A comparative study on idioms containing the word dog in english, chien in french and chó in vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD DOG IN ENGLISH, CHIEN IN FRENCH AND CHÓ IN VIETNAMESE (NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH THÀNH NGỮ CHỨA TỪ CHÓ TRONG TIẾNG ANH, TIẾNG PHÁP VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT) NGUYỄN BÁ TRẠI Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Hanoi, 2019 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD DOG IN ENGLISH, CHIEN IN FRENCH AND CHÓ IN 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, 2019 Nguyen Bá Trại Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Pro Dr Lê Văn Thanh Date:…………………… ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of fulfilling this graduation paper, I have received many necessary assistances, previous ideas and timely encouragement from my teachers, family and friends First and foremost I would like to send my deep gratitude to Assoc Pro Dr Lê Văn Thanh, the supervisor of this graduation paper His detailed comments and useful advice have helped me shape my ideas and realize my aims He has also provided me with many useful materials as well as encouraged and created favorable conditions for me to fulfill this research Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that this paper would have not been completed without his invaluable support Secondly, I would like to show my sincere thanks to Assoc Pro Dr Hoàng Tuyết Minh, the Vice - Dean of Faculty of Graduates Studies for giving me great guidelines and a chance to the thesis Also, I would like to express my particular thanks to all the lectures of Faculty of Graduates Studies Faculty of Graduates Studies whose lectures have enriched my academic knowledge of English during the past four years In addition, I warmly thank all my friends for their encouragement and precious assistance throughout the process of writing the thesis Their material and spiritual support is a great driving-force for me Finally, I am greatly indebted to my wife and my two children, who have encouraged and supported me to fulfill this graduation thesis LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 : Idioms expressing good points in English 51 Table 4.2 : Idioms expressing good points in Vietnamese 52 Table 4.3 : Idioms expressing good points in French 52 Table 4.4 : Idioms expressing bad points in English 54 Table 4.5 : Idioms expressing bad points in Vietnamese 55 Table 4.6 : Idioms expressing bad points in French .57 Table 4.7 : Idioms expressing neutral points in English 58 Table 4.8 : Idioms expressing neutral points in Vietnamese 58 Table 4.9 : Idioms expressing neutral points in French 59 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English has been widely used in Vietnam It is also a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges and universities It is clear that people who want to master English should grasp its idiomatic expressions among other things Obviously, to master a language, people cannot help studying idioms, one of the most valuable treasures of the language In daily communication, we can see the frequentappearance of idioms Anyone who much concerns idioms owns a very attractive and academic manner of speaking In written texts, as well, writers use many idioms Studying English idioms in comparison with two other language : French and Vietnamese, we can find the similarities and differences, which, therefore, help learners of English to understand and have a better use of English idioms and French and Vietnamese ones Being interested in idioms for a long time, we choose idioms as my thesis topic Due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus on a very small part of the huge idiomatic treasure, ‘Idiomatic expressions about ‘dog’ in English, French and Vietnamese’ There are some studies directly relating to idioms and idioms about animals Nguyen Thi Nga (2003), in her thesis with subject” A contrastive analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese” focused on the features of English idioms and made a contrastive analysis on animal-based comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese counterparts Nguyen Thi Bao (2003) in “Ngữ nghĩa từ ngữ động vật thành ngữ tiếng Việt (so sánh với thành ngữ tiếng Anh)”, presents an overview of idioms with animal elements in Vietnamese and in English, the reference close to the semantics of the animal words in Vietnamese idioms comparing with those in English