Nghiên cứu về thành ngữ có chứa các từ chỉ thời tiết trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt nhìn từ góc độ văn hóa

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  VŨ THỊ SINH A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING WORDS DENOTING WEATHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ̀ (NGHIÊN CƢƢ́U VÊTHÀNH NGƢƢ̃CÓCHƢƢ́A CÁC TƢ̀CHỈTHỜI Ƣ́ Ƣ́ Ƣ́ TIÊT TRONG TIÊNG ANH VÀTIÊNG VIÊṬ NHÌN TƢ̀ GÓC ĐÔ VĂN HÓA) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  VŨ THỊ SINH A STUDY ON IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS CONTAINING WORDS DENOTING WEATHER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ̀ (NGHIÊN CƢƢ́U VÊTHÀNH NGƢƢ̃CÓCHƢƢ́A CÁC TƢ̀CHỈTHỜI Ƣ́ Ƣ́ Ƣ́ TIÊT TRONG TIÊNG ANH VÀTIÊNG VIÊṬ NHÌN TƢ̀ GÓC ĐÔ VĂN HÓA) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr Vũ Ngọc Tú Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I certify that all the material in this study which is not my own work has been identified and acknowledged, and this thesis is the result of my own research and the the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions Author Vu Thi Sinh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the completion of this work, I have been fortunate to receive inestimable support from many people First of all, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Vu Ngoc Tu for his indispensable assistance, valuable suggestions, expert advice and detailed critical comments I am also grateful to all my lecturers at the University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their constant help and encouragement Finally, my thanks go to my family and friends who are always by my side to give the unconditional financial and spiritual support during the process of accomplishing the thesis ii ABSTRACT Learning a foreign language is not simply to interpret and communicate but brings learners more than they can see Each language has its own particular features and values among which idioms are mentionable Idiomatic expressions are undoubtedly encountered in almost every day conversations, newspapers, magazines, TVs or radios Recognizing the importance of idioms as well as satisfying her own ambition, the author tries to figure out the features of idioms, specifically the idioms containing words denoting weather, one of the respects familiar to everyone Moreover, it is believed that idioms are always associated with culture; hence, a cultural view on this type of idioms might be helpful and interesting In this thesis, the author focuses on the importance of cultural awareness in understanding idioms; thence shows the necessary of cultural knowledge in learning and teaching English in general and weather idioms in particular iii Rationale Aims of the study Objectives Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Culture and the relationship between language and culture 1.1.1 Culture and some characteristics of culture 1.1.2 Relationship between language and culture 1.2 Idioms 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 Types of idioms 1.2.3 Main features of idioms in English and Vietnamese 1.2.4 Idioms versus proverbs and slang 1.2.5 Culture in idiom 1.3 Weather definition CHAPTER TWO: ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDIOMS CONTAINING WORDS DENOTING WEATHER 2.1 Syntactic features of EIWW and VIWW 2.2 Semantic features of EIWW and VIWW CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Some characteristics of Vietnamese and English people, culture a conditions 3.2 Comparison of syntactic features between EIWW and VIWW fro perspectives iv 3.3 Comparison of semantic features between EIWW and VIWW from the cultural perspectives 37 PART 3: CONCLUSION Review of the study 43 Implications 44 Suggestions for further studies 45 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX I v PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, English is obviously considered as the international language that is a tool for global connection and development Idioms, a special part of languages in general and English in particular, seem to be the familiar element which occurs not only in daily conversations but also in literature works People are likely familiar with idioms which are used to express ideas in an attractive and figurative way Therefore, understanding the meaning of idiomatic expressions is essential and useful for English users However, understanding an idiom