A study of english and vietnamese idioms describing people’s outward appearance

sdd MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY DECLARATION M.A THESIS I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Aoriginally STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS OF PEOPLE’S APPEARANCE RANCE DESCRIPTION AND THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS Hanoi, 28th April, 2016 NGHIÊN CỨ ỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ VỀ NGOẠI HÌNH TRONG TI TIẾNG ANH VÀ ĐỐII CHI CHIẾU Student Supervisor SANG TIẾNG VIỆT signature signature TRINH MINH NGOC Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS OF PEOPLE’S APPEARANCE DESCRIPTION AND THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THÀNH NGỮ VỀ NGOẠI HÌNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ ĐỐI CHIẾU SANG TIẾNG VIỆT TRINH MINH NGOC Field: English Language Code: 60220201 Supervisor:Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que Hanoi, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The thesis is written under the supervisor of Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que First of all, my profound gratitude would be expressed to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Phan Van Que, for his precious advice, suggestion and inspiration Secondly, my sincere thanks go to all my teacher in the Faculty of English for their lectures and instructions which definitely are useful for my research I also would like to express my gratefulness to my family, my friends for their encouragement and help to complete this thesis th Hanoi, February , 2018 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH IDIOMS OF PEOPLE’S APPEARANCE DESCRIPTION AND THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTSsubmitted 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 th Hanoi, February , 2018 Trinh Minh Ngoc Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The graduation paper is written under the supervisor of Assoc Prof.Phan Van Que First of all, my profound gratitude would be expressed to my supervisor, Assoc Prof.Phan Van Que for his precious advice, suggestion and inspiration Secondly, my sincere thanks go to all my teacher in the Faculty of English for their lectures and instructions which definitely are useful for my research I also would like to express my gratefulness to my peers, my friends for their encouragement and help to complete the graduation paper th Hanoi, February , 2018 Trinh Minh Ngoc iii ABSTRACT This paper is a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms describing people’s outward appearance The study analyzed the data qualitatively and quantitatively to find out the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms describing people’s outward appearance The analysis was based on 430 idioms in English and Vietnamese as well as numerous samples from various novels, dictionaries, short stories and from the internet The findings show that idioms describing people’s outward appearance in the two languages have remarkable similarities and differences in terms of not only the structures but also the meanings The thesis also aims at suggesting some implications for the learning and teaching of idioms in general and idioms describing people’s outward appearance inparticular iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EIPOA : English Idioms Describing People’s Outward Appearance IPOA: Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance VIPOA : Vietnamese Idioms Describing People’s Outward Appearance v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION 111 1.1 RATIONALE 111 1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THESTUDY 113 1.2.1 Aim 113 1.2.2 Objectives 113 1.3 SCOPE OF THESTUDY 113 1.4 1.5 1.6 RESEARCHMETHODS 114 DATAANALYSIS 114 RESEARCHQUESTIONS 14 1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THESTUDY 115 CHAPTER 116 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 116 2.1 REVIEW OF PREVIOUSSTUDIES 116 2.2 THEORETICALBACKGROUND 118 2.2.1 Definition of Idioms andIdioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 118 2.2.1.1 Definition of idioms: 118 2.2.1.2 Definition of English idioms 119 2.2.1.3 Definition of Vietnamese idioms 20 2.2.1.4 Definition of IPOA 21 2.