Marie-Sophie Pausé (2017) develops a relatively delicate lexico-syntactic description of French expressions She also identify different structural, syntactic and lexical variations related to formal flexibility of idioms in her thesis : Structure lexico-syntaxique des locutions du franỗais et incidence sur leur combinatoire” Theorically, these studies mainly focus on semantic and structural features, but not on cultural features In addition, there is currently no comparative study covering all three languages of English, Vietnamese and French Practically, as a teacher of French and English, we found that students always face to difficulties in understanding idioms, in translating idioms from English to French and Vietnamese especially idioms about animals With the aim of presenting an overview of idioms in general and idiomatic expressions concerning the word ‘dog’ in English, French and Vietnamese in particular, we hope it will partly help students and translators avoid difficulties in realizing and translating English idioms into French and Vietnamese and vice versa 1.2 Aims of the study The aim of the study is to help Vietnamese learners of English to master idioms containing the word “dog” in English, “chien” in French and “chó” in Vietnamese in terms of semantic and cultural features effectively 1.3 Objectives of the study The study, as entitled, focuses on the idioms containing the word “dog” in three languages : English, French and Vietnamese Therefore, the following objectives would be accomplished : - To describe the semantic and cultural features of idioms containing the word “dog” in English, “chien” in French and “chó” in Vietnamese - To make a comparison among idioms containing the word “dog” in English, “chien” in French and “chó” in Vietnamese - To give some implications for teaching and learning semantic and cultural features of idioms containing the word “dog” in English, “chien” in French and “chó” in Vietnamese effectively 1.4 Research questions During the process of studying English and teaching French as a second language, we find some difficulties in using idioms containing the word “dog” in three languages : English, French, Vietnamese This study, therefore, would try to answer the following questions: What are semantic and cultural features of idioms containing the word dog in English, dog in French and dog in Vietnamese? What are the similarities and differences among idioms containing the word dog in English, chien in French and chó in Vietnamese? What are implications for teaching and learning semantic and cultural features of idioms containing the word dog in English, chien in French and chó in Vietnamese effectively 1.5 Scope of the study In the framework of the study, this thesis does focus on the semantic and cultural features of idiomatic expressions containing the word dog in English and two other languages: French and Vietnamese The author would like to pay attention to the following issues : - Restricted research of idioms containing words dog in English, French and Vietnamese - Focus on making a comparative analysis of idioms containing the word dog in English and those in French and Vienamese in terms of culture and semantic - Find out idioms containing the word dog in English and their equivalent in French in Vietnamese - Express idiomatic meaning of idioms if there are not equivalent idioms - Comparative analysis of meanings of components - Difficulties met by students in studying and using idioms related to dog from English and French into Vietnamese - Data collecting from many sources as magazines, dictionaries, internet… 1.6 Significance of the Study The results of the study will be of great benefit to the following: Teachers of English Data given will provide the teachers with information on how to teach and use idioms especially idioms which contains the word “dog” more effectively Students This study will bring for students the background and useful knowledge about idioms containing the word “dog” in English, the word “chó” in Vietnamese and the word “chien” in French The content of the thesis will somehow be useful material for those who study English as second language and have certain interest in the idiom and its deep meaning Therefore, they can speak English more naturally and be successful in communication 1.7 Structure of Thesis This study is divided into five chapters: Chapter I, Introduction, includes the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Chapter II, Literature review, is