by understanding its components is not enough because the meanings of idioms are unpredictable, which derive from unusual forms, stylistic devices and knowledge on culture Although idioms are not easy to comprehend, it is necessary for learners not to disregard idioms in studying languages because idioms are an unseparated element of languages and so common in daily use As a second language teacher, this urges me to conduct the thesis entitled “A study on idiomatic expressions containing words denoting weather in English and Vietnamese from cultural perspective” to find out the similarities and differences between English idioms containing the words denoting weather (EIWW) and Vietnamese idioms containing the words denoting weather (VIWW) mainly from the cultural view Moreover, despite being considered as the most important second language in Vietnam, English brings various challenges for learners One of the reasons for this problem is the dissimilarities in the way of living and thinking or the differences of culture The result of the study, to some extent, is hoped to help Vietnamese learners of English use EIWW and VIWW effectively in communication so that their speech is more adequate, natural, interesting and imaginative Aims of the study The thesis is conducted in attempt to: - Explore the English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather, with the main focus on the cultural point of view - Point out the similarities and differences between these two languages in this particular aspect - Motivate students to obtain the insight of Vietnamese and English idioms containing words denoting weather Objectives The objectives of the study are: - Investigate Vietnamese and English idioms consisting weather words - Clarify the cultural intension inside the idioms - Suggest some ideas for teaching idioms - What are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather from the cultural perspective? - What cultural aspects influence the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather? Scope of the study This study focuses on English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather from the cultural perspective These idioms are listed in the appendix Because of some limitation of time, not all idioms are covered Methods of the study In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used It is carried out by carefully collecting materials from numerous sources in both English and Vietnamese including books, websites, newspapers and from observation in daily life Then, the data are analyzed and synthesized to find out the similarities and differences in English and Vietnamese idioms containing words denoting weather Design of the study The thesis is divided into three main parts: - The first part is the Introduction, which includes rationale, aim, scope, methods and design of the study XIII 43 Đánh trống qua cửa nhà sấm Express the awkward/unskillful ability in front of the cleverer person Unusual thing happens 44 Đất nởi sóng (negative meaning0 It‟s time to something without caring 45 Đau đẻ chờ trăng sáng 46 đội trời đạp đất 48 Đèo heo hút gió 49 Đi mây vềgió 50 Gần đất xa trời 51 Ghen bóng ghen gió 62 Proud action or behavior Đầu đội trời, chân đạp đất/ 47 Đầu sóng gió 61 to other factors Dangerous place Remote place, often the mountains Appear and disappear suddenly In an urgent health situation/Nearly die Be pointlessly jealous in love To deal with problems wisely in 52 Gió chiều che chiều ấy every kind of situations 53 Gió dập sóng vùi In dangerous situation 54 Gió quét mƣa sa In dangerous situation 55 Gió táp mƣa sa The sadness 56 Gió thảm mƣa sầu Advantages from nature or 57 Gió thởi chởi trời people Poetic view 58 Gió trúc mƣa mai Experience 59 Gới đất nằm sƣơng hardship/difficulties 60 Gội gió tắm mƣa Experience Góp gió thành bão: góp nhỏ hardship/difficulties thành to Hai sƣơng nắng/một nắng hai sƣơng 63 Hồn vía lên mây 64 Kêu khơng thấu trời In dangerous situation To gather from small things to the larger Experience hardship/difficulties Be very frightened Being a victim of glaring injustice XIV 65 Kêu nhƣ trời đánh 66 Kêu trời trách đất/than trời trách đất To complain excessively To complain of the inequality 67 Khơ nhƣ ngói As dry as a bone/very 68 Khóc nhƣ mƣa (nhƣ gió): dry To cry seriously 69 Làm mƣa làm gió without caring other people Be 70 Lạnh xƣơng sống Do something recklessly and frightened 71 Lên nhƣ diều gặp/đƣợc gió Meet good