English idioms containing the word heart and its synonyms in vietnamese idioms a contrastive analysis from cultural perspectives

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HUỆ ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “HEART” AND ITS SYNONYMS IN VIETNAMESE IDIOMS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES (NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ CHỨA TỪ “HEART” VÀ TỪ ĐỒNG NGHĨA VỚI “HEART” TRONG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG VIỆT: ĐỐI CHIẾU NHÌN TỪ GÓC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60.22.15 HA NOI- 2012 -1- VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HUỆ ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “HEART” AND ITS SYNONYMS IN VIETNAMESE IDIOMS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES (NHỮNG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG ANH CÓ CHỨA TỪ “HEART” VÀ TỪ ĐỒNG NGHĨA VỚI “HEART” TRONG THÀNH NGỮ TIẾNG VIỆT: ĐỐI CHIẾU NHÌN TỪ GĨC ĐỘ VĂN HÓA) M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60.22.15 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN HUY KỶ, Ph.D HA NOI- 2012 -2- TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii PART 1: INTRODUCTION iv Rationale for the study Objectives of the study and research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Organization of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background 1.1.1 Culture and the relationship between Language and Culture 1.1.1.1 Definitions of culture 1.1.1.2 The relationship between language and culture 1.1.1.3 The relationship between language and idioms, proverbs 1.1.2 Idioms 1.1.2.1 Definitions 1.1.2.2 Idioms versus proverbs 1.1.2.3 Characteristics of idioms 10 11 -6- 1.1.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese 1.1.3.1 Literal and figurative meanings of “heart” and its 13 synonyms in Vietnamese 1.1.3.2 Idiomatic expressions containing the word “heart” 13 and its synonyms in Vietnamese 1.1.4 Some characteristics of Vietnamese and English culture 14 1.1.4.1 Hofstede’s value dimensions 15 1.1.4.2 Characteristics of Vietnamese and English culture 15 according to Hofstede’s value dimension 1.1.4.3 Other studies on English and Vietnamese culture 16 1.2 Literature Review 18 1.3 Summary 19 CHAPTER 2: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF 21 IDIOMS CONTAINING THE WORD “HEART” AND ITS SYNOMYMS IN VIETNAMESE IN THE LIGHT OF 23 CULTURE 2.1 Similarities 2.1.1 In terms semantics 23 2.1.2 In terms of syntax 23 2.2 Differences 29 2.2.1 Individualism and collectivism in English and 29 Vietnamese culture 2.2.2 English and Vietnamese language 2.3 Summary 29 30 PART 3: CONCLUSION 33 Recapitulation 34 34 -7- Limitations of the study Implications for learning and Suggestions for further studie REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix 1: English idioms containing “heart” Appendix 2: Vietnamese idioms containing synonyms of “heart” -8- PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study It is undeniable to say that English has become an important international language; therefore, mastering this foreign language is of great importance However, it is not easy to master all English aspects especially idioms As a matter of fact, English idioms are figurative expressions with different meanings Metaphor in idioms creates the richness, beauty, sophisticated and vivid way of communication and liveliness of English language in general In Vietnamese, idiom is a significant linguistic unit, which contributes to the diversification of not only language but also Vietnamese culture Specifically, many words referring to parts of human body are used in both English and Vietnamese idioms One very important part in human body is the heart Having taken human- body- based idioms into consideration, the researcher found that there are many English idioms containing the word “heart” and their meanings are extremely interesting While the English use the word “heart” to reveal the world of deep emotions, feelings and attitudes; the psychological and