concerned with previous studies and the theoretical background for the study It consists of semantics, the relationship between language and culture, and definitions of idioms in three languages Chapter III, Methodology, is concerned with research methods, data collection, idioms analysis and statistics Chapter IV, Findings and discussion, includes literal meaning of the word “dog”, idioms containing the word “dog” in three languages: English, French and Vietnamese, a comparison of idioms containing the word ‘dog’ in English with those of French and Vietnamese Therefore, we can find out the distinctive features of English and Vietnamese cultures about the ‘dog’ lying behind the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms containing the word ‘dog’ Chapter V, Conclusion, summaries of the issues discussed in the thesis References comes at the end of the study 52 chó dại lạc đường 53 chó cắn trộm - the idiot who acts - l'idiot qui agit de aggressively and thoughtlessly manière agressive et irréfléchie - the stealthy and sudden - l'attaque furtive et attack of someone soudaine de quelqu'un 54 chó gặm xương chó [dog- eat- dog] - impitoyablement compétitif 55 chó có váy lĩnh - something which is - quelque chose qui est unreal or laughable irréel ou risible 56 chó tha mèo tha lại - something that is - quelque chose qui ne worthless vaut rien Table : 4.5 Idioms expressing bad points in Vietnamese Continuously, we give idioms in French expressing negative points Idioms in French Equivalent expression in Equivalent expression in English Vietnamese 57 une vie de chien [a dog’s life] [đời chó má/kiếp trâu chó] 58 traiter quelqu’un comme un chien - To treat someone badly, physically or - Đối xử tệ với thể chất tinh thần emotionally 59 caractère de chien - bad attitude, ill temper - Thái độ xấu, nóng tính 60 être d’une humeur de - to be in a very bad mood chien - tâm trạng xấu 61 avoir un mal de chien - to be in a lot of pain or to be doing something (à faire quelque chose) very difficult - phải chịu nhiều đau đớn phải làm điều khó khăn 62 n'être pas bon jeter - someone or something aux chiens that is considered worthless - coi vơ giá trị 63 crever comme un chien - to die in an undignified - chết hoàn cảnh manner, or due to neglect thiếu coi trọng, bị bỏ bê 64 se regarder en chien de - when two people gaze - hai người nhìn fạence cách căng thẳng, hăng at each other in a tense, aggressive way 65 fou comme un jeune - crazy, to be difficult to control chien - điên khùng, khó kiểm 66 un temps ne pas - bad weather mettre un chien [Thời tiết chó má] soát 67 avoir un air de chien - to look very sad, pitiful - trông buồn, đáng thương battu 68 garder quelqu'un un - To have resentment to chien de sa chienne someone who harmed us and planned revenge - oán hận làm hại lên kế hoạch trả thù 69 être comme chien et - to bicker incessantly [như chó với mèo] chat 70 C'est le chien de - a person who escapes - người trốn tránh Jean De Nivelle when we need him/her cần / cô ta 71 être comme le chien du - a person who does not jardinier - người không muốn want to yield to others nhường cho người khác what he/she does not want herself khơng muốn Table : 4.6 Idioms expressing bad points in French 4.2.3 Expressing neutral points The image of the dog which exists in the spiritual and cultural life of the English, French and Vietnamese related to the idiomatic expressions containing the words dog, chien and chó Therefore, we can see all the positive meanings, the negative meanings in these things We also can find some idiomatic expressions containing the words dog, chien and chó have neutral meanings We start by giving idioms in English to compare to other ones in Vietnamese and in French Idioms in English 72 the hair of the dog Equivalent expression in Equivalent expression in Vietnamese French - cốc rượu - un verre d’alcool 73 mean as a junk-yard - người không tử tế - une personne méchante dog vô tâm ou insouciante 74 dog-tired [mệt phờ râu trê] - trop fatigué, épuisé 75 sad as a hound dog's [buồn chấu cắn] eye - trop triste 76 sick as a dog’ - nôn, say - vomir beaucoup; ivre, ốm nặng gravement malade 77 dog-and-pony show - biểu diễn nhằm gây ấn - jouer pour tượng impressionner 78 rain cats and dogs [mưa trút nước] - il pleut en verse 79 a dog’s age - thời gian dài - un long temps 80 dog ears/-eared - trang sách bị gấp góc - le coin rabattable d’une page 81 to dog someone’s (foot) steps - theo bám liên tục - suivre continuellement 82 better to be a live dog [Chó