opportunities 72 Lời nói gió bay The spoken words are soon forgotten 73 Long trời lở đất A serious event that cause many changes 74 Màn sƣơng chiếu đất Experience hardship/difficulties Be homeless; Experience 75 Màn trời chiếu đất hardship/difficulties 76 Mạnh nhƣ vũ bão Become strong or 77 Mây bay gióćn powerful Wandering If people with close relationship not 78 Môi hởrăng lanh help and depend on each other, they will be harmed by others Blabbing 79 Môṭtấc đến giời (trời) 80 Một trời vực 81 Mƣa baõ chết co 82 Mƣa bom bão đạn 83 Mƣa gào giórớng excessively Large difference Being badly affected by disadvantages Various difficulties come in the same time Challenging condition Mƣa hoa gió thuận/mƣa 84 thuận gió hoa: thời tiết Advantageous case thuận lợi 85 Mƣa lâu thấm đất Do something many times will bring results XV 86 Mƣa nhƣ trút (nƣớc) 87 Mƣa Sởmây Tần 88 Mƣa thuận gió đều 89 Mƣa to giólớn 90 Mƣợn gió bẻ măng 91 Nắng dãi mƣa dầu 92 Nắng giƣƢ̃mƣa giǹ 93 Nắng lƣƣ̉a mƣa dầu 94 Nắng nhƣ đổ lửa 95 Nắng nhƣ thiêu (nhƣ) (đớt) 96 Ngả theo chiều gió 97 Ngáy nhƣ sấm 98 Nhanh nhƣ chớp 99 Nhanh nhƣ gió 100 Nhƣ (nắng) hạn gặp mƣa rào 101 Nhƣ buồm/diều gặp gió: 102 Nhƣ cá gặp nƣớc nhƣ rồng găpp̣ mây 103 Nhƣ diều găpp̣ gió 104 Nhƣ giời nhƣ biển 105 Nhƣ hạn mong (chờ) mƣa: mong đợi da diết 106 Nhƣ mặt trăng mặt trời 107 Nhƣ măṭtrăng với măṭtrời To meet with good fortune/ To find a Rain heavily golden opportunity Rain heavily To meet with good fortune/ To find a Good weather condition golden opportunity Many difficulties To meet with good fortune/ To find a Make profit by using other‟s troubles golden opportunity Challenging situation To meet with good fortune/ To find a Highly appreciate virginity and morality golden opportunity Baking sun Something great and important Baking sun To meet with good fortune/ To find a Baking sun golden opportunity Adapt the current situation cleaverly In a distance and disagreement with Loudly snore someone Very quick In a distance and disagreement with Very quick someone XVI 108 Nhƣ ngoṇ đen trƣơc gio ̀̀ 109 Nhƣ rồng gặp mây 110 Nhƣ sét đánh 111 Nhƣ trời giáng 112 Nhƣ vịt nghe sấm 113 Nhƣ vũ bão 114 115 116 117 Nói bóng nói gió: nói quanh co, khơng vào thẳng sự việc Nói đất nói trời/nói trời nói đất Nóng chảy mơ Nóng gan nóng phởi: sớt ruột, bồn chồn Nóng nhƣ đớt/hầm/hon 118 than/hun/luộc/lửa (đớt)/rang/thiêu 119 Nƣớc mắt nhƣ mƣa 120 Quá mù mƣa 121 Rồng gặp mây 122 Rồng mây gặp hội 123 XVII Ruột nóng nhƣ lửa đớt/ ruột nóng nhƣ cào 124 Sắc nƣớc hƣơng trời 125 Say hoa đắm nguyệt 126 Sợ bóng sợ gió 127 Sóng to gió lớn (cả) 128 Sóng yên bể lặng 129 Tai bay vạ gió 130 Tai trời ách đất 131 Tan nhƣ/theo mây khói 132 Tát nƣớc theo mƣa 133 Thanh phong minh nguyêṭ 134 Thuận buồm xi gió 135 Tin sét đánh 136 trời 137 Tràn cung mây 138 Trắng nhƣ tuyết 139 Trời có mắt 140 Trời đánh khơng chết 141 Trời khơng có mắt 142 XVIII Trái gió trở trời/trái nắng trở Weathe Trời không dung đất không tha 143 Trời rung đất chuyển 144 Trời xui đất khiến 145 146 U rũ nhƣ gà phai trời mƣa ̀ƣ̉ Ƣớt nhƣ chuột (lôṭ) 147 Vá trời lấp biển 148 Van/lạy nhƣ tế 149 Vắng trăng có 150 Vật đởi dời 151 Voi ́ng th́c gió 152 Xem/trơng gió bỏ buồm 153 Xoay trời chuyển đất 154 Xuôi chèo mát mái APPENDIX 2: SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF IWW Noun phrase structure No English 13 A breath of fresh air 14 A face like thunder 15 A fair-weather friend 16 A lightning rod 17 A pie in the sky 18 A place in the sun 19 A rain check 20 A rainy day fund 21 A snowball's chance 22 A storm in a teacup 23 A stormy petrel 24 A stormy relationship 25 A straw in the wind 26 A wet blanket 27 Any port in a storm 28 Billy Wind 29 Blood and thunder 30 Blue skies 31 Bolt from the blue XIX 42 hoa 32 Brass-monkey weather 33 Castles in the air 34 Cloud on the horizon 35 Eye of the hurricane 36 37 Eye of the storm Home and dry 38 Seven sheets to the wind 39 Sound in wind and limb 40 Tempest in a teapot 41 The calm before the storm The crock of gold at the end of Mƣa hoa gió thuận/mƣa thuận gió the rainbow 43 The lull before the storm 44 The man in the moon 45 Three sheets to the wind 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 XX 59 60 Trơi rung đấ ̀̀ Trơi xui đất 61 Vâṭđổi d ̀̀ Verb phrase structure No English 13 Bleed dry 14 Blow hot and cold 15 Bring a storm about one‟s/someone‟s ears 16 Cast a cloud over 17 Chase (after) rainbows 18 Chill/freeze someone‟s blood 19 Chill/frozen somebody to the marrow 20 