spiritual world is generally expressed figuratively and metaphorically by many parts in the body such as “ stomach”, “ bowels” or “ liver” “ mind” ( bụng, ruột, gan, tâm) in Vietnamese In fact, there are both similar and different points of idioms containing the word “heart” and its synonyms in Vietnamese in the light of culture Regarding similarities, in both cultures, heart is considered as the centre of all things in material and mental life Consequently, idioms containing “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese express the most important part in people’s body, very deep feelings in mental life such as love, happiness, sadness, determination and courage In terms of differences, -9- the dissimilarities between Vietnamese and English cultures have big influence on the way of using idioms in general and heart- based idioms in particular Specifically, the reason for using more words to indicate this most important part of the body in Vietnamese culture results from the richness in the treasure of folk literature In other words, the differences between English and Vietnamese language specifically – it is idiom - lead to these differences in culture From all these reasons above, the researcher has decided to choose the topic named “English idioms containing the word “heart” and its synonyms in Vietnamese idioms: A contrastive analysis from cultural perspectives ” to take detailed exploration Objectives of the study and research questions The study firstly aims to study idiomatic expressions containing the word “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese and then explore the similarities and differences in the light of culture basing on these idioms As a matter of fact, both English and Vietnamese cultures have used the word “heart” and its synonyms to indicate the most important part in human body both physically and mentally Some differences in terms of culture between these two cultures could also be drawn from these idioms They are the differences regarding people’s characteristics, history origin and people’s way of thinking At the end of the study, some implications for teaching, learning and translating will be explored as useful resources In order to cover all these matters, there are some research questions and issue covered through the study as follows: What are the similarities and differences between idioms containing the word “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese in the light of culture? -10- What are the implications of the study for teaching, learning and translating? Scope of the study In a scope of a minor study, it is impossible for the researcher to cover all English and Vietnamese idioms in general and human- body- based idioms in particular Consequently, in this study, I would like to focus on a narrower aspect of human- body- based idioms as heart- based ones to take into consideration 51 English idioms with the word “heart” and 148 Vietnamese idioms containing the synonyms of “heart” are collected from many reliable dictionaries and taken to the study as a source for contrasting Therefore, the study would investigate some following points as follows:  General view of idioms in English and Vietnamese  A contrastive analysis of heart- based idioms in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese in the light of culture  Some pedagogical implications for teaching, learning and translating Methods of the study The main method applied in this thesis is contrastive analysis of idioms containing the word “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese from cultural perspectives The steps to conduct the study include collecting, analyzing and contrasting At first, English idioms with “heart” and Vietnamese idioms with “gan”, “tâm”, “dạ”, “lòng”, “bụng”, “ruột” are collected from some reliable dictionaries carefully and sorted out Then colleted data is described, classified, generalized and analyzed systematically to find out the similarities and differences in the light of culture Supporting techniques including knowledge