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF IDIOMS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGELEARNERS 21 2.4 CLASSIFICATION OFIDIOMS 25 2.5 MAIN FEATURES OF IDIOMS IN ENGLISH ANDVIETNAMESE 28 2.5.1 Semanticfeatures 28 2.5.2 Structuralfeatures 29 2.6 FUNCTIONS OFIDIOMS 31 2.7 MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF IDIOMS IN HUMANDISCOURSE 33 Summary 34 CHAPTER 3:SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S vi OUTWARD APPEARANCE IN SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES 35 3.1 SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S OUTWARD APPEARANCE 35 3.1.1 English idioms descrbing people’s outward appearancewith phrase patterns 35 3.1.1.1 NounPhrase 35 3.1.1.2 3.1.1.3 3.1.1.4 3.1.1.5 Adjective Phrase 36 Verb Phrase 36 Prepositional Phrase 37 Adverb Phrase 37 3.1.2 The Structures of English Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 37 3.1.1 Parallel Structures 37 3.1.2 Comparative Structures 38 3.2 SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF VIETNAMESE IDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S OUTWARD APPEARANCE 38 3.2.1 Vietnamese Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance with PhrasePatterns 38 3.2.1.1 Noun phrase 38 3.2.1.2 Adjective Phrase 38 3.2.1.3 Verb Phrase 39 3.2.1.4 Adverb Phrase 40 3.2.2 The Structures of Vietnamese Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 40 3.2.2.1 Parallel Structures: 40 3.2.2.2 Comparative Structures 42 3.2.2.3 Elliptical Structures 42 3.2.3 The Variation on the Form of Vietnamese Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 42 3.3 SEMANTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH IDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S OUTWARD APPEARANCE 43 3.3.1 Symbolic Characteristics of English Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 43 vii 3.3.1.1 3.3.1.2 3.3.1.3 3.3.1.4 Simile 43 Metaphor 43 Metonymy 43 Hyperbole 44 3.3.2 Semantic Fields of English Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 44 3.3.2.1 Thehead 45 3.3.2.2 3.3.2.3 3.3.2.4 3.3.2.5 The face 45 The eyes 46 The skin 47 The legs 47 3.4 SEMANTIC FEATURES OF VIETNAMESEIDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S OUTWARD APPEARANCE 47 3.4.1 Symbolic Characteristics of VietnameseIdioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 47 3.4.1.1 Simile 47 3.4.1.2 Metaphor 47 3.4.1.3 Metonymy 48 3.4.1.4 Hyperbole 48 3.4.2 Semantic Fields of VietnameseIdioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance 49 3.4.2.1 3.4.2.2 3.4.2.3 3.4.2.4 The Head 49 The face 49 The eyes 50 The skin 50 3.4.2.5 The Legs 50 3.5 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH IDIOMS DESCRIBING PEOPLE’S OUTWARD APPEARANCEIN SYNTACTIC FEATURES 51 3.5.1 Similarities 54 3.5.1 Differences 54 3.6 Similarities and Differences between English and Vietnamese Idioms Describing People’s Outward Appearance in SemanticFeatures 55 3.6.1 Similarities 55 viii all (quite)thego :fashionable all fingersandthumbs : being clumsy and not veryskilledwithyourhands as bald asanegg : completelybald as bashful asaschoolgirl : very shy and easilyembarrassed as beautiful asaVenus : extremelybeautiful as blackascoal : veryblack as black asaraven : veryblack as cold as a toad inthesun : very calm andcontent as clumsy asabear : clumsy,awkward