sống sư tử - il vaut mieux être un chết] lâche vivant qu'un héros than a dead lion mort Table 4.7 Idioms expressing neutral points in English And, we continue to give idioms in Vietnamese to compare to others in English and French Idioms in Vietnamese Equivalent expression in Equivalent expression in English French 83 loanh quanh chó - someone who is dọn chỗ đẻ walking round perplexingly - quelqu'un qui promène perplexe 84 chó treo mèo đậy - savoir comment préserver et protéger les fortunes - to know how to preserve and protect the fortunes se 85 hổ xuống đồng - the powerful person - la personne puissante gặp chó chào who met with misfortune qui a rencontré le malheur must be humble toward his doit être humble envers ses inferiors inférieurs 86 bụng đói chó sói bỏ - people sacrifice and [la faim fait sortir le loup rừng anything when they are in du bois] urgent need 87 chó sống sư tử - better to be a live dog - to have a small post is chết than a dead lion better than a unreal great position Table 4.8 Idioms expressing neutral points in Vietnamese Finally, we compare idioms in French to other ones in English and in Vietnamese Idioms in French Equivalent expression in Equivalent expression in English Vietnamese 88 arriver comme un chien dans un jeu de quille - to turn up when least - bật lên mong desired or expected muốn mong đợi 89 dormir en chien de - to sleep in a fetal fusil position, curled up in a 90 chiens écrasés - ngủ tư bào thai, cuộn tròn ball bóng - local newspaper articles that serve as filler - báo địa phương, coi mục phụ 91 ne pas attacher son - to be cheap, stingy, chien avec des saucisses tight-fisted, a skinflint - rẻ tiền, keo kiệt, giữ 92 être habillé comme la - clothing that leave chienne Jacques something to be desired - ăn mặc xoàng xĩnh 93 ce n'est pas fait pour - for public use or a utility les chiens - dành cho việc sử dụng cơng cộng tiện ích 94 entre chien et loup - nightfall, dusk, twilight - chập choạng, đêm bng xuống, hồng 95 être malade comme un - to be very ill [ốm lăn ốm lóc] chien 96 faire le chien couchant - to show servility, submission 97 rompre les chiens - to stop a discussion before it degenerates - thể phục vụ, phục tùng - dừng tranh luận trước cực đoan Table 4.9 Idioms expressing neutral points in Vietnamese 4.3 Analysis of idioms containing the word dog in English, French and Vietnamese There may be still more idioms related to dogs that we have not known and have not included in this table However, one thing that is clear from the table of idioms expressing good points, we can see that idioms containing the word dog appear nearly the same in English (7) idioms, in French (8) and in Vietnamese (6) ones Through the above presentation, we can see that there are many idiomatic expression containing the word dog in which their negative meanings are many more than the positive ones Dogs in English idioms often symbolizes important or powerful positions in society For example, they portray the positive meanings, ‘top dog’ or ‘big dog’ In the two idioms ‘top dog’ and ‘big dog’, the English use the word dog but not other animals to refer to important people because they see the dog as the family member that is mentioned in the part literal meaning In French, there some idioms also refer to important people as “Chien de garde” or “Chien du commissaire” In Vietnamese, however, there are no idioms containing the word ‘dog’ implying important people like that In Vietnamese, we can hardly see the idiomatic expression containing the word ‘chó’ which mentions the good personal characteristics or high status of people as well as the convenient conditions and good luck In our thesis, there is only one phrase like it: “chó ngápphảiruồi” Meanwhile, dogs in Vietnamese are not considered as something respectful Dogs carry negative meanings in idioms For instance, when scolding someone, people often say “chó đểu” Dogs are looked down on and scorned They symbolize the bad, uneducated, insolent, rascal, scoundrel or caddish characteristics Take these idioms as typical examples: ‘chó láo’, ‘chó má’, ‘chó ghẻ’ One thing in common appearing in English, in French and Vietnamese idioms is that the dog does not portray its natural characteristics like loyalty or dependability Rarely can we see this in idioms of three languages There are many English idioms with no correspondent in French and Vietnamese and vice versa, there are many Vietnamese idioms, French with no correspondent in English We carry out an analysis of those