accumulated through lectures, books, -11- materials and reference, valuable instructions from my lecturers especially my supervisor make great contribution to the completion of the thesis Significance of the study As a matter of fact, there are not a few research concerning English idioms and Vietnamese ones in general and idioms containing some words in these two languages in particular such as “eye”, “hand” and so on In these studies, collecting idioms in English and Vietnamese seems to be not a very difficult task because of the equivalence in meaning for example “eye”, “hand” in English and “mắt”, “tay” in Vietnamese However, the word “heart” is not similar to these words above Having many synonyms of the word “heart” in Vietnamese such as “gan”, “tâm”, “dạ”, “lòng”, “bụng”, “ruột” has created one significant point for the study Furthermore, that these idioms in two languages are contrasted to find out the similarities and differences in the light of culture is another significance of the research In other words, the study is not simply a contrastive analysis from linguistic perspectives Idioms in two languages are considered as the contrastive tool in order that similarities and differences in cultural perspectives can be drawn out Organization of the study The study includes three main parts as follows: Part – Introduction – has covered some points including the rationale for the study, objectives and research questions, the scope, the methods, the significance and the organization of the study Part – Development – In this part, the researcher has elaborated two chapters: Chapter – Theoretical background and Literature Review – provides the background of the study, including definitions of key concepts consisting of -12- culture, language, idioms, idiomatic expressions containing the word “heart” in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese, some characteristics of Vietnamese and English culture At the end of the chapter, a review of related studies is mentioned Chapter – Similarities and differences of idioms containing the word “heart” and its synonyms in Vietnamese in the light of culture – shows a contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese culture basing on the tool as English idioms containing the word “heart” and its synonyms in Vietnamese Part – Conclusion – concludes the main issues discussed in the paper, the limitations of the research, and implications for teaching, learning and translating idioms in general as well as some suggestions for further studies Following this part are the References and Appendices -13- focus on other human- body parts in English and Vietnamese idioms Furthermore, beside English, other studies can explore the differences between Vietnamese idioms and ones of other languages such as Chinese, Russian and French -43- REFERENCES In English Agar, M (1996), Language Shock Understanding the Culture of Conservation, HarperCollins Publisher Boas, M (1989), An Introduction to English idioms, Oxford University Press Carthy, M (2002), English Idioms in daily life, Oxford University Press Cowie A.P., Mackin R., Mc Caig I.R (1994), Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, Oxford University Press Curry, D (1995), Illustrated American Idioms, Blackwell Publishing Edward B Tylor (1871), Primitive Culture, Oxford University Press Hunt, P.C (2002), An Introduction to Vietnamese Culture Hornby A S (1995), Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press Hofstede, G (2001), Culture‟s consequences (2nd edition), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 10 Jackson & Amela and Palmer (2000), Idioms and Culture, Cambridge University Press 11 Jenifer and W Mordie (1978), English Idioms and How to Use, Oxford University Press 12 Kramsch (2000), English Idioms, Oxford University Press 13.Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (1992) 14 Linton, N (1989), Culture and Language, Cambridge University Press 15 Oxford Student‟s Dictionary of English (2001), pp.140 16 Richard, W (1990) Functions of Language Oxford University Press 17 http://www.idiomconnection.com/heart.html -44- In Vietnamese 18 Đỗ Quỳnh Anh (2004), A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese Idioms of Comparison, Luận văn thạc sỹ ngôn ngữ, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ- Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 19 Nguyễn Du (1993), Truyện Kiều, Nxb Văn hóa 20 Nguyễn Thị Kim Huệ (2007), Vietnamese‟s Cross- cultural Errors in using Idioms of Comparisons in comparison with Anglicist”, Luận văn tốt nghiệp đại học, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ- Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 21 Nguyễn Đình Hùng (1999), Tuyển tập thành ngữ, tục ngữ, ca dao Việt Nam thông dụng, Nxb Văn hóa, Hà Nội 22 Nguyễn Văn Khang & Bùi Như Ý (1994), Từ điển Thành ngữ Hoa-Việt, Nxb Văn hóa, Hà Nội 23 Nguyễn Quang (2001), Cross- cultural communication, Nxb Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 24 Nguyễn Lân (1993), Từ diển thành ngữ- tục ngữ Việt Nam, Nxb Văn học, Hà Nội 25 Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Ðang (1993), Thành ngữ tiếng Việt, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội 26 Nguyễn Thị Phương (2009), Đặc trưng ngơn ngữ- văn hóa từ phận người thành ngữ tiếng Việt (so sánh với tiếng Anh), Luận văn thạc sĩ ngôn ngữ, Đại học Sư phạm thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 27 Nguyễn Đức Tồn (1994), Tiếng gọi phận thể tiếng Việt với biểu trưng tâm lý, tình cảm”, Tạp chí Văn hóa dân gian, Số 28 Trần Quốc Vượng (1998), Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam, Nxb Văn học, Hà Nội 29 Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Yến (2003), Metaphors in English and Vietnamese human- body- based Idioms, Luận văn tốt nghiệp đại học, Đại học Ngoại Ngữ- Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội -45- APPENDIX ENGLISH IDIOMS CONTAINING “HEART” aching heart ( đau khổ, bất hạnh) a sinking of your heart ( buồn chán) by heart (thuộc lòng) bare one's heart/soul (bộc lộ tình cảm sâu kín mình) break someone’s heart (làm đau khổ, thất vọng) close/ near to sb’s heart (thích thú, quan tâm sâu sắc đến ai) dear to sb’s heart (thích thú, quan tâm đến ai) die of a boken heart (chết buồn rầu, đau khổ) one's heart good (khiến trở nên vui vẻ) 10 eat one's heart out (đau khổ, buồn bã; ghen tị thèm thuồng) 11 follow one's heart (hành động theo tình cảm) 12 give one's heart to somebody/ something (yêu thương ai/ gì) 13 gladden somebody’s heart (vui vẻ, vui lòng) 14 harden one's heart (khơng bày tỏ tình cảm ngồi) 15 have one's heart in one's boots (quá u sầu, chán nản) 16 have something at heart (lo lắng, đề phòng gì) 17 have a heavy/ light heart (đầy cảm giác buồn rầu, đau khổ/ thích thú, hạnh phúc) 18 a heart to a heart (talk) (tình cảm thân mật) 19 in one's heart of hearts (trong cảm xúc thầm kín mình) 20 heart leap ( sợ hãi) 21 heavy heart ( lòng trĩu nặng đau buồn) 22 find it in one’s heart to ( tâm, kiên quyết) 23 lose one's heart (to somebody/something) (phải lịng ai, thích gì) -46- 24 (Mr/ Miss) Lonely Heart (người cần tình u, tình bạn, cảm thơng) 25 one's heart is not in it (khơng đặt tình cảm vào gì) 26 one's heart is in one's mouth (sợ chết khiếp) 27 one's heart misses a beat (quá sợ hãi) 28 one's heart sinks (cảm thấy buồn chán) 29 open one's heart (to someone) (thổ lộ tâm tình với ai) 30 search one's heart (suy nghĩ cẩn thận tình cảm mình) 31 sick at heart (thất vọng, sầu não, sợ hãi) 32 sob one's heart out (khóc than thảm thiết với nhiều xúc động) 33 strike fear into somebody/something heart (khiến cảm thấy sợ hãi) 34 take heart (trở nên phấn khởi, tin tưởng) 35 take something to heart (bị tác động nhiều lo lắng gì) 36 to one's heart’s content (tùy thích) 37 wear one's heart on one's sleeve (cho thấy tình cảm, đặc biệt tình yêu, với ai) 38 win the heart of somebody (chiếm tình cảm ai) 39 in good heart (trạng thái tinh thần tốt) 40 lose heart (ngã lịng, nản chí) 41 set one's heart on something (quyết tâm làm gì) 42 a change of heart (sự thay đổi thái độ, tình cảm) 43 from the bottom of one's heart (từ đáy