Clear the air 21 come in from (out of) the cold 22 Come rain or (come) shine/rain or shine 23 Dance up a storm 24 Do a moonlight 25 Feel the draught/wind 26 Find which way the wind blew 27 Float/walk on air 28 Get cold feet 29 Get one‟s second wind 30 Get the wind up sb 31 Get wind of sth 32 Give the cold shoulder 33 Go cold all over 34 Go down a storm XXI 35 Go up in the air 36 Hang in the wind 37 Have your head in the clouds 38 Keep a cool head 39 Keep one‟s powder dry 40 Keep one‟s weather eye open 41 Know which way the wind blows 42 Look like thunder 43 Loose one‟s cool 44 Make hay while the sun shines 45 Make heavy weather of/out of 46 Make someone‟s blood run cold 47 Not dry behind the ears 48 Not sense/intelligence/imagination to from (out of) the rain 49 Not have the foggiest idea 50 Not know enough to come in out of the rain 51 Open the flood/sluice gates 52 Pour/throw cold water over/on 53 Put the chill on 54 Put the freeze on 55 Put the wind up sb 56 Rain cats and dogs 57 Rain on your parade XXII 58 Raise the wind 59 Rend the air 60 Ride out the storm 61 Ride out the whirlwind 62 Rise and shine 63 Sail close to the wind 64 Save (st) for rainy day 65 Shoot the breeze 66 Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind 67 Steal someone‟s thunder 68 Sunshine one minute, rain the next 69 Take a shine off/out of 70 Take a shine to 71 Take sb/st by storm 72 Take the heat out of 73 Take the wind out of sb‟s sail 74 Talk up a storm 75 Throw caution to the winds 76 Trim one‟s sails before the wind 77 Twist in the wind 78 Vanish/disappear/melt into thin air 79 Walk/tread on air 80 Weather the storm 81 Wet on whistle 82 Wet the baby‟s head Adjective phrase structure No 13 English Vietnamese As black as thunder Cùng trời cuối đất XXIII 14 As cold as charity 15 As cold as marble Dạn gió dày sƣơng 16 As cool as a cucumber Gần đất xa trời 17 As dry as a bone Khơ nhƣ ngói 18 As dry as a dust Lạnh xƣơng sống 19 As free as air Mạnh nhƣ vũ bão 20 As quick as lightning Nắng nhƣ đổlƣƣ̉a 21 As right as rain Nắng nhƣ thiêu nhƣ đốt 22 Bright and breezy Nhanh nhƣ chớp 23 Cold enough to freeze the balls off Nhanh nhƣ gió a brass monkey Nhƣ (nắng) hạn gặp mƣa rào 24 Cool, calm and collected 25 Free as the wind Nhƣ buồm/diều gặp gió Nhƣ cágăpp̣ nƣớc nhƣ rồng 26 Full of hot air (a) găpp̣ mây 27 High and dry Nhƣ diều găpp̣ gió 28 Like greased (or a streak of) Nhƣ giời nhƣ biển lightning Nhƣ hạn mong (chờ) mƣa 29 Like the wind 30 Snowed under Nhƣ mặt trăng mặt trời 31 White/pure as driven snow Nhƣ măṭtrăng với măṭtrời 32 Nhƣ ngoṇ đèn trƣớc gió 33 Nhƣ rồng gặp mây 34 Nhƣ sét đánh 35 Nhƣ trời giáng 36 Nhƣ vịt nghe sấm 37 Nhƣ vũ bão 38 Nóng chảy mơ Nóng gan nóng phởi: sớt ruột, bồn chồn XXIV 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Prepositional phrase structure No English 11 Before the flood 12 Before the wind 13 By thunder 14 Down in the doldrums 15 In a breeze 16 In a cold sweat 17 In a fog 18 In cold blood 19 In full flood 20 In the air 21 In the heat of the moment 22 In the teeth of the wind 23 In the wind 24 On cloud nine 25 Once in a blue moon 26 Out in the cold 27 Out of a clear blue sky XXV 28 Over the moon 29 Over the rainbow 30 Under a cloud 31 Under the sun 32 Under the weather 33 Up in the air 34 With one‟s nose in the air Sentence structure No English A cloud hangs over sb/sth A red sky at night is the sheph delight A red sky in the morning is th shepherd‟s warning Every cloud has a silver lining God tempers the wind to the s lamb Into each life some rain must It never rains but it pours It‟s an ill wind that blows nob (any) good Jack Frost visit something Lightning doesn‟t strike in the 10 place twice 11 The sky is the limit 12 When it rains, it pours 13 You could cut the air with a kn 14 You could cut atmosphere wit knife XXVI XXVII ... VIETNAMESE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ̀ (NGHIÊN CƢƢ́U VÊTHÀNH NGƢƢ̃CÓCHƢƢ́A CÁC TƢ̀CHỈTHỜI Ƣ́ Ƣ́ Ƣ́ TIÊT TRONG TIÊNG ANH VÀTIÊNG VIÊṬ NHÌN TƢ̀ GÓC ĐÔ VĂN HÓA) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English... morality, justice or criticism” (p.39) Some Vietnamese proverbs are “Mật chết ruồi”, “Con có cha nhƣ nhà có nóc”, “Phép vua thua lệ làng”, etc The barrier between idioms and proverbs is sometimes... understand This can be illustrated with the idioms “Cứng nhƣ đá” (as hard as a stone), “Đẹp nhƣ tranh” (as pretty as a picture) Another feature related to semantics is that idioms can convey positive,