original Vietnamese idioms whose English or French counterparts are based on a different pragmatic scenario, or which not have a correspondent dog idiom in English and in French, as well as of those original English idioms for which there is not any Vietnamese correspondent ones First of all, something that make us pay attention to that is in the cases in which there is an original English and French dog idiom which does not have a Vietnamese dog idiom counterpart, there are always other alternative idioms in Vietnamese based on a different metaphor, though transmitting the same message This is the case of idioms 3, 4, 6, 7, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 74, 75, 78 and 82 (number in English column); 57, 66, 69, 95 (number in French column) There is a change in the animal that act as protagonist in these figurative meanings Secondly, it is also interesting to note that the case of existing original Vietnamese idiom related to the dogs (or to the chien in French) for which there is not a correspondent one in English or in French Idioms 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 34, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 83, 84 and 85 (in Vietnamese column) not have the equivalents in English or in French It is more frequent the complete lack of a Vietnamese idiom than the availability of an idiom related to the other pragmatic scenarios This is happened in 1, 2, 5, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 72, 73, 76, 77, 79, 80 and 81 (number in English column) and 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96 and 97 (number in French column) This shows the higher tendency in Vietnamese to use dog idioms to present how speaker deal with certain life experiences Going further, if we examine the messages those idioms transmit, we can see that there are certain coincidences with respect to their pragmatic and social meanings Idiom 48 (number in Vietnamese column) : chó ăn đá gà ăn sỏi, chó chạy hở đi; chó ăn đá gà ăn muối, chó nằm lòi lưng are all built around a common idea : unfertilized and barren land However, these idioms not have the same correspondent idiom related to the dog in English or in French Certainly, the word ‘dog’ in English and the word ‘chien’ in French are also related to the unpleasant and terrible life in the cases of adog’slifeand uneviedechien Sharing the same meaning, in Vietnamese, it also has two correspondents đời chó má or kiếp trâu chó Therefore, we can find that the frequency of using the word ‘chó’ in Vietnamese referring to hard and difficult life is more than that in English or in French Many English and French idioms containing the word ‘dog’ (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 29, 33, 74, 75, and 78 in English column); (19, 57, 66, 69, 95 in French column) have their Vietnamese partners, which convey the same meaning scenarios with other different expressions without the word dog Also, many Vietnamese idioms related to dogs have their English correspondents which share the same meanings without the word dog (8, 35, 36, 37, 39, and 50 in Vietnamese column) But there are only some French correspondents (44 and 86 in Vietnamese column) This exposes the differences in cultural features of three languages For example, to talk about the foolish and ignorant, Vietnamese people often say ‘ngu chó’ or ‘dốt cầy’ because they consider dogs as the foolish and ignorant In English, on the contrary, asses are seen as the foolish and ignorant so to mention the above idea, people say ‘ Whatanass' Nearlyalltheidiomsthatcontain dogsin Frenchdonothaveequivalentidiomsin English and Vietnamese 4.4 Summary In this chapter, we have presented the idiomatic expressions containing the words ‘dog’ in English and the comparison with French and Vietnamese ones In the former part, we have discussed the images of the dog in the culture of three countries (England, France and Vietnam) and right after that the idioms containing the words ‘dog’,’chien’, ‘chó’ These idioms imply the positive, negative and neutral meanings about human characters, human relationship, luck and life conditions and so on In the second part, we designed the image of the dog in Vietnamese culture before the Vietnamese idioms containing the word ‘dog’ These idioms also convey the positive, negative and neutral meanings about human characters, human relationship, lucks and life conditions The comparative analysis is the last part to point out the similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese cultures in the ways of using the word ‘dog’ in those idioms In this third part, we have studied and collected idioms containing dog words used in literature as well as daily life of the French people These idioms not express profound meanings but also contain typical cultural features of France Next, we also classify them by idomatic expressions as good point, bad point and neutral point to easily compare and contrast with the same idioms in English and Vietnamese Finally, as mentioned in the aim of this study, perceiving the similarities and differences about idioms containing the word ‘dog’ in three languages is a must in terms of helping teachers design tasks for students Under some aspects of contrastive view into understanding those kind of idioms the study is about to discuss some implications for Vietnamese learners of English or French CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation In all of three languages : English, French and Vietnamese cultures, dog seemed to appear a long time ago and has its own different positions in these spiritual lives In English cultures, dog is the symbol of night, darkness and afterworld - the world of the dead In many mythologies, dogs or dog-like beings guard the underworld from unwelcome guests such as the still living In France, the dog is linked to an elementary trinity earth, water and moon, symbolically vegetative, feminine, sexual and divinatory, both in the unconscious domain and the subconscious His main role is to "guide the man on the night of death after being his companion during the day of life." These dogs always have a strong symbolism related to their appearance and attributes, sometimes inflexible guardians, most of them are associated with the world of the dead, hell or the chtonian universes in general In Vietnamese spiritual life, however, dogs are to protect against evils In Vietnamese culture, dog or the lion's whelp is one of the pure Vietnamese relics, which is created to protect houses as well as the spiritual life of the Vietnamese, whereas, in English cultures, dog is considered the guard of the death not the existence In daily life, the English see dogs as their family members or friends For French people, dogs are one of the favorite species of children and adults Some dog owners have a strong emotional connection with their companion dog and this dog has many roles: friend, confidant, child, image that they wish to embody and so on It becomes the receptacle of lacks or emotional needs, it soothes, secures and helps to live better The Vietnamese, however, often only treat them as a kind of animals with humble position In Vietnamese, dogs are reared to protect house and they are also eaten during certain periods of the lunar year in the belief that this meat contributes to virility and longevity Studying the literal meaning of the word ‘dog’ and idiomatic meanings of the phrases and sentences containing the word ‘dog’ can help me to find out the similarities and differences in the ways the English, French and Vietnamese cognized the image of this animal We see that there are many idioms concerning the word ‘dog’ in which their negative meanings are many more than the positive ones In terms of the differences, in English, there are many idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘dog’ pointing out the good personal characteristics or high status of people as well as the convenient conditions and good luck 5.2 Implication for teaching and learning idioms containing the words Dog in English, Chien in French and Chó in Vietnamese We would like deal with the implications of the study in English language and French language teaching to Vietnamese students It is intended to discuss some ideas gained through the study that can be helpful to teachers when they teach idioms especially idioms related to dog in three languages In the process of teaching English especially English idioms, teaching semantic and cultural features is essential and important because understanding semantic and cultural features can help students enrich their vocabulary so as to make their communication successful and effective This subpart aims at giving some ideas in the hope that they will, to some extent, help teachers teach idioms relating to dog effectively First of all, when teaching idioms relating to dog or to animals, it is a common mistake just to give the meanings of the group of words to students Because when students are provided the