apron Sợi dây ràng buộc strings 212 under one roof Dưới mái nhà 213 under the same roof Cùng mái nhà 214 wear the trouser Người định 215 wear the pants Người trụ cột 216 wedlock is a padlock 217 218 219 220 221 222 Như khóa với chìa when the blood sheds, the Máu chảy ruột mềm heart aches when the heart aches, all the Tim đau người body hurts đau silver spoon Cành vàng Ngọc wife and children are bills Vợ hóa đơn of charges toán A chip off the old block Giống hệt cha mẹ Anh, em giống hệt It runs in the family 223 close-knit family Gia đình hòa thuận 224 Push my buttons Biết cách ăn herding cats Cư xử thiếu hiểu 225 226 biết take heart vững tin 74 227 break one’s heart làm đau lòng a heart-to-heart nói chuyện chân thành, cởi mở from the bottom of one’s heart từ đáy lòng open up one’s heart to mở lòng, chia sẻ with all my heart với tất lòng wears heart on sleeves bộc lộ tình cảm have a heart of gold lòng vàng 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 kind-hearted tốt bụng heart goes out to someone thương xót, đồng cảm với lose heart: ngã lòng, nản lòng my heart set on something muốn làm điều 235 236 237 238 blind dates 239 Walk out on somebody 240 Leave somebody at the altar 241 have split up 242 Kiss and make up 243 Ông tơ, bà nguyệt burning the candle at both ends 244 goes the extra mile 245 beard the lion in his den 75 246 bee in one's bonnet 247 blood, sweat and tears 248 have on the brain Ln tâm trí 249 dig in your heels Cư xử tồi tệ 250 blue-eyed boy Con cưng Đầm đìa nước mắt Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IN THE SURVEY Part 1: Complete the questions Question Question Question Your age is Answer A eighteen □ B more than eighteen □ When did you started learning English? A years ago □ B years ago □ C years ago □ Which skill you find the most difficult of learning English Question Question A Reading □ B writing □ C listening □ D speaking □ Do you find that using English idioms is ……… A very important □ B important □ C a little important □ D not important □ How many times did you take part in speaking English idioms in the lesson? A never □ B once □ 76 □ C twice or three times Question Do you find that speaking English idioms in class is… Questions A very interesting □ B interesting □ D not intersting □ How interesting you like the idioms given in the periods Speaking skill? A very much □ B much □ C not very much □ D little □ Part 2: Decision of what stage attitude the students are of learning and using English idioms : = Agree = Neither agree nor disagree = Disagree = Extremely disagree I sometimes classmates Question I rarely use English idioms to discuss about the topics □ Question 10 In the class, I speak Engkish idioms when being asked by the teacher □ Question 11 I like speaking English idioms in speaking activities □ Question 12 In the classroom, I prefer listening to others speaking to speaking by my self Speaking English idioms is important because it is useful for my career I like to practice in speaking idioms activities because it helps me to get good marks I find the topics difficult and I have nothing to say □ Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 speak English 77 idioms with my □ Question □ □ □ Appendix 3: Circle A, B, C or D to complete the following sentences Change of …… A intestine B attitude C heart She called the ……… A phone B tune C tool She made a rule of ……… A thumb B toe C finger Drove a ……….between them A bottom B wedge C top The same flesh and ……… A nerve B muscle C blood Behind every great…… , there is a great ………… A man / woman B boy/ girl C male/ female A ………in the heaven A match B couple C tear On the ………… A rocks B stone C metal At the top of a ……… A craft B hat C cap 10 No money, no ………… A love B darling C honey 11 Love me, love my………… A cat B pet C dog 12 You scratch my ………… and I 'll scratch yours A back B head C eyes 13 Silence is ………… A silver B gold C steel 14……… of a feather flock together A Birds B flamingoes C sheeps 15 Love………… A mice B mouse C rat 78 79 ... FEATURES OF IMAGE- BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 16 3.1 Syntactic features of image- bearing idioms of family relationships in english and vietnamese. .. properly in both languages 15 Chapter 3: FEATURES OF IMAGE- BEARING IDIOMS OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 3.1 Syntactic features of image- bearing idioms of family relationships in english. .. syntactic and semantic features of image- bearing idioms of family relationships in English and Vietnamese 2) What are the similarities and the differences between image- bearing idioms of family relationships