lòng, thật tâm) 44 have a heart (biết rộng lượng, cảm thông, nhân từ) 45 have a heart of stone (lạnh lùng, sắt đá) 46 have a heart of gold (từ tâm, có trái tim vàng) 47 have one's heart in the right place (tốt bụng, có thiện ý 48 heart and soul (nhiệt tình, tràn đầy sinh lực) -47- 49 one's heart goes out to somebody (có lịng trắc ẩn với ai) 50 warm the cookles of somebody heart (làm ấm lòng, dạ) 51 with all one's heart/ one's whole heart (trọn vẹn, thành tâm) -48- APPENDIX VIETNAMESE IDIOMS CONTAINING SYNONYMS OF “HEART” Bụng bảo Canh cánh bên lịng Chơn vào lịng ( dạ) Đi guốc bụng Đi guốc vào bụng Ghi lòng tạc Khắc cốt ghi tâm .Khắc cốt minh tâm Khắc xương ghi 10 Lao tâm khổ trí 11 Lao tâm khổ tứ 12 Lú gan lú ruột 13 Lú ruột lú gan 14 Nghĩ thối ruột thối gan 15 Nhẹ tin 16 Non người trẻ 17 Sáng mắt 18 Sống để bụng, chết mang theo 19 Sống để dạ, chết mang theo 20 Suy bụng ta bụng người 21 Tạc ghi lòng 22 Trẻ người non 23 Bầm gan lộn ruột 49 24 Bầm gan sơi máu 25 Bầm gan tím ruột 26 Căm gan tím ruột 27 Cầm lịng chẳng đậu 28 Cầm lịng cho đậu 29 Cầm lịng khơng đậu 30 Cháy gan cháy ruột 31 Cháy lòng cháy ruột 32 Cháy ruột bầm gan 33 Cháy ruột cháy gan 34 Cháy ruột đốt gan 35 Chết ruột 36 Đau lịng xót ruột 37 Đau cắt ruột 38 Đau đứt ruột 39 Đầy gan đầy ruột 40 Được lời cởi lòng 41 Đứt ruột cháy gan 42 Đứt ruột đứt gan 43 Gan rầu ruột héo 44 Hả lòng 45 Héo gan héo ruột 46 Héo ruột héo gan 47 Hởi lòng hởi 48 Lo nát gan, bàn nát trí 50 49 Lo rối ruột 50 Lòng đau cắt 51 Lòng đau dao cắt 52 Lộn ruột 53 Mát lòng 54 Mát gan mát ruột 55 Mát lòng 56 Mát lòng mát 57 Mát lòng mát ruột 58 Mở cờ bụng 59 Nao lịng rối trí 60 Não gan não ruột 61 Nát gan nát ruột 62 Nát ruột nát gan 63 Nẫu gan nẫu ruột 64 Nẫu ruột nẫu gan 65 Nẫu ruột rầu gan 66 Như nở khúc ruột 67 Nóng gan nóng phổi 68 Nóng lịng nóng ruột 69 Nóng ruột nóng gan 70 Nóng ruột sốt lịng 71 Nóng lịng sốt ruột 72 Như mở cờ bụng 73 Nở gan nở ruột 51 74 Nở ruột nở gan 75 Ruột tằm bối rối = Ruột tằm đòi đoạn 76 Ruột đau cắt 77 Ruột đau xát muối 78 Ruột nóng cào 79 Ruột đau thắt 80 Ruột đau (xót) xát muối (muối xát) 81 Ruột rát (xát bào) 82 Thắt ruột thắt gan 83 Thâm gan tím ruột 84 Tím gan tím ruột 85 Tím ruột bầm gan 86 Tức đầy ruột 87 Tức lộn ruột 88 Tức nổ ruột 89 Tức ruột căm gan 90 Vui lòng 91 Vuốt bụng thở dài 92 Xé ruột xé gan 93 Da cứng đá mềm 94 Dạ đá gan vàng 95 Dạ sắt gan liền 96 Dạ sắt gan vàng 97 Gan sắt 98 Gan chai phổi đá 52 99 Gan đá sắt 100 Gan đồng sắt 101 Gan cóc tía 102 Gan thỏ đế 103 Gan vàng ngọc 104 Gan vàng sắt 105 Kiên tâm kiên chí 106 Lòng gan đá 107 Lòng lim sắ 108 Mặt sứa gan lim 109 Miệng cọp gan thỏ 110 Miệng hùm gan sứa 111 Miệng hùm gan thỏ 112 Nản lịng nhụt chí 113 Quyết chí bền gan 114 Sờn lịng nản chí 115 Thi gan đọ sức 116 Thi gan đọ trí 117 Thi gan với cóc tía 118 Ăn hai lịng 119 Chung lịng chung sức 120 Dạ cá lòng chim 121 Dạ ngọc gan vàng 122 Dạ trước mặt, trật cặc sau lưng 123 Dạ thú mặt người 53 124 Gan sắt lòng son 125 Gan vàng ngọc 126 Hằng tâm sản 127 Hết lịng hết 128 Hữu sản, vơ tâm 129 Hữu tâm, vô sản 130 Khẩu phật tâm xà 131 Khẩu tâm bất 132 Khẩu thị tâm phi 133 Lịng gấm miệng vóc 134 Lòng thẳng 135 Lòng phiếu mẫu 136 Lòng son sắt 137 Lòng vàng gan đá 138 Mặt người sói 139 Mặt người thú 140 Mặt người bụng quỷ 141 Miệng na mô bụng bồ dao găm 142 Miệng thơn thớt, ớt ngâm 143 Mồm phật bụng rắn 144 Một hai lòng 145 Một mặt hai lòng 146 Một miệng hai lòng 147 Thay lòng đổi 148 Tú cẩm tâm 54 ... learning and translating Methods of the study The main method applied in this thesis is contrastive analysis of idioms containing the word ? ?heart? ?? in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese from. .. English and in Vietnamese 1.1.3 Idiomatic expressions containing the word ? ?heart? ?? in English and its synonyms in Vietnamese 1.1.3.1 Literal and figurative meanings of ? ?heart? ?? and its synonyms in Vietnamese. .. in Vietnamese in the light of culture – shows a contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese culture basing on the tool as English idioms containing the word ? ?heart? ?? and its synonyms in