meanings only they cannot relate what they are learning to what they have already known So it is difficult for them to put new meanings into their long-term memory Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to help students find the link between the figurative meaning and the literal meaning of the word to discover the new meaning for themselves The link mentioned here is the association on which idioms are based It is the semantic properties or semes that can be transferred to denote the new referents Through the study, it can be seen that the common semes that the word denoting dog possess to derive the new meanings are mainly position,shape,function and composition Besides these features of denotative meaning of the word, some features of the connotative meaning of the word are also transferred to create the derived meanings Moreover, in each case of semantic feature, a certain seme or property of the word is prominent to be transferred So students must base on the particular context to find the exact property to interpret the exact idomatic meaning Take the following example Eg My friend told me a shaggy dog story about how he lost his bicycle As discussed above, the shaggy is the adjective and considered as the common fur kind of the dog however, the idioms “a shaggy dog story” expresses a long and often pointless story that is told as a joke and often ends in a very silly or unexpected way This feature is only included in connotation, not the denotation of the word In this way, the teacher can help students not only be able to interpret the meaning themselves but also build up their skill of reasoning in using the language, which is good for their communicative competence 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research Due to the scope of a Master of Art thesis, time, knowledge and experience limitations, we only focused on the idioms containing the word dog in English, French and Vietnamese Therefore, we could see the cultural specific characteristics of each language community in using phrases and sentences concerning the word dog Idioms are language units functioning as words Cats are also popular and favourite pets in England, France and Vietnam The idioms related to cats have very distinctive characteristics They can form sentences and have their own special meaning The roles of idioms in forming sentences in English, in French and Vietnamese have not been investigated in a systematic way We hope that this can be studied in the coming time Idioms are considered as very special language units because they are different from words and expressions They are phrases where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words Besides special meaning with word cat, these idioms also have their own figurative style Due to the limited time and knowledge, the shortcomings are inevitable in this study, consequently we wish to receive the comments and suggestions from other teachers and those concerned REFERENCES IN ENGLISH Asher, R.E (ed.) (1994) The encyclopedia of language and linguistics Volume 10 Oxford and New York: Pergamon Press Barthes, Roland ([1964] 1967) London: Jonathan Cape Elements of Semiology (trans Annette Laves & Colin Smith) Barthes, Roland., 1977, Image-Music-Text London: Fontana Cowie, A.P Mackin, R & I.R Mc Caig (1993) Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms Oxford: Oxford University Express Fernado, C (1996) Idioms and Idiomaticity Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press Fiske, John (1982): Introduction to CommunicationStudies London: Routledge Flavell, Linda & Roger (1992) Dictionary of Idioms and Their origins Kyle Cathie Ltd Hall, Stuart ([1973] 1980): 'Encoding/decoding' In Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (Ed.): Culture,Media,Language:WorkingPapersinCulturalStudies, 1972-79 London: Hutchinson, pp 12838 Hornby, A.S (1995) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Oxford University Express Hymes, Harper (1964) Language in Culture and Society New York: D & Row 10 Jackson, H & E Z Amvela (2000) Word, Meaning and Vocabulary New York: Cassell 11.Lyons, J (1977) Semantics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Lyons, J (1981) Language and Linguistics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Lyons, J (1985) Linguistics Semantics: An Introduction Cambridge University Press 13 Nguyen, Hoa (2004) Understanding English Semantics VNU Publishing Housse 14 Palmer, F R (1990) Semantics Cambridge: Cambridge University