as coldasice : unemotional, verycold as coldasstone :unemotional as different as chalkandcheese : fundamentally different or:incompatibleas eager asabridegroom : very eager,glad as fair asarose : very nice,attractive as fat asapig : very fatindeed as fat asawhale : very fatindeed as fat asaporpoise : very fatindeed as fatasbutter : veryfat as feeble asachild : very weak,fragile as fresh asarose : fresh andbeautiful as gentle asafawn : very sad,depressed as gentle asadove : very sad,depressed as miserable assin : verymiserable as guiltyassin : veryguilty as uglyassin : veryugly as little asTomthumb : verysmall as meek asa lamb : usually very gentle,quiet as oldasMethuselah : describe an extremely oldperson 68 as proud asapeacock : extremely proud orsatisfiedwithyourself as pure aswintersnow : extremelywhite as rosy asabride : veryoptimistic as sick asadog : veryunwell as spotless assnowwhite : very white (used to describeskin) as strong asanox : exceedingly strongphysically as sweet asarose :attractive as thin asarake : very thin,underweight as unfeelingasrocks :unemotional as weak asakitten : very weak,unhealthy badshape : unfit orunhealthy bagofbones : veryunderweight bald asacoot : completelybald barefacedliar : display no shame about lyingevenifthey areexposed bealleyes : to be watchingeagerly beallsmiles : veryhappy be as thin asarail : very thinindeed be dead onyourfeet : verytired bedroomeyes : a sexy look on someone’seyes biggirl'sblouse : very weak orfussy BillyBunter : a fat schoolboy whoalwayseatssomething Black ascoal/night : veryblack blue intheface : lookexhausted bright-eyed andbushy-tailed : full of energyandenthusiasm.bun intheoven :pregnant butterfingers : clumsy anddrops 69 chip off theoldblock : closely resemble one or bothof theparents incharacter deadtired : very tired, out ofenergy different as nightandday : completelydifferent downatheel : wearing old clothes, or inabadcondition, because of not having much money down inthedoldrums : depressed and lackingenergy dressedtokill : dressed verysmartly dressed tothenines : in one’s very bestclothes eyecandy : attractive but not veryinterestingoruseful facelikethunder : clearly very angry orupsetaboutsomething face only a mothercouldlove : extremelyugly fiveo'clockshadow : the facial hair that a man getsif hedoesn't shave for a day ortwo foldone’sarms : to bring one’s arms close toyourchestand hold themtogether foldone’shands : to bring or hold one’s handstogether four-eyes : a person who wearsglasses gobananas : wild with excitement, anxiety goblue : very coldindeed go/turngrey : becomegrey-haired go/turngreen : to look pale and ill as if you aregoingtovomit green aroundthegills : lookill green-eyed monster : somebody's strongjealousy grin from eartoear : to look extremelyhappy 70 hardasnails : not feeling or showinganyemotionssuch as sympathy, fear orworry have arovingeye : always sexually interestedinpeopleother than theirpartner have one’sfacelifted : have one’s face changed forbeauty have the face (todost) : no shame to dosomething healthy asahorse : veryhealthy in one’shighspirits : lively andlovely in a stateofnature : naked, withoutclothes incoldblood : show noemotion ingoodshape : fit andhealthy intheclub : (be)pregnant in the familyway : (be)pregnant inthepink : in very goodhealth jam on (your)theirface : appear to be caught,embarrassed orfoundguilty keepupappearance : maintain an impression ofwealthorwell-being knitone’s brow(s) : to frown (= move youreyebrowsdownand together) because you are thinking carefully, or because you are angry or worried like a ram at anewgate :embarrassed like chalkandcheese : completely different from eachother like peas inapod :identical LittleLordFauntleroy : very elegantly-dressed little boyinnovelby F HBurnett 71 long inthetooth : a bit too old to dosomething lookasight : awful, unsuitable or veryuntidy makeaface : to make a strange expressionwithyourface, usually to show that you not like someone orsomething make sb's hair standonend : make someone veryfrightened mutton dressedas lamb : term for middle-aged orelderlypeopletrying to lookyounger neither fish, fish, not goodredherring : like one thing in some ways andlike another thing in other ways nospringchicken : notyoung nose intheair : describes the waysomeonebehaveswhen they think they are better than other people and not want to speak to them not a hair outofplace : one’s appearance is verytidy not be a prettysight : to be ugly or unpleasant to lookat not be just aprettyface : not only attractive butalsointelligentnot so young as one usedtobe : not veryyoung off colour/color : lookill on one’shighhorse : behave as if one were betteror moreclever than otherpeople one's hair standsonend :frightened overthehill : getting tooold paintedJezebel : ugly and particularlyunattractive plasticsmile : a description of the forcedsmile 72 pokerface : doesn't show any emotion orreactionsothat people don't know what they are feeling pull a faceats.o : to make a strange expressionwithyourface, usually to show that you not like someone orsomething put on abraveface : behave as if a problemisnotimportant or does not worrysomeone put a brave faceonit : behave as if a problemisnotimportant or does not worrysomeone put one’sfaceon : behave as if a problemisnotimportant or does not worrysomeone put the roses back inone’scheeks : make you look healthier because youarenot so pale sb's facedoesn'tfit : their appearance or personalityarenotsuitable for a job or otheractivity sb'sfacefalls : suddenly look verydisappointed sb's face isapicture : look very surprised orangry short backandsides : a hairstyle for men in which thehairiscut short at the back and sides, showing theears smile from eartoear : to look extremelyhappy soaked totheskin : verywet straightface : remain serious and notshow emotionoramusement 73 take afterone’suncle :similar thebeautifulpeople : fashionable, glamorous,andprivilegedpeople the bodybeautiful : an ideal of physicalbeauty thinskin : easily upset bycriticism thickskin : not easily upset bycriticism to be down inthemouth : to besad to keep one'shairon :calm to loseaneye : have only oneeye to loseone'shair : somebody’s hair haslost to make eyesatsb : look at sb in a way that try toattracts.osexually to make somebody'shaircurl : make someonefrightened to make someone openhiseyes : make someone surprised with eyes wide open two peas inapod : veryidentical ugly asa stick : very uglyindeed uptheduff : bepregnant wet totheskin : verywet with one's hat inone'shand : cringed,frightened without battinganeyelid : without any signsofembarrassment,astonishm ent or otheremotion without turningahair : not show any emotion when youaretoldsomething bad or when something bad happens wrinkle (up) yournose: : to show that you dislikesomethingorthat you disapprove of something by tightening themuscles 74 in your nose so that small lines appear in the skin wrinkleyourbrow : to make folds appear on yourfaceaboveyour eyes to show that you are surprised orconfused 75 APPENDIX 2: LIST OF VIETNAMESE IPOA ăn đói mặc rách ăn trắng mặc trơn áo lụa quần hồng = áo lượt quần = khăn áo lượt = quần áo lượt áo mảnh quần manh = quần manh áo mảnh = quần manh áo vá = quần manh áo mảnh áo rách nón cời = áo rách nón mê = áo rách tày sàng áo trắng quần = quần áo trắng béo bồ sứt cạp béo cối xay béo bò mộng = béo trâu trương = béo cun cút béo vâm béo ông di lặc béo tròn cối xay béo trục béo tròn béo trương béonứt bỡ ngỡ bợ vào rừng = bỡ ngỡ chim chích lạc rừng: bụng bàn mai, chân ống sậy bụng ỏng đít beo/teo/von bụng trâu, đầu trắm buồn hoa bí