Express 15 Robins, R H (1989) General Linguistics London and New York: Longman 16 Seidl, J & W.McMordie (1988) English Idioms and How to Use Them Oxford University Press 17.Silverman, Kaja (1983) The Subject of Semiotics New York: Oxford University Press 18.Wilden, A (1987), The Rules Are No Game: The Strategy of Communication London: Routledge & Kegan Paul IN VIETNAMESE 19 Phạm Văn Bình (1993) Từ điển Tục ngữ, Thành ngữ Anh Việt Nxb Hải Phòng 20 Đỗ Hữu Châu (1987) Cơ sở Ngữ Nghĩa Học Từ Vựng Hà Nội: Nxb Đại học Trung Học chuyên Nghiệp 21 Đỗ Hữu Châu (1981), Từ Vựng Ngữ nghĩa tiếng Việt Nxb Giáo dục 22 Việt Chương (2005) Từ điển Thành ngữ, Tục ngữ Ca dao Việt nam Đồng Nai: Nxb Tổng hợp 23 Nguyễn Văn Đạm (2003) Từ điển Tường Giải Liên Tưởng Tiếng Việt Nxb Văn hóa Thơng tin 24 Nguyễn Văn Độ (2004) Tìm Hiểu Mối Liên Hệ Ngơn Ngữ - Văn Hoá Nxb ĐHQGHN 25 Dương Kỳ Đức (1996) Trường nghĩa thực từ - Ngữ học trẻ Hội Ngôn ngữ học Việt Nam 26 Dương Kỳ Đức (2003) Dê ta dê tây Ngôn ngữ đời sống Viện Ngơn ngữ học 27 Hồng Văn Hành (1993) Thành Ngữ Trong Tiếng Việt Hà Nội: Nxb KHXH 28 Nguyễn Lân (1994) Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Việt Nam Nxb KHXH 29 Nguyễn Lân (2000) Từ Điển Từ Ngữ Việt Nam Nxb TP Hồ Chí Minh 30 Nguyễn Lực (2005) Thành Ngữ Đồng nghĩa tiếng Việt Nxb Thanh Niên 31 Hoàng Tuyết Minh (2014) 523 thành ngữ so sánh ngang Anh-Việt Nxb Giáo dục Việt Nam 32 Tiêu Hà Minh (2006) Đi Tìm Điển Tích Thành Ngữ Hà Nội: Nxb Thông Tấn 33 Vũ Ngọc Phan (2000) Tục ngữ, ca dao, dân ca Việt Nam Hà Nội: Nxb Văn học 34 Nguyễn Sanh Phúc Từ điển Việt - Anh Nxb Văn hố -Thơng tin 35 Bùi Phụng (2006) Thành Ngữ Anh Việt Nxb Văn hố Sài Gòn 36 Lã Thành (1988) Từ Điển Thành Ngữ Anh- Việt Hà Nội: Nxb Khoa Học Kỹ thuật 37 Lý Tồn Thắng (2005) Ngơn ngữ học tri nhận, Nxb Khoa học xã hội 38 Nguyễn Đức Tồn (1993) Nghiên Cứu Đặc Trưng Văn Hố Dân Tộc qua Ngơn Ngữ Tư Duy Ngôn Ngữ Việt Nam - Những vấn đề ngơn ngữ văn hố Trường ĐHSPNNHN 39 Phạm Quang Trường (2003) Từ điển cụm từ thành ngữ Pháp- Việt Nxb Văn hóa Thơng tin 40 Nguyễn Văn Tu (1976) Từ Vốn Từ Tiềng Việt Hiện Đại Nxb Đại học Trung học chuyên nghiệp 41 Lê Ngọc Tú (1996) Tục Ngữ Anh-Pháp-Việt Một Số Thành Ngữ Danh Ngôn Hà Nội: Nxb Khoa học Xã hội 42 Nguyễn Như Ý (1995) Từ Điển Giải Thích Thành Ngữ Tiếng Việt Nxb GD IN FRENCH 43 Dunn, Oscar (2010) Glossaire franco-canadien et vocabulaire de locutions vicieuses usitees au Canada Qontro Classic Books 44 Jouffa, Franỗois (2010) Petit livre de - 300 proverbes du monde entier First 45 Giraud, Pierre.(19610 Les locutions franỗaises Paris : Presses Universitaires de France 46 Maloux, Maurice (2014) Dictionnaire des proverbes sentences et maximes Broché Larousse 47 Planelle, Georges (2014) Les 1001 expressions préférées des Franỗais LOpportun 48 Rat, Maurice (2014) Dictionnaire des expressions et locutions traditionnelles Larousse Silverman, Kaja (1983): The SubjectofSemiotics New York: Oxford University Press 49 Spratbrow, Annie (2001) 'What you must know': Vocabulaire anglais- franỗais : 6000 mots, 600 expressions, 60 fonctions et notions, 20 situations Spratbrow 50 Vincent, Bernard (2013) Dictionnaire franỗais-anglais des expressions populaires Albin Michel Sources from the internet 48 Cambridge Dictionnary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/idiom 49 French together 100 Strange Idioms That’ll Help You Sound More French https://frenchtogether.com/french-idioms/ 50 Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press 1st April 2011 http://oed.com 51 ThroughCo 90+ Popular Expressions and Idioms Translated into French https://www.thoughtco.com/popular-expressions-idioms-translated-into-french-4081772 52 TalkingFrench 15 French expressions that feature dogs https://www.talkinfrench.com/french-expressions-dogs/ 53 Vidalingua 81 Funny French Idioms Explained in English https://www.vidalingua.com/blog/funny-french-idioms-explained-english ... containing the word dog in English, chien in French and chó in Vietnamese - To make a comparison among idioms containing the word dog in English, chien in French and chó in Vietnamese. .. research of idioms containing words dog in English, French and Vietnamese - Focus on making a comparative analysis of idioms containing the word dog in English and those in French and Vienamese in. .. OF IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD DOG IN ENGLISH, IN FRENCH AND IN VIETNAMESE 4.1 Semantic and cultural features of idioms containing the words Dog in English, Chien in French and Chó in VIETNAMESE