buổi chiều cao sào = cao hạc thờ = cao minh tinh = cao sào đứng = cao sếu vườn/ hạt thờ chân đăm đá chân chiêu = chân nam đá chân chiêu chân vòng kiềng chân le chân vịt 76 chân ống đồng/ ống sậy chân thấp chân cao chau mày nghiến chim sa cá lặn = cá đắm nhạn sa = cá lặn nhạn sa = nhạn lạc chim sa chưa máu đầu / miệng cịn sữa có da có thịt mắt răm, lơng mày liễu cười nên tiếng khóc cười nước mắt da chì mặt bủng = mặt bủng da chì da ngà mắt phượng da trắng ngà da trắng tóc đầu qt, đít thúng đầu bù tóc rối đầu chấy mẫy rận đầu khơng khăn, đít khơng khố đầu trái ké đầu tang tóc rối đầu to giành đen nhánh hạt huyền/ hạt na đen bồ hóng đen cột nhà cháy = đen cuốc = đen trôn chảo đen củ súng = đen bồ hóng = đen củ tam thất đen lòng chảo/ tượng đồng gầy đét mắt = gầy mắm = gầy cámắm gầy cò hương = gầy cò gầy hạc gầy nhái bén gầy mai 77 gầy que củi = gầy ống sậy già có đế giận tím mặt giống hai giọt nước giống đổ khuôn giọt châu lã chã/ nước mắt tuôn trào Hằng Nga cung quảng = Hằng Nga giáng hau háu mắt diều hâu hoa cười ngọc hoa nhường nguyệt thẹn hoa sầu liễu rũ hồn trương ba da hàng thịt hương phai phấn nhạt hương trời sắc nước khác trời vực khơ ngói khỏe hùm/ voi lấc láo quạ vào chuồng lợn lầm lầm chó ăn vụng hột lầm lì chì đổ khn lấm trâu đầm le te ghe lộn ngược lét rắn mùng năm = lấm lét rắn mùng năm = lấm lét chuột ngày liễu rũ mai gầy lò mò cua bò đất cát lù đù chuột chù phải khói lừ lừ ơng từ vào đền lưng dài vai rộng lúng ta lúng túng thợ vụng kim lúng túng ếch vào xiếc 78 má đào mày liễu má hồng đen má phấn môi son/môi son má phấn mắt (như) mắt bồ câu mắt ba vành sơn son mặt ngón tay tréo mặt bẹt bánh giầy mặt bủng da chì mặt búng sửa mặt cắt khơng cịn hột máu mặt choắt hai ngón tay tréo mặt cú da dơi mặt dạn mày dày/ mặt trơ trán bóng mặt hoa da phấn mặt khoai, tai ráy mắt la mày lét mặt lầm lầm chó ăn vụng bột mặt lạnh tiền mắt lơ mày láo mắt lòa chân chậm mắt lồi mũi hếch mắt long sịng sọc mặt nặng nhưchì mặt cán tàn/ mặt cán thuổng mặt ngọc da ngà mắt nhắm mắt mở mặt nhẵn cầu hàng thịt mặt chàm đổ mắt mắt lợn luột mắt mắt rắn 79 mắt ốc nhồi, môi chuối mắn mắt phượng mày ngài = mày ngài mắt phượng = mày tằm mắt phụng mắt sắc dao cầu mặt tái gà cắt tiết mặt trắng tờ giấy mặt tươi hoa mặt ủ mày chau mặt vàng nghệ mặt xám mày xanh mắt xanh mắt trắng mặt xanh nanh vàng miệng cịn sữa mơi thâm mắttrắng môn chẳng môn, khoai chẳng khoai/ nửa dơi nửa chuột ngăm ngăm da dâu ngẩn ngơ ngơ ngẩn ngây tượng gỗ nghiêng nước nghiêng thành nhạn lạc trầm ngư = trầm ngư nhạn lạc nhăn nhó nhà khó hết tiền nhăn khỉ nhăn mặt hổ phù nhăn tườu nhâng nhâng nháo nháo nhạt phấn phai son gà mắc tóc nón mê áo rách ốm nhom ốm nhách phờ râu bạc tóc quần chân áo chít 80 quốc sắc thiên hương rách tàu chuối râu hùm hàm én rợn tóc gáy/ làm dựng tóc gáy sắc nước hương trời tái xanh tái tía te tái gà mái nhảy ổ tỉnh bơ không tiu nghỉu mèo cụt tai to voi tóc bạc da mồi trần nhộng trắng bông/ bột/ tuyết trắng cước trắng ngà trắng ngó cần trắng trứng gà bóc trơ mặt thớt tươi da thắm thịt tuyệt giai nhân Ủ rủ cò bợ phải trời mưa vai năm tấc rộng thân mười thước cao vàng nghệ vênh mặt lên xanh bủng, xanh beo xanh tàu xấu ma = xấu ma mút = xấu ma lem = xấu quỷ 81 82 ... denoting appearance and idioms related to human appearance 13 1.4 RESEARCHMETHODS With the aims of comparing and contrasting English and Vietnamese idioms describing people’s outward appearance syntactically... general and idioms describing people’s outward appearance inparticular iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EIPOA : English Idioms Describing People’s Outward Appearance IPOA: Idioms Describing People’s OutwardAppearance... similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms describing people’s outward appearance The analysis was based on 430 idioms in English and Vietnamese as